A Pain in the Ass 4K 1973

Actors and film directors are always better remembered than screenwriters. But Francis Veber is the exception to the rule. And it’s all thanks to the recurring character in his comedies—a hapless little man named François Pignon.

So, this very Monsieur Pignon checks into a hotel next door to a gangster who is supposed to kill a witness dangerous to the entire criminal underworld. Pignon, as always, is surrounded by all sorts of problems: his wife has left him, and he can’t even manage to kill himself. All it takes is one small move by the hitman with the strange surname Milan toward this chronic loser to plunge headfirst into the whirlpool of his misfortunes.

I call people like Pignon “Black Dwarfs.” The first rule in dealing with such characters is to stay as far away from them as possible. The second is that if they happen to be nearby, under no circumstances should you make contact with them, no matter what. There is no third rule, for as soon as you break the first two, you are doomed. Just as the killer Milan is doomed.

While I don’t like François Pignon in real life, I love movies about him. They say, after all, that schadenfreude is the purest of emotions. Lino Ventura is wonderful in his serious comedic role. As for Jacques Brel, he’s annoying. But perhaps that’s the point.

A bonus for movie buffs: this film begins with Ventura’s character, the killer Milan, arriving in Montpellier. Two years later, the film based on Francis Veber’s screenplay, *Goodbye, Police Officer*, ends with Ventura’s character, the police officer Verges, heading to Montpellier.