"Do you have a problem with women?" Eighth minute of the first episode and, in the mouth of the shrink's character, resonates the sentence that will be asked throughout the viewing of the beginning of "Alphonse", a six-episode fiction by Nicolas Bedos, released online this Thursday, October 12 on Prime Video and haloed with a sulphurous perfume.
The day before, in the corridors of the streaming service, an anxiety was beginning to emerge: while its director has been confronted since the summer with testimonies from women denouncing his sexual violence, how would "Alphonse", his event series which recounts the incredible trajectory of a forty-year-old at the end of his rope (Jean Dujardin), initiated late in life to the joys of paid sex by his gigolo father (Pierre Arditi) be perceived? An odious, despised father who, thanks to a secret revealed after an overdose of Viagra, surprisingly finds favour in the eyes of his son to whom he will pass on his know-how as a prostitute, like a baker teaches his son to knead dough.
"Your talent is your dick, just like your father"
The first episode doesn't cut corners, to put it mildly, and in less than an hour it shows a fellatio administered to a thirsty colonel, a conjugal sex scene (without a sheet), an inexhaustible parade of naked young girls with sculptural forms and lascivious poses, passing in front of the camera like a collection of butterflies, A game of legs in the air (with a sheet, this time) featuring our dashing hero with, oh audacity, a naughty octogenarian. All washed down with copious glasses of spirits and lit cigarettes at the notary's office (yes, we're not allowed to do anything these days, the director seems to say) but also stains on the sofa, gratuitous insults. And dialogues that do more than flirt with the limit of good taste.
Some of them make you laugh. Others, presumably intended to give a few shivers to reactors in need of sensation, are exasperating to the highest degree. "It's not the sapling that counts the most, it's the script: the most important thing is to get into the character and get into the woman," dad tells his son, an apprentice gigolo, who also talks about his breakdowns with customers. "When it doesn't want to, I compensate with words, with my fingers." Or again, as a supporter of his offspring before a pass: "Françoise, you dominate her, not like your wife (...). And above all, you don't forget, you throw everything in his mouth. But also: "Your talent is your dick, just like your father. »
Nicolas Bedos multiplies scenes that are intended to be chic and shocking, such as the old bourgeois woman throwing entire wads of banknotes into the fire, making Serge Gainsbourg look like an altar boy. But from subversive to grotesque, there is only one step that the filmmaker is rarely afraid to take, entirely in his own business of wanting to show the pains to enjoy and the self-righteousness of an era that he seems to condemn to shame.
Luxury casting and gargantuan filming
What remains is an undeniable art of mise-en-scène (and mise en abyme) that allows him to put together some effective sequences. But, weighed down by misanthropy and a naively nostalgic vision of male-female relationships, the whole thing arouses a certain unease, at least during the first three episodes we watched. Where "Masquerade", her previous film, gave the leading role to a character of a woman in control of her destiny, here the female sex is withered under a thick layer of vulgarity and clichés.
VIDEO. Nicolas Bedos taken into custody after a complaint of sexual assault
Adopting the low-profile strategy, the platform decided to leave bugles and trumpets in the locker room when it came time to launch the fiction. Without any promotion of the artists, nor an advertising campaign, the first three parts of "Alphonse" were put online this Thursday in a discretion inversely proportional to its budget.
A luxury cast that includes, in addition to Dujardin and Arditi, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Nicole Garcia. A director capable of shooting César-winning arthouse films, such as "La Belle Epoque", as well as big displacements such as "OSS 117: Red Alert in Black Africa". A gargantuan shoot lasting almost six months encompassing 110 roles and 150 technicians. Add a little sulphur given the summary of this creation, and you get the most anticipated French series of the fall.
But his defenders had more sulphur than they would have liked with the detention of Nicolas Bedos on 21 June, after a complaint was filed by a woman accusing him of touching her private parts over her trousers in a Paris club. The 44-year-old director's lawyer said her client had "no recollection" of "such a gesture" and that it "could only have been accidental under the influence of intoxication".
He will appear in February before the Paris Criminal Court. On 18 July, Mediapart also revealed that a preliminary investigation had been opened on 5 July to examine three other complaints from women implicating the artist, one for "rape and sexual assault" and two for "sexual assault". Contacted through his lawyer, he did not wish to comment.
While Prime Video seems to have hesitated to postpone it, or even cancel it, the release of "Alphonse", the series by Nicolas Bedos, finally arrives as planned this fall. Not sure if it will be used to restore his image.
Editor's Note:
1.5/5
"Alphonse", a French series by Nicolas Bedos starring Jean Dujardin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Pierre Arditi... Six episodes of about 50 minutes. The first three are available. Then one episode a week.