# La Chèvre
**La Chèvre** (English release title *La Chevre* or *The Goat*) is a 1981 French-Mexican comedy directed and written by Francis Veber, in which a clumsy accountant is sent to Mexico alongside a private detective to find a kidnapped heiress whose defining trait, like his own, is chronic bad luck. It stars Pierre Richard as François Perrin and [Gérard Depardieu](https://www.edgepedia.org/gerard-depardieu) as Campana, and it was the first film to pair the two actors.[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/51539.html) • [2](https://adrc-asso.org/patrimoine/diffusion/films-et-cycles/la-chevre)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and screenwriter | Francis Veber, his second feature after *Le Jouet* (1976)[2](https://adrc-asso.org/patrimoine/diffusion/films-et-cycles/la-chevre) |
| French release | 9 December 1981, distributed by Gaumont[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/51539.html) |
| Lead duo | Pierre Richard (François Perrin) and Gérard Depardieu (Campana), first screen pairing[3](https://www.pierre-richard.fr/filmographie/la-chevre/) • [4](https://www.europe1.fr/culture/le-jour-ou-pierre-richard-a-crache-du-ketchup-sur-gerard-depardieu-2953883) |
| French admissions | 7,079,836 in France[3](https://www.pierre-richard.fr/filmographie/la-chevre/) |
| Production | Gaumont, Fideline Films (Paris), and Conacine (Mexico); delegated producer Alain Poiré[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/51539.html) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082183/companycredits/) |
| Key crew | Vladimir Cosma (music), Alex Phillips Jr. (cinematography), Albert Jurgenson (editing), Jacques Bufnoir (décor)[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/51539.html) |
| Follow-ups | Veber reunited the duo in *Les Compères* (1983) and *Les Fugitifs* (1986)[2](https://adrc-asso.org/patrimoine/diffusion/films-et-cycles/la-chevre) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Marie Bens (Corynne Charbit), the daughter of the chief executive Alexandre Bens (Michel Robin), is a natural victim of mishaps, and while on vacation in Mexico she is kidnapped and leaves no trace. Her father hires Campana, a specialist in disappearances, who searches the country without result. Desperate, and urged on by Meyer (André Valardy), the company psychologist, Bens adopts a far-fetched idea: send someone just as unlucky and catastrophic as his daughter after her, a person who will slip on the same banana peels. That man is François Perrin (Pierre Richard), an accountant in Bens's company, and the Campana-Perrin duo flies off to Mexico.[2](https://adrc-asso.org/patrimoine/diffusion/films-et-cycles/la-chevre)
The pairing is built on opposition. Campana is a tough professional with fixed ideas and no belief in bad luck; Perrin carries an enormous load of misfortune but an unshakable optimism.[3](https://www.pierre-richard.fr/filmographie/la-chevre/) The misadventures begin immediately: the two miss their flight and must take a connecting one, and on arrival at the airport Perrin breaks his nose. In the infirmary he learns that a young Frenchwoman had the same accident a few weeks earlier, the first sign that his own calamities are retracing Marie's path.[6](https://www.telestar.fr/programme-tv/fiche/4020/la-chevre) Exasperated at first by his companion, Campana gradually comes to regard him as a friend as the trail, including word that the girl may have been aboard a tourist plane that flew over the virgin forest, tightens.[7](https://www.programme-television.org/type/films/comedies/la-chevre-12513) • [8](https://www.cinema-francais.fr/les_films/films_v/films_veber_francis/la_chevre.htm)
## Production and casting
**A first pairing.** *La Chèvre* was Francis Veber's second film as director, following *Le Jouet* (1976), and the first time he worked with his favored duo of Gérard Depardieu and Pierre Richard.[2](https://adrc-asso.org/patrimoine/diffusion/films-et-cycles/la-chevre) Veber recounted on television that the choice of Depardieu was not obvious: the actor had never made a comedy film before, and Veber had to be persuaded that he would be the ideal partner for Richard.[4](https://www.europe1.fr/culture/le-jour-ou-pierre-richard-a-crache-du-ketchup-sur-gerard-depardieu-2953883) For Richard, the film continued the maladroit burlesque persona he had established in earlier comedies, with François Perrin standing in the line of his signature characters.[9](https://www.cinematheque.fr/cycle/pierre-richard-314.html)
The supporting cast includes Pedro Armendáriz Jr. as the captain, Jorge Luke as Arbal, Sergio Calderón as a prisoner, Maritza Olivares as a prostitute, Robert Dalban as a technician, and Michel Fortin as the man with the trolley at Orly.[3](https://www.pierre-richard.fr/filmographie/la-chevre/) Filming locations recorded by Film France include Paris-[Orly Airport](https://www.edgepedia.org/orly-airport) in [Val-de-Marne](https://www.edgepedia.org/val-de-marne).[10](https://www.filmfrance.net/en/once-upon-a-time/la-chevre-2/)
The film was produced by Gaumont, Fideline Films of Paris, and the Mexican state company Conacine (Corporación Nacional Cinematográfica), with Alain Poiré as delegated producer.[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/51539.html) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082183/companycredits/) Cineuropa lists the producing countries as France, Mexico, and Malta.[11](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401314/)
