Today at 08:00 – by Thomas Fourcroy
On Monday October 28 at 8:55 p.m., Arte broadcasts We stole Jupiter’s thigh. A comedy in the pure vein of Philippe de Broca who did not spare his actors!
In 1980, Philippe de Broca made Philippe de Broca, mixing comedy and adventure for a spectacular film, We stole Jupiter’s thigh. True to form, the filmmaker to whom we owe The devil by the tail et Tender chicken summoned some hell of a name for his feature film. Counting on a screenplay by Michel Audiard, he relied on the participation of Annie Girardot, Philippe Noiret, Roger Carel, and even Francis Perrin. A last city which will have particularly given of itself…
We stole Jupiter’s thigh : when adventure rhymes with humor
Funny story that ofWe stole Jupiter’s thigha comedy that lives up to its name. Indeed, here it all begins with the honeymoon of a police commissioner, Lise Tanquerelle, and her husband, Antoine Lemercier, professor of Greek at the Sorbonne. A stay in Greece which will take on a strange appearance after the meeting of this couple with another, formed by Charles-Hubert Pochet, archaeologist, and his wife, Agnès. In their company, they will discover on the island of Heraklios the posterior of a statue of Aphrodite, enough to attract envy. Because yes, as soon as night falls this ancient work will disappear, stolen by Agnes’ lover, Aristotle. A man found dead on his boat the next day… The start of an adventure like no other!
We stole Jupiter’s thigh : not an easy shoot for Francis Perrin
To stage this chase from Greece to Marseille, Philippe de Broca stopped at nothing. The director has put everything in real conditions, which sometimes disconcerts his casting. Thus, its actors and actresses did the job in conditions that were far from simple, such as in the Greek heat, when Annie Girardot had to stay attached to a helicopter. Same thing for Francis Perrin, in the role of the histrionic Charles-Hubert Pochet, who carried out the stunts with a false cast on his left leg! His mission: accumulate jumps and escape onto the rooftops of the Marseille city. A challenge met, but far from easy. Crazy scenes from the teasing mind of Philippe de Broca, who explained it in the show Cinema looks : “I put myself in the head of a 12-year-old child to shoot this. You have to believe very, very strongly in the story and at the same time take it from the angle which means that it is never tragic, dramatic . You have to have a story that holds up well, and above all, characters that hold up well. Message received by the intrepid Francis Perrin!
