Delusions of Grandeur (1971)

Original title

La Folie des grandeurs

Directed by

Gérard Oury

Genre

comedy film, historical film

Country

Germany, France, Italy, Spain

Runtime

2h 12m

Rated

PG

Rating

7.4 of 10 from 743 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

In 17th century Spain, a corrupt minister plots revenge against the Queen after he is banished from court. He schemes with his lovesick valet to compromise the Queen's honor and regain his power.

slapstickbroadly comedicfast-pacedfarcewhimsicalsillyplayfulanarchic

What happens

Delusions of Grandeur (French: La Folie des grandeurs) is a 1971 historical comedy film directed by Gérard Oury and starring Louis de Funès, Yves Montand and Alice Sapritch. It is a very liberal comedic adaptation of the play Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo. It was an international co-production between France, Italy, Spain and West Germany. Set in 17th century Spain, film recounts the misadventures of the ignoble Don Salluste, greedy and hypocritical Minister of Finance of the King of Spain, deposed and chased from court by the Queen. Drunk with revenge, and ready to do anything to regain his functions and his wealth, he manipulates his former valet Blaze, overcome with love for the sovereign, in order to compromise the latter. The idea of adapting Victor Hugo's romantic drama into a comedy film came to Gérard Oury in 1960, when he performed the play at the Comédie-Française. The great success of his films Le Corniaud in 1965 and La Grande Vadrouille in 1966 allowed his idea to see the light of day. Bourvil and Louis de Funès, headliners of the two films, were cast in the roles of Blaze and Don Salluste. After Bourvil's death from cancer in September 1970, and at the suggestion of Simone Signoret, Oury distributed the role of Blaze to Yves Montand. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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