Le Jaguar (1996)
Directed by Francis Veber

Film Review

At its simplest, Le Jaguar can best be summarised as a serious, bigger budget version of the French comic classic La Chèvre .  Both films were written and directed by Francis Veber; both feature an improbable pairing of mutually incompatible characters named Campana and Perrin; and both films have essentially the same plot.  In La Chèvre, our heroes travel to South America to look for an abducted heiress.  In Le Jaguar, they travel to a similar location to recover a man's soul.  With a résumé like that, it is not difficult to see which is probably the better film.

The main problem with Le Jaguar is that it tries hard to be a serious adventure film, of the Indiana Jones variety, but it can't quite make it.  Francis Veber's strength lies not in adventure drama but in sophisticated comic farce, and this film constantly gives the impression that he is trying for laughs when plainly there are few to be had.  The result is a very schizophrenic film, which appears to traverse six or seven different genres, making you wonder who on Earth the film was targeted at.  The comic pratfalls of Patrick Bruel - an odd choice of actor for a comic part - look rather ill alongside bouts of excessive violence (including sickeningly realistic lacerations of body parts) and all that smoochy boy-meets-girl- in-the-jungle malarkey.

Whilst it is painfully uneven and marred by a ridiculous plot, Le Jaguar is - it has to be said - technically well-made, and a rare example where Veber's direction vastly surpasses his writing.  Good use is made of the Amazonian location, with some beautiful panoramic photography lending the film the polish and artistic credentials that rival any American blockbuster action movie.   Admittedly nowhere near as memorable as previous Veber pairings (such as the legendary Gérard Depardieu - Pierre Richard team), Jean Reno and Patrick Bruel complement each other well, both playing off their popular public images - Reno the monosyllabic, unflustered hard man, Bruel the likeable boy-like innocent who is constantly out of his depth.  Not a film for the sophisticated, and certainly not for those who like their films to make some kind of sense, Le Jaguar should still appeal to those hankering after that rarest of beasts, a big budget adventure film from France.

Film Synopsis

In a bid to raise awareness about the plight of the Amazonians, whose way of life is threatened by the destruction of the rain forests, anthropologist Jean Campana begins a tour of France in the company of Wanu, a shaman.  Whilst staying at a hotel in Paris, these two have a chance encounter with a man who couldn't be less helpful to their cause - a self-interested non-entity on the run from some thugs who are determined to collect on his gambling debts.  François Perrin is the name of this inconsequential specimen of humanity, but for some reason Wanu sees something in him that marks him out as a particularly good man.

From this first meeting, the shaman cannot let Perrin out of his sight and, after suffering a heart attack, he implores the Frenchman to travel to Amazonia and punish the one who has stolen his soul.  The invitation could hardly have come at a better time for François, who knows that by staying in France he is putting his own life in danger.  It is only a matter of time before his vindictive creditors catch up with him and start subjecting him to their idea of friendly persuasion.  Without a moment's hesitation Perrin agrees to accompany Campana to South America, not knowing what terrible ordeals lie ahead of him...