{ "id": "ep3djnvzfg", "slug": "lavare", "title": "L'Avare", "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": "L'Avare (1980) is a French comedy film co-directed by Jean Girault and Louis de Funès, adapting Molière's play, with de Funès as Harpagon; released 5 March 1980, 123 min, Films Christian Fechner.", "snippet": "L'Avare (1980) is a French comedy film co-directed by Jean Girault and Louis de Funès, adapting Molière's play, with de Funès as Harpagon; released 5 March 1980, 123 min, Films Christian Fechner.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations.stage-play-adaptations", "markdown": "# L'Avare\n\n**L'Avare** is a 1980 French comedy film directed by Jean Girault and [Louis de Funès](https://www.edgepedia.org/louis-de-funes), adapted from Molière's 1668 comedy *L'Avare* (The [Miser](https://www.edgepedia.org/miser)), with de Funès starring as the miser Harpagon[1](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb16667799s). It was de Funès's project as much as Girault's: he co-directed, co-wrote the screenplay, and, by his own account, considered Harpagon the role of his life[2](https://cinefiches.edouardneveu.fr/film/7692). The film keeps Molière's text largely intact and transfers the play's seventeenth-century world to the screen with real locations, painted title-card drawings by Albert Uderzo, and a score by Jean Bizet[3](https://lencinematheque.fr/film.php?idf=Girault80).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Directors | Jean Girault (1924–1982) and Louis de Funès (1914–1983)[1](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb16667799s) |\n| Source | Molière's comedy *L'Avare* (1622–1673)[1](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb16667799s) |\n| Release | France, 5 March 1980; CNC visa no. 51455 dated 27 February 1980[4](https://www.jpbox-office.com/mobile/fichfilm.php?id=7435) • [5](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/51455) |\n| Runtime and rating | 123 min per the CNC visa record; classified Tous publics[5](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/51455) |\n| Lead role | Louis de Funès as Harpagon[6](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/lavare) |\n| Key crew | Cinematography Edmond Richard; music Jean Bizet; scenario Jean Girault and Jean Halain; drawings Albert Uderzo[3](https://lencinematheque.fr/film.php?idf=Girault80) |\n| Production | Films Christian Fechner; France and Italy[3](https://lencinematheque.fr/film.php?idf=Girault80) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe film follows Molière's plot closely. Harpagon, a wealthy and suspicious bourgeois, is fixated on a chest of gold coins (his cassette)[7](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/lAvare/964). His daughter Élise loves Valère, a gentleman who has entered the household as her father's steward to be near her, while his son Cléante loves Marianne, a young woman without fortune whom Harpagon intends to marry himself[6](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/lavare). To keep his money entire, Harpagon agrees to marry his son to a destitute bride and his daughter to his own steward, and plans to wed Élise to the seigneur Anselme, who will take her without a dowry[6](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/lavare).\n\n## Production and style\n\nDe Funès had long wanted to play Harpagon, and the film was built around that ambition: he shares the direction credit with Jean Girault, a frequent collaborator, and the scenario is credited to Girault and Jean Halain from Molière's text[2](https://cinefiches.edouardneveu.fr/film/7692) • [3](https://lencinematheque.fr/film.php?idf=Girault80). Edmond Richard photographed the film in color, and the production, mounted by Films Christian Fechner with Bernard Artigues as delegate producer, was a French-Italian co-production[3](https://lencinematheque.fr/film.php?idf=Girault80).\n\nThe result is often described as filmed theater. The opening shows the text of the play's first lines in close-up, and one set uses covers of editions of *L'Avare* as its walls, a device that signals the film's fidelity to its source[8](https://lemondedesavengers.fr/hors-serie/annees-1960/saga-louis-de-funes/saga-louis-de-funes-4-le-retour-au-sommet-1975-1982). Reviewers have noted both the strength of this approach, which preserves Molière's dialogue and gives close-ups a theatrical expressiveness, and its limits, since the staging can feel static and the period diction hard to follow at speed[9](https://tv-programme.com/l-avare-film/avis).\n\n## Cast\n\nLouis de Funès plays Harpagon. Around him, the cast draws on his regular company of comic character actors: Michel Galabru as Maître Jacques, Claude Gensac as Frosine, Bernard Ménez as La Flèche, Henri Génès as the commissaire, Guy Grosso as Brindavoine, Michel Modo as La Merluche, Georges Audoubert as Anselme, Micheline Bourday as Dame Claude, Madeleine Barbulée as Marianne's mother, Anne Caudry as Marianne, Claire Dupray as Élise, Hervé Bellon as Valère, and Franck Cabot-David as Cléante[6](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/lavare) • [2](https://cinefiches.edouardneveu.fr/film/7692).