The Bronzed go skiing: “We were always on the verge of an explosion”

Patrice Leconte evokes the famous meal among the peasants.

Patrice Leconte detailed in First the creation of the famous meal scene among the peasants in Tanned people go skiing, made from fougne and shallot liqueur. We share his anecdotes again, to wait until the rebroadcast of his cult film, this evening on TF1.

Zero improvisation

“With my friends from Splendid, there is never any improvisation. This is due to the fact that they come from the café-theater where they mastered their shows from A to Z. The dialogues, the context and the intentions are all respected but the very play of the actors is obviously intuitive. When it is written “Gigi takes a drink and collapses”, this does not predict how Marie-Anne Chazel will fall. Few takes too: they know they can give everything immediately. When you see Jugnot choking on the liquor and turning red, you don’t have the sadism to ask him to do it again…”

In the sheepfold

“We cheated a little: we are not in a high altitude chalet but in a sort of village sheepfold. We chose it because it was filthy! (laughs) This kind of cramped decor requires framing one or two characters at a time, then move on to another. You must not miss anything. When we are on Blanc and Lhermitte, the others play mezzo to save themselves and I have the feeling at the moment that it will take everything to do to rediscover the dynamic of comedy instilled by the first.”

Spartan light

“We shot the scene in one day. Jean-François Robin did the lighting and framing. He had installed an almost single light above the table, which allowed us to shoot quickly, in all directions – corresponding, roughly speaking, to the four corners of the table. We of course only filmed with one camera, it was very rare at the time to do otherwise. In any case, it’s the best method: when we change axis, the light must also be modified.”

The Bronzés go skiing: “It wasn’t a real toad, it was even very drinkable”

Who are the farmers?

“There was no question for me of taking amateur actors. There is always the risk of being off base. On the other hand, I wanted actors who had an accent and who we didn’t know. When I arrived, I chose two Swiss: the bearded one is called Maurice Aufair and the one with a cap, Jean-Marc Henchoz. (died in 2011, editor’s note) then became a producer. Four years later, he will notably edit Robert Bresson’s last film, Money. Fun, right?”

Fern recipe

“The fougne was visually horrible but, in reality, very edible! It was molasses, made from brown sugar mixed with small pieces of rusk to give it its lumpy appearance. As for the famous liqueur of “shallot, it was water. We had introduced a plastic toad inside the bottle by carefully cutting out the bottom which we then glued back together. I don’t remember if the actors really drank this content -there. The cutaways suggest that no…”

Numbers and letters

“The phrase, “there was Blumaise in eight letters”what did one of the peasants say while looking Numbers and letters is the kind of joke I like. You don’t necessarily notice it at first sight, it comes a little from below. In comedy, you can’t put everything in the foreground, otherwise you run into an overabundance of good things.”

Crazy laughs

“The members of Splendid are very funny, just like me. With the editor Noëlle Boisson, we happily kept the beginnings of laughter at the end of the take which established a sort of complicity with the audience. I always found it very pleasant. We see some fleeting examples in the scene, especially with Lhermitte and Clavier. On the set, we were always on the verge of an explosion. Jean-François Robin, whom I observed out of the corner of my eye, was at on the verge of tears with every take.”

Trailer for Tanned people go skiingwith Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko, Christian Clavier, Gérard Jugnot, Marie-Anne Chazel and Michel Blanc:

Les Bronzés quiz: are you really an expert on the cult comedy Splendid?