## Release and box office
The film opened in France on 9 December 1981 and drew 7,079,836 admissions there.[3](https://www.pierre-richard.fr/filmographie/la-chevre/) *Le Monde* later described the result as a historic success, with seven million spectators seeing Depardieu in the film at Christmas 1981.[12](https://www.lemonde.fr/series-d-ete/article/2023/07/20/les-annees-1980-de-gerard-depardieu-une-decennie-en-apesanteur_6182687_3451060.html) A media-education survey places *La Chèvre* first at the French box office for 1981 with about 7.1 million viewers.[13](https://me.cherkasgu.press/journals_n/1726073777.pdf) Abroad, it was released in Norway in March 1982, [West Germany](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-germany) in March 1982, the Netherlands in July 1982, and a series of other markets through the 1980s, with a Belgian re-release in 2019.[11](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401314/)
Reported runtimes differ across reference sources: the Cinémathèque française lists 95 minutes, AlloCiné 1h35, Larousse and several TV guides 1h31, and Cineuropa 90 minutes.[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/51539.html) • [14](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D2361.html) • [15](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/la_Ch%C3%A8vre/2087) • [11](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401314/)
## Reception and legacy
**A popular trilogy begins.** The film's success made the Richard-Depardieu team a viable comedy pairing and led Veber to repeat it in *Les Compères* (1983) and *Les Fugitifs* (1986), a run that *Le Monde* has described as representing the best of French popular comedy of the 1980s.[2](https://adrc-asso.org/patrimoine/diffusion/films-et-cycles/la-chevre) • [16](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1996/10/10/les-heros-de-la-chevre-changent-de-tete_3748710_1819218.html) On AlloCiné, spectators have given the film an average of 3.8 out of 5 from more than 20,000 ratings, with commentators highlighting the chemistry of the duo and the physical gags.[14](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D2361.html)
The premise traveled: an American remake, *Pure Luck* (1991) directed by Nadia Tass with [Martin Short](https://www.edgepedia.org/martin-short) and [Danny Glover](https://www.edgepedia.org/danny-glover), is generally considered inferior to the original.[17](https://www.nrmagazine.com/cinema/titles/4561/la-chevre) Gaumont prepared a 2K restoration, and the film has remained in circulation on television, home video, and streaming rental platforms in France.[2](https://adrc-asso.org/patrimoine/diffusion/films-et-cycles/la-chevre) • [18](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/knock-on-wood) In the United States, Kino Lorber offers the film for theatrical and educational screenings with English subtitles, describing it as evoking [Bob Hope](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-hope) and Bing Crosby, the Pink Panther films, and Buster Keaton while keeping a distinctively French comic flavor.[19](https://kinolorber.com/film/lachevre)
## References
1. [La Chèvre (Francis Veber, 1981), La Cinémathèque française](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/51539.html)
2. [La Chèvre, ADRC](https://adrc-asso.org/patrimoine/diffusion/films-et-cycles/la-chevre)
3. [La Chèvre, Pierre Richard site officiel](https://www.pierre-richard.fr/filmographie/la-chevre/)
4. [Le jour où Pierre Richard a craché du ketchup sur Gérard Depardieu, Europe 1](https://www.europe1.fr/culture/le-jour-ou-pierre-richard-a-crache-du-ketchup-sur-gerard-depardieu-2953883)
5. [La Chèvre (1981) company credits, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082183/companycredits/)
6. [La chèvre, Télé Star](https://www.telestar.fr/programme-tv/fiche/4020/la-chevre)
7. [La chèvre, Télé 7 Jours](https://www.programme-television.org/type/films/comedies/la-chevre-12513)
8. [La Chevre, Cinéma Français](https://www.cinema-francais.fr/les_films/films_v/films_veber_francis/la_chevre.htm)
9. [Rétrospective Pierre Richard, La Cinémathèque française](https://www.cinematheque.fr/cycle/pierre-richard-314.html)
10. [La Chèvre, Film France CNC](https://www.filmfrance.net/en/once-upon-a-time/la-chevre-2/)
11. [La Chevre, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401314/)
12. [Les années 1980 de Gérard Depardieu, Le Monde (2023)](https://www.lemonde.fr/series-d-ete/article/2023/07/20/les-annees-1980-de-gerard-depardieu-une-decennie-en-apesanteur_6182687_3451060.html)
13. [Media Education 2024, 20(3)](https://me.cherkasgu.press/journals_n/1726073777.pdf)
14. [La Chèvre, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D2361.html)
15. [la Chèvre, Larousse](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/la_Ch%C3%A8vre/2087)
16. [Les héros de « La Chèvre » changent de tête, Le Monde (1996)](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1996/10/10/les-heros-de-la-chevre-changent-de-tete_3748710_1819218.html)
17. [La Chèvre (1981), Nrmagazine](https://www.nrmagazine.com/cinema/titles/4561/la-chevre)
18. [La Chèvre, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/knock-on-wood)
19. [La Chevre, Kino Lorber Theatrical](https://kinolorber.com/film/lachevre)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1980s › Comedy-dramas of the 1980s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license