LAugust 25, 1982 hits the screens Paradise for all, a film by Alain Jessua, with Patrick Dewaere and Stéphane Audran. The same day is planned Santa Clause is garbage, by Jean-Marie Poiré. The atmosphere is more like “Heaven for no one”. Everyone takes it for their rank: the employees of SOS distress friendship make fun of human suffering like their first three-fingered gloves; the poor are stupid (and wicked); a husband hits his wife without it shocking anyone…
When it arrives at the cinema during this scorching summer – strange idea for a Christmas film – the adaptation of this success of the Parisian café-théâtre signed by the Splendid troupe goes almost unnoticed – only 1.5 million spectators at the box office, far from 8 million AND or four of Gendarmes and gendarmettes. Critics are neutral, sometimes hostile. Christian Clavier, the mythical Katia of the band (“When we were filming in the Bois de Vincennes, we thought I was tapinais”), sees “conservatism”. Many people, especially the profession (no César nominations), have missed out. “Their children will seize the film”, he rejoices. Reruns on television (about twenty since the theatrical release – roughly every other Christmas) will transform this banal feature film into a cult object.
Transgressive and iconoclastic
Beyond the universal themes, the incredible acting and the abnormally funny lines, the iconoclastic gaze of the Splendid has not aged a bit. On the contrary, it appears to be increasingly transgressive. “The poor are appalling in the filmcontinues Keyboard. It is done at a time when the left is in power and we show that there are still left behind. The issues have not yet been resolved. » Zezette? A stayer (Katia calls her a “Mongolian”) who is interested in oyster shells. Felix? An unemployed hoaxer, hustler and violent. Katya? A depressed trans with a bloated ego. Peter and Therese? Good Samaritans who do not want to help their neighbors, but rather push them down by pointing out their “vices” and their flaws. Possible in 2022, such a gallery of portraits? “It’s excessive humor, Keyboard defends himself. I don’t know if we could manage to rewrite all that today. Thierry [Lhermitte, NDLR] has an interesting thesis: at that time, we were in a democracy, we had the right to say everything, but there were limits. We push the limits. The film confronted the limits. Today, there are no limits. We have fallen into self-censorship. He is right. »
In 2022, when the heat wave hits again, viewers (there were still 4 million in December 2021 on France 2), strong from four decades of (re)watching this “forty-something” film, appreciate this freedom of tone in a France that chases slippage or, worse, revisits its past successes through today’s glasses. And happy birthday, Felix!
Santa Clause is garbage, by Jean-Marie Poiré, available on Canal VOD.