General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Le Jouet

Le Jouet (international title: The Toy) is a 1976 French comedy-drama written and directed by Francis Veber, in which an unemployed journalist is chosen as a living plaything by the spoiled young son of the billionaire press magnate who has just hired him. It stars Pierre Richard as François Perrin, Michel Bouquet as Pierre Rambal-Cochet, and Fabrice Greco as the boy Éric, with music by Vladimir Cosma.¹^•² The film was Veber's first as a director and the first time the recurring character François Perrin appeared in a film Veber himself directed.³

Key fact	Detail
Director and writer	Francis Veber, his first film behind the camera, adapted from his own short story³
French release	8 December 1976¹
Principal cast	Pierre Richard (François Perrin), Michel Bouquet (Pierre Rambal-Cochet), Fabrice Greco (Éric Rambal-Cochet)²
Music	Vladimir Cosma²
Runtime	Reported as 90, 94, or 95 minutes depending on the source⁴^•⁵
French box office	1,249,452 admissions²
Restoration	Restored in 2013; re-released in French cinemas on 19 October 2022¹^•⁶
Remakes	American remake The Toy (1982) with Richard Pryor; a new French remake with Jamel Debbouze announced³

Spoilers

Plot

François Perrin, a journalist who has been out of work for two years, is finally hired by France Hebdo, a weekly owned by the ruthless billionaire Pierre Rambal-Cochet.²^•⁷ On a reporting assignment in one of the toy stores his employer owns, Perrin encounters Éric, Rambal-Cochet's nine-year-old son, a child to whom no one refuses anything. Amused by the journalist's clumsiness, Éric points at him and demands him as a gift, the other toys holding no interest.²^•⁷

Fearing for his job, Perrin plays along and is delivered, in a crate, to the Rambal-Cochet household, where the boy renames him "Julien" and subjects him to a series of extravagant demands.⁸^•⁹ Gradually a genuine relationship forms: Perrin discovers how solitary the child's life is, and the boy grows attached to this father figure so unlike his intimidating, distant parent.⁸^•³ In the end, according to Cineuropa's synopsis, Éric abandons his billionaire father for the journalist, who is once again out of work.⁷

Production and origins

Veber's first film. Francis Veber had already established himself as a screenwriter with Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire (1972) and L'Emmerdeur (1973) before moving into directing. In 1976, with the support of the producer Claude Berri and Pierre Richard, who also produced, he filmed his own short story "Le Jouet", his first published work of fiction.³ The production companies were Fideline Films, Renn Productions, EFVE Films, and Andrea Films, with Pierre Grunstein as production manager and Étienne Becker as cinematographer.²^•⁴

Autobiographical roots. Veber traced the premise to an incident in Algeria, where, while working as a journalist for the army newspaper Le Bled, he was arranging toys in a shop window for his photographer, caught the eye of a child, and imagined being bought. He also said that his own failed relationship with his father, an industrialist who left before his birth and ignored him afterward, inspired the film's father-son material.³ He acknowledged slipping into the character of Rambal-Cochet traits drawn from Marcel Dassault, the aeronautics industrialist and head of the Dassault Group.³

Reception and legacy

The film was not a box-office success on release and received some negative criticism, drawing 1,249,452 admissions in France.²^•³ It has since been reevaluated: the Cinémathèque française and Pathé classify it as a heritage film, and the 2022 re-release followed a 2013 restoration.¹^•⁴ On AlloCiné it holds a spectator rating of 3.3 out of 5 from 1,689 ratings, and on SensCritique 6.2 out of 10.⁶^•¹⁰ Reviewers have described it as a social satire on the power of money, darker and more dramatic than the label "comedy" suggests, and as the start of Veber's directing career.¹^•¹⁰^•¹¹

The Perrin character. François Perrin, the clumsy innocent, had first been played by Pierre Richard in Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire (1972), written by Veber. Le Jouet marked the first time Veber directed the character himself, and the name recurred through his later films, alternating with François Pignon.³^•¹² The film also began the Veber-Richard collaboration as director and actor, which continued with La Chèvre (1981), Les Compères (1983), and Les Fugitifs (1986).³

Remakes. The film was remade in the United States as The Toy (1982) with Richard Pryor in the lead role, and a new French remake with Jamel Debbouze replacing Pierre Richard was announced in the 2022 press dossier.³

Release and versions

The film was released in France on 8 December 1976 and received its visa (number 46262) on 9 December 1976, classified for all audiences.¹^•⁵ It then rolled out across Europe and beyond: Germany on 7 April 1977, Austria in April 1977, Belgium on 12 May 1977, Finland on 23 September 1977, Portugal on 17 February 1978, the Soviet Union in June 1978, Poland on 23 February 1979, the Netherlands on 3 April 1980, and later releases in Russia (2001) and the Czech Republic (2009).⁷ In Quebec it was classified on 8 March 1977 as a satirical comedy.¹³ Runtime figures differ across sources: the Cinémathèque française lists 90 minutes, Pathé and the Quebec repertoire list 94, and the CNC and Cineuropa list 95.⁴^•¹^•⁵

References

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 1970s › Released 1970 to 1976

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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