{ "id": "ep9z1h54xa", "slug": "la-folie-des-grandeurs", "title": "La Folie des grandeurs", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations", "label": "Adaptations of literature, stage, and other media", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations.stage-play-adaptations", "label": "Films based on stage plays", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations.stage-play-adaptations" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations.stage-play-adaptations", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Films based on stage plays", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations.stage-play-adaptations", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations", "label": "Adaptations of literature, stage, and other media", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations.stage-play-adaptations", "label": "Films based on stage plays", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations.stage-play-adaptations" } ] } ], "excerpt": "La Folie des grandeurs (Delusions of Grandeur) is Gérard Oury's 1971 French comedy adapting Victor Hugo's Ruy Blas, starring Louis de Funès as Don Salluste and Yves Montand as Blaze, with Alice Sapritch; it drew about 5.6 million admissions in France.", "snippet": "La Folie des grandeurs (Delusions of Grandeur) is Gérard Oury's 1971 French comedy adapting Victor Hugo's Ruy Blas, starring Louis de Funès as Don Salluste and Yves Montand as Blaze, with Alice Sapritch; it drew about 5.6 million admissions in France.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations.stage-play-adaptations", "markdown": "# La Folie des grandeurs\n\n**La Folie des grandeurs** (English title *Delusions of Grandeur*) is a 1971 French comedy film directed by Gérard Oury, freely adapted from [Victor Hugo](https://www.edgepedia.org/victor-hugo)'s five-act verse drama *Ruy Blas* (1838) and starring [Louis de Funès](https://www.edgepedia.org/louis-de-funes) as the scheming Spanish minister Don Salluste and [Yves Montand](https://www.edgepedia.org/yves-montand) as his valet Blaze.[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/50400.html) • [2](https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/1536.html) It was released in France on 8 December 1971 and drew about 5.6 million admissions, ranking fourth among films released that year in France.[3](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/37336) • [2](https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/1536.html)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and writers | Gérard Oury; screenplay and dialogue by Oury, Danièle Thompson, and Marcel Jullian, after Victor Hugo's *Ruy Blas*[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/50400.html) |\n| Cast | Louis de Funès (Don Salluste de Bazan), Yves Montand (Blaze), Alice Sapritch (Dona Juana), Karin Schubert (Queen Marie-Anne de Neubourg), Alberto de Mendoza (King Charles II)[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/50400.html) |\n| Release | 8 December 1971 in France; CNC visa dated 08/12/1971, Tous publics[3](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/37336) |\n| Runtime | 110 min per the CNC visa; the Cinémathèque française lists 113 min[3](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/37336) • [1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/50400.html) |\n| Box office | 4th place among films released in France in 1971, with nearly 5.6 million admissions[2](https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/1536.html) |\n| Key crew | Music Michel Polnareff; cinematography Henri Decaë; editing Albert Jurgenson; producer Alain Poiré[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/50400.html) |\n| Production | S.N.E.G. Gaumont (France), Coreal Produzione (Madrid), Mars Film Produzione (Rome), Paramount-Orion Filmproduktion (Munich)[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/50400.html) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nDon Salluste, a greedy and tyrannical minister of the King of Spain, uses his office as finance minister to enrich himself at the expense of the poor. The Queen detests him and has him banished from court; in some versions of the synopsis the pretext is an illegitimate child he allegedly fathered with a servant. Thirsty for revenge, he plots to compromise the Queen using his valet Blaze, whom he passes off as his noble cousin Don César so that Blaze will seduce her.[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/50400.html) • [4](https://www.filmfrance.net/films/la-folie-des-grandeurs/) • [5](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/la-folie-des-grandeurs)\n\nThe plan goes wrong when Blaze, who is in love with the Queen, attracts the attention of [Dona Juana](https://www.edgepedia.org/dona-juana), the Queen's duenna, a woman described in the promotional material as unattractive and madly in love with him and very keen on getting her way.