Pierre Richard is one of the most famous comedians in France, who is almost 90 years old, but he does not leave his career! The beautifully aging master of comedy of the seventies and eighties, in the nineties he became serious and began to produce philosophical films, and in the twenty-first century he decided not to give up and began to perform not only in movies, but also on stage.
In 2015, Richard released his memoirs. He, a veteran European actor who loves Russia, has a story to tell. In 2023, another project La Favorite will be released with his participation.
Here are 17 Pierre Richard’s films, both good old comedies and modern projects, in which the irrepressible Frenchman still infects the audience with his positivity.
Umami
- Rating IMDB – 6.1
- Genre: Drama, comedy
- Production France, Japan / 2022
- Directed by Sloney Sow
- Cast: Gerard Depardieu, Kyozo Nagatsuka, Pierre Richard, Rod Parado, Sandrine Bonner, Eriko Takeda, Akira Emoto, Bastien Bouillon, Zinedine Soualem
This is a French-Japanese culinary film starring Pierre Richard and Gérard Depardieu.
Gabriel Carven (Depardieu) is the best chef in all of France and recently received his third star. However, his life is not happy at all. His wife is sleeping with someone else, his children neglect him, and he drinks too much.
And then his best friend Rufus (Richard) offers to hypnotize Gabriel to understand the source of his problems. And the chef suddenly remembers that in 1978 he was beaten in a cooking contest by a Japanese man with a simple bowl of noodles. Gabriel drops everything and goes to Japan to find out what umami is.
In addition to the four basic tastes (sweet, salty, sour, and bitter), according to the Japanese, there is a fifth – umami.
Les vieux fourneaux
- Rating IMDB – 6.1
- Genre: Drama, comedy
- Production France / 2018
- Worldwide gross: $7,205,775
- Directed by Christophe Duthuron
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Eddie Mitchell, Roland Giraud, Alice Paul, Henri Guibet, Miriam Boyer, Meliana Marcaggi, Rebecca Azan, Alain Dumas, Titus Frenchman
The film’s second title is Old Fools, and it is one of Pierre Richard’s best works in the twenty-first century, a highly-rated comedy by Christophe Duturon.
It all begins with a slight hullabaloo at the funeral of Antoine’s wife, where two of his best friends, Emile and Pierrot (Pierre Richard), arrive. Suddenly Antoine finds some letter that is more than half a century old and, without telling the others anything, rushes off to Tuscany, where something terrible happened in 1945, when the friends were 10 years old. Antoine’s friends and granddaughter rush after him to keep him from doing something stupid.
This film is an adaptation of the 2014 French comic book by Wilfrid Lupano and Paul Coeuet.
La ch’tite famille
- Rating IMDB – 5.7
- Genre: Comedy
- Production France / 2018
- Worldwide gross: $49,954,866
- Directed by Dani Boon
- Cast: Dany Boon, Lyn Reno, Laurence Arne, Valerie Bonneton, Guy Lecluis, François Berleand, Pierre Richard, Julian Leporo, Stéphane Pezera, Aladine Reibel
Dany Boone’s family comedy, starring Pierre Richard as the estranged father of the main character, Valentin.
Valentin is a furniture designer, an elegant successful man who has been ashamed of his own parents and brother all his life. Even his wife Constance and father-in-law, the manager of the firm, are convinced that he is an orphan.
And then one day, Valentin’s entire family descends on his head, including his mother, who adores her children, his oddball father, his brother Gus, and his vulgar wife Lilith. The truth about Valentine comes out, his wife and father are shocked, and Valentine himself has an accident and loses his memory, beginning to believe that he is 17 years old again.
After the premiere, the film immediately hit the top box office pictures.
