The Gendarme of Saint-Tropez: Louis de Funès the King of the Box Office
Almost sixty years ago, on September 9, 1964, Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez (inspired by a real agent) hit French theaters. Directed by Jean Girault and starring the legendary Louis de Funès, this film inaugurated a saga of six filmswho have conquered the hearts of the French and international public.
The film opens with Ludovic Cruchot (Louis de Funès), a particularly zealous and severe gendarme, recently promoted to chief quartermaster and transferred to Saint-Tropez, a seaside resort. known for its sunny beaches and party atmosphere. Cruchot, always accustomed to a small and quiet town, finds himself immersed in an environment where extravagance and lightheartedness reign supreme.
Upon arrival, Cruchot finds himself faced with a series of unexpected challenges. His first mission is to quell the wave of nudism that is gaining popularity on local beaches. Cruchot, with his strict moral sense, decides to lead a personal crusade against this practice, which gives rise to a series of comical situations in which he constantly finds himself in conflict with the holidaymakers and even with his own colleagues.
Upon its release, the film was a real success, with more than 7.5 million entries (the biggest hit of 1964) and brought Louis de Funès to stardom.
The real lyrics of the cult song from the film
As cult as the film, the song performed by Geneviève Grad (Nicole Cruchot) in the feature film is not “Do Saint Tropez“as many spectators think but”Douliou-douliou Saint-Tropez“.
The song composed by Raymond Lefebvre and Paul Mauriat and written by André Pascal was heavily influenced by the yéyé wave of the 60s. As for the lyrics, “douliou” means, according to journalist Henry-Jean Servat, “soft place” in Provençal. However, the author’s main theme seems to be inspired by the Anglo-Saxon interrogative sound “do you?”, which explains why all the spectators think that these are the real words.
The song has been covered several times over the past 60 years and remains a reference for the city of Saint-Tropez. We recently heard it in the Netflix series Emily in Pariswhen Emily Cooper leaves for a weekend on the French Riviera.
Source: Cine Serie
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