June 2nd: YOYO (Pierre Étaix, 1965)

A millionaire runs away with the circus after falling in love with one of its performers, and decades later his son, a professional clown, returns to the now-dilapidated family estate.

Pierre Étaix was born in Roanne, France, and worked as a musician, illustrator, and circus clown before moving to Paris in the mid 1950s to perform in nightclubs. He found work with filmmaker Jacques Tati (Playtime, Mon Oncle) writing gags and as an assistant director.

Also working with Tati was Étaix's future collaborator, screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere. The two would go on to write seven films together. They began with two shorts, using the soundtracks primarily for effects and music, with a focus on silent film gags. The second, Happy Anniversary, won the Oscar for Live Action Short Subject.

After the commercial and critical success of his first feature, The Suitor, Étaix embarked on a far more ambitious work. Both personal in its partial circus setting, and flirting with surrealism, the film satisfies on a comedic level while it challenges an audience not used to such shifts in emotion, tone, and narrative form.

The film was shot in Paris studios as well as various locations across the country, with cinematographer Jean Boffety (Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?) behind the camera. Étaix plays the roles of both father and son, and is joined in the cast by Claudine Auger (Thunderball).

Reception was more mixed this time around, though Étaix continued to direct features for the rest of the 1960s. A disastrous distribution deal left his films locked away and unseen for decades, leaving Étaix to return to the circus, with occasional appearances on television and other director's films.

After a petition signed by cinematic luminaries such as David Lynch, Jean-Luc Godard, Woody Allen, and Terry Gilliam in the late-2000s brought attention to the lost work, much legal red tape was untangled and Étaix's filmography was finally freed, restored, and re-released, returning his name to the forefront of innovative film comedians.

Running time is approx. 90 minutes.