Un profil pour deux
- Rating IMDB – 6.3
- Genre: Comedy
- Production France, Belgium, Germany, Austria / 2017
- Budget: $5,000,000
- Worldwide gross: $3,358,085
- Directed by Stéphane Robeli
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Yannis Lespert, Fanny Valette, Stéphane Bissot, Stephanie de Craincourt, Gustave Kervern, Macha Meril, Anna Bederke, Philippe Schein, Arthur Defay
The 83-year-old Pierre Richard is once again infecting with positivity in a very free interpretation of the classic plot of Cyrano de Bergerac. By the way, his character Pierre Stein is a little younger – he’s only 75 years old. 🙂
So that the widowed father is not bored, the children give him a laptop. And soon Pierre discovers that you can communicate with people without revealing his identity. Better yet, by embellishing it. Having thrown himself a few decades, he meets a young beauty online and interests her with his gallant treatment. The only thing is how to avoid exposure now?
The film was a box office hit in Germany, Colombia, and Mexico.
Et si on vivait tous ensemble?
- Rating IMDB – 6.7
- Genre: Drama, comedy
- Production France, Germany / 2011
- Budget: €7 000 000
- Worldwide gross: $7,211,180
- Directed by Stéphane Robeli
- Cast: Guy Bedos, Daniel Brühl, Geraldine Chaplin, Jane Fonda, Claude Rich, Pierre Richard, Bernard Malaca, Camino Fernandez, Gwendolyn Amon, Shemss Oda
A melancholy comedy starring Jane Fonda and Pierre Richard about five old men who decide to live together instead of being separated by retirement homes.
Jean is a real rebel even in his old age. He lives with his wife Annie, a retired psychologist who always misses her grandchildren. Albert (Pierre Richard) suffers from increasing dementia, and his wife Jeanne, sick with cancer, tries to convince herself that there is no disease. Claude is a widower after a heart attack.
Jean suggests that the friends live together in their house, and to walk Albert’s dog, they hire a student named Dirk, who is writing a thesis on old people…
The film premiered on the last day of the Locarno International Film Festival.
Faubourg 36
- Rating IMDB – 6.5
- Genre: Musical, drama, melodrama, music
- Production France, Germany, Czech Republic / 2008
- Worldwide gross: $12,820,489
- Directed by Christophe Barratier
- Cast: Gerard Junho, Clovis Cornillac, Cad Merad, Nora Arnezeder, Pierre Richard, Bernard-Pierre Donnadier, Maxence Perrin, François Morel, Elisabeth Vitali, Christophe Kurochkin
A wonderful retro musical with French movie stars.
On the eve of World War II, the Chansonnier variety show closes in the suburbs of Paris because of the suicide of its owner. After spending some time in despondency amidst personal turmoil, the theater’s employee Pigual recruits a new troupe.
On the list are the socialist Leibovich, the famous composer Monsieur TCF (Pierre Richard) and the promising comedian Jacot. The highlight is the sweet-voiced provincial Duz, whom Pigual decides to let sing the famous song Paris, Paris on stage.
En attendant le déluge
- Rating IMDB – 5.2
- Genre: Drama
- Production France / 2004
- Directed by Damien Odul
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Anna Mouglalis, Damien Audoul, Eugene Durif, Ingrid Astier, Antoine Lacomblese, Valerie Bert, Stephane Terpero
A French drama about aging and loneliness, or a crazy art-house farce about life. That depends on what you see. A cheerful rich grandfather, Jean-René (Pierre Richard), lives in his castle with his only servant, Pippo. One day he decides to have some fun and invites a theater troupe to stage Dionysus for him, his only audience.
The actors arrive in pairs and take their time entertaining their host, settling thoroughly in the castle and shouting at Pippo. But Jean-René is in no hurry to be discouraged and even makes eyes at one actress…
The film deliberately lacks a rigid plot, and the dialogues are built on improvisation.
Robinson Crusoë
- Rating IMDB -6.3
- Genre: Drama, adventure
- Production France, Canada, UK / 2002
- Directed by Thierry Chabert
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Nicolas Cazale, Jean-Claude Leger, Marie Béraud, Aurora Basnuevo, Ulic Anello, Jennifer Loret, Michael Rudder, Stephane Demers, Guy Leroy
Beautiful Island. A brilliant performance by Pierre Richard. Colorful Friday. The French two-part Robinson Crusoe does not thoroughly repeat the events of Defoe’s great novel, but that does not make it any less interesting.
