Les visiteurs (1993)

Director:

Jean-Marie Poiré

Writers:

Christian Clavier (writer)
Jean-Marie Poiré (writer)

Release Date:

12 July 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Comedy

Tagline:

When an 11th century knight and his loyal servant try to go back in time, only one thing will stand in their way. The 20th century.

Plot:

A medieval nobleman and his squire are accidentally transported to contemporary times by a senile sorcerer...

Plot Keywords:

Time | Sorcerer | Medieval | Deranged Woman | Noble

Awards:

1 win & 8 nominations

Cast

Christian Clavier	...	Jacquouille la Fripouille / Jacquard
Jean Reno	...	Godefroy de Papincourt, Comte de Montmirail
Valérie Lemercier	...	Frénégonde de Pouille / Béatrice de Montmirail
Marie-Anne Chazel	...	Ginette la clocharde
Christian Bujeau	...	Jean-Pierre
Isabelle Nanty	...	Fabienne Morlot
Gérard Séty	...	Edgar Bernay
Didier Pain	...	Louis VI le Gros
Jean-Paul Muel	...	Marechal des Logis Gibon
Arielle Séménoff	...	Jacqueline (as Ariel Séménoff)
Michel Peyrelon	...	Edouard Bernay
Pierre Vial	...	Wizard Eusebius / Monsieur Ferdinand
François Lalande	...	Priest
Didier Bénureau	...	Intern Beauvin
Frédéric Baptiste	...	Freddy

Also Known As:

Les visiteurs - Ils ne sont pas nés d'hier (France) (alternative title)
The Visitors

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Argentina:Atp | South Korea:All | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) | Singapore:NC-16 | Denmark:11 | Australia:M | Finland:K-12/9 | France:U | Germany:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Carcassonne, Aude, France

Company:

Alpilles Productions

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Godefroy arrives at Béatrice's, he complains that "there's no longer any hectare of forest". He uses a surface area unit that was invented during the French Revolution.

Quotes:

Intern Beauvin: Your patient is very dangerous - he nearly tore my scrotum apart.
Jacquouille la Fripouille: Limp scrotum! Limp scrotum!
[laughs]

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Les visiteuses (1994) (V)

Brilliant, funny movie, if you speak/understand french well, a medium slapstick comedy if you read subtitles

I just finished watching the movie, and it was hilarious. I was laughing outloud at many many points. However, as my title indicated, it was the original french track that made me laugh. As is always the case for biliguals, one cant help but listen to the track and read the subtitles at the same time. Unfortunately, the subtitles do not do justice to the movie.

There are just too many semantic jokes that play off names and locations that could not be translated and make sense. That is why in so many reviews there seems to be a sharp contrast in views of whether or not this was a joke-a-minute movie.

The hollywood remake is awful, in fact,it never really made any sense and and the jokes were far and few in between. This one makes much more sense, and the meeting of people and their descendants makes for many more laughs.

The other factor is the acting and casting. This is just the nature of subtitled movies - one very rarely gets the fantastic acting and language ability of actors when reading the watcher is reading a yellow line, especially in comedy. Those who listen to the movie in its original french thikn the acting was fantastic, the voice casting (something i think is terribly important in acting [say, could Ashton Kutcher play Maximus from Gladiator, no, a high pitched voice could not do it]) is brilliant, but reading a crummy translation (and it was crummy) wont do the film justice.

8/10 for francophiles 6/10 for subtitle readers