La Truite (The Trout, 1982) is a plodding modern drama of flirtations & infidelities, well acted but only sporadically interesting. To outline just one of the plot threads, Frederique (Isabelle Huppert in a goofy pageboy wig for much of the film) is a country girl in a cover-marriage with a gay artist (Jacques Spiesser). She pulls a minor grift in a bowling alley, which wins the admiration of a wealthy man (Jean-Pierre Cassel) & the jealousy of his wife (Jeanne Moreau).

But Frederique runs off from her gay husband, who becomes disconsolate without her. She heads off to Tokyo with yet another weathy man (Daniel Olbrychski), only to abandon him & have a fling with a Japanese guy (Ippo Fujikawa). The misery everyone causes everyone with their misdirected desires results in two deaths & a happy ever after coda that makes no sense whatsoever.

I could never fully get past the idea that millionaires go bowling in France. I certainly didn't care how many guys Frederique could take advantage of while attempting to avoid ever having sex with any of them. Neither Hubbert nor anyone else, except Moreau, seems at all pleased to be employed in this dog, & make no attempt to turn in good performances.

Oh, another exception is Japanese actor Isao Yamagata, a great supporting star from many popular samurai films, who does awfully well considering he's acting in someone else's language, & probably couldn't judge how awful the French script really was so thought he might be in a good movie. Most of the rest of the cast seems just a little disappointed with every scene they have to be in.

If La Truite had been filmed in 1962 instead of 1982 it might have at least seemed daring for the time. It still wouldn't've been any good.

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