Since that’s how it is, he leaves. His wife cheats on him. He doesn’t make a big deal out of it. Paul-Émile, known as Victor, gets on his bike and follows his rival’s wife on the roads to Compostela. Long live the sabbatical years, this delicately charming literature professor seems to say. France is turning into a playground. It’s a change from high school. The province must be traveled by all possible and imaginable means, bicycle (already mentioned), TER, Vespa and even barge.
The journey allows the hero to find a host of former conquests. We feel that he broke up out of thoughtlessness. He didn’t mean anything bad. Surprises await you. We come across an SNCF free rider gently scolded by the controller, a lesbian couple wanting to have a son, a teacher converted to burglarizing notables. Anny Duperey rehearses her funeral. Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, jealous as hell, consoles himself with Les Contrebandiers de Moonfleet.
It wanders, wanders, zigzags. This praise of the unexpected constitutes a praise of the aperitif, of chance encounters, of a certain sweetness of life. Carefreeness reigns supreme in this column which mixes quotes from Renoir (Auguste) and Buzzati (Dino), drunken meals and disenchanted discussions. There is a scent of extended vacations. Effort is prohibited here. We see convertible Beetles, houses that seem to come from the Countess of Ségur’s house, electric trains, furtive kisses that have the taste of the vanished past. Literary and good-natured, Pascal Thomas practices truant cinema. He does his shopping right and left, an all-round arrow, shaking up the inertia of everyday life, pouring fantasy into the banality of days. This director has always been out of fashion. That’s how you become a classic.
Also read Pascal Thomas: “Boredom is what I hate most in the world”
There is something terribly French in this walk which illustrates Chardonne’s maxim: “Love is much more than love.” The winks abound: the trial of the former fiancées recalls Disappointment, by Philip Roth. Alexandre Lafaurie makes the best use of his touching basketball player figure. No one will be surprised that among the scouts his totem was Helpful Pinson (other version: Bold Rooster). Barbara Schulz is on fire. Pierre Arditi grumbles in Latin. Hippolyte Girardot is caught red-handed (translate: pants around his ankles).
The film is cheerful like a Trenet song, light like a Paul-Jean Toulet poem. This lightness, this cheerfulness are unforgivable sins. The Journey in Pajamas is fresh, natural, lively like a rugby player, obvious like a childhood memory. France, as we know, is a land of great wines. There are also local wines. They are made the old-fashioned way and intended for real dilettantes. The Thomas 2024 should be enjoyed without delay. It’s a thirst film. We drink spring in January.
Le Figaro’s opinion: 3/4
