Quasimodo d’El Paris (1999)

Quasimodo d’El Paris is a French crime film first released in 1999, directed by Patrick Timsit.  The film stars Patrick Timsit, Richard Berry, Mélanie Thierry, Vincent Elbaz and Didier Flamand.  Our overall rating for this film is: mediocre.


The location is the town of El Paris.  When ten year old boy Quasimodo shows signs of deformity, his well-to-do parents place him in the charge of the town’s mysterious evangelist, Frollo.  In exchange, they adopt a Cuban girl, Esméralda, from a lower social class.  Ten years later, El Paris is menaced by a serial killer, and Quasimodo is the prime suspect...

This racy adaptation of Victor Hugo’s famous novel is unlikely to appeal to all tastes but for those that appreciate modern popular French comedy it is a real treat.  The film moves at a frantic pace with some very impressive visual effects, but the best thing of all is the outrageously camp sense of fun which pervades the film.

Without demeaning Patrick Timsit (who also directed the film) and Mélanie Thierry, who are entertaining in their roles as Quasimodo and Esméralda, the star of the film has to be Richard Berry.  His performance as Frollo, the bible-bashing evangelist with sadomasochistic tendencies, is an unforgettable mix of dry comedy and sinister bad guy charm.  It is worth seeing the film for his riveting performance alone.

Some of the violence in the film is, it has to be said, really unnecessary. Also some of the humour just fails to miss its mark and often provokes shock rather than a chuckle.  In particular, jokes about such sensitive topics as rape are in very poor taste and are a bit of a turn off.

A more substantial fault is that so many of the characters appear more as pale stereotypes than believable individuals.  Even Quasimodo himself is underplayed and fails to arouse any of the sympathy that you feel when reading the Victor Hugo novel.

As a serious film, this would be a very shallow effort and a real let down.  Thankfully, it is not a serious film.  It is a film that rejoices in its own unrelenting silliness and in that at least it is masterfully successful.

© James Travers 2001

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