Jean-Pierre Mocky composes a film that allows him to denounce the bigotry of the religious, the racism of the bourgeoisie, the pedophilia in the church, but also to advocate free love and swinging to solve the problems of couples, for example, or as a solution to fight against pedophilia in the church.
Jean-Pierre Mocky, with his know-how, without being revolutionary on the form, realizes a well edited, well filmed, well directed film. It lacks perhaps some music, signed here by Vladimir Cosma. And its great success is the cast and the actors, some of whom have a physique that is original, to say the least, that we will never see them in French cinema, except perhaps with Bruno Dumont... In spite of their improbable face and actinf, the whole cast works and plays well: actors with disproportionate physiques, with iconoclastic phrasing or people who look like Mrs. Or Mr. Everyone.
So the story here is about a nun and a priest who are defrocked because they are having an affair. They decide to create an association, Les compagnons de la Pomponnette, which advocates swinging as a way to appease society and people. The church, the nobles, and the extreme right-wing see this association with a bad eye and do everything to annoy them.
The film contains some anthology scenes like the one of the chief of police with his lover or the one of the policeman with his very small wife and the sequence with the masks and the dance! Impossible to see this anywhere else but Jean-Pierre Mocky.
His cinema is a pleasant antidote to the single-mindedness of French cinema financed by television. Here Jean-Pierre Mocky is master on board through his production company, writing the script and directing.
