Le Grand restaurant (1966) - film review

Monsieur Septime is the pompous manager of a chic Parisian restaurant on the Champs-Elysées, feared by his staff but loathed by his temperamental head chef.   When a South American president is kidnapped one evening during a dinner at his restaurant, Septime’s life takes a dramatic turn.  The police concoct a scheme to draw the kidnappers out into the open, using Septime as bait.  Unfortunately, the terrorists who had planned the kidnap are just as oblivious to the president’s whereabouts and see Septime as their enemy.  Pursued by ruthless terrorists and scheming police, Septime’s days look well and truly numbered...

Le Grand restaurant is an entertaining and lively action comedy starring popular French comic actor Louis de Funès.  The film comes from de Funès’ “golden period”, which includes La Grande Vadrouille (1966) and the Fantômas and Gendarme series.  Although the plot and dialogue are less satisfactory than some of de Funès’ other films, the great comic actor is on fine form and gives one of his most enjoyable performances.  Here, he stars with Bernard Blier, another great actor who is renowned for playing the tough straight man in a vast range of comic films.

The film begins as a typical French burlesque comedy and ends as a shameless parody of the action thriller.  The action stunts in the latter half of the film are well realised, with a mad-cap car chase in the Alps which even James Bond would find hard to out-do.    The film’s most memorable sequence, however, is the side-splitting scene where de Funès attempts to instil some poise and discipline into his team of waiters – a dainty drawing room ballet which ends in a frenzied Russian dance.

© James Travers 2002

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