YOYO

Beautifully filmed in black-and-white, with a more substantial story and richer characterizations to accompany its gag sequences (including an amazing bout of below-the-ankle sex), YOYO is arguably Étaix’s finest and most fully achieved film. It begins in 1925 as a silent movie, with Étaix as a filthy rich and hilariously lazy sybarite. The Depression brings financial ruin and turns the film into a talkie, as the man’s son (also Étaix) becomes a circus clown who vows to restore the family chateau to its former glory. In French with English subtitles. 35mm. (MR)