Le Tatoué (1968)
Directed by Denys de La Patellière

Film Review

Although undoubtedly great family entertainment, Le Tatoué is really nothing more than a clumsy vehicle to unite Louis de Funès with Jean Gabin, following a dubious fashion in French cinema at the time to pair off stars of the highest echelon.

De Funès had by the time this film was made become the most popular comic actor in France, adored by the public and film-makers alike.  He excelled in burlesque comedies like Le Tatoué , having the capacity to inject tremendous comic energy into the most risible and lacklustre of scenarios.  By contrast, Jean Gabin's career was very much on the wane.  Having been arguably the greatest actor in French cinema in the 1930s and 1950s, Gabin ended his career in a serious of stilted roles which did not show the actor at his best.  These include appearances in a number of ill-conceived comedies, of which Le Tatoué is a good example.

Le Tatoué shows us Louis De Funès on fine form, almost bursting off the screen with his enthusiasm and good humour.   Jean Gabin is the complete oppopsite, probably at his most withdrawn and non-committal, although, oddly, this seems to work quite well.  It is not difficult to detect a certain luke-warmness in the on-screen rapport between the two actors.  It transpires that part of the reason for this was the poor working relationship between the two actors, who failed to see eye to eye on virtually anything.  It is reported that they hardly spoke to each other once off the set and that Gabin was easily unsettled by de Funès's never-ceasing stream of improvisations.

In spite of all this, miraculously, the film still has great entertainment value - due almost entirely to de Funès' unique brand of comedy and also Georges Garvarentz's perky music.  Any attempt to rationalise the plot or to analyse the relationship between the two lead characters is doomed to failure.  The best thing is to sit back and just enjoy the film for what it is - an effervescent camp French comedy from the colourful 1960s.

Film Synopsis

The wealthy art dealer Félicien Mézeray is paying a visit to the painter Dubois when he makes the acquaintance of an ageing legionnaire named Legrain.  Mézeray can hardly believe his eyes when he sees a sublime example of modern art tattooed on Legrain's back.  There is no doubt as to the identity of the creator of this remarkable painting - it is surely Amedeo Modigliani, one of the most collectible of early 20th century artists.  Mézeray decides there and then that he must buy the tattoo, but Legrain is strangely reluctant to part with it.  Having found two potential buyers for the unknown Modigliani, both willing to pay a small fortune for it, Mézeray must now find a way to persuade its present owner to sell it.

Seemingly unaware of the true value of the painting, Legrain finally gives his consent, but on condition that the art dealer pays for the renovation of his little place in the country.  Thinking he has the better half of the deal, Mézeray readily agrees, but he soon has cause to regret doing so when he sees what he has taken on.  Lerain's modest country homestead turns out to be a huge and completely dilapidated château that dates back at least four hundred years.  It is clear that the legionnaire is not the gauche ignoramus he pretends to be.  He is in fact of aristocratic birth and wants nothing more than to see his ancestral seat restored to its former glory.  As the costly renovation work gets underway, burning up banknotes faster than a furnace, Mézeray begins to develop an intense liking for country life.  In time, an unlikely friendship develops between him and the cunning legionnaire...