Three Men and a Cradle (French: Trois hommes et un couffin) is a 1985 French comedy film by Coline Serreau. The film was remade in Hollywood as Three Men and a Baby in 1987, which subsequently inspired nine adaptations in seven languages.
Plot
Jacques, Pierre, and Michel, three bachelors, share a spacious apartment in the heart of Paris.
One evening, during a party held in their apartment, Jacques, a professional steward, agrees to act as a courier for a package that a friend will deliver to him the next day. With little time to inform his friends, he departs for the Far East for several weeks. Upon the arrival of the "package", Jacques' roommates discover the baby seems to be Jacques' daughter, sent by her mother, Sylvia, citing her work commitments as preventing her from caring for the child. Reluctantly, the two friends, unaccustomed to the responsibilities of parenthood, find themselves overwhelmed by the demands of caring for an infant—feeding, changing diapers, and enduring sleepless nights.
One morning, two individuals come to claim the "package". Initially relieved, they hand over the cradle, only to realize moments later that the actual "package" awaited by the men was delivered by the caretaker days earlier, containing illicit drugs. Pierre and Michel narrowly rescue little Marie but must now swiftly return the drugs to menacing traffickers, all while under constant police surveillance. They eventually dispose of the incriminating cargo.
Upon Jacques' return from his travels, the baby is reunited with her mother, and to their own surprise, the absence of the child leaves a void in their lives. However, the child's mother eventually brings her back to the roommates, marking the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of the three men as they adapt to caring for the baby.
Cast
- Roland Giraud as Pierre
- Michel Boujenah as Michel
- André Dussollier as Jacques
- Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu as Sylvia
- Dominique Lavanant as Madame Rapons
- Marthe Villalonga as Antoinette
- Annick Alane as The Pharmacist
Reception
Critical response
Three Man and a Cradle has an approval rating of 72% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 18 reviews, and an average rating of 6.2/10. Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 44 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Accolades
Remakes
Trois hommes et un couffin was remade by Hollywood in English as Three Men and a Baby in 1987.
See also
- List of submissions to the 58th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of French submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Notes
References
External links
- Trois hommes et un couffin
- Trois hommes et un couffin at IMDb
- Three Men and a Cradle at Rotten Tomatoes
- Three Men and a Cradle at Box Office Mojo
- 18 ans après
- 18 ans après at IMDb
