King of Hearts (1967)

This article deals with the Franco-Italian feature film from 1967. For the German comedy film of the same name from 1947, see Herzkönig (1947) .

Movie
German title	King of Hearts
Original title	Le roi de coeur
Country of production	France , Italy
original language	French , English , German
Publishing year	1967
length	102 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Philippe de Broca
script	Daniel Boulanger
production	Philippe de Broca
music	Georges Delerue
camera	Pierre Lhomme
cut	Françoise Javet
occupation
Alan Bates : Charles Plumpick, the King of Hearts Geneviève Bujold : Coquelicot Pierre Brasseur : General Géranium Jean-Claude Brialy : Duc de Trèfle Françoise Christophe : Duchesse de Trèfle Adolfo Celi : Scottish Colonel Julien Guiomar : Marguerite Micheline Presle : Madame Eglantine Michel Serrault : M. Marcel, the hairdresser Adolfo Celi : Colonel Georges Adet : Doctor Jacques Balutin : Mac Fish Jacky Blanchot Daniel Boulanger : Helmut Philippe de Broca : Adolf Hitler Philippe Bruneau : madman Pier Paolo Capponi Madeleine Clervanne : Brunehaut Marc Dudicourt : Hamburger Paul Faivre : hairdresser Georges Guéret Louis Jojot : Gontran Jacques Mauclair : Mayor Pierre Palau : Albéric Yves Robert : General Baderna Sabine Sun : Mimi la Rose

King of Hearts (Original title: Le Roi de cœur ) is a French - Italian feature film set in a small French town shortly before the end of the First World War .

action

Towards the end of 1918, the Germans left Marville after setting it up with a booby trap. A British soldier, Charles Plumpick, is given the task of defusing the booby trap. He finds a place abandoned by the inhabitants. Only the inmates of the insane asylum have populated the place because someone forgot to lock the asylum door.

They welcome him with open arms, they see in him the "King of Hearts". Plumpick is enthroned in an official ceremony and takes a liking to his new companion without losing sight of his mission.

The film ends with the question of who is “crazier” - the inmates of the madhouse or the soldiers on the battlefield.

reception

When the film was released, it was a flop, both financially and from the critics. It was completely forgotten during the 1970s. Selling the rights to the US gave the film a second spring. In the 1980s, film became a cinematic phenomenon, to the director's great astonishment.

criticism

“An allegorical comedy with excellent actors, staged with a light hand, but somewhat inconsistently. Oscillating between farce and world theater, the film is always convincing when it creates satirical sparks from the contrast between the harmless madness of the mad and the madness of war. "

- film service

"A French comedy with a melancholy mood, which has nothing to counter the senselessness of war except the flight into an unreal fantasy world."

- Protestant film observer

Web links

• King of Hearts in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ King of Hearts. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .  
2. ↑ Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 71/1967