Every day, AlloCiné recommends a film to (re)watch on TV. This evening: a classic of French comedy.
In 1960, while playing Ruy Blas on the stage of the Comédie-Française, Gérard Oury plans to adapt this famous romantic drama by Victor Hugo into a comic film. The project remains in a corner of his head, while the years pass and the successes are linked.
Following Corniaud in 1965, then La Grande Vadrouille in 1966, the director plans a new collaboration with Louis de Funès and Bourvil as headliners on his adaptation of Ruy Blas, which he called La Folie des Grandeurs. The first would lend his features to the crook Don Sallust, Minister of Finance to the King of Spain and the second would play his valet, Blaze.
However, Bourvil’s death in 1970 upset the plans of Gérard Oury, who rewrote his screenplay alongside Danièle Thompson and Marcel Jullian in order to adjust the character of Blaze to the personality of his new interpreter: Yves Montand.
On the set, the chemistry between Louis de Funès and his young partner works wonderfully, giving rise to cult sequences, including that of the rhymes in “gold…”.
Released in 1971, this incredible and neat comedy – thanks to a substantial budget of 18 million francs offering sumptuous sets and costumes – attracts more than 5 million spectators in theaters.
On AlloCine, Megalomania holds a solid viewer rating average of 4.1/5.
Megalomania by Gérard Oury with Louis de Funès, Yves Montand, Alice Sapritch…
Tonight on France 2 at 9:10 p.m.