La machine à découdre  (1985) from ICMS and Carausius

ICMS's notes in white

La machine à découdre is a French movie directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky based on a novel by Gil Brewer. In his low-budget films Mocky usually takes on the hypocrisy in our society, and it isn't any different in this one. The story, set in and around Nice, is about Ralph Enger, a violent and mad doctor, played by Mocky himself, who wants to raise money to build a hospital for children who are victims of war, particularly for blind children, on whom he would perform surgery to restore their eyesight. During his quest he stumbles upon Steff (Peter Semmler), an unemployed man who is trying to sell off his last remaining gun in order to have money to pay the hospital bill for his wife who is about to give birth.  As you may have already guessed our doctor ends up with the gun, drags Steff along against his will, wreaks havoc and deals rather radically with those who refuse to donate money. Add a sleazy and corrupt mayor, probably inspired by now late Jacques Médecin (then the not-too-clean mayor of Nice who went to jail for bribery), and stir in a not very effective police force and you get the usual ingredients for this kind of movie. 

So what makes this one stand out in the crowd? The most salient attribute is that Patricia Barzyk, busty Miss France of 1980, was stark naked or wearing very little for a good deal of her screen time. Barzyk played the role of a would-be opera singer who got dragged along unwillingly by the mad doctor near the beginning of the movie. He took her clothes away in their hotel room so she wouldn't escape. Upon his return he couldn't find her clothes anymore, so she had to cavort in minimalistic attire. 

The movie is terribly underrated in the IMDb at 3.1/10 based on only 11 votes. That might be a correct mark if you haven't understood the double entendres or the layers of meaning, of which there are many. You could even see a metaphor in Miss Barzyk's naked status or the fact that the doc wants to restore people's eyesight. For a movie shot on a shoestring budget it was filmed rather well and the actors all put in laudable performances, not in the least Jean-Pierre Mocky himself. The beautiful scenery of the French Riviera doesn't hurt the eyes, neither does the copious nudity.

I must admit that when I first saw the movie on an old second hand VHS tape last year, I didn't see some of the points Mocky is trying to make. Now that it is available on a beautifully re-mastered anamorphic widescreen DVD I did pick up what the director wanted to say. And that was before I watched the short interview in which he elaborates on the matter some more. It seems that he was inspired by the victims of the civil war in Lebanon back then, but the overall theme is still relevant today. In another short interview a still good-looking Patricia Barzyk, who is now (since this movie?) Mocky's lady-friend, even reveals her birth date (October 28, 1963). It must be the first time I've heard an actress unveil her age and birth date in DVD extras.