Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob (1973)

 

This one is special, because this is probably one of the earliest comedies I have ever seen and it made me fall in love with the manic performance of Louis De Funès. Sure, I'm not a big fan of some other works he has done (I don't really like the 'Gendarmes'-series, for example), but this one, I still find hilarious to this day. 

It's also a pretty decent film to get people over bigotry concerning colour and religion as well, believe it or not. 

De Funès plays Pivert, an utter bastard of a factory owner, who is a racist. Let's not mince words. He has to hurry back home in order to prepare for the wedding of his daughter to the son of a general. They come across a wedding between a white man and a black woman and here you get a view of his stance on this, but he gets his comeuppance almost immediately. Later, he crashes the car and discovers that his driver Salomo is Jewish, something he finds hard to stomach. In the meantime, Mohamed Larbi Slimane, a Muslim freedom fighter, is kidnapped in Paris by Colonel Farès, with the orders to execute him. To this end, they take Slimane to a bubblegum factory, where Pivert also arrives, looking for help after Salomo has left him. Now, Pivert and Slimane escape and are on the run for both Farès and the police, who think they are cold blooded killers. At the airport of Orly, they disguise themselves as rabbis and are mistakenly welcomed by the family of one rabbi Jacob, who has been living in New York for the past 30 years. 

Back in the Jewish neighbourhood, Pivert is discovered by Salomo and lots of shenanigans ensue before everything is eventually resolved and Pivert discovers and learns that despite colour or creed, people are really not all that different. 

First off: if you are not a fan of frantic and manic expressions and Louis De Funès' typical habit of making faces and going a little OTT, you will not enjoy this. So be warned. If however, you find him irrestistibly funny, this will be a hoot. Not only that, but this film is almost non stop gags and jokes and even the lesser ones pass by so rapidly that there is a new one knocking, should you still be laughing at the last one, it really is relentless. That also makes it a little tiring and by the end, you will feel pretty exhausted. 

The setup is wonderfully simple and even though they do crack jokes at cultural differences, they do not form the bulk of this film. It's more like slapstick comedy, an art form that is sadly sorely lacking these days. The actors all do a wonderful job, just Victor's wife Germaine is too much. I know she was written this way, but she does nothing but yell and scream the entire time and it is grating. 

Like I said, this film is ball-bustingly funny the whole time through, yet I have always found one little problem. You see, the scenes in the bubblegum factory are so well done and so on point when it comes to comedic highlights, the rest of the film feels a little deflated because of it. The rest is still excellent, but it just seems like it's downhill after the factory, which is a double shame considering it happens pretty early on in the film. 

But don't let that stand in the way of discovering this one if you haven't already. Like said before: the frantic mannerisms of De Funès aren't for everyone, but if you can enjoy it, you will be in stitches after watching this one.