La totale !

When I saw this movie on World Movies I loved it, thinking that it was one of the funiest films I have seen in a long time.

At that point I didn't know there was an American re-make, though I had seen bits of True Lies before, but somehow I only ever saw action scenes and was turned off from seeing it. Only today, when I was telling my friend the plot of "La Totale!" did he tell me it was almost the same as True Lies.. and I was very surprised, especially as True Lies had terrible reviews.

Oh well, I suppose it won't be the first re-make which is nowhere near as good as the original :-)

I always thought that the 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle "True Lies" was overrated - a step back into more mindless action films for Arnie after the extra-witty "Last Action Hero". Learning that it was a remake of a French film, and that in fact James Cameron has lifted entire sequences almost identically, certainly did not raise it in my estimation. But if "True Lies" was overblown, "La Totale!" is undercooked: it is essentially a slight, old-fashioned marital farce, punctuated by (very) sporadic action - and some unexpected blood squibs near the end. The two leads, Thierry Lhermitte and Miou Miou, are good, but the film is a little flat. Of course it doesn't help that the "official" English subtitles are rather poor, not making full sense at several points (example: "c'est pas vrai" becomes "superway"!). **1/2 out of 4.

A good fun flick. Yes, it lacks the flashiness of american remake, but the dialogue and characters alone are worth it. The interaction between the crusty Albert and slick François is great. You could say that, after Le diner de cons, Le placard, Les ripous and La totale, Lhermitte may be typecast as the guy who's too smart for his own good, but he does it so well!

First I have seen True Lies, with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis, which I liked a lot. Then, reading some Magazine critiques, I have discovered that it was actually a remake of the French "La Totale!", and how good that one was. Because the usual situation is the following: you see a European (mostly French) movie with a great idea, original pictures and superb acting with not so known but excellent actors, then Hollywood makes a disappointing copy of it with big money and low-quality actors.

Well, the original version was way under my expectations - average actors, low budget. Also, as I knew the story from before, the originality of the idea did not work here. So it was just an average French movie for me, with an entertainment level comparable to a good episode of the Knight Rider series. I believe that an action movie first of all needs budget for the big explosions, fights, car racing, which obviously was missing in the French studio. Miou-Miou, playing Helene, the wife, makes such an excellent interpretation of the stupid narrow minded wife. However, Thierry Lhermitte, as the super action hero secret agent, was miserable, no big muscles, no radiation of power, no big karate fights; and others perform even worse.

So funnily, the remake, True Lies is classes better and is an excellent action movie. Probably you should forget about watching La Totale! after seeing True Lies - it can be then a major disappointment for you too, as it was for me. 5/10

I would usually be the last one to prefer an American remake to a French original. The remakes generally lose the quality that made them seem worthy of a remake in the first place.

To me, one of the very few exceptions to this rule would be the case of La totale! and True Lies, with Arnold Schwarzenegger. If you have occasion to see this film, you will recognize nearly every scene. The remake added some scenes -- mostly spectacular ones -- and a much, much bigger budget. And a certain something else, a je ne sais quoi, a panache, a joie de vivre which the Gallic original is lacking. Surprising, but true. No lie.