La Gardav

The directors of La Gardav (2024) drew significant inspiration from their love of classic slapstick cinema, including the works of Buster Keaton, Charles Chaplin, Max Linder, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Peter Sellers, Rowan Atkinson, Pierre Richard, and iconic characters like François Pignon and Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath / OSS 117. Thomas Lemoine believes that slapstick is a genre that has been underused or insufficiently explored, aiming to refresh and modernize it through the film. The team's approach was heavily influenced by Charles Chaplin's Le dictateur (1940), considered a masterpiece in the history of cinema. The use of slapstick in La Gardav (2024) also serves a broader purpose: it helps to portray all characters with empathy, avoiding direct criticism and addressing the theme of police custody with a sense of kindness. This approach encourages audiences to laugh together rather than be divided, aiming to entertain while gently making light of various situations with mutual understanding.

References Les Lyonnais (2011)