General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Un indien dans la ville

Un indien dans la ville (released in English-speaking markets as An Indian in the City) is a 1994 French comedy directed by Hervé Palud, in which a Parisian businessman discovers that he has a thirteen-year-old son raised in an Amazonian tribe and brings the boy back to France.¹ It stars Thierry Lhermitte, Patrick Timsit, Ludwig Briand, and Miou-Miou, and it became one of the biggest French box-office successes of its year with nearly 8 million admissions.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Director and writers	Directed by Hervé Palud; screenplay by Igor Aptekman and Palud; adaptation and dialogue also credited to Thierry Lhermitte and Philippe Bruneau³
Main cast	Thierry Lhermitte (Stéphane Marchado), Patrick Timsit (Richard), Ludwig Briand (Mimi-Siku), Miou-Miou (Patricia), Arielle Dombasle (Charlotte)¹
Release	14 December 1994 in France; distributed by AMLF; visa number 84038¹
Runtime and format	1 h 29, color, 35 mm, French language¹^•⁴
French admissions	7,889,399 tickets sold in France⁵
Music	Manu Katché, Geoffrey Oryema, and Tonton David³
Afterlife	A 1996 video game by Titus Interactive and a 1997 American remake, Un Indien à New York, with Tim Allen and Martin Short²

Spoilers

Plot

Stéphane Marchado, a high-energy Parisian businessman specializing in Asian markets, is about to remarry the young Charlotte, who insists on marriage. To regularize his divorce he travels to the Amazon, where his wife Patricia left him thirteen years earlier without a word and now lives in the forest village of Lipolipo.³ There he learns that he has a son, Mimi-Siku, a name the film translates as "Pipi de chat" (cat pee), raised as an Indian and kept secret from him.³

To get to know the boy, Stéphane brings him to Paris, together with the boy's pet tarantula. The teenager, equipped with bow and arrows, climbs the Eiffel Tower, terrifies Charlotte and the downstairs neighbor with the spider, and grills the aquarium fish of his father's associate Richard over a wood fire; Richard's daughter Sophie falls in love with him.³ A parallel business plot has the two men holding 4,500 tonnes of soybeans bought on an Asian financial market as the price collapses; through the lawyer Joanovici they deal with Koutchnoukov, who is laundering money for the Latvian mafia, and the family of Richard is taken hostage until 800,000 dollars are returned.³ The film ends with Mimi-Siku flying back to Venezuela, the soy price recovering, and Stéphane declining a promotion to return to Lipolipo, followed by Richard, Marie, and their children.³

Production and credits

Hervé Palud (born 1953) directed the film and co-wrote it with Igor Aptekman, with whom he had already written La Gamine (1991) and Les Frères Pétard (1986); Palud's earlier directing credits also include Les Secrets professionnels du Docteur Apfelgluck (1990) and Jacques Mesrine (1983).¹ Fabio Conversi was the director of photography and Roland Baubeau the editor.³ The score is credited to the drummer and composer Manu Katché (born 1958), the Ugandan singer-songwriter Geoffrey Oryema (1953–2018), and the reggae singer Tonton David (1967–2021).⁶ Production companies included Ice Films, TF1 Films Production, Canal+, and Procirep.⁴

The film was classified in France on 16 January 1995, and the Canadian repertoire record lists a 15 December 1994 screening entry alongside the 89-minute French version.⁴ A VHS edition of 1 h 37 was published and distributed by TF1 entreprises in 1995.⁶

Reception and legacy

Box office. The film drew 7,889,399 admissions in France, a total that Première rounds to nearly 8 million and describes as an immense theatrical success; it ranks among Thierry Lhermitte's top three films, behind Les Bronzés 3 (10 million in 2006) and Le Dîner de Cons (1998).⁵^•² Television channels still rebroadcast it regularly.²

Critical and audience scores have been far lower than the ticket sales. On the Tomatometer the film holds 13 percent, from one fresh and seven rotten reviews with an average of 4.3.⁷ AlloCiné spectators give it 2.9 out of 5 from about 25,880 ratings.⁸ The Larousse film dictionary, by contrast, credits the film with good performances, pacing, plot twists, and gags.⁹

Several elements entered French popular memory, including the giant spider Maïtika and the closing song sung by Tonton David ("Chacun sa route, chacun son chemin...").² The success produced a Mimi-Siku video game in 1996, developed by Titus Interactive, and the 1997 American remake Un Indien à New York (Jungle 2 Jungle) starring Tim Allen and Martin Short, which performed less well.² Palud's next commercial success did not arrive: Albert est méchant (2004), with Michel Serrault and Christian Clavier, was a critical success but did not pass 500,000 admissions.²

References

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