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 | Medieval | Sorcerer | Duty | Buddy Movie

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:

Jacquouille la Fripouille: Don't drink it
[the potion]
Jacquouille la Fripouille: , Sire! You might turn into a frog, a bat, a goat, or a nun's arse!
Godefroy de Papincourt, Comte de Montmirail: You're right. Drink first!
Jacquouille la Fripouille: Me?
Godefroy de Papincourt, Comte de Montmirail: Let's see if you turn into a nun's arse. If you do, I'll seek revenge.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in L'appât (1995)

The only film where stupidity actually makes sense.

I'm Chinese who reside in Sydney, Australia, and was fortunate to have a government operated television studio to show foreign programs in its original language with English subtitles.

More fortunate isn't because of the showing of the Hong Kong Kung-Fu films but the funniest film in anyone's language ‘Les Visiteurs'. As the English subtitles has already provided so much enjoyment to the film, I would assume most of the French would have laugh until they start coughing, to the extended of suffering from a sore throat.

OOOKAY!! – Which was frequently used in the film deliverers the impact to some the comic relief, but from my point of view, it is not a simple comedy to make. Some research was properly done to imagine someone who had lived in the middle ages, not forgetting their customs and habits from that era, then place them to the present day, you will end up witnessing similar chaos and disasters that is far worse than Mr. Bean.

My favorite is when they call the car a ‘chariot', also the subtitles is presented with Medieval English, I would imagine the same in French.

This is not doubt the funniest movie I have seen in my lifetime, the way they mess up the bathroom made me though it was stupid at first, but then I realize it actually make sense, as this is how they clean themselves back in the middle ages. This film beats my funniest English film, which is ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' directed by Yoda (i.e. Frank Oz)