L'avare

Adapting a literary source to another medium requires some work, it is not just copying it. Molière's play has a brilliant text, but this attempt to translate it to a film keeping the traits of theater was a serious failure. Both in the kind of set (not only simple but explicitly suggesting it is a stage) and in the way of acting (overacting, often campy), the conception of tgis movie is made clear, but it does not work.

L'Avare (1980) isn't my favorite foreign film but I still like it. The set is minimal, and inaccurate for time period. However, it has a Monty Python feel which I love. Louis De Funés plays an awesome Harpagon and invigorates Moliére's classic. The slapstick comedy and Louis De Funés' facial expressions help bridge the gap of the era in which the script was written to the present. I definitely prefer this version to others I've seen with bigger budgets. Others take what is supposed to be a comedy and turn it into a dramatic period piece. All in all, this film is worth your time if you are looking for a way to make French Classicism more bearable.

A splendid Harpagon, high respect for Moliere text, a not conventional scenography and a seductive end. A great play, a wise adaptation of it and the genius of louis de Funes.

Louis de Funès was certainly a shoo-in for the role of the irascible, mean and greedy Harpagon. The setting is somehow bizarre, but Molière's text is scrupulously respected. Filmed theater is usually taboo among movie critics and amateurs, but this experiment is both pleasurable and successful.If you want to discover Molière, this is the movie to see.

This person is a star of comedy, truly showing a prowess in the toughest genre, celebrated in France and the world, and so forth. Just this is a video filmed thing which I thought was a TV movie at first, nothing at all that is ok, just that wondering why it just was not filmed on regular film, some of the "sets" look drab and dingy. Otherwise this shows more histrionics from Funes. Also (I watched a version where Russian is being dubbed over and my mom is translating) I am told this is done with a Shakespearean language, which I am ok with this marmalade jargon. But I also like plain spoken lucid usual.