L'emmerdeur

L'emmerdeur
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Édouard Molinaro
Written by	Francis Veber (play and screenplay)
Produced by	Georges Dancigers Alexandre Mnouchkine
Starring	Jacques Brel Lino Ventura Caroline Cellier
Cinematography	Raoul Coutard
Edited by	Monique Isnardon Robert Isnardon
Music by	Jacques Brel François Rauber
Production companies	Les Films Ariane Mondex Films Oceania Produzioni Rizzoli Film
Distributed by	CCFC
Release date	20 September 1973 (1973-09-20) (France)
Running time	85 minutes
Countries	France Italy
Language	French
Box office	$25.2 million

L'emmerdeur (literally The Troublemaker, with the English title of A Pain in the Ass, often promoted as A Pain in the A__) is a 1973 French-Italian black comedy film, starring Jacques Brel, appearing in his tenth and final feature film. Directed by Édouard Molinaro and co-starring Lino Ventura, Caroline Cellier, and Jean-Pierre Darras, L'emmerdeur is an adaptation of Francis Veber's 1971 play Le contrat.

In the film, a contract killer waits for his intended victim at a hotel room, but his plan is accidentally thwarted by the suicidal salesman occupying the neighboring room. He resorts to prevent the salesman from committing suicide, in fear that the suicide would cause a police search in the hotel.

Plot

Ralph Milan is a contract killer who is paid to kill Louis Randoni, whose testimony in various trials could harm the organisation. Ralph waits for his prey in his hotel room, but is interrupted by his comical neighbour, a shirt salesman named François Pignon (Jacques Brel).

Pignon, who is suicidal since his wife left him for a reputed psychiatrist named Fuchs (Jean-Pierre Darras), tries to hang himself on the waterpipes, but only manages to cause a flood. Realizing that if Pignon tries to kill himself again, the police will search the place, Milan offers to talk him out of it until after his assassination. Unfortunately Pignon starts irritating him more, and makes it more difficult for him to fulfill his contract killing.

Cast

• Jacques Brel as François Pignon
• Lino Ventura as Ralf Milan
• Caroline Cellier as Louise Pignon
• Jean-Pierre Darras as Fuchs
• Nino Castelnuovo as The bellhop
• Angela Cardile as The future mother
• Xavier Depraz as Louis Randoni
• Jean-Louis Tristan as The hotel inspector
• André Valardy as The hitchhiker
• Jean Franval as The hitchhiker
• Pierre Collet as The butcher
• Arlette Balkis as The patient
• Éric Vasberg as The rally pilot
• Jacques Galland as Maître Chamfort
• François Dyrek

Remakes

The film was remade in the United States in 1981 as Buddy Buddy by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. The film was remade in France in 2008 as L' Emmerdeur starring Patrick Timsit and Richard Berry. Neither remake was well received, and the 2008 version was a conspicuous disaster, attracting derisory audiences.

The film also remade in Turkish as Baş Belası in 1982 directed by Kartal Tibet.

A remake in Hindi titled Bumboo was released in 2012.

External links

• L'emmerdeur at IMDb
• L'emmerdeur at Rotten Tomatoes