Sébastien's proposed contemporizing performance of a classicizing tragedy (in other words, one that was already looking backwards from the 17th century) may not be as funny as the Broadway musical version of Faust attempted in The Band Wagon (1953), but it has a high wit and gives you considerably more to ponder. The irony is subtle — there are only a few times when something Sébastien says makes you laugh out loud — but irresistible for anyone interested in narrative paradox. L'Amour fou is one of the few movies, and one of the best, to deal directly with a literary subject. It's at the very pinnacle, alongside Paul Schrader and Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988).