"Mortelle Randonnée" (or, When Ugly is Beautiful)

There is a little bit (or, for others,--don't want to exclude--a lotta bit) of ugly in all of us. This is not the "philosophical"-ugly dealing with a person's true identity. No. I'm talkin' about the face. Or your visAHge. I am laughing to myself because I keep thinking about why I started this post (or, I'm just plain crazy).

Now, let me start off by saying that I don't think when an actress turns "ugly" for a role that she is the bravest minx out there. No. Please. Get back to me when you find an actress that can do what Romy Schneider did in her career. That's bravery. That's courage. That's an actress. Having said that, I do admire actresses who go to ugly-UGLY. And it truly is mortifying and provides a jolt of shock when one of your favorites (who is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous and you feel NOTHING could make her ugly) is so vile on your screen that you can't help but let out gales of grossed-out, confused, horrified laughter. Case in point, Stéphane Audran in Claude Miller's Mortelle Randonnée (1983).

I apologize for not being able to provide a photo of her for you to see exactly what I am talking about. I couldn't find one. I know, I know, I know. *BOO*

Onward. Stéphane plays, La dame en gris (The lady in grey). She is not the main character. The story is of a young, pretty thing (Isabelle Adjani) that kills her many suitors that possess lots of money. She disguises herself and changes her name with each new suitor. One of her suitors ends up being a woman, and, I should add that along the way, she picks up a hitch-hiker that tries to swindle her but the plan backfires and they end up working together. They rob a bank but it turns awry and the hitch-hiker gets killed. She's not very wise with money, though. By the end of the film, she has no more cash because she has wasted it all away. Stupid, I know. There IS a man that I believe she was truly in love with (played by Sami Frey) but he gets "accidentally" killed by a detective (Michel Serrault) that was hired by the first suitor's parents. They wanted the detective to gather the girl's background. The detective has a story of his own. He has never met his one and only daughter. He doesn't know what she looks like. Through the course of the movie, he transfers his feelings for his real daughter onto Adjani's character. So, instead of turning her into the po-po's, he tries to protect her. Mm.

WELL...Stéphane enters the film right after Frey's character is killed. Her appearance! She was UUG-LEE. LOL! Very. Really. For true. C'est la vérité. I was stunned. I had read that her appearance in the movie was rather startingly ugly but I couldn't imagine it. And then, I saw her and I am still laughing! She really did look like she was somebody else. Well, maybe not somebody else, but close to it. Or maybe, I should say, she looked like a relative that would be locked in the basement if the family were obscenely cruel. (Isn't that a movie somewhere???) She looked like all the color from her face had drained away. Her eyes seemed very beady, with a bit of red and an outer circle of yellow. And I'm pretty sure that the top part of her teeth were not hers, they were disgustingly yellow and looked like they were decaying (a dentist's dream!). She was SO very funny in the movie. Funny and tragic. Maybe "tragic" is too strong of a word. I'll go with, ill-fated. Unfortuante. Wretched. Dreadful. Atrocious. Eh...

There are two scenes in which I defy you not to laugh. The first is when she comes back to the detective in a café after being locked out of her room by her co-hort. You feel so bad for her but you want to laugh (I'm still laughing). And you will. It may seem cruel to but you will. The lines Serrault throws at her are plain mean and cutting. At one point he says, "You might be less hideous with bangs," and he motions to right at his eyebrows indicating that's where her bangs should be. But, a split second after that action he lowers his hand to his mouth!!! LOL! Mean. The second scene is in the car and the both of them are outside the hotel where her co-hort is staying. The detective tells her a bunch of lies about what ensued between him and the co-hort and she goes off! Again, very funny. Serrault and Audran really played well off of each other. Their timing was impeccable.

Stéphane is so intelligent. She knows how to inject humor. It's very subtle and it can be very broad. That's part of what makes her so golden. Humor. Irony. Dry.

This brings to mind an interview that I read with Claude Chabrol. He spoke about Romy Schneider and humor: "There have been some people I’ve found tricky. Dear Romy [Schneider], for example. She cheated me. She said, ‘I warn you, I don’t have an ounce of humor.’ Amazing! A girl who can say such a thing. The trouble was, it was true. It went well. But she spent as much time acting in between takes as in front of the camera. We had a fight at the dub."

I don't think she lacked humor, though. I thought she was funny. It was very dark. She had a great sense of irony. Sardonic irony, dry wit, what you will. She wasn't a laugh-out-loud funny. She was an u*h!-what?!-yikes-WHOOPS funny.

