In the sprawling, often sanitized history of French cinema, we tend to celebrate the same monuments: La Grande Illusion , The 400 Blows , Contempt . But tucked between the death of the New Wave and the rise of the cinéma du look lies a bizarre, forgotten year: 1976. It was an era of political hangover, economic stagnation, and a peculiar, desperate flowering of adult cinema seeking artistic legitimacy.
And it asks: What are you using to fill it? Le Bouche-trou -1976-
In that fertile gutter, one title stands as both a scandal and a requiem: (pronounced luh boosh-troo ), which translates crudely to "The Gap-Filler" or "The Plug." In the sprawling, often sanitized history of French