[6](https://www.gaumont.com/en/movie/delusions-of-grandeur) • [5](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/la-folie-des-grandeurs) The resulting entanglements eventually send the three of them to the galleys.[5](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/la-folie-des-grandeurs)\n\n## From Ruy Blas to a comedy\n\nOury knew the source material from the stage: in 1960, a decade before filming, he was asked to play Don Salluste in *Ruy Blas* at the [Comédie-Française](https://www.edgepedia.org/comedie-francaise).[7](https://serieously.ouest-france.fr/la-folie-des-grandeurs-film-inspire-histoire-vraie/) After the successes of *Le Corniaud* (1964) and *La Grande Vadrouille* (1966), he wanted to reunite his comic duo of Bourvil and Louis de Funès for a third time in a comic adaptation of the play, written with Marcel Jullian and his daughter Danièle Thompson under the working title *Les sombres héros*.[8](https://www.cnc.fr/cinema/focus/gerard-oury-en-cinq-films-marquants_980546) • [2](https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/1536.html)\n\n**Bourvil's death changed the film.** The actor died of cancer on 23 September 1970 at the age of 53, before the first take, and production was halted; without Bourvil, Oury felt the film had become impossible. A few days later, at a party for cinematographer Henri Decaë, Simone Signoret urged Oury to cast Yves Montand instead. Montand hesitated, objecting to filming in [Francoist Spain](https://www.edgepedia.org/francoist-spain), but eventually accepted.[9](https://www.cnc.fr/cinema/actualites/la-folie-des-grandeurs---de-funes-et-montand-a-lheure-espagnole_1595333) • [8](https://www.cnc.fr/cinema/focus/gerard-oury-en-cinq-films-marquants_980546)\n\nThe role was rewritten for the new star. As Danièle Thompson put it, the valet conceived for Bourvil was close to Molière's Sganarelle, while Montand was closer to Scapin; critics described Blaze as a mature \"gentleman-valet,\" a malicious Figaro.[9](https://www.cnc.fr/cinema/actualites/la-folie-des-grandeurs---de-funes-et-montand-a-lheure-espagnole_1595333) • [2](https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/1536.html) The screenwriters, who reworked the script fourteen times, aimed to twist every scene of Hugo's dark revenge drama into a comic situation.[2](https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/1536.html) • [7](https://serieously.ouest-france.fr/la-folie-des-grandeurs-film-inspire-histoire-vraie/)\n\n## Production\n\nFilming was scheduled for spring 1971 in Spain and began in April 1971 in the desert of Almería; the film also used the Dune du Pilat in Gironde, France, as a shooting location.[9](https://www.cnc.fr/cinema/actualites/la-folie-des-grandeurs---de-funes-et-montand-a-lheure-espagnole_1595333) • [10](https://boxofficestar2.eklablog.com/la-folie-des-grandeurs-yves-montand-box-office-1971-a126480564) • [4](https://www.filmfrance.net/films/la-folie-des-grandeurs/) The production was a four-country co-production between Gaumont's S.N.E.G., Coreal Produzione of Madrid, Mars Film Produzione of Rome, and Paramount-Orion Filmproduktion of Munich, with Alain Poiré as producer.[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/50400.html)\n\nThe crew gave the film its lavish period look: Henri Decaë as director of photography, Georges Wakhevitch as set designer, and costumes by Jacques Fonteray and Marie Gromtseff, among others. Michel Polnareff composed the original score, and Sofia Palladium choreographed Alice Sapritch's striptease scene.[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/50400.html) The press at the time noted the scale of the budget, which critics hostile to the film put at nearly two billion (old francs) and mocked as Oury's own \"folie des grandeurs.\"[2](https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/1536.html)\n\n## Reception\n\n**A public success, a divided press.** On its release on 8 December 1971 the film was a major popular success, ranking fourth among films released in France that year with nearly 5.6 million admissions, behind *Les Aristochats*, *Les Bidasses en folie*, and *Mourir d'aimer*.[2](https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/1536.html) • [11](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D9268.html) Producers nonetheless hoped for the stratospheric scores of *Le Corniaud* (11 million admissions) or *La Grande Vadrouille* (17 million).