In La folie des grandeurs (1971) Louis de Funes boasts his extraordinary comical skills , pairing him alongside the great Ives Montand . This big budgeted production of court intrigue is set in 17th-century Spain, Don Salluste (Louis de Funès) , an egoistic , bigot aristocrat falls from grace . Wanting vengeance , the disgraced Minister of Finance of the Spanish kingdom attempts to compromize the Queen (Karin Schubert) with his servant Blaze (Ives Montand) , introduced as his cousin , while the king (Alberto De Mendoza) is snooping here and there to discover the alleged adultery . But poor Blaze gets stuck with a rather domineering governess (Alice Saprtich) , who is madly in love with him and very keen on getting her way .
A Louis de Funes recital giving his ordinary likeable acting as a miser Ministry of Finance and Ives Montand as his womanizer valet , both of them impersonating two roguish and ambitious people . This "sympathetic villain" Sallustre is the persona that defined the most iconic French comedian of all-time: Louis de Funès. ¨La folie des grandeurs (1971) "' is certainly one of the most successful of all the movies adapted from Victor Hugo novel . Including lavish and nice production design as well as colorful cinematography and evocative musical score . Being based loosely on Victor Hugo's novel , Ruy Blas . In fact , it is a very free rendition about the legendary personage immortalized by Victor Hugo . Funny and entertaining Louis de Funes vehicle in which he shows his classic hilarious vein . Being a good occasion for discover the art of Louis de Funes . Wonderfully played by the great Louis de Funes playing a petty tyrant in his own home and minister of the King of Spain , who attempts to dishonor the queen with an overly twisted scheme . Funes had a long and interesesting career , from his first roles as "Devil and 10 Commandments" , "Captain Fracassa" , "La Vendetta" until his biggest hits as "Don't look we are being shot" along with Bourvil , ¨Fantomas trilogy¨performed along with Jean Marais , Mylene Demengeot : "Fantomas" , "Fantomas Strikes Again", "Fantomas vs Scotland Yard" , to "The Cadillac Man" , "The Restaurant" , "Wing and the thigh" and his last film feature : "The mad adventures of Rabbi Jacob" . Although Funes really excelled in Ludovico Cruchot series as "Le Gendarme of Saint Tropez" , "Gendarme in Balade", "Le Gendarme in N. Y." , "Le Gendarme and creatures of outer space" and "Le Gendarme and Gendarmettes". While De Funès' last three movies, at a time , he had to moderate his frenetic style of comedy following his cardiac episode . This wild comedy takes off at a dashing pace set by the De Funes , Montand great duo . Co-stars Ives Montand who stands out as his attractive and astute servant , Montand displays comedian attitude too , while being usually a dramatic actor as proved in ¨Wages of fear¨ , ¨Z¨, ¨Grand Prix¨ , ¨Jean De Florette¨, ¨Manon of the Spring¨, ¨State of siege¨ , ¨Napoleon¨ , ¨ On a clear day¨ , ¨You can see forever¨ , among others . Support cast is nice with plenty of ordinary secondaries from different countries , such as : Spanish people as Alberto de Mendoza , Don Jaime de Mora y Aragón , Eduardo Fajardo , Antonio Pica , La Polaca , Fernando Hilbeck , Antonio Iranzo, Jesus Tordesillas, Angel Alvarez , Ricardo palacios, Fernando Bilbao , Frank Braña , Xan Das Bolas ; Italian actors : Venantino Venantini , Gabriele Tinti , Leopoldo Trieste and French players : Paul Preboist , Roger Carel and special mention for Alice Sapritch as the repulsive duenna .
Adding a colorful cinematography in brilliant Eastmancolor shot on several Spanish locations in Palace of Charles V, The Alhambra, Granada, Andalucía, Court of the Lions, The Alhambra, Granada, Palacio de Generalife, La Alhambra , Isla Minima del Guadalquivir, La Puebla del Río, Sevilla, Andalucía, La Calahorra, Granada, Andalucía, Desierto de Tabernas, Almería, Andalucía, Pedraza, Segovia, Castilla y León La Pedriza, Manzanares el Real, Madrid, El Escorial ,Hospital de Tavera, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha . As well as evocative score and opulent settings by expert production designers . The motion picture was lavish and professionally written/directed by Gérard Oury who acted in that play at the Comédie-Française , being a classic stage actor : Racine's "Brittanicus" . Oury was a star and supporting actor in European and American film adventures, he turned to comedy as a director and helmed a string of successful comedies . His country's top actors as Bourvil, Louis de Funès, Jean-Paul Belmondo, etc worked with him . He collaborated with daughter Danièle Thompson on several of his screenplays , including "Don't Look Now" (1969) , Levi and Goliath (1987) , La Grande Vadrouille (1966)) that retains the record for attendance by a French movie, and was only dethroned as the top ticket-seller ever in France by Titanic (1997). In turn, Danièle collaborated with her son and Gérard's grandson, Christopher Thompson, on several screenplays, including La bûche (1999) and "Jet Lag" (2002). Rating : 6.5/10 . Essential and indispensable watching for Louis de Funes and Ives Montand fans . Well worth seeing.
