Films

«Le Corniaud»: a vacation for the people

5 reading minutes

written by Loris S. Musumeci · March 25, 2020 · 0 comment

«Le Corniaud»: a vacation for the people

Cinema Wednesdays - Special edition: The coronary with Louis de Funès - Loris S. Musumeci

«What I like about you is your simplicity.»

My favorite film with de Funès. One of my favorite films altogether. I didn't know what I liked so much about this comedy. What moved me. De Funès and Bourvil? Yes, they're fantastic. The crossing of the Italian peninsula and its wonders? Yes, it's beautiful. The plot? Simple and catchy. The music? Sublime beyond words.

Now I can see a little more clearly. Film analysis doesn't take anything away from films, nor does it add anything to them. But it is their continuity. And it translates them to see how they speak to us, revolt us, delight us or move us. By analyzing Le Corniaud, I understood why I loved him so much. And even if I did, I'm no less moved by this delicate, authentic work.

Oury, a popular director

Gérard Oury is once again at the helm. A comedy director with an infinitely sensitive and gentle eye. Popular director. But what does «popular director» mean? One who makes films for the people, yes. But I know others who pride themselves on making films for the people - whom they despise - and who only see their audience as an opportunity to cash in and, if necessary, to dumb them down. Panem et circenses, isn't it? Fucking and blood, eh?

A popular director is one who makes films for the people, but with the people in mind, their desires, their pleasures, their dreams, what makes them truly happy. The popular director offers a gift to the people. Le Corniaud is a gift of comedy offered to the people in 1965. A gift which, in fact, contains several gifts of its own.

Bourvil, de Funès, music, dance and cinema

The first gift is the reunion of Louis de Funès and Bourvil. Together, they're unbeatable. But they haven't played much together. They're not Laurel and Hardy. Nevertheless, as early as 1965, on the set of Corniaud, they became very close. Friends mad with tenderness for each other. Accomplices. Companions. The budding friendship was immediately apparent on screen. It only lasted five years; Bourvil died in 1970. Nevertheless, with La Grande Vadrouille (1966), Oury gave us this genial couple. And they gave us their friendship beyond the screen.

The second gift is the original music by Georges Delerue, with the track Leaving Naples. A soft melody to caress; a fragrant melody of seawater. Light. Serene. I don't have the words. But to listen to this piece is to find yourself in the arms of the woman you love, in a road trip sweet and rich in adventure, facing the setting sun. This melody is vacation for the hard-working. Relaxation in wonder. Encounters. Friendships. The joy of a jerk, not so jerkish. A happy mutt.

The third gift is the work of cinema itself. Pleasant, meticulous photography. A simple but intelligent - and effective - script. Dancing. Just the right amount of action. Chases, just the way we like them. Comic games with language, as Oury, de Funès and Bourvil are wont to do. And two great moments of seventh-art anthology: the scene in which de Funès, in true Chaplin style to which he pays majestic homage, repairs the Cadillac at a Roman garage in the middle of the night, with precise spontaneous steps and playful gestures. Or the scene of the muscle game in the shower at a campsite: the handsome bodybuilder shakes all the muscles in his body as if he were raising his arm; Louis de Funès' character wants to imitate him, but the result is, how can I put it... different.

A vacation for the people

The fourth and final gift is the vacations. The most beautiful gift, the strongest, the warmest, the truest. Le Corniaud offers a vacation to the people, and not just any vacation, but a dream vacation, filming the most graceful Italian landscapes. Those landscapes that do the heart good. Bourvil's character, a little man of the people, gets a two-week Cadillac ride from Naples to Bordeaux, with 500,000 lire to cover expenses.

And it's all the people behind him who also receive these vacations as a gift. The sons of workers in the 1960s saw the wonders of Italy with Bourvil. Middle-class families traveled in Cadillacs with him. They met young lovers with him. They slept in luxury hotels with him. They were happy with him. They enjoyed the gift, but for two hours rather than two weeks. No matter; it's only the rich who always have something to complain about. Simple people traveled to Italy for two hours with Oury, Bourvil and de Funès. They came away with their eyes filled with light. My family and friends - in short, those I love - were with them, in front of the TV set. That's what moves me. That's why I love Le Corniaud.