Les Couloirs du temps: Les Visiteurs 2 (1998) - film review

Returning to his own time, 12th Century France, Comte Godefroy de Montmirail discovers that his marriage to Frénégonde is forbidden by his future father-in-law.  A sacred relic, along with a store of priceless jewels, has disappeared, and the marriage cannot go ahead until these are recovered.  Realising that the jewels must have been stolen by his former servant Jacquouille – who is still living in the 20th Century – Comte Godefroy appeals to his wizard friend to send him forward in time to recover them.  He is accompanied by Jacquart, the cowardly descendant of Jacquouille, who is grateful for the return trip home after having been chased by wolves, almost burnt at the stake and then tortured.  Meanwhile, back in the 1990s, Jacquouille has been causing mayhem and destruction with his girlfriend, Ginette, much to the distress of Béatrice (Frénégonde’s descendant) and dentist Jean-Pierre.  When Comte Godefroy reappears in present day France, he is mistaken for the missing husband of Cora who, in revenge, steals the jewels he is looking for.  Will Godefroy succeed in his mission, to recover the sacred relic and return Jacquouille to his own time?  Or will the corridors of time be breached forever, with disastrous consequences for all...?

Following the staggering success of Les Visiteurs in 1993 (the second most popular film to have been made in France at that time, going by ticket sales), it was inevitable that a sequel would shortly follow.  Indeed, the fact that Les Visiteurs was left open-ended suggests that its authors had this in mind.  Five years later, with a budget of 140 million francs (five times that of the original), Les Visiteurs 2 was released in a shower of publicity.  Although, commercially, the film did rather well, it was nowhere near as successful as the first Visiteurs film, and it is generally rated as being somewhat inferior to the first film.

Despite its more extravagant budget, Les Couloirs du temps is nowhere near as satisfying as Les Visiteurs – for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, the plot is a shambles, lacking narrative cohesion and having far too much content.  Indeed, the plot is rather lost by the relentless stream of comic set-pieces, some of which work rather well, others of which are painfully drawn out.  Far from tidying up the messy loose ends at the end of Les Visiteurs, this sequel merely creates its own set of loose ends, making the ending to this film painfully muddled.  Then there is Christian Clavier’s over-the-top performance.  In the first film, Clavier was genuinely funny throughout as the odious but loveable Jacquouille.  Here he is, for the most part, just plain irritating.  Appearing like a stuck gramophone record, he struggles for laughs where plainly there are few to be had.   Muriel Robin is funnier but her character is just too stupid to be taken seriously and, in any event, she is a pretty poor replacement for Valérie Lemercier.  Even Jean Reno appears pretty stilted and unfunny in his role.  In fact, the only two members of the cast that stand out and give value for money are Marie-Anne Chazel and Christian Bujeau, who play the supporting characters Ginette and Jean-Pierre.

What saves this film is the fact that where it is funny, it is very funny.   For instance, the scene where the fire engine goes berserk is hilarious, but the film finds it hard to sustain this level of entertainment throughout.  Viewed as a series of loosely connected comic sketches, the film just about works.  As a coherent whole, however, it leaves a great deal to be desired.  Mercifully, the film isn’t quite as awful as Just Visiting, an embarrassing American remake of Les Visiteurs (which again features Reno and Clavier).   However, Les Couloirs du temps does confirm the rule that a sequel is seldom as good as the original.  Ok-ay?

© James Travers 2004

Write a review for this film...

What do you think of this film?