Les mariés de l’an deux [Sink or Swim] [The Scoundrel] *** (1971, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Marlène Jobert, Laura Antonelli) – Classic Movie Review 11,561

Director Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s 1971 comedy adventure film Les mariés de l’an deux provides unusual, intriguing costume capers starting in America’s Deep South where it is revealed that soon-to-be-wed French immigrant Nicholas Philibert (Jean-Paul Belmondo) has been exiled because of anti-royalist actions, having killed a noble, and that he has left a wife back in France.

Having fled from France to South Carolina and prospered, Philibert wants to marry a rich American heiress, so he must return to France to get a divorce from the pretty Charlotte (Marlène Jobert). Arriving at Nantes in 1793 in the confusions of the French Revolution, he is arrested but saves the life of a royalist Pauline (Laura Antonelli) and they escape to a remote castle, where he finds Charlotte, claiming to be a widow.

Les mariés de l’an deux is a zesty, entertaining film, with energetically played, light-hearted performances, a good sense of humour, an excellent sense of history, and beautiful settings. The attractive cast, Claude Renoir’s photography and Michel Legrand’s score are the other main assets.

Also in the cast are Marlène Jobert, Laura Antonelli, Michel Auclair, Julien Guiomar, Mario David, Charles Denner, Georges Beller, Paul Crauchet, Patrick Préjean, Marc Dudicourt, Patrick Deware, Sami Frey, Pierre Brasseur and Vernon Dobtcheff.

Les Mariés de l’an Deux is also known as Sink or Swim, The Scoundrel, and The Married Couple of the Year Two.

It was shot in August and September 1970 in Romania standing in for Nantes and surroundings; and in France at Maincy, Seine-et-Marne; Moret-sur-Loing, Seine-et-Marne; and Château de Compiègne, Compiègne, Oise.

In 1964, Rappeneau was co-screenwriter on That Man from Rio [L’Homme de Rio] starring Belmondo. Rappeneau had a hit with his first film A Matter of Resistance in 1965 but did not film again till 1971’s Les Mariés de l’an Deux. His masterworks are the 1990 Cyrano de Bergerac and the 1995 The Horseman on the Roof.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,561

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