L'Avare 1980

L'Avare is the 1980 film of Molière's comedy The Miser, starring Louis de Funès as Harpagon and co-directed by de Funès himself with Jean Girault, his regular collaborator on the Gendarme films. It was a long-held project for the actor, who was 65 and had been weakened by heart attacks in the 1970s. The film follows the play closely and keeps much of Molière's text, while adding the physical comedy de Funès was famous for. Harpagon is a rich widower in 17th-century Paris who loves nothing as much as his cash box of 10,000 gold coins, buried in the garden. The film was a success in France, though less than de Funès's biggest hits, and it is a good way for English-speaking viewers to see one of France's most popular comic actors in a classic role.

Molière's plot

Harpagon's avarice makes life miserable for his children and his servants. He plans to marry his daughter Élise to a wealthy old man, Anselme, because Anselme will take her without a dowry. He means to marry the young and poor Mariane himself. He does not know that Élise loves Valère, who has taken a job as his steward to be near her, or that his son Cléante loves Mariane.

Needing money, Cléante tries to borrow through an intermediary and discovers that the loan shark offering ruinous terms is his own father. Then La Flèche, Cléante's servant, finds the cash box and takes it. Harpagon's great monologue, in which he cries out at the theft and accuses everyone, including himself and the audience, is the high point of the play and of the film.

De Funès as Harpagon

De Funès did not want to play Harpagon only for laughs. He said he wanted to bring out the unhappy side of the character: a man unloved by everyone, whose love of money has replaced all other feeling. The film keeps that darker note, especially near the end.

That said, it is still a de Funès film. His grimaces, sudden rages and frantic movements are all there, and he adds visual gags that are not in Molière, especially around the dinner where Harpagon forces guests and servants to save on everything. Purists objected; most audiences laughed.

A faithful adaptation

Compared with many screen versions of classic plays, this one is close to its source. Most of the dialogue is Molière's prose, and the scenes follow the order of the play. The film opens the action out a little into the house and garden, with period sets and costumes, but it never pretends not to be a play.

At just over two hours, it is long for a comedy, and the scenes between the young lovers are less lively than those dominated by Harpagon. Michel Galabru, as Maître Jacques, the cook and coachman, is a good comic foil.

Where it fits

L'Avare came near the end of de Funès's career. He made only two more films, La Soupe aux choux (1981) and Le Gendarme et les Gendarmettes (1982), before his death in January 1983.

If you want de Funès at his most explosive, start with his 1960s and early 1970s comedies. If you want to see him tackle the classical repertoire, this is the film. For more, see the best French comedies and the best French films of the 1980s.