Very Happy Alexander
DirectorYves Robert
WriterYves Robert
StarringPhilippe Noiret
MusicVladimir Cosma[1]
Distributor
  • Films de la Colombe
  • Madeleine Films
  • La Guéville
Released9 February 1968 (France); 17 February 1969 (U.S.); 21 December 1973 (West Germany)
Runtime100 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Gross$16,645,537[2]

Very Happy Alexander (French: Alexandre le Bienheureux, "Blissful Alexander") is a 1968 French comedy film, written and directed by Yves Robert, starring Philippe Noiret, Marlène Jobert and Françoise Brion.

The film was released on DVD on 4 May 2004.

Brief summary

Philippe Noiret plays a henpecked childless farmer that lives oppressed by his authoritarian and materialistic wife, being the only worker in his farm. Whenever he attempts to take a small rest, indulge in any distraction, or simply falls asleep out of exhaustion, there she is chasing him to move on. When she and her elderly parents are killed in a car accident, he decides that the time has come to take it easy and enjoy life a little, sets all his livestock free, and then practically disappears. The only clue that he is still alive is his dog, who periodically goes shopping to the nearby town with a basket in its mouth. Concerns about Alexander's fate are the center of the town's gossip. After several attempts, a delegation sent by the citizens finds he has retired—to his bed. This creates no small social upheaval in this working-class small French town where hard work is regarded as a virtue, and hence his attitude is viewed as a scandal and a menace.

References

  1. ^ "Alexandre le bienheureux, le confiné joyeux" by Stéphane Dreyfus, 23 March 2020, La Croix (in French)
  2. ^ "Alexandre le bienheureux (1968)". JPBox-Office