When “Monsieur Claude and his Daughters” hit French screens in April 2014, almost no one suspected that the humorous farce would turn into a real phenomenon. But cinema lovers in our neighboring country literally stormed the cinemas. 12.5 million tickets were sold. And in this country too, the title hero, played by “The Time Knights” star Christian Clavier in a wonderfully blasé, stupidly brutal and latently racist manner, and his much more charming offspring were firmly embraced only a short time later. . Nearly four million Germans saw the film in the cinema. This placed it in the annual charts just behind giant Hollywood blockbusters such as “The Hobbit – The Battle of the Five Armies” and “The Hunger Games – Mockingjay Part 1”.
There are now two equally successful sequels: “Monsieur Claude 2” and “Monsieur Claude and his big party”. Today, October 17, 2023, the debut film “Monsieur Claude and his Daughters” can be seen on Cable 1 at 8:15 PM. A repeat will be broadcast the same evening at 2:15 am. If the dates don’t suit you, you can change the title at any time in the flat rate program of your streaming subscriptions to Amazon Prime Video* or watch Joyn. Or you can order it as a Blu-ray/DVD – ideally in a three-pack with both sequels, which is currently pleasantly affordable:
The production and script come from “Come in!” director Philippe de Chauveron. In addition to Christian Clavier, there is a veritable parade of well-known Gallic faces on the cast list. Here is just a small selection: Chantal Lauby (“Portugal, mon amour”), Élodie Fontan (“Alibi.com”), Julia Piaton (“Wedding without a Plan”), Émilie Caen from “Pretty Best Friends”, Frédéric Chau (“Wedding without a Plan”) Made In China”), Medi Sadoun (“Mea Culpa – In the Eye of Crime”) and Pascal Nzonzi from “Paulette”.
“Monsieur Claude and his daughters” on Cable 1: that’s the story
Claude Verneuil (Christian Clavier) is a relatively wealthy, conservative retiree who lives in the French countryside with his surprisingly patient wife Marie (Chantal Lauby). For his four adult daughters he wants nothing more than good matches with the attributes “attractive, French, masculine”. But one after the other, Ségolène (Emilie Caen) marries the Chinese Chao (Frédéric Chau), Isabelle (Frédérique Bel) marries the Muslim Rachid (Medi Sadoun) and Odile (Julia Piaton) marries the Jew David (Ary Abittan) . The family’s home blessing goes wrong.
At least the youngest – Claude’s secret lover Laure (Elodie Fontan) – has recently become engaged to a local Catholic, she reports. Mr. Dad is excited. When the future son-in-law comes to dinner for the first time, Claude almost loses his confidence: Charles (Noom Diawara) is black. But the father doesn’t want to give up his daughters so easily. So he plans to somehow sabotage not only Laure’s wedding preparations, but the weddings of his other descendants at the same time…
The spot is multicultural
Christian Clavier, who was already very popular thanks to screen hits like ‘The Time Knights’, ‘Just Visiting’ and of course his performances as Asterix in the live-action comic book adaptations, eventually became a superstar in France thanks to the ‘Monsieur Claude series. The way this confuses and holds up a mirror to the classic upper bourgeoisie of our neighboring country is downright fun. At the same time, the family comedy, which initially (and perhaps even secondarily) seems harmless because it is very traditional, actually provides a witty and biting commentary on the state of the nation and its society. Anyone who has ever spent time in the French provinces knows how accurate the observations here are – despite ironic exaggerations.
In our FILMSTARTS review, author Katharina Granzin gives the book no less than 3.5 out of 5 stars and explains how De Chauveron elevates clichés about cultural differences into a narrative principle. Because the title character is certainly not the only one with prejudices. On the contrary, human foibles, traditional reservations and personal tics are distributed very evenly among the vast majority of the characters – regardless of their ethnic, cultural or religious background. For example, the sons-in-law initially do not like each other at all and they shamelessly bully, diss or cheat on each other. Subliminally, not always, but often unconsciously, racism, narrow-mindedness, xenophobia and ignorance are exposed on all sides. This comedy is truly multicultural, even in its mockery.
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