In this film, Robinson (Pierre Richard) is the 60-year-old owner of a sugar plantation. After a riot on a ship, he is thrown onto a deserted island, but the ship itself crashes nearby, everyone dies, and things from the ship are carried ashore. Soon Robinson finds his Friday, and he must spend 15 years on the island.
The film was shot in the town of Baracoa, Cuba.
On peut toujours rêver
- Rating IMDB – 5.1
- Genre: Comedy
- Production France / 1991
- Directed by Pierre Richard
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Smain, Edith Scob, Pierre Palmade, Jacques Seiler, Jacques Nolo, Bernard Freud, Mark Betton, Lauren Spielvogel, Nathalie Offret
The second title Dreaming is not harmful. The slightly worn-out Pierre Richard, in the ’90s, took on more serious films. Quietly leaving in the past clown farce, more and more philosophical reflections and depth.
Richard’s character in this film is a jaded billionaire Charles. To experience some emotion, he engages in petty shoplifting, and one day he is caught doing it by the poor hairdresser Rachid. He desperately shames the rich man and, impressed, hires Rachid, unaware that he has found a friend who will give him back his joie de vivre.
The song in the film was sung by Pierre Richard himself.
Bienvenue à bord!
- Rating IMDB – 5.8
- Genre: Drama
- Production France / 1990
- Directed by Jean-Louis Leconte
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Martin Lamotte, Evelyn Buix, Nathalie Courval, William Doherty, François Fourneau, Catherine Fro, Yves Gabrielli, Patrick Laval
The second title of the drama Let me give you a ride. Pierre Richard plays a hitchhiker who, not coincidentally, chooses to be a victim, brazenly getting into cars and turning the driver’s life inside out. He quotes Hegel and convinces his fellow passengers that something needs to change in life.
Meanwhile, on the radio comes the news about the thirteenth escaped convict. “The fifteenth,” corrects Richard’s character and puts on his sunglasses. Fortunately, this actor is not capable of frightening a two-year-old child, and the result is more of a philosophical parable than a road thriller.
À gauche en sortant de l’ascenseur
- Rating IMDB – 6.6
- Genre: Melodrama, comedy
- Production France / 1988
- Directed by Edouard Molinaro
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Richard Boringer, Emmanuelle Béart, Fanny Cottenson, Pierre Vernier, Jean-Michel Dupois, Martine Maximin, Albert Simoneau, Aina Vallee, Eric Blanc
The masterful curiosity with Pierre Richard begins with a trivial situation. Yann (Richard) and Boris are artists living next door. At the same time, Boris is a desperate jealous man who suspects his beautiful wife Eva of cheating.
And then one day Eva jumps out on the stairs in her negligee, the door slams and she seeks shelter with Jan. He climbs over the balcony into Boris’ apartment to open the door for her, when Boris himself returns and Florence, Jan’s friend whom he has asked on a date, arrives. And Florence’s husband and the maid, who is having an affair with Boris, appear next… Traditionally, everything ends well, but there will be a lot of laughs!
The literary basis of the film is Gerard Lozier’s play L’Amuse-gueule.
Les fugitifs
- Rating IMDB – 7.0
- Genre: Drama, сomedy, сrime
- Production France / 1986
- Worldwide gross: $23,595
- Directed by Francis Weber
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Gérard Depardieu, Jean Carmet, Maurice Barrier, Jean Benguigui, Roland Blanche, Anaïs Bret, Philippe Lelièvre, Yveline Ayo, Didier Pin
An excellent French comedy. Jean Lucas (Gérard Depardieu) is a notorious bank robber, a ruthless criminal who has decided to quit the past after his release from prison. Going to the bank to open an honest account, he becomes a hostage of a desperate Francois Pignon (Pierre Richard) who commits an armed raid. Pignon needs money for his young daughter.
