• Yoyo

8/17/23 (Thurs)

Pierre Étaix, who wrote, directed and starred in this 1965 comedy, is apparently considered a comic genius in France alongside the better known Jacques Tati. He had already won an Academy Award for Best Short Film by this time, but a legal dispute with his distributor prevented his full-length films from being seen by the world until well into the 21st century. This film is held to be his masterpiece. The English title seems to be Yo Yo, but I’m going with the French in this case. It refers both to the main character and his favorite toy.

The time is the 1920s. A scion of impossible wealth lives in unimaginable splendor in palatial surroundings, with dozens of butlers and servants tending to his every whim. A private orchestra plays for him, chorus girls perform the Charleston, his servants push a model ship for him along a private lake, and (in a great sight gag) he is driven around the garden in order to walk the dog, who follows on a leash. But he is clearly bored with life. His only pleasure is a picture of a former lover and his prized yoyo. When he pays a passing circus to perform for him, he discovers his old lover working as an equestrian performer along with her child, who turns out to be his own illegitimate son. They soon disappear, leaving him alone again.

The stock crash impoverishes him, and as he dodges falling bodies, he decides to reunite with the lover and join the circus. He travels happily with the troupe. The son, Yoyo, eventually grows up and separates from them when he is drafted during WWII. After the war, the son returns and decides to restore his father’s estate to its former glory. We see him at one point panhandling on the streets, but realize that this is in fact a television show – he has become a major star. He reopens his father’s chateaux and has a huge celebratory party. He is overjoyed when his father and mother show up, but they refuse to come out of the van (they remain unseen throughout the scene). They are happy in their little lives and know what is in store for Yoyo as he navigates the ultra-wealthy life that the father used to live. After they leave, Yoyo is rescued by an elephant (recapping an earlier scene) and taken away from the empty high life and on to happiness.

The opening pre-Depression scenes are filmed cleverly like semi-silent movies with dialogue cards, the only sound being silverware clinking, objects being placed down and such. Étaix was at his best when letting the visuals do the work, and the images of the man in his castle trying to stave off ennui were brilliant. Whoever did the choreography for the wacky dance scene with the chorus girls deserves a medal. Sound is introduced once that first sequence ends, but the main attraction remains the visual humor. There’s a silent scene where the man is crawling over the top of a moving van that ranks with the absolute best of Keaton. Plenty of subtle gags pop up throughout the film, such as the poster of La Strada, another circus-themed film, hanging on a wall at one point, and a direct reference to Chaplin when Hitler dons a tramp outfit. The elephant was a surrealistic touch when it initially rescued the boy, who had been sneaking around the grand home, but that paid off when it reappeared at the end.

The story itself is disjointed, and the shift in protagonist from father to son diluted the effect. The plot is anyway overwhelmed by the genius of the unending sight gags; the entire film could have been silent, as the dialogue did not really add much. But its comment on a life of wealth vs. true love and happiness is nicely presented. Étaix, who played both father and son, is a wonderful clown as well as director. In the silent era, he would have been a true star. Very enjoyable film.