''Caméra Café'' is a French-born concept of comedy television series exported around the world. Two movie spin-offs have been made in France under the titles of ''Espace détente'' and ''Le Séminaire''. It was originally a French television show created by Bruno Solo,

Yvan Le Bolloc'h Yvan Le Bolloc'h (; born 20 December 1961) is a French television and radio host and actor. Biography Yvan Le Bolloc'h began as a teacher for four years in Brittany. He worked regularly with Bruno Solo and presented with him several music program ...

, and Alain Kappauf and it was broadcast from September 2001 to December 2004 on the M6 channel. 700 episodes of 3 minutes each have been produced and were broadcast again on M6 in 2004. The show revolves around a dysfunctional office. Its originality stems from the fact that, within the fiction, the camera is fixed into the automated

coffee machine A coffeemaker, coffee maker or coffee machine is a cooking appliance used to brew coffee. While there are many different types of coffeemakers the two most common brewing principles use gravity or pressure to move hot water through coffee gr ...

of the office space. The title is a French pun on "Caméra Cachée", (literally "hidden camera", or

Candid Camera ''Candid Camera'' is a popular and long-running American hidden camera reality television series. Versions of the show appeared on television from 1948 until 2014. Originally created and produced by Allen Funt, it often featured practical jokes ...

for the related TV show).

Plot

The main originality of the series is the coffee machine, located in the relaxation area of the company, which becomes the point of view of the viewer during each episode. In front of it, parade the employees of the company "Geugène Electro Stim" (G.E.S.) all are caricatured to the grotesque humor, even cynical at times. This place of choice allows the viewer to live from within the everyday atmosphere of the head office of a large company in the French (such as the presence of a driver for the president, a director of human resources and 'a full-time psychologist), with professional or private discussions that often turn into caricatures. Some extras pass from time to time down the hall and sometimes serve as spectators in some skits at strategic moments.

Cast

Main

Bruno Solo Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...

as Hervé Dumont, Purchasing director and Union representative *

as Jean-Claude , Commercial

Secondary

Armelle Armelle (born 23 July 1969 as Armelle Leśniak) is a French actress, comedian and screenwriter. Life and career After studies in Khâgne, she works as a costume-aid. Trained by Jean Périmony, her atypical physique and her personality do not t ...

as Maéva Capucin, Head of archives and inventory and Carole's assistant * Alexandre Pesle as Sylvain Müller, Accountant *

Jeanne Savary Jeanne may refer to: Places * Jeanne (crater), on Venus People * Jeanne (given name) * Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc, 1412–1431) * Joanna of Flanders (1295–1374) * Joan, Duchess of Brittany (1319–1384) * Ruth Stuber Jeanne (1910–2004), Amer ...

as Jeanne Bignon, Secretary and Jean-Guy's assistant *

Gérard Chaillou Gérard (French: ) is a French masculine given name and surname of Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constitue ...

as Jean-Guy Lecointre, Chief human resources officer * Valérie Decobert as Frédérique Castelli, Nancy's secretary * Alain Bouzigues as Philippe Gatin, Network administrator *

Shirley Bousquet Shirley Bousquet (born 5 March 1976) is a French actress. Life and career From 1998 to 2004, Shirley Bousquet played the recurring role of Jeanne Bouvier in the television series Sous le soleil. In 2001, she was revealed to the public on televi ...

as Nancy Langeais, Chief financial officer *

Sylvie Loeillet Sylvie may refer to: * ''Sylvie'' (novel), an 1853 novel by Gérard de Nerval * Sylvie (actress) (1883–1970), French actress * Sylvie (band), a Canadian rock band from Regina, active in the 2000s * ''Sylvie'' (album), a 1962 album by Sylvie Va ...

as Carole Dussier-Belmont, Chief commercial officer * Philippe Cura as André Markowicz, Chauffeur *

Noémie Elbaz Noémie (or Noemie) is a female name of French origin. Retrieved 21 June 2018 Uncommon variant spellings in French include Noémi and Noëmie (same pronunciation). It is the French variation of the biblical Hebrew name Naomi (), which means "good, ...

as Julie Hassan, Switchboard operator * Karim Adda as Vincent Schneider, Postal service employee * Marc Andréoni as Serge Touati, Company psychologist * Chantal Neuwirth as Annie Lepoutre, Trainee * Tom Novembre as Stanislas Priziwielsky, Digix's accountant *

Sophie Renoir Sophie Renoir (born 1964) is a French actress. She is the great-granddaughter of the French Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), and daughter of the cinematographer Claude Renoir (1913–1993), granddaughter of actors Pierre R ...

