comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
film directed by
Francis Veber
Francis Paul Veber (born 28 July 1937) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer, and playwright. He has written and directed both French and American films. Nine French-language films with which he has been involved, as either writer ...
.
The film was remade in 1982 as the American film '' The Toy''.
Plot
The movie tells the story of a little boy who is trying to prove his father wrong by acting exactly like him. His father "buys" people and nothing can stop him from getting what he wants. His son does not see why he cannot do the same and decides to buy a man, who he encountered at the toy shop. The man he chose happened to be a journalist at his father's newspaper. Gradually with the help of his “toy” the boy manages to prove his father's wrong deeds by exposing them in the newspaper produced by him and his "toy". Along this journey, the boy establishes warm relationships with the man and refuses to stay with his father any longer. The message behind the story is that love and respect matter more than money.
Cast
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Pierre Richard
Pierre Richard (born Pierre-Richard Maurice Charles Léopold Defays; 16 August 1934) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter, best known for the roles of a clumsy daydreamer in comedy films. Pierre Richard is considered by many, such as ...
as François Perrin
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Michel Bouquet
Michel Bouquet (6 November 1925 – 13 April 2022) was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1947 to 2020. He won the Best Actor European Film Award for '' Toto the Hero'' in 1991 and two Best Actor Césars fo ...
Michel Aumont
Michel Henri Aumont (15 October 1936 – 28 August 2019) was a French theatre, film, and television actor. Throughout his career, he gained four Molière Awards and nominations for three César Awards. In 2015, he was made Grand Officer of the ...
as Le directeur du magasin
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Gérard Jugnot
Gérard Jugnot (; born 4 May 1951) is a French actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer.
Jugnot was one of the founders of the comedy ''troupe'' Le Splendid in the 1970s, along with, among others, his high-school friends Christian Cl ...
Yves Barsacq
Yves Barsacq (17 June 1931 – 4 October 2015) was a French film actor, who appeared in more than 150 films. He is the son of the French-Russian production designer Léon Barsacq and the nephew of the French theatre director André Barsacq. ...