Antoine is an ugly, pale, short, bald, sad-eyed little man. He's a loser and his wife Monique hates him for it. She's in the middle of telling him this when Bob the ex-con cuffs her upside the head and takes Antoine under his wing.
Bob sweeps the pair off their feet, taking them on bold heists of posh houses and showing them how easy it is to make money. Monique is delighted and throws herself at the leather-trousered, rampantly sexual Bob. But Bob's interests lie elsewhere - to Antoine's discomfort...
ANTOINE: Take your hand off my fly.
BOB: I felt something hard though.
ANTOINE: That was my knife.
BOB: That would be cold. What I felt was hot. Hot as a grilled chipolata.
.
Antoine's instincts are to run far and fast before he's turned into Bob's personal "subway station". But Monique makes it clear that she loves her new life of excitement and robbery with Bob - and Antoine had better put out if he wants to keep her happy.
"Tenue de Soiree" (Evening Wear) is a surreal sex comedy filled with people bored by sex and wealth, desireless and lonely. The only exceptions are Bob and Antoine which is maybe why they are made for each other. Gerard Depardieu is brilliant as Bob the passionate predator, paunchily prancing about in a posing pouch - direct in his approach but sincere at least -
BOB: I have a tattoo that kind of grows. When it's snoozing it is a grenade...when it awakes it's a torpedo...
Writer/director Bertrand Blier was often accused of misogyny, but I think it is more fair to say he's an equal-opportunity misanthropist instead. In this film, it's not women who alternate between virgin and hooker, but everyone. And the film is at its strongest and funniest when it flips the sexual tables and Antoine finds himself pursued by the relentless Bob.
Very French in its matter-of-factness about VERY rude things, "Tenue de Soiree" is an enjoyable film about desire and gusto, sex and sincerity. Recommended to those who enjoy Joe Orton, John Waters and "Rocky Horror".
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