Guest of Honour: Gérard Jugnot
Tandem
Patrice Leconte
1987 / FRA / 1h26 / Age: 14 (14)
In the presence of Gérard Jugnot
Melancholic buddy movie
For the past twenty-five years, Rivetot has been carrying the bags and setting up the microphones for Mortez, the star presenter of a radio quiz programme, with whom he travels the length and breadth of France by car. When he learns that the programme is to be cancelled, Rivetot decides to do everything he can to keep this from Mortez. Gérard Jugnot gives a deeply moving performance as Rivetot opposite Jean Rochefort, in a magnificent duo filmed by Patrice Leconte with a blend of darkness, tenderness and humour.
Language: French
Starring: Gérard Jugnot, Jean Rochefort & Sylvie Granotier
Guest of Honour: Gérard Jugnot
Actor, director and screenwriter, Gérard Jugnot made his name with the Splendid theatre troupe. There, he created a gallery of characters who are grumpy, clumsy, cowardly or overwhelmed by events, often embodying the “average Frenchman”. His appearance, voice and acting style have helped make him an instantly recognisable face of French comedy. Over the years, his comic style has also enabled him to develop roles in which the burlesque blends with a great sensitivity.
One of the defining features of his cinema lies in this expression, which he himself uses: “ordinary characters confronted with extraordinary events”. He describes this way of observing the world and its absurdities, somewhere between laughter, drama and melancholy, as “sneering sociology”. This vision is evident in his own films, from Une époque formidable (1991), Monsieur Batignole (2002), or even his latest film, Mauvaise Pioche (2026), where Jugnot returns to this theme: a man caught up in a situation that is beyond his control.
Gérard Jugnot has been entertaining generations of filmgoers for over fifty years. The VIFFF is delighted to be able to honour this genius of comedy.