Currently watching: Le Trio Infernale

In Memoriam: Michel Serrault

(*sigh* Bergman, Antonioni and now Serrault. And I kept telling my Ma deaths usually happen in 3's)

Michel Serrault, Star of “La Cage aux Folles,” Dies at 79

By MARGALIT FOX

Michel Serrault, a French film star known internationally for his role as the temperamental drag queen Zaza in the original film version of “La Cage aux Folles,” died on Sunday at his home in Honfleur, France. He was 79.

The cause was cancer, Mr. Serrault’s priest, the Rev. Alain Maillard de La Morandais, told The Associated Press.

Mr. Serrault, who appeared in more than 130 films, worked with some of the most celebrated directors in French cinema, among them Claude Chabrol. His films shown in this country include “The Butterfly,” “The Girl From Paris,” “Artemisia,” “The Swindle” and “Beaumarchais: The Scoundrel.”

In 1978, Mr. Serrault reprised for the screen the role of Zaza in “La Cage aux Folles” (“Birds of a Feather”); he had previously played the part onstage in Paris. In the film, Zaza (by day known as Albin) is the star act at a nightclub in St. Tropez run by his longtime lover, Renato (Ugo Tognazzi). After Renato’s son announces his engagement, the future in-laws, pillars of rectitude, show up in St. Tropez. Mayhem ensues.

The film was an international hit, and Mr. Serrault won a César, the French equivalent of the Oscar, for his performance. He returned as Zaza for “La Cage aux Folles 2” (1980) and “La Cage aux Folles 3: The Wedding” (1985).

Michel Serrault was born in Brunoy, near Paris, on Jan. 24, 1928. He performed in cabarets and on the stage before appearing in his first film, “Ah! Les Belles Bacchantes” (released in the United States as “Peek-a-boo”), in 1954.

Mr. Serrault’s survivors include his wife, Juanita, and a daughter, Nathalie, The Associated Press reported. (Another daughter died in a car crash in 1977.) Information on other survivors could not immediately be confirmed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/movies/31serrault.html?ref=theater

**
'La Cage aux Folles' actor dies

PARIS, France (AP) -- French actor Michel Serrault, whose hit performance as a transvestite in the film and stage versions of "La Cage aux Folles" ("The Birdcage") catapulted him to international stardom, has died, his priest said Monday. He was 79.

Serrault died Sunday of cancer in his home in the northwestern city of Honfleur, Rev. Alain Maillard de La Morandais said.

Serrault appeared in more than 130 films during a career that spanned half a century. After debuting as a comic actor, Serrault became one of France's most versatile stars, playing a serial killer, a grizzled farmer, a crooked banker and accused rapist.

"I'm against those who only want to entertain," Serrault said in 2002. "I am very happy with all the roles I've played, and I take responsibility for them all."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid homage to Serrault's "impressive filmography," calling the actor a "monument of the world of the theater, the cinema and the television."

Born on January 24, 1928, in Brunoy, south of Paris, Serrault initially set his sights on the priesthood, briefly entering a seminary. He dropped out, he later explained, because of the vow of chastity.

After studying acting in Paris, Serrault began as his stage career playing in cabarets.

He made his silver screen debut in 1954 in Jean Loubignac's "Ah! les belles bacchantes" ("Oh, the lovely revelers"), which was released as "Peek-a-boo" in the United States. His first big break came in 1972, with a leading role in Pierre Tchernia's "Le Viager" ("The Life Annuity")

Speaking Monday on LCI television, Tchernia called Serrault "perhaps the greatest French actor," saying he gave to his profession "all his talent, all his strength, all his humor, all his affection."

It was his role as flamboyant gay nightclub owner Albin Mougeotte, also known as Zaza Napoli, in the theater and film versions of the mega-hit "La Cage aux Folles" ("The Birdcage") that catapulted him to fame worldwide. His performance in director Edouard Molinaro's 1978 movie won him the first of three Cesar awards -- the French version of the Oscar.

Serrault remained active, featuring in films through his late seventies. Among his final films was Pierre Javaux's 2006 "Les Enfants du Pays" ("Hometown Boys"), about the role of African soldiers in WWII.

Serrault is survived by his wife, Juanita, and daughter, Nathalie.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/07/30/obit.serrault.ap

Here he is in a scene from La Cage aux Folles 3 with Ugo Tognazzi and Stéphane Audran: