The Story:
In the bustling streets of post-war Paris, Léon Martin (Noël-Noël), a steadfast accountant who scoffs at the automobile age, cherishes his life on foot and by Metro—until his beloved daughter Mireille (Sophie Daumier) announces her engagement to Paul de Grandlieu (Gil Vidal), the dashing son of aristocratic industrialists who demand nothing less than motorized grandeur for their future son-in-law’s family.
Desperate to uphold middle-class pride and secure the union, Léon and his pragmatic wife Marguerite (Denise Grey) embark on a hilarious odyssey: enduring the rigors of driving lessons to earn their licenses, navigating the sleazy Auto Show where cunning salesmen swindle them into purchasing a lemon of a Quatre-Chevaux, and facing a catastrophic hunting expedition in the Sologne countryside aboard the family’s unreliable steed-on-wheels and reluctant horseback forays among high society snobs.
From mechanical mayhem to social faux pas, witness Léon’s uproarious rebellion against the roar of progress in this sparkling 1957 French comedy directed by Maurice Delbez, featuring breakout turns by Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean-Pierre Cassel—proving that true love trumps tailfins, and the pedestrian path leads to heartfelt victory!
