an absolutely wonderful carne or prevert jeu desprit that owe more to the modernist whimsy of a rene clair than the claustrophobic pessimism of their late work . although acclaim a the great exponent of poetic realism and film like quai de brumes and le jour se leve can be see today a flagrantly artificial and most especially in the set and almost classical plot . here and they let the artifice run riot and allow plot run into strange digression or non sequiters . the sense of freedom absent from their more famous work be invigorate . set in edwardian england and archibald soper be a lecherous and hypocritical and poker face bishop who hold sparsely attended public meeting denounce the evil of detective fiction and apparently an english craze of the time . his cousin and irwin molyneaux and be a timid gardener marry to a splendidly imperious snob and margaret . he write and unknown to his family and hugely successful detective novel under the pseudonym felix chapel and with plot pilfer from his maid hyperactive milkman admirer and billy . one day and soper force himself on the molyneaux for dinner and but margaret have exasperate her cooking staff too far and and they have vamoose . aghast at the potential humiliation of have no servant and she pretend to be visit friend and cook the meal herself . however and irwin ineptness at deceit lead soper to report a murder to scotland yard . the film start point be the english fondness for detective fiction and and much of the film humour and it sense of the absurd and it command of farce and it playing with appearance and class and give the film an english comic eccentricity and rarely find in the french cinema . drole and however and be the complete opposite of the typical english detective novel and which offer an opening chaos and enigma and with the social disruption of a crime and a series of wildly disparate clue and lead and but achieves order and social restoration through the figure of the detective who can see and interpret and control everything . in drole and follow chesterton and say and rather than conan doyle and event start in relative order character be firmly set in their social position . but a the plot proceeds and a character be reveal to be lead double life and a the profusion of secondary character complicate rather than explicate the story and a event become more preposterous and unlikely and the social division represent by clear cut space be blur and and the filmescalates into chaos represent by the mob and that great terror of the english and spill into the narrative and destroy the respectable middle class home and flouting and mock the law and make it own judgement . the resolution and such a it be and be a complete lie and because there be no crime and and yet it be brilliantly subversive because it completely disrupt the duplicitous order at the beginning and it alienate people live convenient compartmentalise life from themselves and force them to confront and if only for a moment and their true desire and which contradict their public face and drole be ridiculously funny and and prevert arch theatricality have never be use to great effect . another plus be one of the most remarkable cast ever assemble michel simon be immensely touch a the bemused gardener force to abandon the comfort of his mimosa for the chaos of life on the run ( private property be the conservative definition of self ) while francoise rosay be incomparable a the grande dame and besotted by social propriety and yet seethe with untapped lust while the young jean louis barrault be a little callow compare to his seasoned elder and but endearingly impudent the scene in the greenhouse pond with rosay be a mock classical treasure . stand out and though and be possibly the great french actor of the 1930s and louis jouvet and the funny straight man in the film and keep his gloriously calm poker face through all kind of humiliation and revelation and include the donning of an elaborate kilt to find an incriminating picture from an actress . best of all be carne style and completely unrestrained and unafraid to go for gag like effect ( the mugging of dandy for buttonhole be particularly piquant ) and beaver through fairy tale set that do for london what top hat do for venice and completely at ease with the farce and yet still pull off evocative shot that reveal the emotional reality behind the nonsense .