Hibernatus

A frozen man is found inside a block of ice at the pole. He disappeared in 1905 and is still alive. Scientists thaw him and bring him back. The trouble is that letting him learn what year it is would be dangerous, so a fake 1905 is built around him. The man landed with the job is Hubert de Tartas, the father-in-law of the frozen man's grandson. The subject is not science fiction but a man enduring the total refurbishment of his own house for somebody else's lie. Hubert's entire life turns into a set, and he has to act inside it. The form is vaudeville: one house, many doors, misunderstanding and rising speed. Louis de Funès' comedy again rests on holding rage at the point of detonation. The source is a play by Jean Bernard-Luc. Édouard Molinaro had already worked with de Funès on Oscar and continues the same method here: shut the actor in one location and raise the pressure. Claude Gensac plays his wife and Bernard Alane the frozen man. Who it is for: viewers who like French vaudeville and de Funès' comedy of detonation. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the premise pushed all the way; once the film has set it up, it gets nothing new out of it.