Joyeuses Pâques (1984)

Director:

Georges Lautner

Writer:

Jean Poiret (adaptation)

Release Date:

24 October 1984 (France)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Nudity | Undressing | Man Pretending To Be Father | Easter

Cast

Jean-Paul Belmondo	...	Stephane Margelle
Sophie Marceau	...	Julie
Marie Laforêt	...	Sophie Margelle
Rosy Varte	...	Marlène Chataigneau, la mère de Julie
Michel Beaune	...	Rousseau
Marie-Christine Descouard	...	Melle Fleury
Gérard Hernandez	...	Le serveur du restaurant indien
Elisabeth Kolhammar	...	Marguerite, la bonne
Flora Alberti
Marc Lamole	...	Le médecin
Maurice Auzel	...	Le chauffeur de taxi myope
Laura Ballard	...	Le belle nageuse
Charly Bertoni	...	L'interne de l'hôpital (as Charles Bertoni)
Christian Bianchi
Gérard Camp	...	M. Delarue, un invité

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:6 (nf)

Filming Locations:

Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company:

Cerito Films

Trivia:

8th highest grossing movie of its year in France.

Movie Connections:

References Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Soundtrack:

Like a bird in the wind

A "must" for (at least Hungarian) Easter time

Similarly to my fellow citizen, I also find it rather peculiar, that out of six comments on this film, four (and from now on five) have been written by Hungarians. It is also strange to see, that the other two reviewers (from Germany) claim that this movie is rubbish. It would be really fascinating to read a french viewer's opinion, since that is the original language of "Joyeuses Paques". So should someone from France, who also has seen the film read these lines, please impart your impressions. The fact that there is such a gap between the German and Hungarian opinions, gives rise to much controversy. Is this a good film or a bad one? Is this really one of the funniest roles of Belmondo (according to the Hungarian view), or is his acting merely barnstorming (according to the German view)? First and foremost I have to admit that I, as a Hungarian utterly enjoy the movie every time I see it. I have to watch it every Easter time, and as it was mentioned by others people really know some lines by heart from this film. My family is rolling with laughter whenever this piece of art is on TV. I bought it on DVD this spring, and we've seen it about five times since then. Belmondo is brilliant. When I first read the German reviews, I thought they were writing about another movie. Although I have to agree, that the scene with the boat in the beginning is ridiculous, the dialogues compensate for mistakes like that. Every sentence is a comedy treasure in this film. I started to think when I realized the huge chasm between the two nations' opinions. Is it possible that in Hungary we generally have such a "jerkish" :-) sense of humor that we laugh at things which normal people find pitiful and ridiculous? Or is it the Germans who don't have a sense of humor at all? None of these statements can be true, and I also find it impossible that there could be such a large cultural difference between the two nations. Having considered most aspects of this "mystery", I have to agree that the key must be the Hungarian dubbing. The Hungarian script is extremely witty (translated by Pataricza Eszter who is one of our best movie translators). Sztankay István (who was dubbing Bébel in this film) is by far the best Hungarian voice for Belmondo (apart from Garas Dezső, who was his voice in Le Professionnel). Sztankay in the Hungarian version is over-the-top, killer-diller, über-funny. The seductive sexy tone of Almási Éva accompanying the acting of Marie Laforět is beyond comprehension, and the young Götz Anna is also charming as the young Sophie Marceau. So if you don't like this film, just watch it in Hungarian... :-D

P.S.: I am really looking forward to reading some french comments on this movie, so come on French, hurry up and write a few lines.