French
comedy- now there's something that can be pigeon-holed, oh no, and Les
Visiteurs is no exception. Jean Reno is 12th century knight,
Godefroy the Hardy, who is set to marry his sweetheart, Frenegonde (Valerie
Lemercier), when he accidentally kills her father. Distraught,
he consults a wizard, Eusebius, who tells him the only way to remedy
it is to travel back in time. Eusebius unfortunately makes a mess
of the spell and Godefroy and his manservant, Jacquart (Christian Clavier)
are catapulted into modern day France. Turning up at the house
of his descendant, Beatrice (Lemercier again), he begins his quest to
get back to his own time. This is at times an extraordinarily
funny film, Pythonesque almost on occasion, but it is not packed with
comedy. Or maybe it is- maybe French comedy is different and I
didn't recognise some of it. What I did notice was that there
is very little middle ground in the humour- it's either very clever
satire on stereotypes or it's farting. The two extremes and little
in between. And laugh I did indeed. Mostly. Reno is
great as Godefroy and so is Clavier as Jacquart, but to be honest all
the cast are very comfortable- it seems to be a French thing; their
acting always appears second nature. They just are the characters.
The fumbling of the two medieval men with the trappings of modernity
could have been made more of I thought, but when they do get into a
tangle it's always a funny one- in particular the phone and washing
themselves in the toilet bowl. Yes, the toilet bowl- I told you
there was no in-between. If you don't mind a bit of absurdity,
watch Les Visiteurs- it is a funny film, yes, but you won't die laughing.
Unless you're French........... probably. DJY
STORYLINE:
70% ACTING: 79% SPECIAL EFFECTS: n/a CINEMATOGRAPHY: 72%
OVERALL:
75%
Main
Cast List Christian Clavier .... Jacquouille/Jacquart Jean Reno .... Comte Godefroy
de Montmirail, dit Godefroy le Hardi Valérie Lemercier .... Beatrice/Frenegonde Marie-Anne Chazel .... Ginette
la clocharde Christian Bujeau .... Jean-Pierre Isabelle Nanty .... Fabienne
Morlot Gérard Séty .... Edgar Bernay Didier Pain .... King Louis
VI
