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Plot Summary
Set in 1977 in a provincial French town, POTICHE is a witty and sparkling comedy starring Catherine Deneuve as Suzanne Pujol, a housebound ‘trophy housewife’ (or “potiche”) who steps in to manage the umbrella factory run by her tyrannical husband (Fabrice Luchini) after the workers go on strike. To everyone’s surprise, Suzanne proves herself a competent and assertive woman of action. Gérard Depardieu plays a union leader and Suzanne’s ex-beau who still holds a flame for her. With POTICHE, acclaimed writer-director François Ozon (SWIMMING POOL, 8 WOMEN) has created a satirical and hilarious take on the war between the sexes and classes.
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Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
83%- Reviews Counted: 112
- Fresh: 93
- Rotten: 19
- Average Rating: 6.7/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: A star vehicle in which the star is everything and the vehicle is nearly an afterthought, and only a legend extending her time on film with pleasure and grace could make that worth your while.
Fresh: Fortunately, for both Ozon and the viewer, the title character is played by Catherine Deneuve, who can very nearly carry a film by herself.
Fresh: It has been years since I sensed that Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu were acting.
Rotten: Potiche is a French sex farce with a time warp feminist message that's more odd than entertaining or enlightening.
Customer Reviews
Smart, funny film
A film about a smart, clever woman! Potiche is that and more as it touches on the social expectations a woman faces and the ones she chooses to accept. Superb acting!
Meh….
I like foreign language films and there have been some superb French comedies over the last 10 or so years - but this isn't one of them. There were a few moments that were humorous, but nothing 'laugh out loud' funny. The story is engaging, the performances were solid, script good - so there are certainly much worse films out there. I'd hoped for more but the film (and the final act in particular) didn't quite deliver.
So silly, so dated
Aside from the pleasure of watching Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu, (which is considerable) this movie is painful and oh so dated. It's all caricature even for the 70's. Pity.
