Andrew can’t get over his wife’s death. Prey to melancholy, he flees London and reaches France. There, he returns to the castle where, long ago, he and the deceased had fallen in love with each other. Now, in order to be able to stay there, here he is who improvises as a trial butler for the equally imperious and enigmatic Madame Beauvillier, the chatelaine. A temperamental cook-housekeeper, a gardener overcome with love and a maid who is hiding something complete the unusual household. With the talented John Malkovich and Fanny Ardant in his credits, we expected better from Completely burned!.
This is a pretty spectacular failure. Trained as a pyrotechnician for cinema, publicist in this field and finally writer, Gilles Legardinier directed and co-wrote (with Christel Henon, who produced) Completely burned!. This, according to his own novel. If the adage is that you are never as well served as by yourself, there are exceptions.
This film is certainly one of them.
Nothing is right in this embarrassingly “unfunny” comedy. The film aims to be light, casual and eccentric at the same time. However, the result turns out to be cumbersome, calculated and banal. The story contains a large grain of madness, but suffers from too little imaginative treatment.
With its kitsch accents, the style is certainly pretty, but borrowed (notably from François Ozon). In the production, Legardinier uses arbitrary flashiness, camera movements and compositions often appearing random. The same goes for directing actors, unfortunately.
Thus a gallery of experienced actresses and comedians (including Émilie Dequenne) finds itself left to its own devices. This gives an uneven interpretation, with everyone not seeming to be playing in the same film (we go from restraint to caricature). In short, this sluggish exercise will not renew the “masters and servants” formula. The turnip is served, for whoever wants it.