A Widow at Last (Enfin veuve)

Each week, FrenchFlicks selects a French film available on TV5MONDE Cinema on Demand. The streaming service presents an assortment of 30 French language films including recent releases and timeless classics, festival favorites, films and series never before seen on television in the US!

This month features a selection of classic French comedies from the past 40 years, including A Widow at Last (Enfin veuve), a film by Isabelle Mergault, famous in France for popular sentimental comedies that win the hearts of millions of French people.

A beleaguered housewife watches her dreams come true when her obnoxious husband dies, in actress-turned-director Isabelle Mergault's romantic comedy The Merry Widow (AKA Enfin veuve). For years, Anne-Marie Gratigny (Michele Laroque) has buckled beneath the weight of her condescending husband, Gilbert's (Wladimir Yordanoff) constant oppressiveness. An unrelenting boor, he belittles her, chides her, and torments her - until the day that he perishes in an automobile accident. Anne-Marie, of course, is thrilled by this turn of events. Among other things, it will give her the freedom to abscond with her extramarital lover, Leo (Jacques Gamblin), a builder of boats who is preparing to head off to China on business and to take Anne-Marie along. Unfortunately for Anne-Marie, these plans are dashed when her unwittingly intrusive family moves in to "console" her and upsets her relationship with Leo. More problematically, Anne-Marie finds that she can never quite bring herself to the point of confessing her true feelings about any of the tumultuous events that have happened.

A Widow at Last

“Isabelle Mergault livre une comédie fraîche et divertissante" - La Croix

"Si la première demi-heure, portée par une Michèle Laroque en grande forme, fait beaucoup rire, le film adopte ensuite un ton plus dramatique (...) Le duo Laroque-Gamblin s'en donne à coeur joie, mais Isabelle Mergault a su aussi soigner ses seconds rôles." - Le Parisien

Now also available: L'année des méduses, Le bal des casses-pieds, Le tournoi, Les meilleurs amis du monde, On va s'aimer, babysitting 2 and much more.