“The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob” was the last collaboration between Gérard Oury and Louis de Funès. Touched by the regular criticism of his facial expressions which had become his trademark, the actor even refused to do a scene…
Chestnut tree watered to the hilt for decades by TV channels, a real martingale for generous audiences when they regularly have a soft stomach in their program schedules, it is an understatement to say that Louis de Funès is an ultra safe bet for television.
We can no longer count the multi-rebroadcasts of his films, between the saga of Fantômas and the Gendarme of Saint Tropez, Le Corniaud, La Folie des grandeurs, L’aile ou la thigh, La Grande Vadrouille… Without forgetting of course the indestructible Adventures of Rabbi Jacob. New demonstration this evening on France 2.
“People find misfortunes soon enough. We will always need laughter!” said the icon of French cinema. Does this mean that the French public had a large tendency to often confuse the actor and his characters with elastic faces? Absolutely.
“In life, people look a little in his face for what they expect, what he is in the cinema, whereas in life, he has no reason in the world to behave like this or that character, which are written for him” commented Gérard Oury, interviewed by CBC / Radio Canada while he was promoting the film Rabbi Jacob alongside his interpreter.
“Louis was stuck…”
The fact remains that the actor was affected by the criticism – because yes, there was some – about his facial expressions and his gestures. To the point that he refused to shoot a scene in The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob. The anecdote is told by Danièle Thompson, the daughter of Gérard Oury, screenwriter and dialogue writer on the film, in issue n°45 of Mook Schnock precisely dedicated to Louis de Funès.
“In Rabbi Jacob, for the scene where he calls out to the gendarme, it was written: “he makes faces”. We knew that it would surely be great. However, on the day of filming, Louis refused to make his faces. He had been so criticized on this subject that he no longer wanted to do them. My father had to explain to him for a very long time that, in the very action of the story, they were justified. Louis was stuck. Finally he resolved, and again, it remains an anthology moment.”
“What’s your name? Pivert, Victor Pivert, like the bird!” We definitely never get tired of the film and this sequence…