PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- A 12th century knight in modern-day France is the well-traveled comic premise of Miramax's ''Les Visiteurs, '' a farcical divertissement that was a bonne hit as the opening night film at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Select-site audiences with a capacity for bawdy humor will take a shine to this ribald knavery.
In this slapstick skulduggery, Jean Reno stars as Godefroy, a knight and warrior whose valor in saving the life of the King of France, aka Fat Louis, is rewarded with a fair wench. Unfortunately, in his trek to fetch the damsel, Godefroy and trusty squire Jacquouille (Christian Clavier) are bedeviled by some witchy and wizardy hocus-pocus. Zuts alors, they are transported smack dab into 20th century France. With their armor and body odor, and no particular great quest in mind, they encounter the abrasions of modern-day life a la Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. The most aggravating modern reality for the courtly Godefroy is that his castle has been turned into a trendy hotel run by an imperiously snide commoner who, alas, bears a striking resemblance to his manservant, Jacquouille.
Tonally, ''Les Visiteurs'' is akin to ''The Miller's Tale, '' coarsed with low humor and rampant irreverencies. Cinematically, screenwriter-director Jean-Marie Poire's slapstick elan is in the tradition of fellow French farceur Yves Roberts and is graced with Blake Edwards' appreciation for the aesthetics of flatulence. Appropriately, the supporting characters are a menagerie of pompous fools, including a fussy dentist, a stuffy banker and the aforementioned priggish hotelier. All are wonderful targets for the narrative's comic jousts and anti-modernity thrusts.
While it's difficult to cast aspersions on an artistic endeavor that includes goodly amounts of belching and farting, the comedy does wander into crass territory hither and yon, including a glossy and false romantic subplot with a modern-day bag lady-artiste that reaks of slick contrivance. Still, a grocery-store bouquet of flowers to filmmaker Poire for the juicy composition.
Among the players, Clavier's dual performance as the oafish squire and persnickety hotel owner stands out. Among the technical contributors, production designer Hugues Tissandier's high-and-low creations cast wicked satirical salvos upon the everyday hideousness of 20th century life.
LES VISITEURS
Miramax
Producer Alain Terzian
Screenwriter-director Jean-Marie Poire
Director of photography Jean-Yves Le Mener
Production designer Hugues Tissandier
Costume designer Catherine Leterrier
Editor Catherine Kelber
Sound mixers Claude Villand, Bernard Leroux
Special-effects makeup Jacques Gastineau
Mechanical special effects Jean-Marc Mouligne
Color/stereo
Cast:
Godefroy Jean Reno
Jacquouille-Jacquart Christian Clavier
Frenegonde-Beatrice Valerie Lemercier
Ginette Marie-Anne Chazel
Jean-Pierre Christian Bujeau
Fabienne Morlot Isabelle Nanty
Edgar Bernay Gerard Sety
Louis VI Didier Pain
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
In this slapstick skulduggery, Jean Reno stars as Godefroy, a knight and warrior whose valor in saving the life of the King of France, aka Fat Louis, is rewarded with a fair wench. Unfortunately, in his trek to fetch the damsel, Godefroy and trusty squire Jacquouille (Christian Clavier) are bedeviled by some witchy and wizardy hocus-pocus. Zuts alors, they are transported smack dab into 20th century France. With their armor and body odor, and no particular great quest in mind, they encounter the abrasions of modern-day life a la Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. The most aggravating modern reality for the courtly Godefroy is that his castle has been turned into a trendy hotel run by an imperiously snide commoner who, alas, bears a striking resemblance to his manservant, Jacquouille.
Tonally, ''Les Visiteurs'' is akin to ''The Miller's Tale, '' coarsed with low humor and rampant irreverencies. Cinematically, screenwriter-director Jean-Marie Poire's slapstick elan is in the tradition of fellow French farceur Yves Roberts and is graced with Blake Edwards' appreciation for the aesthetics of flatulence. Appropriately, the supporting characters are a menagerie of pompous fools, including a fussy dentist, a stuffy banker and the aforementioned priggish hotelier. All are wonderful targets for the narrative's comic jousts and anti-modernity thrusts.
While it's difficult to cast aspersions on an artistic endeavor that includes goodly amounts of belching and farting, the comedy does wander into crass territory hither and yon, including a glossy and false romantic subplot with a modern-day bag lady-artiste that reaks of slick contrivance. Still, a grocery-store bouquet of flowers to filmmaker Poire for the juicy composition.
Among the players, Clavier's dual performance as the oafish squire and persnickety hotel owner stands out. Among the technical contributors, production designer Hugues Tissandier's high-and-low creations cast wicked satirical salvos upon the everyday hideousness of 20th century life.
LES VISITEURS
Miramax
Producer Alain Terzian
Screenwriter-director Jean-Marie Poire
Director of photography Jean-Yves Le Mener
Production designer Hugues Tissandier
Costume designer Catherine Leterrier
Editor Catherine Kelber
Sound mixers Claude Villand, Bernard Leroux
Special-effects makeup Jacques Gastineau
Mechanical special effects Jean-Marc Mouligne
Color/stereo
Cast:
Godefroy Jean Reno
Jacquouille-Jacquart Christian Clavier
Frenegonde-Beatrice Valerie Lemercier
Ginette Marie-Anne Chazel
Jean-Pierre Christian Bujeau
Fabienne Morlot Isabelle Nanty
Edgar Bernay Gerard Sety
Louis VI Didier Pain
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 1/10/1994
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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