As the title of Michel Deville's film translates as the singularly uninviting 'The Rabid Sheep', there have naturally been a few alternatives, the most inappropriate of which must surely be 'Love at the Top'. Whoever thought that one up might perhaps have had in mind the earlier 'Room at the Top' and its sequel but Laurence Harvey's social climber Joe Lampton is a positive milquetoast compared to the Nicholas Mallet of Jean-Louis Trintignant. Monsieur Trintignant utilises his innate shyness and natural charm to great effect here so as to make his character less loathsome.

This film is the first of Deville's loosely connected trilogy that was to continue with the dark and disturbing 'Eaux Profondes' and culminate in his most accomplished, critically acclaimed and commercially successful 'Péril en la Demeure'. Of the three it is the most scathing and cynical and for this viewer at any rate, the weakest.

Trintignant's character is a latter day Bel Ami and the women he beds show precious little resistance, notably the enchanting nymphet of Jane Birkin who becomes remarkably docile after being clipped round the chops by our hero, gorgeous Romy Schneider's bored wife who pays the ultimate price for her infidelity, cougar Florinda Bolkan who paddles with both feet and septuagenerian Mary Marquet!

By far the most fascinating character and one that supplies the film's darkest element is the crippled writer Claude of Jean-Pierre Cassel, a near devilish personality who guides Nicholas on his way to sexual and financial success as well as living a life by proxy as he obviously covets his protegé's conquests. An astute critic has observed that Cassel and Trintignant could so easily have swapped roles.

Deville's preferred editor Raymonde Guyot guarantees a brisk pace whilst the excellent use of the music of Saint-Saens, notably his Third Symphony, reminds us that he is credited with writing the first film score for 'L'Assassinat du Duke de Guise' in 1908.

Is there a moral to the tale? 'Be careful what you wish for....' would seem the most apt.

Michel Deville quietly left us and this world a few weeks ago, and his disappearance would have gone unnoticed, for me at least, if some television stations had not marked the sad event by programming some of his films. A contemporary and colleague of the formidable New Wave generation, Deville was an interesting and quite prolific director. Somewhat more conservatory in style than his more famous colleagues, he was bolder in his choice of themes, making (and sometimes writing) films about unusual relationships between men and women, set in social environments where corruption and ambiguity are rule. He was also considered an excellent 'director of actors', so that the names of most of the famous French actresses and actors of the eras in which he created appear on the credits of his films. 'Le Mouton enragé' (the English distribution title is 'Love at the Top'), released in 1974, is one such example. I chose to see the film for its formidable cast, and I discovered an interesting movie, a story of social ascension through unusual means that could not have been brought to the screen in this way today, and which, if ever a 'remake' is made, will look completely different.

Nicolas Mallet is a bank clerk dressed in gray suits and wearing bland ties. Shy and uninteresting, he allows himself to be manipulated by his friend Claude Fabre, a failed writer who lives off private French grammar lessons given in bistros. A kind of puppet manipulated into deeds and adventures far different from his psychological profile. At Claude's prompting, Nicolas enters into relationships with very different women, then with politicians, leaves his stable job to become an intermediary in politics (today we would call him a lobbyist) and in dubious dealings at an increasingly higher levels. The fun thing is that the scheme succeeds beyond all expectations. The marionette proves to be a talented lover, the women he conquers are gorgeous and the politicians he supports are elected to Parliament. For the manipulator Claude the only reward seems to be the detailed accounts that Nicolas gives about his adventures. Any pyramid business, however, risks eventually collapsing.

In the story taken from Roger Blondel's novel, the separation between the roles of men and women in relationships is one that would not be accepted in today's movies. Nicolas, behind his shyness, is almost a predator seducer and the women who meet him seem to easily become his victims. But is that really how things are? The three women that Nicolas (played by Jean-Louis Trintignant) meets are very different from each other. Marie-Paule (Jane Birkin at the peak of her youth and beauty) may be a prostitute, but she is sincerely in love. Roberte (Romy Schneider in one of her most sensual roles) is looking for an escape from a boring marriage and knows her interests well, even if they fall outside the social norms. Finally, Flora (Florinda Bolkan) manages her relationships in a calculated way and does not lend herself to the role of victim at all. Behind all these social intrigues played with the tools of love is Claude, played by Jean-Pierre Cassel, who today we almost automatically call 'the father of ...', but who was himself a formidable actor. Seeing him in this film we understand where the son inherited his talent but also the look of the man who knows much more than he says. 'Le Mouton enragé' is a film that must be seen without prejudice and especially not through the lens of the cinematic moralism of 2023. It is not Michel Deville's best film, and precisely because of this it is proof that he was a director whose name must neither be forgotten nor ignored.

LOVE AT THE TOP--the utterly wrongheaded American title for the superb French film "Le Mouton Enrage" (which means, I think, The Rabid Sheep)-- is such an original movie, the fact that it dates back to 1974 seems all the more astounding. This film was far ahead of its time; even by today's highest standards, it accomplishes things that seem rich and new. Filmed by the hugely underrated director Michel Deville, it rather defies description in the way it combines social critique, comedy, mystery, love, sex and satire into one wholly original mix--leaving for the end a major but subtle surprise to render all that has gone before suddenly sad and more understandable. The cast is splendid, ditto the writing and theme. But it's Deville's delicious tone, keeping you constantly off-balance but enrapt, that pushes this "lost" film to a very high level indeed. (The written interview with the director on the "Special Features" section of the DVD is definitely worth reading if you have the time.)