Santa Claus is dreadful
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Santa Claus is dreadful |
| Original title | Le Père Noël est une ordure |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1982 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK without age restriction |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jean-Marie Poiré |
| script | Josiane Balasko , Marie-Anne Chazel , Christian Clavier , Gérard Jugnot , Thierry Lhermitte , Bruno Moynot and Jean-Marie Poiré |
| music | Vladimir Cosma |
| camera | Robert Alazraki |
| cut | Catherine Kelber |
| occupation | |
| |
Santa Claus is terrified (original title: Le Père Noël est une ordure) is a French comedy film by Jean-Marie Poiré from 1982. It is based on the 1979 play by the Le Splendid group .
action
The piece takes place on a Christmas Eve in a telephone counseling service. A dedicated social worker couple has to fight off some perverted callers and several uninvited guests. The whole thing is getting out of hand and culminates in the apartment explosion.
The film adaptation deviates from the original play, especially at the end. Instead of ending with the death of all players, all main characters survive and feed an accidentally perished craftsman to the predators in the zoo.
reception
The comedy has become a real cult film in France. Quotes from the film have partly passed into everyday language . In real Père Noël parties, many viewers, equipped with the necessary props for the film, play the scenes.
Outside of France, however, plays and films are largely unknown. With Lifesavers - The Lifesavers there is an American remake in which Steve Martin plays the leading role.
In Germany, in November 2006, Yvonne Marienfeld first performed a translation of the play under the title “Santa Claus is an old bastard” in the Frankfurt cellar theater .
review
The majority of the French critics rated the film negatively. The film critic Serge Toubiana mockingly wrote in the Cahiers du cinéma that the film had “no content”, was “partly a black comedy, but without a message”, that it would preserve the “unity of time and place” as a strength “Reckless theater adaptation” and “take into account the constraints of time and space”, because there is only “one room, the apartment, one night and the people”. The actors at the Splendid theater would "play better than usual, but each play for himself". He goes on to say that the idea of locking screenwriter Josiane Balasko in the stairwell all the time is "excellent".
Individual evidence
- ↑ Les Cahiers du cinéma , No. 340, October 1982