An exhibition dedicated to the cars of Louis de Funès

Do you remember our first meeting? ” Oh yes ! Speeding, dangerous overtaking, refusal to obey… I liked you right away. ” In The policeman is getting married, love at first sight between the sergeant-major Cruchot (Louis de Funès) and Josépha (Claude Gensac) occurs at the end of a chase on the roads of the Côte d’Azur. “The characters embodied by Louis de Funès are imbued with the imagination of the postwar boom period which saw the development of design, rock’n’roll and the individual car”, points out Nora Ferreira, curator of the exhibition “En vadrouille with Louis de Funès. Between 1960 and 1970, the car is indeed democratized. During their paid holidays, the French now take to the wheel on the holiday route. It’s the time of the 2 CV, Simca 1000 and other legendary 4 L.

Made in 1965, in the midst of a decade of economic expansion, The mutt, by Gérard Oury, launched the career of Louis de Funès. “The exhibition devotes a large space to this legendary film which is also the first French-style road movie,” remarks Nora Ferreira. Its visitors can discover the real 2 CV of the shooting, which imposes itself as the star of the film from the opening scene. Remember: Bourvil at the wheel of the famous Deudeuche is hit by a Rolls-Royce driven by Louis de Funès. A sequence that has become cult, which stages the explosive encounter between two social statuses.

Alternately decor, accessory and social marker, the car makes it possible to script class relations. Another great automobile star of the time, the DS made almost as many screen appearances as the 2 CV,hibernatus to Adventures of Rabbi Jacob. Launched in 1955, the model breaks with classic automotive canons and this long dark sedan is associated with the figure of General de Gaulle. Stunning in Fantomas goes wild, the famous flying DS is worthy of a James Bond car. Equipped with the latest gadgets, it allows Fantomas (Jean Marais) to flee through the air while ridiculing Commissioner Juve (Louis de Funès). Hilarity guaranteed.

An unforgettable mop

But of all the films made by the actor, it is The big mop (1966) which achieved the greatest success in theaters. Chases and adventures follow one another during this journey on the roads of occupied France. Unforgettable duo Bourvil-de Funès fleeing aboard a Citroën U3 van… The feature film will hold the record for admissions to the French box office until 1998, when titanic .

“In the little notebook in which Louis took notes for the staging of his gags, cars are very present, specifies Nora Ferreira. This is why we wanted to dedicate a space in the exhibition to his interest in cars. » Among other anecdotes, the visitor will learn that Louis de Funès bought himself a Jaguar in 1969. « But my father used it very little in the end, testified his son Olivier during the assembly of the exhibition. “It’s too luxurious for me, he said, I’m going to buy a Renault 6, which is much more practical. “So I regularly borrowed my father’s Jaguar, without any reluctance on his part. But it was out of the question that I use his R6! ” Louis de Funes ? Popular to the end of the grille.