\n\n## Reception\n\nThe film reached French cinemas on 5 March 1980[4](https://www.jpbox-office.com/mobile/fichfilm.php?id=7435). Its critical reception was sharply divided, more so than for any other de Funès film: part of the press was full of praise while another part attacked the film and its star co-director violently[10](https://wikimonde.com/article/L%27Avare_%28film%2C_1980%29). The press coverage was extensive, with full-page articles in *Les Nouvelles littéraires*, *Jours de France*, *Le Quotidien de Paris*, and *France-Soir*, and de Funès photographed as Harpagon beside Molière's bust on the cover of *L'Express*[10](https://wikimonde.com/article/L%27Avare_%28film%2C_1980%29).\n\nThe film is credited with influencing the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma's decision to award de Funès an honorary César (César d'honneur) for his career at the 5th César ceremony on 2 February 1980, shortly before the release[10](https://wikimonde.com/article/L%27Avare_%28film%2C_1980%29). Audience ratings have remained moderate: AlloCiné records an average of 3.5 out of 5 from more than 12,000 votes, and [JustWatch](https://www.edgepedia.org/justwatch) lists 60 percent[11](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-37031/critiques/spectateurs/recentes/) • [6](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/lavare).\n\n## Place among adaptations of Molière\n\nThe 1980 film is one of several screen versions of *L'Avare*. [Georges Méliès](https://www.edgepedia.org/georges-melies) made a short silent *L'Avare* in 1908, of which only a five-minute fragment survives[12](https://sinekatalog.com/en/films/the-miser.html). A 1974 French television production directed by René Lucot, running 150 minutes, starred Michel Aumont, Françoise Seigner, and [Isabelle Adjani](https://www.edgepedia.org/isabelle-adjani)[13](https://outnow.ch/en/Movies/1974/Avare/). A 2007 adaptation cast Michel Serrault as Harpagon[14](https://streamin.co/mu/lavare-movie-222023), and the [Comédie-Française](https://www.edgepedia.org/comedie-francaise) stage production directed by Lilo Baur, with Alain Lenglet, Françoise Gillard, and Laurent Stocker, was filmed and released in September 2023[15](https://www.linternaute.com/cinema/tous-les-films/2621787-l-avare-comedie-francaise/). The de Funès version remains the most widely circulated of these in home video and streaming catalogs, distributed by StudioCanal and available for rental or purchase on French platforms[16](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/L_Avare?hl=en&id=f50gGW7kxJ8) • [6](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/lavare).\n\n## References\n\n1. [Notice de titre conventionnel \"L'avare (film ; 1980)\", Bibliothèque nationale de France](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb16667799s)\n2. [Fiche Film – L'AVARE, Cinéfiches](https://cinefiches.edouardneveu.fr/film/7692)\n3. [1980 – L'AVARE, L'Encinémathèque](https://lencinematheque.fr/film.php?idf=Girault80)\n4. [L'Avare (1980), JP Box-Office](https://www.jpbox-office.com/mobile/fichfilm.php?id=7435)\n5. [Visas et Classification no. 51455, CNC](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/51455)\n6. [Où regarder L'Avare, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/lavare)\n7. [l'Avare, Larousse, Dictionnaire mondial des films](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/lAvare/964)\n8. [Saga Louis de Funès: Le retour au sommet (1975/1982)](https://lemondedesavengers.fr/hors-serie/annees-1960/saga-louis-de-funes/saga-louis-de-funes-4-le-retour-au-sommet-1975-1982)\n9. [Avis sur L'avare, TV-Programme.com](https://tv-programme.com/l-avare-film/avis)\n10. [L'Avare (film, 1980), Wikimonde](https://wikimonde.com/article/L%27Avare_%28film%2C_1980%29)\n11. [Critiques spectateurs de L'Avare, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-37031/critiques/spectateurs/recentes/)\n12. [The Miser (L'avare) (1908), directed by Georges Méliès, Sinekatalog](https://sinekatalog.com/en/films/the-miser.html)\n13. [L'avare (1974), OutNow](https://outnow.ch/en/Movies/1974/Avare/)\n14. [L'Avare (2007), Streamin](https://streamin.co/mu/lavare-movie-222023)\n15. [L'Avare (Comédie française), L'Internaute](https://www.linternaute.com/cinema/tous-les-films/2621787-l-avare-comedie-francaise/)\n16. [L'Avare, Google Play Movies](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/L_Avare?hl=en&id=f50gGW7kxJ8)\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/lavare", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/lavare.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": "\"L'Avare\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/lavare. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[L'Avare](https://www.edgepedia.org/lavare)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/lavare](https://www.edgepedia.org/lavare). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"L'Avare\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/lavare. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "L'Avare is a French comedy film co-directed by Jean Girault and Louis de Funès, adapting Molière's play, with de Funès as Harpagon; released 5 March 1980, 123 min, Films Christian Fechner." }