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Les Vengeances de Maître Poutifard

Les Vengeances de Maître Poutifard

Movie · 2023 · 7 people

French comedy Les Vengeances de Maître Poutifard (2023) also counts as a family film. A French-Belgian co-production shot in colour and in French, it runs about eighty minutes. Pierre-François Martin-Laval directed it and wrote the screenplay himself, and TF1 Films Production and Umedia are among the producers. It was inspired by Jean-Claude Mourlevat's 2004 children's novel La Troisième Vengeance de Robert Poutifard, and in Québec it has been released as Les Trois Vengeances de Maître Poutifard.

At its centre is Robert Poutifard, a retired teacher with a single idea in his head: to get even with the former pupils who ruined his life. His accomplice in this scheme is his mother, whom he counts on as his best partner in crime. Together they set out to give their targets a real surprise on the principle that revenge is a dish best served cold. Christian Clavier plays Robert and Isabelle Nanty plays his mother Huguette. Jennie-Anne Walker appears as Claudine Haignerelle and Roby Schinasi as Anthony Lecain.

The cast further includes Gabrielle Lazure, Jacky Nercessian, Mourade Zeguendi and Sophia Leboutte.

DirectorPierre-François Martin-Laval
Production companyTF1 Films Production

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Cast

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Christian Clavier Christian Clavier Film actor · 74 years old Jacky Nercessian Jacky Nercessian Actor · 75 years old Isabelle Nanty Gabrielle Lazure Roby Schinasi Mourade Zeguendi Sophia Leboutte

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Through different eyes

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

A comedy inspired by a children's novel and billed as a family film. A retired teacher plotting revenge on his former pupils with his mother's help may strike younger viewers as a fun prank. Still, revenge presented as a comic game may call for a short chat with the kids afterwards. The mother-and-son pairing is the kind of idea that can amuse grown-ups as well. It works for family viewing with school-age children.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Starting from Mourlevat's children's novel, Pierre-François Martin-Laval builds a safe family comedy, and in my view that safety is both its support and its limit. The notion that revenge is a dish best served cold is rich material that could open onto dark humour; the film edges towards that line and each time retreats to familiar, harmless comedy. The obsession at its centre remains a pretext for a string of schemes instead of becoming a character study, which leaves the storytelling prone to repetition. The mother-and-son partnership in crime is the freshest idea, and had the script given that relationship more room the film could have lasted longer in the memory. A light evening's entertainment, not a comedy for the ages.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film reverses the teacher-pupil relationship from its usual direction: the one nursing a grievance is not the pupil but the teacher, who believes his former pupils ruined his life and sets out to settle accounts in retirement. That reversal offers a funny yet thought-provoking angle on how years in the classroom can leave marks on the teacher's side too. The partnership between a retired son and his mother can also be read as a quiet observation on old age, loneliness and family attachment. Though the film prefers getting laughs to digging into these themes, it touches a universal feeling about the grudges school years leave behind.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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