Doublure, La (2006)

Director:

Francis Veber

Writer:

Francis Veber (writer)

Release Date:

29 March 2006 (Belgium)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

A new comedy from the writer/director of The Closet and The Dinner Game

Plot:

A porter and a top-model have to pretend to be a couple in order to salvage a CEO's marriage.

Plot Keywords:

Porter | Model | Engagement Ring | Bookstore | Photographer

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Gad Elmaleh	...	François Pignon
Alice Taglioni	...	Elena Simonsen
Daniel Auteuil	...	Pierre Levasseur
Kristin Scott Thomas	...	Christine Levasseur
Richard Berry	...	Maître Foix
Virginie Ledoyen	...	Émilie
Dany Boon	...	Richard
Michel Jonasz	...	André Pignon, le père de François
Michel Aumont	...	Le médecin
Laurent Gamelon	...	Paul
Patrick Mille	...	Pascal Bouliveau
Michèle Garcia	...	Louise Pignon, la mère de François
Philippe Magnan	...	Berman
Jean-Yves Chilot	...	Hervé
Irina Ninova	...	Marie
Philippe Beglia	...	Le maître d'hôtel
Noémie Lenoir	...	Karine
Sandra Moreno	...	Secrétaire Levasseur
Jean-Pol Brissart	...	Mauricet
Philippe Brigaud	...	Monsieur Hervé
Alexandre Brik	...	Ken, le maquilleur
Thierry Humbert	...	Paparazzi
Paulette Frantz	...	La mère de Richard
Thierry Nenez	...	Perrache
Karl Lagerfeld	...	Himself / Lui-même
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Hoehn	...	François Pignon (voice)

Directed by
Francis Veber

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Francis Veber		writer

Produced by
Patrice Ledoux	....	producer
Francesco Pamphili	....	co-producer
Francis Veber	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Alexandre Desplat

Cinematography by
Robert Fraisse

Film Editing by
Georges Klotz

Casting by
Françoise Menidrey

Production Design by
Dominique André

Art Direction by
Benoît Bechet

Makeup Department
Laurent Bozzi	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Yann Arnaud	....	unit production manager
Philippe Desmoulins	....	production manager
Bernard Seitz	....	production manager
Tourdjman Valentin	....	assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Olivier Falkowski	....	second assistant director
Alain Olivieri	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Lionel Callari	....	property master
Hervé Guignot	....	key carpenter
Pascal Leguellec	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Bernard Bats	....	sound
Pierre-Yves Bruneel	....	assistant sound
Pascal Chauvin	....	foley artist
Vincent Cosson	....	sound re-recording mixer
Thomas Desjonquères	....	supervising sound editor
Séverin Favriau	....	assistant sound editor
Gérard Lamps	....	sound re-recording mixer
Alain Lévy	....	post-synchronization
Armelle Mahé	....	foley recording engineer
Franck Tassel	....	assistant foley artist
Jean-Alexandre Villemer	....	sound recordist

Visual Effects by
Roxane Fechner	....	visual effects set supervisor
Frederic Moreau	....	visual effects designer

Camera and Electrical Department
Yves Agostini	....	camera operator
Dominique Delguste	....	additional camera operator
Patrick de Ranter	....	steadicam operator
Steve Moreau	....	additional first assistant camera
Christian Thurot	....	generator operator

Casting Department
Franck Jouard	....	extras casting
Géraldine Mouton	....	extras casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Florie Vaslin	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Charlotte Mazzinghi	....	dailies color grader
Gerard Savary	....	color timer

Other crew
Ghislaine Cauet-Martinotto	....	production assistant
Françoise Della Libera	....	production administrator
Dario Faniglione	....	assistant to production manager

Production Companies

• Gaumont
• EFVE (co-production)
• TF1 Films Productions (co-production)
• Kairos (co-production)
• Artémis Productions (participation)
• Sofica Sogécinéma 4 (participation)
• Banque Populaire Images 6 (participation)
• Canal+ (participation)
• Ciné Cinémas (participation)
• MEDIA Programme of the European Union (participation)

Distributors

• Gaumont International (2006) (worldwide) (all media)
• Gaumont (2006) (France) (theatrical)
• Gaumont/Columbia TriStar Home Video (GCTHV) (2006) (France) (DVD) (special edition)
• Alfa Films (2006) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Christal Films (2006) (Canada) (all media)
• Divisa Home Video (2006) (Spain) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Odeon (2007) (Greece) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2007) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)

Other Companies

• Athalys  post-production facilities
• Chanel  special thanks: models and collection designed by Karl Lagerfeld
• Lanvin  costumes: Daniel Auteuil and Richard Berry
• Yves Saint Laurent  costumes: Kristin Scott Thomas

Also Known As:

The Valet (International: English title) (USA)
Boulette, La (France) (working title)
Top model nel mio letto, Una (Italy)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language.

