Making It

by Bertrand Blier

Text: English, French (translation)

Genres: Fiction, France

264 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Bertrand Blier was a French film director and writer. His 1978 film Get Out Your Handkerchiefs won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 51st Academy Awards.

Reviews

[Daniel Grenier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je suis ambivalent par rapport à celui-là. Cinq sur cinq pour la verve, pour l'histoire bien ficelée, pour la jeunesse blouson noir post-hippie, post-68, pour la prose célinienne qui déborde de tous les côtés, c'est magique. Encore meilleur que le film, que j'ai vu des milliers de fois. Mais comment passer outre le fait que c'est un roman profondément misogyne? Ce n'est pas du "révisionnisme" que d'y voir soudain, partout, des propos sexistes, machos, plus que troublants sur les femmes et sur la supposée liberté sexuelle, c'est simplement comprendre à quel point c'est ce genre d'oeuvre d'art, où les violeurs sont somme toute sympathiques, des "bons petits gars, au fond, qui ont participé à l'élaboration de la culture du viol.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going Places aka Les Valseuses written by Bertrand Blier and Philippe Dumarcay, directed by the former, with Gerard Depardieu, Miou Miou, Patrick Dewaere, Jeanne Moreau and Isabelle Huppert – this work has been included on Variety’s Top 100 Comedies of All Time list – you find more than five thousand notes on films from there, The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists, plus another about five thousand reviews on magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other sites on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...



Going Places is an outré, challenging, amusing, sometimes revolting motion picture which makes the viewer look at the screen, but also within himself, herself, to see if the erotic images prompt the moral reaction, for me it is interesting to see how I balance the pleasure offered by this remarkable feature, with the distaste provoked by it

Gerard Depardieu https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... is imposing as Jean Claude, one of the two hooligans that travel across France, harassing, stealing, threatening, fighting with people, abusing a few women, getting involved in the ‘menage a trois’ which is called threesome in English…
Although, there are a nuances there, besides, there is a stage wherein there are four who ‘share everything, and that includes Marie Ange, the latter personage is portrayed by the fabulous Miou Miou – incidentally, she starred in another master work Coup de Foudre https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... with the divine Isabelle Huppert

Isabelle Huppert is one of the best ten actors in my book, and she has one of her first roles here – probably the first major presence – coming towards the end – ergo a spoiler alert, some AI appears to be reading through these, or else grumpy humans, somebody flagged one of my notes recently, because I veer off subject –
Isabelle Huppert has the role of a sixteen-year-old girl, and she looks it, rebelling against her parents by joining the triad, Jean Claude, Marie Ange and Pierrot, the woman asks the teenager about ‘baiser’, French slang for sex, presumably the equivalent of fuck, and when the answer is no, she has the two men change that

Indeed, this is a motion picture that horrifies, just as often as it makes one laugh, albeit the situations are unusual, to say the least, take the aforementioned scene with Isabelle Huppert https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... which amounts to statutory rape:
It is the other female that initiates all this, a sort of Ghislaine, the accomplice of infamous Epstein, avant la lettre – also, they start their relationships with abuse, but somehow, Marie Ange appears to be attached to them, maybe even in love- yes, this would be maybe the quintessential Stockholm syndrome

This made me think of Dog Day Afternoon, where we may have this syndrome, or it is just bonding with the robbers – nevertheless, Marie Ange has sex with the two criminals, and if at first, she seems to be unmoved, they even complain about her insensitivity, they develop a connection of some kind, to the point where they become accomplices
As mentioned before, there is much to object to, what those two, then three and four do is abominable, but the film does not invite the public to emulate the characters, notwithstanding their charm, they are often stupid, violent, pathetic, cruel, this makes the plot more interesting, for they are not just like the Orange Buffoon, they ‘contain multitudes’

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

[Sascha Hinz-Pinet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this one, as it’s very famous and well known movie. However, the enormous amount of misogyny and small doses of racisms made this book unbearable to read. The huge chunk of texts which went on and on and on, never seemed to end… I wanted to rip my eyes out by the end of it. I persevered through it hoping for it to get better, but just ended up confused with the constant switch in story line with no prominent demarcation. The book was a fictional story, but within that story was other fictional stories that the characters were imagining, which left me confused? disoriented?
I gave two stars as the writing, however, cannot go by without a small praise. The writer is sure talented and is unbelievably good at conveying imagery through words.

[NoID · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vous le saviez, vous, que les valseuses était un livre de Blier avant de devenir un film de Blier? En tout cas, ça commence aussi bien!



https://www.noid.ch/les-valseuses/