Summer is here! So there’s no getting around the rerun of this classic French comedy, “Les Bronzés: amis pour la vie”, the biggest box-office hit in 2006 and the biggest hit of the cult saga at the cinema. The film can be (re)seen tonight on TF1.
Les Bronzés: friends for life
The two films Les Bronzés, directed by Patrice Leconte and released in 1978 and 1979, are among the most cult films of French cinema. Impossible not to smile in front of the escapades of the Splendid team during their summer holidays at the Club and their winter holidays in the mountains.
Released in 2006, Les Bronzés: Friends for life still directed by Patrice Leconte is the third part of the saga. The film marks the long-awaited return of the emblematic characters played by the Splendid troupe, composed of Christian Clavier, Josiane Balasko, Michel Blanc, Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte and Marie-Anne Chazel.
In this new opus, we find the old friends reunited twenty-seven years after their initial adventures. The film takes place in a luxurious resort in Sardiniarun by Popeye and his wife, where the characters find themselves on a vacation that doesn’t quite go as planned.
The biggest revelation of the film is undoubtedly the brand new couple formed by Gigi (Marie-Anne Chazel) and Jean-Claude Dusse (Michel Blanc), who made their fortune in the United States after years of hardship in France.
A huge success at the French box office
Although the box office figures for the first two films were not extraordinary (2 million for the first, a million and a half for the second), the popularity of “Bronzés” grew gradually. The multiple rebroadcasts on television allowed the films to gain notoriety, becoming essential classics of French comedy.
The public became attached to the characters and the comic situations, and the cult lines entered into everyday language. This phenomenon largely explains the monumental success of the third film upon its release, which became the biggest success of the saga in France.
So, Les Bronzés: Friends for life totaled more than ten million admissions at the French box officebecoming the biggest hit of 2006, ahead of RatatouilleBefore being dethroned two years later by Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis, it held the record for the biggest opening of all time in France, with nearly 4 million admissions.
