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Mado

Mado

Movie · 1976 · 3 people

Claude Sautet directed the 1976 drama Mado, a French-Italian-German co-production adapted from a Gilberte Chatton novella. Running about two hours and fifteen minutes, it portrays the ruthless business world of the 1970s through money, betrayal and isolation. The cast includes Michel Piccoli, Ottavia Piccolo, Jacques Dutronc, Charles Denner and Romy Schneider.

At its centre is Simon Léotard, a wealthy property developer who lives with his elderly father. He has never intended to marry Hélène, whom he sees only now and then, and spends time with Mado, a prostitute. The suicide of his partner Julien, followed by the discovery of a huge embezzlement, upends everything: Julien left enormous debts to Lépidon, a corrupt businessman, and Simon is near ruin. Simon refuses Lépidon's settlement offer. Through Mado he obtains papers proving a swindle by Manecca, Lépidon's former associate, and uses them against Barachet, a corrupt former official, who must sell a plot of land for a token sum. That rescues Simon's business, but the price of the victory emerges later.

Sautet wrote the screenplay with Claude Néron, Philippe Sarde composed the score and André Génovès produced. The film combines a solitary man's melodrama with a circle of friends eager to get ahead.

DirectorClaude Sautet

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Cast

Only cast members with a profile on this site are listed.

Dominique Zardi Actor · died at 79 Lucienne Legrand Lucienne Legrand Actor · died at 102 Nathalie Baye Nathalie Baye Actor · died at 77

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Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

In Mado, Claude Sautet portrays the seventies business world not as a thriller but through one lonely man's moral unravelling. The chess game Simon Léotard plays between debt, betrayal and documents obtained as leverage suggests a carefully woven script, co-written with Claude Néron. A strong cast including Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider and Charles Denner is well suited to carrying scenes on small glances. Philippe Sarde's score feeds the film's melancholy tone. My reservation is the length: about two hours and fifteen minutes weighs on a character-driven story like this, and the time given to the circle of ambitious friends may at times scatter the main thread. Still, it is a mature drama that questions the cost of winning.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Mado looks at the underside of the ruthless seventies business world: corruption, swindles and a corrupt former official forced to sell a plot of land for a token sum. Through Hélène, whom Simon has never meant to marry, and Mado, with whom he spends his time, the film also shows how money shapes human relationships. A circle of friends eager to get ahead reflects the era's hunger to climb. The loneliness of a wealthy developer living with his elderly father lays bare the gap between material success and emotional poverty. It is a cold but honest mirror held up to the period's business ethics.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

This one is not for children. The story deals with grown-up subjects such as a suicide, a huge embezzlement and a relationship with a prostitute. It also runs about two hours and fifteen minutes, which may feel long and heavy even for teenagers. If you want an adult drama that makes you think about money and betrayal, watch it with your partner or friends. For a family evening, I would pick something else.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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