Classics, clowns and comedies

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The Northwest Film Center is more than doing its part to expand the community’s knowledge of foreign film, showing Norway’s Thale last week and exhibiting the films of France’s Pierre Etaix this weekend and next.

Etaix may be more unknown and less prolific than French filmmaking contemporaries like Godard and Truffaut, but his work should not be deemed less important because of this. (In fact, Godard and Truffaut held Etaix in very high esteem.)

Etaix was born in 1928 and raised in the town of Roanne, located almost smack in the middle of France, near the southern-sloping portion of the Loire River.

At the age of 26, Etaix made the trek to Paris, where his dreams and ambitions consisted of illustrations and cabaret performances.

Reality veered from expectation, as it tends to do, and through his line of work, Etaix became fast friends with the writer, director and actor Jacques Tati.

Tati made quite the impression on Etaix, who adopted and tweaked the style of his mentor through the use of slapstick, clownish humor with just enough sophistication and quirk to keep the audience engaged.

During his career, Etaix directed seven full-length movies and five shorts, all of which he wrote. He also won an Academy Award for Happy Anniversary, which won Best Live Action Short in 1963.

In 1966, Etaix assembled As Long As You’re Healthy (playing Saturday, April 13, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 14, at 5 p.m.), a relatively short feature film that consists of four one-act shorts: “Insomnia” showcases a man reading a vampire novel before bed; “The Movies” tells the woeful tale of a man who can’t find a seat at a crowded movie theater; “As Long As You’re Healthy” shows the effects of stress and stress medication on people and psychiatrists alike; and “We Don’t Go to the Woods Anymore” features a couple out for a picnic whose arrangements are continuously interrupted by an oblivious weekend hunter.

Etaix stars in all four of the shorts, but is the outcast mute amid the world of hustle and bustle that surrounds him, a character attribute later made famous by British actor Rowan Atkinson.

What’s interesting and beautifully executed about As Long As You’re Healthy is how seemingly normal it is for Etaix’s character to not talk whatsoever. When the stories involve his character, he’s in a situation where talking either isn’t necessary or is frowned upon.

That being said, the acting, writing and timing are done well enough that the film’s events, comical as they may be, might well be the natural order of things.

Etaix uses humility as a tool for humor, poking fun not only at stupid people but also at people who take themselves and their actions too seriously.

The film showcases Etaix’s talent in the slapstick field, merging the comedic traits of The Three Stooges and Buster Keaton with Mr. Bean. Personally, I love a good slapstick, as it’s an underappreciated breed of entertainment.

As Long As You’re Healthy is a welcome introduction to the mind of Pierre Etaix. It also makes for an excellent addition to my queue when I’m in the mood for some whimsical, physical comedy.

Humor is one of those things that’s fairly easy to understand yet incredibly difficult to master, let alone earn a living by. Healthy proves Etaix’s mastery of comedy, but is he also a master of the romantic domain?

Yes, yes he is. Le Grand Amour (playing Friday, April 12, and Sunday, April 14, at 7 p.m.) tells the story of a man named Pierre, played by Etaix, stuck in a marriage rut. He and his wife, Florence (played by Annie Fratellini, Etaix’s real-life wife), have been married for 10 monotonous, uneventful, but happy years.

One day, Pierre gets a new hot young secretary and finds himself falling in love with her. The movie focuses more on the internal struggle and guilt that Pierre feels before making his final decision about which woman to be with.

It sounds like your average, mediocre romance movie that any Hollywood executive could bust out in a few weeks’ time, but it’s not, and this is where Etaix shows off his directing prowess: He adds quirk and personality to an otherwise unexceptional and overdone story.

Amour occasionally breaks away from reality, using dream sequences to better portray Pierre’s thought process as he overcomes this emotional skirmish. With the exception of his wife and his secretary, the characters are fleshed out in a way that allows the audience to see and interact with them just as Pierre would.

If there’s a quality about his mother- or father-in-law that’s obnoxious to Pierre, it’s played up just enough to be noticeable to the audience—yet another tactic used to help the viewer understand his mindset.

He’d only been in business for eight years by the release of Le Grand Amour, but Etaix had already nailed down a style that was unique to him, and also proved to be influential to future comedians.

Sadly, Etaix’s style was only manifested a few times more before he reverted to writing books, teaching clown skills and popping up on TV from time to time.

Seize this opportunity to see his masterful work on the big screen.