La Vie De Chateau (1966)

Along the coast of 1944 Normandy just before an allied landing, a flighty and bored wife (Catherine Deneuve) of a landowner (Philippe Noiret) catches the fancy of both a resistance fighter (the rather charmless Henri Garcin) and a Nazi commanding officer (Carlos Thompson). One has to hand it to the director and writer Jean Paul Rappeneau for his audacity in doing a screwball comedy with wild and crazy comic Nazis and a menage a quatre against the backdrop of the D-Day landing. It only partly works. Peacetime military comedies like OPERATION MAD BALL or wartime black comedies like CATCH 22 tend to work better than films that take a light hearted approach to wartime activities. Deneuve's slightly airheaded heroine seems more concerned with kicking up her heels and seeing the Paris nightlife than the occupation of her country by the Third Reich. But the players, particularly Noiret, bring some much needed levity to the proceedings. The melodic and lush score is by Michel Legrand. With Pierre Brasseur (CHILDREN OF PARADISE) and stealing scenes, Mary Marquet as Noiret's sharp tongued German hating mother.