Placed under the sign of time travel and signed by Dominique Farrugia, the comedy “Bis” was led drum beating by the duo Franck Dubosc and Kad Merad. A film which was also an echo of the personal life of the filmmaker.
Éric and Patrice have been friends since high school. Over the years, each has taken a very different path: on the one hand, Eric, an unattached hedonist with multiple conquests, and on the other, Patrice, a “monogamous” family man with an orderly life.
After a drunken evening, the two childhood friends find themselves transported back to 1986 when they were only 17 years old. This return to the past is the perfect opportunity to try to change the course of their lives. What are they going to do with this second chance?
Directed by Dominique Farrugia, the synopsis of Bis is reminiscent of that of The Time Machine, an American comedy released in 2010. Parachuted in 1986 thanks to a jacuzzi, a group of friends relived adolescence in the most beautiful way. Here, it is after a drunken evening that the two friends find themselves propelled to the same era.
In the comedy signed by the former Nul, it is the tandem Franck Dubosc (Eric) and Kad Merad (Patrice) who provide after-sales service. “It’s a pleasure to work with actors of this caliber: there is no downtime, everything goes very quickly, instantly and instinctively. Like when Éric takes a big slap from Patrice . Believe me, it wasn’t a false slap in the face of cinema. Franck, amazed, takes the slap, pauses. Then he goes on in a second!” said the director, in an interview granted to Télé 7 jours in 2020.
Partially visible in the trailer, the slap sequence is present in the film’s blooper, which can be found below.
“This comedy is my most personal film!”
“Éric, it’s me: like him, I didn’t give a damn at school and my parents were both restaurant owners in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, where I spent my childhood and where the film was shot. Eric’s moving relationship with his father is very close to the one I had with mine” confided Farrugia.
Adding: “This comedy evokes my parents in a beautiful way. Alas, my dad died during the promotion of the film, and my mum left four months after its release. And, to my greatest regret, neither no one else could see it…”
Bis will be very successful in theaters in 2015, attracting more than 1.5 million spectators. Farrugia will not repeat this fine score, far from it, with his next film released in 2017, Under the same roof, which attracted just over 652,000 spectators.