as Eva Kovalsky, Carole 's substitute during her illness *

Lucien Jean-Baptiste Lucien Jean-Baptiste (born 6 May 1964) is a French actor, writer and director.Catherine Benguigui Catherine Benguigui (born 1964) is a French actress and television personality. Personal life She is the daughter of Elie Benguigui. Television Radio Filmography References External links

* 1964 births French television actr ...

as Mireille * Catherine Jacob as The interior designer * Chantal Lauby as Emma * Valérie Mairesse as Anabelle, depressed cleaning lady *

Mathilda May Mathilda May (born Karin Haïm; 8 February 1965) is a French film actress. Early life May was born in Paris, France. Her father, playwright Victor Haïm, is of Sephardic Jewish ( Greek-Jewish and Turkish-Jewish) descent. Her mother is the Sw ...

as The Boss's wife *

Bruno Lochet Bruno Lochet (born 18 October 1959) is a French actor. He is best known for playing in the cult TV series ''Les Deschiens'' (1993–2002), in which he played alongside Yolande Moreau Yolande Moreau (born 27 February 1953) is a Belgian comedia ...

as Didier Farjex, The chef of the canteen * Pascal Obispo as himself * Guillaume Depardieu as Simon, a former prisoner in reintegration *

Élie Semoun Élie Semoun (born Élie Semhoun on 16 October 1963) is a French comedian, actor, director, writer and singer. Life and career Élie Semoun was born in France, to a Sephardic Jewish family of Moroccan-Jewish and Algerian-Jewish descent. In 1 ...

as The Security guard * Fred Testot as The window cleaner *

Aïssa Maïga Aïssa Maïga (born 5 May 1975) is a Senegal-born French actress, director, writer, producer, and activist. Maïga has worked with major auteurs like Michael Haneke, Abderrahmane Sissako and Michel Gondry, and recently starred in Chiwetel Ejiofor� ...

as Violette, Jean-Claude's ex *

Christelle Cornil Christelle Cornil (born 28 August 1977) is a Belgian actress. Her acting credits include ''Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert'', '' Soeur Sourire'', ''Illegal'', '' Mr. Average'', '' Beauties at War'', ''Julie & Julia'', '' OSS 117: Lost in Rio'', ''My ...

as Yvonne, The maintenance employee *

Raphaël Lenglet Raphaël Lenglet (born 21 October 1976) is a French actor. He is best known for his starring roles in French police television series. On '' Les Bleus'' he plays small-time hood turned rookie policeman, Alex Moreno and on ''Candice Renoir'' he po ...

as Dimitri, Eva's son * Bruno Salomone as Thierry * Riton Liebman as The director *

Gustave Kervern Gustave Kervern (born 27 August 1962), also known as Gustave de Kervern and Gustave K/Vern, is a French actor, director and screenwriter. He is best known for his collaboration with Benoît Delépine. Life and career In 2004 he wrote, directed, ...

as The plumber

Adaptations

''Caméra Café'' has seen great export success, having been adapted in: * Republic of Ireland (2002–2003) * Canada / Quebec (2002–2012, 2021–) * Greece (2002) * Italy (2003–2008; 2011–2012; 2017) * Poland (2004) * Spain (2005–2009) * Portugal (2006–) * Philippines (2007–2009) * Indonesia (2008-) * Chile (2008) *

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(2008-2010) * Belgium / Flanders * Luxembourg *

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

(2008-) *

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

"Movie links for Caméra café (2001)"
on the Internet Movie Database, retrieved on September 10, 2006 * Brazil * La Réunion, the show is both in Créole and French, depending on the origins of the characters. *

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

(2008-)'' Caracol TV''
''Cámara Café llega para alegrar nuestras noches''
, 13 November 2008, retrieved 15 November 2008 * Vietnam (2010-2011) * Tunisia (2013)
Camera Cafe Tunisie Officiel
* Turkey (2009-2010) * Morocco (2010-) the show is both in Darija and French, depending on the characters. * Algeria (2012-) * Cambodia (2012) * Romania (2015-) * Jordan (2019) The length of an episode varies on the locale. In Quebec, where the shorter format is less prevalent than in France, episodes are 30 minutes long, commercials included (inversely, the Quebec show '' Un gars, une fille'', originally half an hour long, was reduced to 9 minutes in its French version). Italy kept the 7 minute format and Spain chose a four- to six-minute format.

Episodes

References

External links

* *
Official website of the French versionOfficial website of the Italian versionOfficial website of the Philippine versionOfficial website of the Spanish versionList of all episodes - official streaming
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camera Cafe Television shows filmed in Quebec 2000s Canadian sitcoms 2002 Canadian television series debuts 2003 Canadian television series endings TVA (Canadian TV network) original programming M6 (TV channel) original programming