The 1988 ‘Itinéraire d’un enfant gâté‘ (English title: ‘Itinerary of a Spoiled Child‘) is the second of three films directed by Claude Lelouch featuring Jean-Paul Belmondo. Three films that belong each to different periods in the careers of the director and of the actor. It is the one in their collaborations that I like the most, a film that highlights well what we love about Lelouch‘s films and Belmondo‘s screen roles, but also shows some of the flaws for which they have been criticized. What is evident, however, is the pleasure with which the two collaborated when they had the opportunity, knowing each other well and each of them knowing how to make best of the other’s talents.
‘Itinéraire d’un enfant gâté‘ describes the kind of a midlife crisis as we probably all wish we had when we reach a midlife crisis. Sam Lions is a very rich man who decides to leave his business and family behind, boards a yacht for a solitary voyage on the world’s oceans, and in the middle of the waters he orchestrates his disappearance. His plan is to live anonymously and with false documents, enjoying his passion for the animals still at free in Africa. When this happens we already know that he is a survivor character. He was abandoned as a child, had grown up in the world of circuses, had become an acrobat, but his career had been cut short by an accident. Taking risks was a way of life for him. Problems arise when he is recognized by a former employee of the company he had run, and from here other kinds of complications begin. He also finds out that the family business is mired in problems. The responsibilities towards the business and the people he had run away from return. Will his experiences as a survivor and confrontations with wild animals help him?
The narrative is composed of two very different parts. I liked the first half more, in which, after a formidable opening scene describing his abandonment as a toddler, Sam’s biography is described interspersed with his voyage at sea. After the event that changes the course of his life takes place, we move on to a more classically presented story, a family and situations comedy, which takes place partly in exotic Africa and partly in Paris. I really liked this grown-up role of Belmondo, marked by the wrinkles of age, but preserving his magnetism and humor, and especially not giving doing his own stunts. His character behaves, apparently, like a spoiled child, but we know that he got here through his own strength and after many sufferings and trials. Belmondo‘s partner is Richard Anconina, an actor with a very different style, but the couple succeeds in comedic situations precisely because of this contrast. Francis Lai‘s music dominates the film and contributes a lot to creating the atmosphere. Maybe too much. Lelouch‘s tendency to film picturesque scenes accompanied by music is obvious, and in reasonable doses this is OK. ‘Itinéraire d’un enfant gâté‘ is one of the films in which, in my opinion, he exaggerates. When he says in about 5 minutes something that he could have expressed in 30 seconds, the repetition becomes annoying. However, the film stays in the memory thanks to the main character, the world of the circus presented with nostalgia and sympathy and the actors whom Lelouch knows better than anyone else to direct, to support and to give them the freedom to do what they do best.