''Yo Yo'', original title ''Yoyo'', is a 1965 French

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by and starring

Pierre Étaix Pierre Étaix (; 23 November 1928 – 14 October 2016) was a French clown, comedian and filmmaker. Étaix made a series of short- and feature-length films, many of them co-written by influential screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière. He won an A ...

. The story follows the son of a millionaire from the 1920s to the 1960s. After losing his fortune in the stock-exchange crash, he teams up with an equestrienne and becomes a circus clown. The film was entered into the

1965 Cannes Film Festival The 18th Cannes Film Festival was held from 3 to 16 May 1965. Olivia de Havilland became the first woman president of the jury. The Grand Prix du Festival International du Film went to '' The Knack …and How to Get It'' by Richard Lester. The ...

Plot

Yo Yo is the son of a 1920s billionaire who, although having everything he fancies and living in a cavernous old castle, is not happy, fancying the simple life of a beautiful circus actress. When the stock-exchange crashes, rendering him both poor and free, he joins the circus where his love interest is performing, and falls madly in love. They have a son who starts in the circus as a clown but later becomes a successful actor and uses his new wealth to buy back his father's castle.

Cast

as Yoyo / the millionaire *

Claudine Auger Claudine Auger (born Claudine Oger; 26 April 1941 – 18 December 2019) was a French actress best known for her role as a Bond girl, Dominique "Domino" Derval, in the James Bond film '' Thunderball'' (1965). She earned the title of Miss F ...

as Isolina * Philippe Dionnet as Yoyo as a child * Luce Klein as the equestrienne * Siam as a clown * Pipo as a clown * Dario as a clown * Mimile as a clown * Martine de Breteuil as Madame de Briac * Roger Trapp as Leroy

Release

The film was released in French cinemas on 19 February 1965. It competed at the

, where it received the OCIC Award. It was released in the United States on 28 February 1967 through Magna Pictures Distribution.

Reception

The film received some harsh reviews in France, which affected Étaix's next film, '' As Long as You've Got Your Health''. Jean-Luc Godard included ''Yo Yo'' on his top-ten list of the best films of 1965. The American comedian Jerry Lewis saw the film during a visit to France and enjoyed it so much that he asked to meet its creator. A French television team that had been appointed to interview Lewis captured the meeting, where the two comedians, limited by the language barrier, made impressions of each other's comedy routines and improvised clown acts together. Lewis later cast Étaix in his own unreleased film ''

The Day the Clown Cried ''The Day the Clown Cried'' is an unfinished and unreleased 1972 Swedish-French drama film directed by and starring Jerry Lewis. It is based on an original screenplay by Joan O'Brien and Charles Denton, from a story idea by O'Brien, with addit ...

''.

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' reviewed the film upon the American release:

Mr. Etaix is marvelously talented. He is a master of subtle mimicry, and he plays all sorts of charming little incidents with great sensitivity and wit. ... But that's the trouble with his picture. It's too casual, fragmented and loose. It's as though Mr. Etaix were writing his script as he goes along, tossing in scenes he remembers from somebody else's film, letting himself do something (he also plays several minor roles without taking credit for them) more to display his virtuosity than to develop a story and character.

In 2007, ''

Time Out London ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...

'' described the film as "possibly the best of Etaix's features", and wrote that "Etaix has just enough astringency to keep sentimentality at bay, and his mastery of the sight gag amply justifies Jerry Lewis' enthusiasm for the film, which is singularly beautifully shot by Jean Boffety."

References

External links

* * {{Pierre Étaix 1965 films 1965 comedy films Circus films 1960s French-language films French black-and-white films Films directed by Pierre Étaix Films set in the 1920s Films set in the 1930s Films set in the 1940s Films with screenplays by Jean-Claude Carrière French World War II films French comedy films