63 years later, we still use this irresistible line coined by the best French dialogue writer.

63 years later, we still use this irresistible line coined by the best French dialogue writer.

It’s hard not to immediately recognize the master’s past when one hears the answer created by Michel Audiard during the discussion. Absolutely essential in his field, this master of slang is undoubtedly the author of the most famous dialogues in French cinema.

His words at the service of legends of the big screen, such as Jean Gabin, Jean-Paul Belmondo or Bernard Blier, often moved to the other side of the screen to decorate the friendly conversations of certain viewers.

The talent of Michel Audiard

“When we put idiots in orbit, you don’t end up shooting.” “Fools dare to do anything even we acknowledge them as such.” “SIf stupidity isn’t paid for by social security, you’ll end up broke.”

As long as you have a few friends who are fans of Barbous or Tontons flinguries (or you yourself), you’ve definitely heard such lines sprinkled throughout the evening, often centered around the same theme.

In the same spirit, let’s focus today on another legendary phrase of Michel Audiard, uttered by Jean Gabin in Le Cave se rebiffe, a detective comedy directed by Gilles Granger in 1961.

Jean Gabin is “Dabe”

In the film, Gabin plays the role of Ferdinand MarĂ©chal, alias “Dabe”, a counterfeiting expert recruited by the three heroes. Indeed, the latter are going to enter this delicate business, but their capabilities are quite limited in all areas.

To start the process, Dabe visits one of his old friends, who is supposed to take care of the paper order, and tries to describe to him as accurately as possible the man who will come to collect the shipment: “A handsome dark-haired man with small bacchantes, tall, stupid-looking.”

His interlocutor replies that he needs more details, because according to him “Big idiots are everywhere”. That’s when Dabe, in Gabin’s inimitable intonation, responds with the film’s most famous line:

“Yes, but this is a special measure, if stupidity is measured, it will be a measuring stick!”

“He would be in Sevres”he adds, referring to the city where the International Bureau of Weights and Measures is located. But this, of course, is the first part of the sentence that has remained in the annals of French cinema. Audiard, as tart and tart as we’ve come to be, regularly indulges in evenings with movie-loving friends who have a weakness for heritage films.

Source: Allocine

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