The Cabbage Soup (1981)

2 buddy farmers are visited by aliens who like their domestic cabbage soup.

Director:

Jean Girault

Writers:

René Fallet (novel), Jean Halain

Stars:

Louis de Funès, Jean Carmet, Jacques Villeret

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Louis de Funès	...	Claude Ratinier (Le Glaude)
Jean Carmet	...	Francis Chérasse (Le Bombé)
Jacques Villeret	...	l'Oxien (La Denrée)
Claude Gensac	...	Amelie Poulangeard
Henri Génès	...	le brigadier chef
Marco Perrin	...	le maire
Christine Dejoux	...	Francine
Gaëlle Legrand	...	Catherine Lemouette
Catherine Ohotnikoff
Philippe Ruggieri	...	Robert
Philippe Brizard	...	Le facteur
Max Montavon	...	Le frère Poulangeard
Thierry Liagre	...	Le médecin
Perrette Souplex	...	Aimée
Carole Nugue

Storyline

Two old french countrymen are living a quiet life in their little old farms. The first one, Claude Ratinier, aka "le Glaude" (Louis de Funès), is a widower, and the second one, Francis Chérasse, aka "Cicisse" (Jean Carmet), is single. They spend their days drinking liters of wine and pastis, reminding themselves the good old times. One evening, they happen to start a farting contest, which seems to provoke a lightning storm... Then they go to sleep, but somebody has been quite interested by their kind of expression, and is preparing to change their life...

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Plot Keywords:

drinking | widower | pastis | alien | alcoholic drink | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

2 December 1981 (France)

Also Known As:

The Cabbage Soup

Filming Locations:

Bombon, Seine-et-Marne, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Films A2, Les Films Christian Fechner

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At the time when the movie was made, De Funes was reluctant to keep acting as he found he was now too old to do so. He agreed to do this movie because he realized how much he had in common with his character.

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Goofs

When Le Glaude retrieves the lock of hair from the grandfather clock, the clock-face door swings open. In the next shot we can see the door over his shoulder and it's closed.

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Alternate Versions

The German version was edited to reduce running time. 8 minutes were cut from the VHS tape, with another 2 minutes removed from the DVD.

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Connections

Referenced in Les Guignols de l'info: Episode dated 13 March 2007 (2007)

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Soundtracks

Valse Brune
Music by Georges Krier
Lyrics by Georges Villard

User Reviews

One of De Funes last films is also one of his best and most touching

There's a little magic in this film I'll have to add a little sentimental note here: This movie reminds me of good and bad childhood memories. The good being, that (like many Germans of my generation), I grew up with the Louis de Funes comedies so, yes, I was laughing very hard when I saw this film for the first time. The bad memories: a few days after having seen it first, I heard the de Funes had passed away and this may have been the only time in my life when I had tears rolling down my cheeks after hearing about the passing of an actor (this was before the time when everybody was racing to put a random, make-myself-feel-better "RIP" on Facebook, whenever a celebrity kicks the bucket).

In many ways, his second-to-last film was one of the most unusual de-Funes-Films. For one, the viewer can intrinsically tell, that De Funes was a very sick man; somebody who's at the end of his road, yet still summoning up his strength to give us the usual over-the-top, hyper-ventilating performance for which he was known and loved. Despite this being a "typical" de-Funes-Film, there are very strong, melancholic moments (especially those involving farmer Claude and his resurrected wife Franchine or the when Claude is reminiscing about past days), which was very rare for the typical de-Funes-film. What was also very atypical was the electro-sound-music that at times reminds of Jean-Michel Jarre. Some people have complained that the soundtrack wasn't fitting. Matter of personal taste really, but I dare you to look up the title-song on YouTube and not have the tune, be it the original or one of the many covers, stuck in the back of your head for a long time to come.

In essence, all slapstick and de Funes hyper-conundrum aside, it is a movie about people longing for simpler, "down to earth" (paradoxically) times, when you could still enjoy the starlit, countryside-sky with a friend, getting drunk on wine and Pastis (and, yes, not to mention the fart-tournaments between de Funes and Carmet, which goes beyond the contemporary "laugh because somebody farted"-joke). One of the films highlights is the scene where de Funes introduces his alien friend into the "art" of eating his homemade cabbage soup – watch it and tell me honestly to the face that it doesn't make you long for a bowl and a piece of bread, whether you like cabbage or not. Is this movie vulgar? Sure thing it is. Dishonest? Quiet the opposite. Makes one almost feel a little guilty writing this over the internet. Sure, those times aren't coming back, but that's what movies are for, no? One can honestly say: they don't make films like this anymore. I tend to ignore the last De-Funes-film ("Le gendarme et les gendarmettes"), thinking of "La Soup aux choux" as the final farewell from this master-comedian, as if to say: hey, no matter how tough things get, face them with a mischievous grin; what comes will come, but it will come more smoothly with a glass of Pastis and a bowl of home-made cabbage soup.

Mind you: this is by no means an objective review but I personally give it 9 out of 10.