a salesman of umbrellas. and his universe. strange, full of eroticism, mixture of bitter experiences and "joie de vivre", wise, superficial, seductive, bohemian,careless. the film could be a reasonable adaptation of Franz Kafka short stories. or, maybe, an unconventional portrait of Paul Gaugain, evoked in few moments. but the axis of it is the impeccable performance of Jean-Pierre Marielle. maybe, this is the basic motif to see ȚLes galletes de Pont - Aven" . and for an idyllic picture of Bretagne.

Henri Serin (Jean-Pierre Marielle), married with two kids and on the road all week seeking orders for umbrellas, is stuck in Brittany after a collision with a wild boar, an irruption of untamed nature into his dull life. While his car is being repaired, he starts reverting to the man he wishes he had been, dedicated to painting, drinking and enjoyment of the female body. The latter, women being what they are, is never simple and we see some amusing encounters: a jolly but married shop owner (Andréa Ferréol), a Canadian nude model (Dolores MacDonough), a surly prostitute in Breton national costume (Dominique Lavanant) and, finally, a sweet hotel maid half his age and half his height (Jeanne Goupil) who runs off with him. So it ends as fantasy, that happiness is running a beach stall with the girl you love.On the way we meet a lot of colourful people in picturesque settings, hear a lot of very rude French (plus some unintelligible Breton), and see a lot of human skin and hair. In fact, profanity, nudity and sexual activity abound, though not as outrageously as in « Les Valseuses » from the previous year or « Calmos », which starred Marielle the following year. All in all, a pleasant exploration of the male menopause.PS The version I saw had hilariously inapposite English subtitles, looking as if they had been created by someone who knew neither language, perhaps a Korean computer program?

Loosely inspired from the life of french painter Paul Gauguin, Cookies (french title Les Galettes de Pont-Aven, Joël Séria 1975) relates how a salesman of umbrellas (played by the hilarious then-43 year-old Jean-Pierre Marielle) rejects his former life and stern spouse to embark on a painting career. His pursuit of happiness and inspiration is marked out by several mistresses, the physical proximity and intimate smell of whom drive him to bliss — and boozy despair when they disappear. Several episodes reflect the contradictions of the early Giscard-d'Estaing era with witty humor, such as Marielle disguised as a traditional Breton singing a duo in a country show, or Dominique Lavanant as a dialect-speaking prostitute in traditional Brittany outfit. Most of all, many viewers will enjoy the moments when the touch and smell of a good pair of buttocks turn the half-dead Jean-Pierre Marielle into an apoplectic, ecstatic reborn. Many aspect of this enjoyable movie are exemplary of the aftermath of the 1968 movement of 'libération sexuelle' which provided inspiration to french independent movie makers and cartoonists (in particular, those of Marcel Gotlib, Claire Bretecher and Nikita Mandryka). But beware : some scenes of drunkenness are awkward and too long and may make the movie unsuitable for contemporary spectators, particularly those lacking familiarity with the smelly and 'troisième degré' humor of extreme Frenchmen in the seventies.

"Mais Ne nous Délivrez pas Du Mal" (1971) was a cannon ball in the landscape of French cinema. Its director Joël Séria staked out a position of shocking director who didn't shrink from bad taste. The 1971 film was a work whose prevailing mood was evil. "Les Galettes De Pont-Aven" is openly dissimilar to the 1971 film. The general estimation might even deem it as its polar opposite insofar it is an invitation to the pleasures of senses and a hymn to life that Séria offers us as well as a glorification of the female body.The master plan isn't apparently that much fresh. Henri Serin (Jean-Pierre Marielle) is a mediocre umbrella salesman with a dreary life. His wife and children who scorn him (Séria shoots in a low-key manner, two sequences that tell a lot about the way she considers her husband. As for the children, one don't see them). Fortunately, this mediocre, humdrum life is compensated by two passions: painting and sex. During a trip in Brittany, he makes the acquaintance of an offbeat couple Emile (Bernard Fresson) and Angela (Dolores McDonough) who galvanize him to bloom himself thanks to his gift for painting and his strong taste for sex. After he fled with this superb Canadian young woman, his perception of life improves.The itinerary of a man who is weary of a mundane daily life at the beginning of a film and who is exploding with bliss in the end has been used many times before or since. But Séria's effort conveys a communicative bracing jollity which makes the viewer leave with a big smile on his face at the end of the film. A search for happiness and the basic pleasures of life embodied by an original cinematography which seems to give a major part of the shots the aspect of small paintings. Séria's stylish directing and writing are important enough to stop the film to become too crass and he often falls back on the suggested, a good weapon to make less wild improper moments. And there's Brittany as the backdrop of Henri's adventures where joy of living reigns. His road is scattered with colorful meetings. Claude Piéplu makes a (much too short) appearance as a bard whose household seems stormy. Women help Henri to fully live his passion for painting and sex. Of all them, coy Marie (Jeanne Goupil) is perhaps the most positive one because she showcases a heartfelt, pure sensitiveness to both Henri and the viewer. Maybe, her and Henri are going to live forever.The name of the hero Serin means serene in French. That's what Henri tries to be during his stay in Brittany.