Les Visiteurs (French pronunciation: [le vizitœʁ]; English: The Visitors) is a 1993 French fantasy comedy film directed by Jean-Marie Poiré. It stars the duo of Christian Clavier and Jean Reno, and Valérie Lemercier. It also features Marie-Anne Chazel, Christian Bujeau, Isabelle Nanty and Didier Pain in supporting roles. In the film, a 12th-century knight and his squire travel in time to the end of the 20th century and find themselves adrift in modern society.
Les Visiteurs was the highest-grossing film in France in 1993 and remains one of the highest-grossing films in the country today. The publicity for the film used the tagline Ils ne sont pas nés d'hier ("They weren't born yesterday"). After its box office success, the film was nominated eight times for the 19th César Awards. It won the César for Best Supporting Actress, awarded to Valérie Lemercier. The success of the film and its cliffhanger ending led to a sequel, The Visitors 2: The Corridors of Time, which was itself followed by a third film, The Visitors: Bastille Day, forming a trilogy, entirely produced by Jean-Marie Poiré. The film also has an English-language remake Just Visiting. The castle of Ermenonville in the Oise département served as the set for the castle of Montmirail in the modern day and the Cité de Carcassonne for the medieval castle.
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Plot
In the year 1123, King Louis VI, known also as Louis the Fat, is on a romantic escapade with the niece of the King of England. One of his vassals, Count Godefroy de Montmirail, nicknamed "the Bold", guards their meeting place. Having to flee from incoming enemy troops, Louis VI finds himself faced with an English soldier who seeks to capture him. The Count then saves his king's life by killing the English soldier. As a reward, Godefroy is promised to be married to his long-time beloved, Frénégonde de Pouilles, the daughter of Duke Fulbert de Pouilles. The Count sets out towards his castle where the wedding is set to take place. He is accompanied by his men and his faithful squire, Jacquouille la Fripouille. Along the way, they capture a witch living in a forest. They imprison her in a cage with the aim of bringing her to the inquisition afterwards.
Arriving near the castle, Godefroy changes outfits to present himself to his newly betrothed Frénégonde. Frénégonde is informed of the arrival of Godefroy and runs out of the castle to join him, pursued by her father who tries to restrain her eagerness. Taking advantage of a moment of inattention on the part of her jailers, the witch pours a potion into Godefroy's gourd, which Godefroy drinks shortly afterwards. He starts seeing hallucinations: he sees the castle distorting and his men with animal faces. When Godefroy sees his bride running across the fields, the potion makes him believe she is being chased by a bear, when it is in fact her father the Duke de Pouilles who is running behind her. Godefroy grabs his crossbow to protect Frénégonde and he kills his future father-in-law with a crossbow bolt to the head.
While the occupants of the castle gather in a chapel near the remains of the Duke, Frénégonde takes an oath to retire to a convent for the rest of her life: she says she cannot marry the man who killed her father. Jacquouille, who was busy keeping the flies away from the dead body, takes advantage of everyone else's departure to steal the Duke's heavy gold necklace, set with precious stones. He hides it behind the office in the hollow head of a statue.
Godefroy travels to the mage Eusæbius, a man versed in the magic of time, in order to repair his mistake and ensure he can create a lasting lineage with Frénégonde. The mage concocts a potion for Godefroy to send him back to the past shortly before the accident. The Count makes Jacquouille taste the potion, to make sure it is not poisoned, then drinks it himself. Eusæbius recites the magic formula and Godefroy and Jacquouille disappear together. The first is transformed into a crystal statue, the second into a pile of excrement. The mage then realizes that he has forgotten the quail eggs in the potion, an essential ingredient, and declares in alarm that "it's a catastrophe".
Cast
Christian Clavier: Jacquouille la Fripouille (in English, Jacquasse la Crasse) / Jacques-Henri Jacquard
Jean Reno: Godefroy de Montmirail, Count of Montmirail, Apremont and Papincourt
Valérie Lemercier: Frénégonde de Pouille / Béatrice de Montmirail
Christian Bujeau: Jean-Pierre Goulard
Marie-Anne Chazel: Ginette la Clocharde
Isabelle Nanty: Fabienne Morlot
Gérard Séty: Edgar Bernay
Didier Pain: Louis VI le Gros (the Fat)
Jean-Paul Muel: Maréchal-des-Logis Gibon
Arielle Séménoff: Jacqueline
Michel Peyrelon: Édouard Bernay
Pierre Vial: Eusebius the Wizard / Monsieur Ferdinand
François Lalande: The priest
Didier Bénureau: Doctor Beauvin
Frédéric Baptiste: Freddy
Reception
Les Visiteurs received positive reviews and opened at number one in France with a gross of 17.6 million French francs ($3.3 million) for the week and remained there for ten weeks. It returned to number one for another 7 weeks and was the highest-grossing film in France in 1993 with 13,782,846 ticket sales and a gross of $78 million. It was the highest-grossing non-English language film worldwide that year with a gross of $98.8 million. It remains one of the highest grossing French films ever.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 31% of 13 critics' reviews are positive.
Awards and nominations
César Awards (France)
Won: Best Actress – Supporting Role (Valérie Lemercier)
Nominated: Best Actor – Leading Role (Christian Clavier)
Nominated: Best Actor – Leading Role (Jean Reno)
Nominated: Best Costume Design (Catherine Leterrier)
Nominated: Best Director (Jean-Marie Poiré)
Nominated: Best Editing (Catherine Kelber)
Nominated: Best Film
Nominated: Best Music (Eric Levi)
Nominated: Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation (Christian Clavier and Jean-Marie Poiré)
Home media
The film was released on video in France on 15 December 1993. Permission needed to be sought from the French government to release it less than a year after its theatrical release.
Video game
A video game developed by Cryo Interactive and Darkworks Interactive and published by Ubisoft was released in March 1998 for the PC. It was developed with a budget of 5m Fr. A Game Boy Color game developed by Planet Interactive Development and published by Ubisoft would later be released in November 1999.
Sequels and remake
A sequel, The Visitors II: The Corridors of Time followed in 1998, and an American remake, Just Visiting, made with the same stars, was released in 2001. Another sequel, The Visitors: Bastille Day, was released in 2016.