Un éléphant ça trompe énormément (1976)

There were so many funny things in this movie that at one point, I couldn't laugh anymore. It's about 4 friends: Étienne (Jean Rochefort), a civil servant who is faithful to his wife Marthe; Daniel (Claude Brasseur) who is full of life and loves to do silly things; Bouly (Victor Lanoux), a big man who cries like a baby when his wife left him, taking the children and all the furniture - except a telephone; and Simon (Guy Bedos), a pessimistic doctor and dear son of his vulgar mom. These 4 guys play tennis regularly.

The central character is Étienne, who also narrates the movie. This loyal husband sees a beautiful woman in red in his company's parking lot [Imagine Marilyn Monroe wearing red in The Seven Year Itch. Then imagine a guy wearing a coat standing on the same grate.] and decides to have an affair with her. However he makes a date with the wrong woman ... twice! This poor guy never understands why his female colleague suddenly scratches his car. After a long search to find his dream girl's identity, Étienne goes every Thursday for horse riding because he is told that she is a regular there. The scenes with the horse are hilarious. It seems the animal always does the opposite of his master's wishes. Étienne finally can sleep with the woman in his dream and it seems all goes well, until her husband returns and Étienne finds himself upon the roof of her apartment building, wearing only a bathrobe, and people below think that he is going to commit a suicide. Soon, TV reporters arrive, along with the fire brigade.

I wonder what Marthe thinks when she sees the news about Étienne's "suicide". The last time she saw him, they just celebrated his birthday. She saw the beautiful Charlotte (woman in red), but as Daniel came to save the day, maybe Mathe thought Charlotte was Daniel's. Then Étienne's 3 friends came to take him away, to help Bouly whose wife had left him again. He didn't return that night. In the next morning, Marthe called Étienne's office, but he was not there either. Does Marthe know why Étienne is "committing suicide"? The sequel will be on TV next week, perhaps the answer is there.

I like the T-shirt worn by Bouly. It says 'Bisoo Bisoo' with pictures of red lips. Btw, I had a talk a while ago, that for men, friends are more important than family. In this movie, it is true.