Runtime:

France:85 min

Country:

France | Italy | Belgium

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Romania:A.G. | South Korea:12 | Australia:M | Portugal:M/12 | France:U | Netherlands:AL

Filming Locations:

Boulogne-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Company:

Gaumont

Trivia:

Near the end, the father of François Pignon tells him that he is invited to a dinner to talk about his corkscrews collection. This is a reference to another Francis Veber movie, Dîner de cons, Le (1998), in which a likable idiot (also called François Pignon) is invited to a dinner on the pretext of talking about his match constructions.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the president yells at Francois and his lawyer hang up the phone, you can see that the CISCO IP Phone is not even working and has the wrong date. There is no way someone would have been able to make a phone call using that phone.

Movie Connections:

References Racing Stripes (2005)

Soundtrack:

Happy birthday to you

Routine French farce

This film, entitled "La Doublure" or "the stand-in" in French but retitled The Valet in English, was produced by old line French studio Gaumont. Veber is the mainstay of conventional French screen comedy. He wrote the Cage aux Folles screenplays and directed The Dinner Game/Le Dîner de cons and The Closet/Le placard (the latter starring Daniel Auteuil and Gérard Depardieu) and lot of others. The only trouble is, Veber has done so many of these things now their action is routine-ized. You can see the jokes coming well ahead, especially the visual ones. And some of the jokes are so clunky. A doctor who has to be treated by his patients—come on! Is that really funny enough to carry on to scene after scene? This time Veber's every-guy character François Pignon (here Gad Elmaleh) gets pulled into a scheme by megabucks CEO Levasseur (Auteuil) to extricate himself from charges that he's been cheating on his wife Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas) with his mistress of two years, "top-model" Elena (Alice Taglioni), which obviously he indeed has. A paparazzo has snapped Levasseur in a compromising scene squabbling with the beauty, but Pignon was walking by and his face is also in the background of the tabloid picture. If Levasseur can make it look like Pignon is the boyfriend (don't look into that too closely) he's in the clear.

Pignon has just been shot down after proposing to his childhood sweetheart Emilie (Virginie Ledoyen). His roommate and fellow parking valet (voiturier) at a posh restaurant, Richard (Dany Boon), has just moved out. His girlfriend is 32,000+ Euros in debt at the bookstore she's recently opened. Levasseur talks Elena into moving in with Pignon and pretending to be his girlfriend for the paparazzi to get himself off the hook. Pignon is asking only the 32,000+ Euroes as payment, but Elena has been promised a whopping 20 million Euro guarantee that when this is over, Levasseur will eventually marry her. If Christine were to divorce Levasseur she could take 60% of his company's stock with her. He doesn't really want that. His trouble is he doesn't really want to give up Elena either. He wants his dough, he wants his company, he wants his wife, and he wants his mistress. He's a pretty greedy guy. A snag is Christine has detectives carefully sussing all this out. He hasn't really fooled anybody, except a few paparazzi, who could care less.

Veber uses glitz to liven things up and moderates that diet with niceness. As in Hollywood, moral virtue wins out against the ravages of raw capitalism and somewhat against everyday experience. Of course bad guys do get caught, but not as easily as this. The fancy cars the valets get to drive dazzle us just as does the top-model's beauty (and a Chanel-Lagerfeld runway show happens with the elegantly cadaverous Lagerfeld himself on hand). Kirsten Scott Thomas adds impeccable class to her minor role as the wronged but unflappable wife.

If these were all poor people none of this would happen. This is a case of Money Makes Funny.

The joke-message is money doesn't really matter (I guess). Elena would rather ditch Levasseur than get his 20-million-Euro bribe. She actually likes Pignon – he's a decent fellow and he's got those big bright eyes — and she gradually builds up his ego while getting a lesson in decency from him, in case she needs one. (One would think she would, but that isn't gone into.) Pignon's girlfriend Emilie relents and accepts his hand and in this process Elena becomes a sort of fashion star fairy godmother.

Veber doesn't engineer a splashy finale. Things end not with a bang but a whimper — Pignon telling Levasseur off and leaving him on a lonely road in his car.

Richard Berry as Maître Foix, Levasseur's lawyer who arranges all the "stand-in" business, gives one of the film's juiciest performances, with all-black outfits and tight close-ups to highlight his efficient, plummily amoral manner. It's a nice moment when he asks Levasseur "May I speak to you as a friend?" and Levasseur quickly replies, "No." Auteuil, with his polished lack of affect, is perfect for his role.

This isn't as ingenious as The Closet or The Dinner Game (and other earlier Veber comedies) and maybe that's why we can see the wheels turning so clearly. It's entertaining but lacks wit. There is a great French tradition here but it lies in shreds and tatters. The timing is good (if obvious) and the acting is polished and, where it has room to be, appealing. But this is like doing a crossword puzzle. When it's over, you're done with it forever.