Here’s another one of those comedies that some folks will love and some won’t find funny at all. I’ve seen it three times, now, and I never watch a comedy a second time if it didn’t make me laugh the first time around. Either way, this movie will definitely set straight those of you who are convinced that the French never turn out anything other than esoteric art films.

Premise: The story begins in 992 in medieval France. The King of France is enjoying a tryst deep in enemy territory under the protection of one of his best knights, Sir Godefroy, the Count of Montmirail (Jean Reno). Sir Godefroy is decked out in full armor. When the enemy approaches, the King and Sir Godefroy beat a hasty retreat and it is only by Sir Godefroy’s bravery that they make it back to the French encampment. Having saved the King’s life, Sir Godefroy is granted his fondest wish, which is to marry Lady Frenegonde (Valerie Lemercier), daughter of a nobleman. While hastening to claim his bride, Sir Godefroy and his party pass through a forest where a witch dwells. She is taken prisoner by Sir Godefroy, but takes her revenge by dropping a psychedelic of sorts into Sir Godefroy’s water pouch. As Lady Frenegonde runs to meet Sir Godefroy, with her father in pursuit, Sir Godefroy, hallucinating, mistakes his father-in-law to-be for a bear and shoots him clean through with an arrow, instantly converting him into a father-in-law not-to-be. Frenegonde can hardly agree to marry the man who has killed her father and declares that she will enter a convent.

Sir Godefroy seeks the aid of his father’s best wizard, who, unfortunately, is a bit into his dotage. The wizard, however, declares that he has just the thing – a potion that will send Sir Godefroy back to the moment when he fired his crossbow, killing Frenegonde’s father, and that if he exerts his will strongly enough, he will be able to bend the arrow in its flight and miss the old man. Unfortunately, the wizard omits one key ingredient from the concoction, and sends both Sir Godefroy and his faithful squire, Jacquasse (Christian Clavier), spiraling one thousand years into the future to 1992.

Most of the rest of the film revolves around the antics that one might anticipate when two smelly guys from the middle-ages pop up in armor in modern France. They encounter a car, which they surmise to be a dragon, reducing it to rubble, and a black man, who they assume to be a Moor. Sir Godefroy steals steaks from a quick food grill, takes exception to an irreverent bag lady, and rides his horse into a church for asylum from the trucks and planes. Sir Godefroy and Jacquasse (sounds like jackass) each encounter their descendants, but in this age of democracy, roles have changed. The descendant of Jacquasse now owns the castle, which has been converted into a luxury hotel, while Godefroy’s descendant, Beatrice, is married to a bourgeois dentist. All the while Godefroy and Jacquasse shout expletives like “It stinketh” (reflecting on the pollution) and “Holy scotums!” While their concern is the stench in the air, the folks of the 20th century are far more distressed by the body odor of the two visitors. The funniest segment involves the first experience of the odd pair with a modern bathroom, where they wash up in the toilet and later dump a ton of bubble-bath and expensive oils and perfumes into the tub where they then bathe in their long underwear. They eat plastic food wrappers and cook a leg of lamb in the fireplace.

Comments: There is just a soupçon of serious substance that one can derive from this film, between the chortles, relating to class distinctions and differing perceptions on the merits of democracy. Sir Godefroy is shocked and non-plussed by the failure of 20th century society to observe the proper distinctions but the oft-abused Jacquasse, quite understandably, rather likes the concept of equality. When Sir Godefroy is told about his most famous descendent helping in the French Revolution to eradicate clash distinctions, Sir Godefroy cheers instead the man who had that relative beheaded.

One part of the French humor of this film is lost for English audiences. The film makes use of old French rather than new French, which creates, I’m told, some wonderful word humor, which is lost in English translation. Nevertheless, there are plenty of inspired sight-gags that are more or less universal in their appeal. Jean Reno, who plays the part of Sir Godefroy, is best known to American audiences as the star of Leon, The Professional (sometimes just The Professional) (1993) along with Natalie Portman and as a character in Mission Impossible (1996). I’ve seen him as well in La Femme Nikita (1990). Christian Clavier, who directed the film, also plays both the foul-smelling Jacquasse and Jacquasse’s uptight, hyper-prissy 20th century descendent. The two roles require significantly different performances and he achieves a rather remarkable transition between the two. I was also very impressed with the comedic timing and facial expressions of the female lead, Valerie Lemercier, who played both Frenegonde and Beatrice. The Frenegonde part is of minor importance but Lemercier is simply magnificent as Beatrice.

The Visitors (Les Visiteurs in French) is rated R (as in “R”aunchy dialogue, in this case) and is in French with English subtitles. This was the largest grossing film in France in 1993, even beating out the American import, Jurassic Park. It hasn’t fared as well in the United States. Mirimax, the American distributor, considered releasing a dubbed version but opted instead for subtitles. There have been two sequels to The Visitors, neither of which I’ve seen, but which are not well regarded – a French sequel called Les Couloirs du Temps: Les Visiteurs 2 (1998) and an unsuccessful American remake called Just Visiting (2001), also with Reno and Clavier.

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age