Comedy: “Monsieur Blake at Your Service” with John Malkovich

comedy
“Monsieur Blake at Your Service” with John Malkovich

Since the death of his wife, Andrew Blake has lost joy in life. Inconsolable, the successful British entrepreneur decides to return to France to the castle of Beauvillier, where he met his late wife over 40 years ago. But his stay turns out differently than he had hoped.

With the The comedy “Monsieur Blake at your service” presents Gilles Legardinier’s first directorial work. The film is based on his successful novel “Complètement cramé”, which was published in 22 countries and 17 languages. The book was published in Germany in 2014 under the title “Monsieur Blake and the Magic of Love”. The 58-year-old is one of the most widely read authors in France with his romantic comedies.

The Château de Beauvillier has long ceased to be a guest house. When Andrew arrives, the maid mistakes him for a man who has come for his job as a butler. Andrew plays the game. Because he wants to stay longer in the castle with its beautiful memories.

For his first directorial work, Legardinier brought the American actor John Malkovich in front of the camera, who shone as a Machiavellian seducer in the film “Dangerous Liaisons” by Stephen Frears. Here he convinces with his incomparable composure as Andrew Blake. Opposite him, Fanny Ardant plays Nathalie Beauvillier, the completely impoverished owner of the magnificent property, with graceful elegance.

At the castle, the ironic Andrew meets strange characters. There is the authoritarian and uptight housekeeper Odile (Émilie Dequenne) with her cat Mephisto. Under her strict supervision, Andrew serves breakfast to the widowed landlady and answers the mail. Or the depressed chambermaid Manon (Eugénie Anselin), who lives in the garage, and the gruff gardener Philippe (Philippe Bas), who lives almost like a hermit. The landlady also poses a mystery.

In his film, Legardinier plays generously with clichés about the French and English. Some puns and jokes about cultural differences seem a bit warmed up, some scenes too tabloid like the cross-dressing scene in which Andrew, wearing a platinum blonde wig and red painted lips, tries to teach the gardener table manners. But Malkovich catches up with a lot as a “snobbish English gentleman” with a wonderful French accent and typical English humor. A film that has a lot of humanity in it, because it shows that you should never give up hope, even if you no longer believe in it.

Monsieur Blake at your service, France, Luxembourg, 2023, 110 min, FSK oA, by Gilles Legardinier, with John Malkovich, Fanny Ardant, Philippe Bas,

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