''The Hairdresser's Husband'' (french: Le Mari de la coiffeuse), a 1990 French

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film written by

Patrice Leconte Patrice Leconte (; born 12 November 1947) is a French film director, actor, comic strip writer, and screenwriter. Life and career Leconte grew up in Tours, and began making little amateur films at 15. He went to Paris in 1967 and studied at Insti ...

and Claude Klotz, and directed by Leconte. Jean Rochefort stars as the title character.

Anna Galiena Anna Galiena (born 22 December 1954) is an Italian actress, best known to English-speaking audiences for her appearances in ''Le Mari de la coiffeuse'', '' Jamón, jamón'', '' Being Human'' and ''Senso '45''. Movie career In her youth, Galien ...

co-stars. The film received the

Prix Louis Delluc The Louis Delluc Prize (french: Prix Louis-Delluc ) is a French film award presented annually since 1937. The award is bestowed to the Best Film and Best First Film of the year on the second week of each December. The jury is composed of 20 members, ...

. In 1991 it was nominated for "Best Foreign-Language Film" in the

British Academy Film Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

Synopsis

The film begins with a flashback from the titular character, Antoine. We are introduced to his fixation with female

hairdresser A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be refe ...

s which began at a young age. The film uses flashbacks throughout and there are frequent parallels drawn with the past. Though Antoine tells Mathilde that 'the past is dead', his life is evidence that on some level the past repeats itself. As a young boy he fantasised about a hairdresser who died by suicide and as a man in his 50s he begins an affair with a hairdresser which ends after ten years in her suicide. However, there are differences: Mathilde dies by suicide because she is so happy she is afraid of the happiness she has found with Antoine ending. We are unsure what Antoine has done with his life; we know, however, that he has fulfilled his childhood ambition: to marry a hairdresser. The reality proves to be every bit as wonderful as the fantasy and the two enjoy an enigmatic, enclosed and enchanting relationship. The final sequence shows Antoine, in the salon, dancing to Eastern music just as he has done throughout his life. His last line is the enigmatic comment that the hairdresser will return.

Cast

* Jean Rochefort as Antoine *

as Mathilde *

Roland Bertin Roland Bertin (born 16 November 1930) is a French stage and film actor. He has appeared in at least 100 films and television shows since 1970. Selected filmography * '' Le Petit théâtre de Jean Renoir'' (1970) (a.k.a. ''The Little Theatre of ...

as Antoine's father *

Maurice Chevit Maurice Chevit (31 October 1923 – 2 July 2012) was a French actor. Maurice Chevit made his theatrical début just after the Second World War, and made his first screen appearance in 1946 in René Clément's film ''Le Père tranquille''. In ...

as Ambroise Dupré dit Isidore Agopian *

Jacques Mathou Jacques Mathou is a French actor, best known for his appearance in ''Delicatessen''. Filmography * 1985 : ''Tranches de vie'' * 1986 : ''Betty Blue'', Bob * 1987 : ''L'été en pente douce'' * 1987 : '' Si le soleil ne revenait pas'' * 1989 : '' ...

as Mr. Chardon * Philippe Clévenot as Morvoisieux * Anne-Marie Pisani as Madame Shaeffer *

Albert Delpy Albert Delpy (born 13 September 1941) is a Vietnamese-born French actor and writer. He has appeared in more than one hundred films since 1970. Personal life He is the father of Julie Delpy and has appeared as her on-screen father in '' 2 Days in ...

as Donecker *

Michèle Laroque Michèle Laroque (; born 15 June 1960) is a French actress, comedian, humorist, producer and screenwriter. Early life Michèle Laroque was born in Nice in the department of Alpes-Maritimes. She is the daughter of Romanian dancer and violinis ...

as Adopted Child's Mother

Reception

The film received the 1990

which it shared with ''

Le Petit Criminel ''The Little Gangster'' (french: Le Petit Criminel) is a 1990 French drama film directed by Jacques Doillon. It was entered into the 41st Berlin International Film Festival The 41st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 15 ...

'' by

Jacques Doillon Jacques Doillon (; born 15 March 1944) is a French film director. He has a habit of giving lead roles to inexperienced young actresses in his films on family life and women. Some actresses to break through are Fanny Bastien, Sandrine Bonnaire, Ju ...

. American film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

added this to his "Great Movies" list on January 27, 2010. The film was nominated for the

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

of the

Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics The Belgian Film Critics Association (french: Union de la critique de cinéma, UCC) is an organization of film critics from publications based in Brussels, Belgium. History The Belgian Film Critics Association was founded in the early 1950s in Br ...

Home media

''The Hairdresser's Husband'' was released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in April 2011. The DVD is compatible region code 4.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his length ...

and also contains a great deal of Middle Eastern popular music. It was first released as an album in Japan by Soundtrack Listeners Communications (SLC) September 21, 1992 and has subsequently been released elsewhere.

References

External links

* *
''The Hairdresser's Husband''
at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

Review of ''The Hairdresser's Husband''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hairdressers Husband 1990 films 1990s romantic comedy-drama films French romantic comedy-drama films 1990s French-language films Films directed by Patrice Leconte Louis Delluc Prize winners Films scored by Michael Nyman 1990 comedy-drama films Hairdressing 1990s French films