Did you know that Olivier Barroux’s Liar, which aired since Wednesday, was again a remake? After Irréductible or even Peter von Kant, which came out just recently, French cinema is turning more and more towards this type of adaptation…
This is an unknown film in France, as it has never benefited from a cinema release in our region (apart from being selected at the 2019 Angoulême Francophonie Film Festival). On the other hand, Quebec society has probably already heard of this comedy, Menteur, c’est son titre, with two of their comedy stars, Louis-Jose Houd and Antoine Bertrand. We also recently got to see the latter in the credits of two French comedies, Thrice Nothing and I Love What You Do.
Liar, directed by Emile Gaudreault, tells the story of the plight of a compulsive liar who suddenly finds himself faced with the consequences of his behavior.
If this review can teach you something, that’s okay! This film was recently remade in France under the same title and was released in theaters this Wednesday. The story of Jerome, a compulsive liar. His family and friends can’t stand his daily lies anymore. They do everything to change his attitude. Jerome does not listen to what he is scolded, Jerome sinks deeper and deeper into lies until the day when he is cursed by God: all his lies come alive. Then a real nightmare begins for him. Directed by Olivier Baru, the latter also signs the screenplay alone, based on the script for the Quebec version of Deceptive, which was released there in the summer of 2019.
As we learn in the press kit of the film, this project was presented by Olivier Baru’s famous studio Gaumont. Fascinated by the original film, the director immediately accepted the offer. “Everything in this movie made me happy: script, director and interpretation. I just asked that I could not keep it a simple copy/paste and change the elements to make it not better (I didn’t claim that!), but to present my view of the lie.“, he explains.
Olivier Baru admits that “When you adapt a screenplay, a lot of work goes into it. We don’t have to create many things. We just need to find new ideas to make it more “hexagonal” and add its “leg”. For Liar, he kept the best lies from the Quebec version and especially added “Canichestan”, whales and Thomas Pesquet. However, nothing obliged him to respect the Quebec version: “Unbelievable, but if you bought the rights to the work, you can change the entire text, except for one line, which you don’t even have to pay for.“, he explains.
Did Artus and Tarek Budali see the Quebec film before making the film? “I saw it because, on top of that, there’s my friend Antoine Bertrand (they recently starred together in I Love What You Do, editor’s note).Artus begins.
Meanwhile, Tarek Budali preferred to wait: “I didn’t see it, I didn’t want to influence the acting of the character. But after that I wanted to watch. I am watching– he says to our microphone.
French remakes of international comedies are on the rise. Can you find these remakes in our special quiz below?
Liar by Olivier Baroux, Tarek Boudali, Artus, Pauline Clément, Louise Coldefy, Bertrand Usclat…, released in theaters this Wednesday, July 13, 2022.
Source: allocine
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
