‘L’africain‘ is a film that had all the premises of a great success. It was released in 1983 as a kind of French cinema industry’s response to the trend of action films set in exotic locations generated by the enormous success of ‘Indiana Jones’. The producer was Claude Berri, an experienced and very talented filmmaker himself. The director, Philippe de Broca, already had two decades of experience in adventure films and Steven Spielberg himself declared his admiration for him and admitted that he had been inspired by his films. The lead roles were played by Philippe Noiret (after Jean-Paul Belmondo had turned down the role), who two years earlier had played another European role in Africa in Bertrand Tavernier’s excellent ‘Coup de torchon’, and Catherine Deneuve, who also already had exotic adventure roles in her repertoire (and would add others later in her career). Finally, the author of the story was Gérard Brach, one of the most inspired French screenwriters of those times. And yet, the film failed to become a huge success. The restored version seemed a bit tired to me at over 40 years after its release, and the impression I was left with is that each of the excellent filmmakers and actors who participated in its creation gave this film a little less than I expected from them.
Charlotte and Victor are a married and separated couple, in no hurry to sign the divorce papers. She works for Club Med and has the idea of building a hotel in the heart of Africa, for lovers of geographical isolation, exotic adventures with animals and contacts with indigenous populations and cultures. Victor has lived in that very part of the world for many years, is a kind of local entrepreneur, pilot of a small plane with which he flies over the savannahs, jungles and deserts, well integrated into local life, including through a relationship with a young woman who sings the blues like in New Orleans. The plans in Paris do not match the realities of Africa. Charlotte’s initiative is met with corruption and opposition from the locals, as well as by the poachers who illegally kill elephants and traffic in ivory. After trying in vain to convince her to give up her plans, Victor will find himself with Charlotte in an adventure from which their relationship could be renewed.
What did I like? First of all, the cinematography by Jean Penzer, who passionately and talentedly films the landscapes of a Africa that has since shrunk in size and diversity, and the aerial acrobatics of the plane piloted by the film’s hero. Everything is accompanied by the very appropriate music by Georges Delerue. I can only like Philippe Noiret and Catherine Deneuve, both of them put their comedic talents into action in good spirit, although the interaction between the two seems to lack magnetism. I liked the script less. I don’t judge it by today’s standards, I think the ‘colonial’ feel with the white characters in the center and the rest in the background is intended to be parodic and caricatured. The adventures the heroes go through, however, never managed to captivate me or make me worry about their fate. ‘L’africain‘ is a film full of reverences for well-known cinematic creations in the genre of exotic adventures or dramas set in Africa, but it doesn’t find the necessary balance between action and romance, between comedy, ecological concerns and political allusions, which could have made of it a memorable African cinematic adventure.