78 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A light & lovely film, but also with some hidden depths, February 27, 2004
This review is from: The April Fools [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Yes, a sweet & fluffy romantic comedy ... but one which can reveal new dimensions for those who look for them.
The story: Jack's a stock broker, married 12 years to an indifferent wife, has a son who constantly hangs up on him & owns a dog who barks menacingly at him. He gets a promotion, becoming the handpicked boy of millionaire Peter Lawford. (The first 20 minutes of the film, set at a party for Beautiful People in Lawford's apartment, is a stunning time capsule of that level of society at that point in time.) He meets Lawford's French trophy wife, Catherine Deneuve, neglected & lonely & longing for escape. Jack doesn't realize she's the boss' wife, of course; they hit it off, go out on the town & spend a night getting to know one another, helped along by eccentric but loving longtime married couple Myrna Loy & Charles Boyer. By morning, Jack & Catherine are in love & ready to hop on a plane to Paris ...
Now on the face of it, this is a man's midlife fantasy in the most glowing & unrealistic terms. After all, how many men are going to run off to Paris with Catherine Deneuve? But let's look at it a little more deeply ...
Jack tells a story about playing an enchanted prince in a first grade play, turned into a frog & waiting to be released from the spell by a kiss from a princess. But the girl playing the princess got stage fright & walked off, leaving Jack as a frog for all his life. Catherine then kisses him & says, "You're a prince now."
So we're talking about a fairy tale. And what does Jung tell us about fairy tales? That they provide a great deal of symbolic insight into the working of the Psyche. And if we consider the other characters as aspects of Jack's psyche, some interesting things reveal themselves.
Jack complains that there's no love in his marriage or in his life. He's worked hard to get all the material things that should make him happy, but he's not. Lawford's millionaire is that aspect of Jack, the socially acceptable Persona: always talking about the importance of being a winner, looking upon everything as a possession that benefits his status, putting a price on everything. Jack's been struggling, fighting, moving upward ... and for what? The truly beautiful part of his life, his Soul, has been neglected & lonely & starved for attention, a forgotten Anima represented by Catherine Deneuve. Once he rediscovers her, his life changes completely; it's as if he's reborn, been given a second chance.
Myrna Loy & Charles Boyer have been happily married for 35 years & live in a huge mansion resembling a castle, a fairy tale setting. They invite Jack & Catherine to spend the evening with them, showing them what a truly happy life can be like. Myrna discusses astrology, fate & Tarot cards with Catherine: the Wise Woman, the Good Witch. Charles gives Jack fencing gear & they duel all through the mansion, Jack a little nervous, Charles filled with laughter & delight: the Swashbuckler, the Lover of Life.
Tellingly, Charles comments that the day is so drab & boring, people betraying one another at their jobs, rushing around constantly, making money & making themselves miserable; ah, but at night, the champagne flows, dreams become real ... it's best to live at night, he concludes. Or, to put it another way, to put aside the Everyday & enter into the world of the Unconscious, where real meaning & real happiness will be found.
At one point Jack & Catherine wander the mansion grounds at night, watched by classical statues of gods & goddesses, winding up at the bottom of an empty swimming pool & dancing to slow music that only they hear. A pool of water = the Unconscious, the emotions. And empty in this case, as it's been for Jack for most of his adult life ... but being filled now by the emerging emotions he & Catherine feel for one another.
On the train back to Darien, where Jack is going to tell his wife (Sally Kellerman) that she can have everything, but that he's leaving her, we see a commuter club car filled with increasingly drunken & unhappy businessmen. His best friend & lawyer, Jack Weston, obviously hates his life. Weston has listened to Jack's story in disbelief & envy, relating his own encounter with a beautiful dream woman, whom he ultimately left to remain with the wife he can't stand & who can't stand him. A parallel to Jack's story, showing him the life he'll be accepting if he doesn't do this utterly foolish & absurd thing & follow his heart's desire. Harvey Korman is another drunken businessman who admits to an intense fascination with foreign women: the side of Jack that's been yearning for something different, something mysterious & alluring & beautiful all of his life. But Harvey's character is mainly interested in lust, not Love: the story makes clear the difference between Jack's Romantic passion & the more carnal desires of the other men in the story. If & when Jack & Catherine get to Paris, they won't "have sex," they'll Make Love.
Whew! That's just touching on a few immediate points. But it's a good example of how the discerning eye can yield a treasure trove of symbolic insight. Rent the film if you can find it & see for yourself. Certainly it deserves to be released on DVD!
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My All Time Favorite Movie, April 16, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: The April Fools [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I was working in a movie theater when "The April Fools" first came out. Once the customers were seated, I had a choice of watching either this movie or the then mega hit The Graduate. I saw The Graduate just once. I watched The April Fools over 50 times. I've watched it every time it showed on TV over the past 35 years. I own it, and I'll buy the DVD when I find it. And I'll continue to watch it.
This is a must see movie which never made it big because it came out with the Graduate which, while good, was badly over-rated due to a now ho hum, but then "shocking," scene.
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Watch this movie!, February 26, 2004
This review is from: The April Fools [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Get it, rent it, buy it, watch it, love it!
I adored this movie from the opening scenes to the closing credits - a wonderful, light, romantic comedy with two wonderful stars in Jack Lemmon and the breathtakingly beautiful Catherine Deneuve, and a fabulous supporting cast to boot.
I won't repeat the plot as others have already done that, suffice to say I'm sure there are elements we can all relate to in this story.
Although it's somewhat dated now, taken in the spirit it was made, it remains quintessentially funny, poignant, romantic and uplifting. Makes you feel good all over. I really can't say enough great things about it.
I can't wait for its DVD release.
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