The Ravishing Idiot 4K 1964

A witty and quite funny parody of spy films, fully capable of claiming to be a “complete collection” of mocked tropes, clichés, absurdities, and other obligatory quirks inherent to the adventure-detective genre.

The sense of the absurdity of what is happening never leaves you throughout the entire film. But in this case, that is an entirely positive and indispensable element of the narrative—it is precisely this effect that Molinaro was aiming for.

Everything and everyone in this film is not what they first appear to be: Perkins’s character, who laments the fate of England and the queen, is not English at all; the seamstress played by Bardot is not a seamstress at all; the owner of a small restaurant is not a restaurateur at all; and the theft of “top-secret documents” isn’t even a theft at all... The film’s ending, which is generally predictable, is utterly striking in its explosive buffoonery—it’s damn funny!

And one last thing. As natural as Bardot is in the role of the “dumb blonde,” Perkins is just as unconvincing as the “typical Russian.” But this is more a criticism of the actor’s physical appearance than of his talent, since Perkins played his part perfectly!

P.S. Oh, by the way, I almost forgot. The film features music by Legrand. It’s not *The Umbrellas of Cherbourg*, of course, but the music is wonderful—light and playful, perfectly capturing the film’s surreal atmosphere.