Cast: Michel Piccoli, Miou-Miou, Michel Duchassoy, Bruno Carette, François Berléand, Dominique Blanc, Valérie Lemercier, Paulette Dubost, Martine Gautier, Rozenne Le Tallec, Jeanne Herry, Renaud Danner, Marcel Bories. Screenplay: Louis Malle, Jean-Claude Carrière. Cinematography: Renato Berta. Production design: Willy Holt, Philippe Turlure. Film editing: Emmanuelle Castro. Music: Stephane Grappelli.
The matriarch of a large French family dies at an inconvenient time: It's May 1968 and France is in turmoil caused by student riots in Paris and sympathy strikes throughout the country. Gradually the Vieuzac family gathers at the estate, ostensibly to mourn but largely to figure out how to divide things up among themselves. Milou (Michel Piccoli), who has lived there with his mother in a life of pleasant idleness, is adamant about not leaving, while the rest of the family is eager to sell the place and take the profits. The resultant squabbling occurs against the background of a country at odds with itself. Louis Malle co-scripted May Fools with Jean-Claude Carrière, who took an earlier satiric look at the middle class in crisis with his screenplay for Luis Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972). Malle's richly characterized and deftly performed film has some of the satiric edge of Buñuel's without its surreal touches, edging toward the farcical, with its darker moments lightened by the buoyant jazz score of Stephane Grappelli.