[12](https://www.lepoint.fr/culture/la-folie-des-grandeurs-le-film-avec-louis-de-funes-et-yves-montand-a-bien-failli-ne-jamais-voir-le-jour-20-04-2025-2587755_3.php)\n\nCritics split into passionate admirers and determined detractors. Specialist publications dismissed it as commercial; *La Revue du cinéma* attacked its \"conventional\" staging and its \"vague similarity with Ruy Blas,\" while *Cinéma* derided the borrowing from Hugo. Defenders included *Combat*, which argued that Oury's Hollywood-style means served his purpose and that a comedy deserved the sumptuous setting of History, and *France-Soir*, which celebrated the new comic tandem of de Funès and Montand as \"complicit and antagonistic\" at once.[2](https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/1536.html)\n\nReviewers singled out the two leads. Louis de Funès was described as a machine within the machine, playing the rapacious, intriguing minister with ferocious farce, while Alice Sapritch's Dona Juana was credited with a double tone, tragic and burlesque.[2](https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/1536.html) The scene in which Don Salluste wakes Blaze to the sound of gold coins has become one of the film's most famous moments.[13](https://www.leparisien.fr/culture-loisirs/la-folie-des-grandeurs-jubilatoire-29-12-2013-3446727.php)\n\nThe film has since become a staple of French popular comedy, repeatedly rebroadcast on television and restored for a re-release; AlloCiné describes it as a cult film in French comedy.[11](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D9268.html) Its afterlife extends into everyday culture: the title is a recognized French cultural reference, and the film remains a common recommendation for viewers discovering Louis de Funès.[14](https://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/68065/1/223.pdf.pdf)\n\n## References\n\n1. [La Folie des grandeurs (Gérard Oury, 1971), La Cinémathèque française](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/50400.html)\n2. [Revue de presse de « La Folie des grandeurs » (Gérard Oury, 1971), La Cinémathèque française](https://www.cinematheque.fr/article/1536.html)\n3. [Visas et Classification : LA FOLIE DES GRANDEURS, CNC](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/37336)\n4. [La Folie des grandeurs, Film France CNC](https://www.filmfrance.net/films/la-folie-des-grandeurs/)\n5. [La Folie des grandeurs (1971), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/la-folie-des-grandeurs)\n6. [Delusions of grandeur, Gaumont](https://www.gaumont.com/en/movie/delusions-of-grandeur)\n7. [La Folie des Grandeurs : le film est-il inspiré d'une histoire vraie ?, Serieously / Ouest-France](https://serieously.ouest-france.fr/la-folie-des-grandeurs-film-inspire-histoire-vraie/)\n8. [Gérard Oury en cinq films marquants, CNC](https://www.cnc.fr/cinema/focus/gerard-oury-en-cinq-films-marquants_980546)\n9. [« La Folie des grandeurs » : de Funès et Montand à l'heure espagnole, CNC](https://www.cnc.fr/cinema/actualites/la-folie-des-grandeurs---de-funes-et-montand-a-lheure-espagnole_1595333)\n10. [LA FOLIE DES GRANDEURS – Box Office Story](https://boxofficestar2.eklablog.com/la-folie-des-grandeurs-yves-montand-box-office-1971-a126480564)\n11. [La Folie des grandeurs - Film 1971, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D9268.html)\n12. [« La Folie des grandeurs » : le film qui a bien failli ne jamais voir le jour, Le Point](https://www.lepoint.fr/culture/la-folie-des-grandeurs-le-film-avec-louis-de-funes-et-yves-montand-a-bien-failli-ne-jamais-voir-le-jour-20-04-2025-2587755_3.php)\n13. [« La Folie des grandeurs » : jubilatoire, Le Parisien](https://www.leparisien.fr/culture-loisirs/la-folie-des-grandeurs-jubilatoire-29-12-2013-3446727.php)\n14. [Routledge Dictionary of Cultural References in Modern French](https://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/68065/1/223.pdf.pdf)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Adaptations of literature, stage, and other media › Films based on stage plays*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/la-folie-des-grandeurs", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/la-folie-des-grandeurs.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"La Folie des grandeurs\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/la-folie-des-grandeurs. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[La Folie des grandeurs](https://www.edgepedia.org/la-folie-des-grandeurs)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/la-folie-des-grandeurs](https://www.edgepedia.org/la-folie-des-grandeurs). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"La Folie des grandeurs\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/la-folie-des-grandeurs. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "La Folie des grandeurs is Gérard Oury's 1971 French comedy adapting Victor Hugo's Ruy Blas, starring Louis de Funès as Don Salluste and Yves Montand as Blaze, with Alice Sapritch; it drew about 5.6 million admissions in France." }