Hubert de Tartas' life becomes a complete muddle when his wife's grandfather is unearthed after having spent 65 years in frozen hibernation in the polar circle. After being de-frosted, the Hibernating Man believes it is still the beginning of the century. Nothing is spared to keep that illusion alive. At the end of his rope, Hubert blurts out the truth and takes the man from Edwardian times on a crazy spree through an ultramodern Twentieth Century.
Acting
Louis de Funès at peak eyebrow-waggling hysteria
Production
Elaborate period-illusion sets that scream effort
Writing
Escalating lies that would make Fawlty Towers blush
Director
Édouard Molinaro
Louis de Funès
Hubert de Tartas
Claude Gensac
Edmée de Tartas
Bernard Alane
Paul Fournier
Olivier de Funès
Didier de Tartas
Paul Préboist
Charles
Martine Kelly
Sophie
Claude Piéplu
Secrétaire général
Michael Lonsdale
Edouard Loriebat
Harry-Max
Le vieux copain de Paul
Evelyne Dassas
L'assistante de Bibolini
Annick Alane
Madame Crépin-Jaujard - la mère d'Evelyne
Jacques Legras
L'avocat
Pascal Mazzotti
Le professeur Bibolini
Yves Vincent
Edouard Crépin-Jaujard
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Louis de Funès was France's biggest box office star of the 1960s-70s; this film capitalized on his trademark bourgeois Everyman persona.
The hibernation concept loosely referenced real 1967 news about frozen mammoth discoveries, which director Molinaro cheekily twisted into domestic farce.
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