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Western

Released May 9, 1997 2h 16m Comedy Drama List
80% Tomatometer 15 Reviews 83% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
On-the-road shoe salesman Paco (Sergi López) picks up Russian hitchhiker Nino (Sacha Bourdo), who shows his gratitude by stealing Paco's car. Stranded in the middle of nowhere, Paco makes the best of the situation by finding love with local girl Marinette (Elisabeth Vitali). When Paco happens upon Nino, fisticuffs result -- and, more unexpectedly, friendship. With the encouragement of Marinette, the pair are soon hitting the road for an ill-advised odyssey of sexual conquest.

Critics Reviews

View All (15) Critics Reviews
Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly Rated: B+ Sep 7, 2011 Full Review Marc Savlov Austin Chronicle A road movie unlike any other you've yet seen. Rated: 3.5/5 Mar 5, 2011 Full Review Kevin Thomas Los Angeles Times A delightfully subtle and perceptive blend of romantic comedy and road movie. Rated: 3.5/5 Feb 14, 2001 Full Review Film Threat Rated: 2/5 Dec 6, 2005 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Jul 19, 2005 Full Review Merle Bertrand Film Threat A charming and -- dare I use this word in a FT review? -- delightful road movie. Rated: 2/5 Dec 8, 2002 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (6) audience reviews
Audience Member (***): [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img] An interesting road movie. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Manuel Poirier wrote and directed this film. It won several film festival accolades. Alas, the premiss makes it sound better than it is, since it's not tightly directed or well cast. The plot: Paco, a traveling salesman in France, has his company car swiped by a vagabond named Nino. This leaves Paco (fired for this) in a small French city where he manages to quickly hook up with a Frenchwoman. True love? Maybe. But she requires a cooling off period. Paco must leave for three weeks, and have no contact with her. At the end of that period, if they still want each other, they resume the romance. Just then Paco encounters the thief/vagabond Nino (but doesn't recover the car). Surprisingly enough, Paco decides to spend the three week cooling off period with this Nino, on the road. Nino is an ill-dressed immigrant from Russia, slight, unattractive, and capable of being quite unpleasant. The two then pass from one small French town to the next (lots of attractive rural footage), encountering local girls who are astonishingly easy to bed. Paco (the one who's supposedly in love with whatsername back in that first town) is quite the babe magnet. Nino does better than he deserves but not as well as Paco. This leads to friction. There's the set-up. We're supposed to be wondering whether Paco returns to his gal but the screenplay loses focus on that original issue so don't expect any satisfying resolution there. Other opinions: Actor Sergi Lopez just isn't hunky enough for his character; and something needs to be done to make Sacha Bourdo's character Nino more truly laughable. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Would have been pretty good if it was 20 minutes shorter. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member road movie breton, une histoire simple (comme dirait Lynch) Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member A funny movie about the universal quest for love, friendship, and sense of belonging. Who says French films are only full of non-stop boring dialogues? Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a bittersweet comedy about two bumbling Frenchmen, one a shoe salesman and one a drifter. The film questions what it means to be successful and what it means to be moral. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Western

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis On-the-road shoe salesman Paco (Sergi López) picks up Russian hitchhiker Nino (Sacha Bourdo), who shows his gratitude by stealing Paco's car. Stranded in the middle of nowhere, Paco makes the best of the situation by finding love with local girl Marinette (Elisabeth Vitali). When Paco happens upon Nino, fisticuffs result -- and, more unexpectedly, friendship. With the encouragement of Marinette, the pair are soon hitting the road for an ill-advised odyssey of sexual conquest.
Director
Manuel Poirier
Producer
Maurice Bernart, Michel Saint-Jean
Screenwriter
Jean-Francois Goyet, Manuel Poirier
Distributor
New Yorker Films
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
Canadian French
Release Date (Theaters)
May 9, 1997, Original
Release Date (DVD)
Nov 11, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA)
$255.8K
Runtime
2h 16m
Sound Mix
Surround, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1), 35mm