Lévy et Goliath (1987)

Lévy et Goliath is a French comedy thriller film first released in 1987, directed by Gérard Oury.  The film stars Richard Anconina, Michel Boujenah, Jean-Claude Brialy, Souad Amidou and Maxime Leroux.  It has also been released under the title: Levy and Goliath.  Our overall rating for this film is: mediocre.


Moïse Lévy is an orthodox Jew living in Antwerp.  He has no time for his brother Albert, who has given up the traditions of his Jewish background for a modern life, running a café in Paris and marrying a non-Jew.  However, fate has a hand in bringing the two brothers back together.  One day, Moïse is tasked with taking a suitcase load of diamond powder to a car factory in Paris.  En route, unbeknown to Moïse, some drugs smugglers slip a bag of cocaine into the suitcase in a hasty attempt to get through customs undetected.  When the drugs smugglers fail to recover their cocaine, Moïse hands it over to the car factory, believing it to be the diamond powder.  Shortly afterwards the young Jew is accosted by the drugs dealers who ask him to hand over their cocaine.  Realising his life is in danger, Moïse has no other choice than to appeal to his brother Albert for help.  Unfortuately, the leader of the drugs smugglers, a sadistic brute named Goliath, is determined to get back the missing drugs at any cost...

Director Gérard Oury is best known for his comic gems of the 1960s and 1970s – films such as La Grande vadrouille (1966) and Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob (1973) which were massive box office hits and have since become undisputed comedy classics.  His later films were, in comparison, disappointing, broaching thorny subjects (such as terrorism, drugs and religion) with a lack of sensitivity that borders on bad taste and ineptitude.  Lévy et Goliath is one such film, and one that will probably cause offence, mainly for its superficial portrayal of orthodox Jewish culture, but also because the plot is grimly puerile in places.

If the film had been a straightforward comedy drama based around the reconciliation of two brothers of a Jewish background, it would probably have worked rather well.  Richard Anconina and Michel Boujenah are two talented actors who bring sympathy and depth to their portrayals of two estranged brothers, separated by their different attitudes to life and religion.  Unfortunately, whilst this dynamic is an important part of the film, it is not the main story strand.  The film is less about two estranged brothers learning to accept each other, and more about one vulnerable man being hunted across Paris by a band of faceless, and comically inept, drugs pushers.  It is the thriller element of the film which ultimately drags it down and ruins it, all but obliterating some beautifully heartfelt moments involving Anconina and Boujenah, diluting the comedy and rendering the whole thing muddled and unconvincing.

© James Travers 2005

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