The arriving police, of course, believe it’s the other way around: Luca has captured the hapless Pignon and wants to rob the bank. The men will have to solve this misunderstanding somehow and avoid going to jail.
This is the final classic comedy of the three films of the Richard-Depardieu tandem, set to music by the wonderful Vladimir Kosm.
Le jumeau
- Rating IMDB – 6.0
- Genre: Comedy
- Production France / 1984
- Directed by Yves Robert
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Jean-Pierre Calfon, Camille More, Cary More, Jacques Franz, Françoise Dorner, Jean-Pierre Castaldi, Paul Le Person, Isabelle Strava, Jean-Claude Bouillot
Matthias Duval (Pierre Richard) has a crush on two women at once, the rich twins Liz and Betty Körner. He invents a twin brother and begins to date both girls under the guise of different brothers. He is insanely worried about the risks of this game, and he is unable to choose one over the other.
Meanwhile, the Körner family lawyer, Ernest Volpinex, who himself has plans for one of the sisters, begins to suspect something is amiss. The situation becomes more and more complicated when both sisters begin to demand a wedding.
The film is based on the book Two Much by Donald Westlake.
Les compères
- Rating IMDB – 6.9
- Genre: Comedy, crime
- Production France / 1983
- Directed by Francis Weber
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Gérard Depardieu, Stéphane Bierry, Annie Duperet, Michel Aumont, Philippe Horsan, Jean-Jacques Schaeffer, Maurice Barrier, Roland Blanche, Bruno Elaine
When 17-year-old Tristan runs away from home after an argument with his father, his worried mother Christine seeks out her two old buddies, with whom she had sex in her youth, and tells each separately that Tristan is his son
Teacher François Pignon (Pierre Richard) and journalist Jean Lucas (Gérard Depardieu) rush out on the search, enthused by the prospect of fatherhood, and now hardly anyone can dissuade them from doing so.
Francis Weber collaborated constantly with Gérard Depardieu and Pierre Richard, and most of their comedies of the 1980s were made by this director.
Le coup du parapluie
- Rating IMDB – 6.6
- Genre: Comedy, crime, adventure
- Production France / 1980
- Directed by Gerard Ury
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Valerie Meresse, Christine Mourillo, Gordon Mitchell, Gérard Junho, Maurice Rich, Dominique Lavanan, Axel Abbadie, Yasin Khan, Didier Sauvegrand
Unlucky actor Grégoire Leconte (Pierre Richard) goes to another casting, hoping to get the role of a hitman in a new movie, and accidentally gets into a mafia meeting, mistaking the leader, Don Barberini, for a producer. He in turn takes Gregoire for a real mercenary and gives him a bundle of money, an umbrella with a poisoned tip and the task to kill Keith, an arms dealer.
The naive actor does not notice anything, believing that he is on his way to the shooting, picking up a pretty girl, Sylvette, on the way. She is an undercover police officer trying to understand the actor’s role in the mess. Meanwhile, Don Barberini realizes his mistake, but it’s too late to change anything. The adventure begins!
The release in the USSR was shortened by censorship by 15 minutes.
Le jouet
- Rating IMDB – 7.4
- Genre: Drama, comedy
- Production France / 1976
- Directed by Francis Weber
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Michel Bouquet, Fabrice Greco, Jacques François, Daniel Ceccaldi, Charles Gerard, Michel Aumont, Susie Dyson, Gerard Junho, Michel Robin
This story is still relevant today. Francis Weber’s nontrivial comedy about an unemployed journalist, François Perrin (Pierre Richard), who struggles to get a job at a small newspaper. His first assignment is to write an essay about a toy store owned by the millionaire Pierre Rombal-Cochet.
To Perrin’s misfortune, the millionaire himself is in the store at the time of his visit with his son Eric, who has been promised to buy whatever he wants. The feisty, brash, spoiled brat wants to buy himself a doll. A living doll – François. The journalist is barely persuaded to play along with the boy for a handsome fee, and as he talks to Eric, Francois suddenly realizes how lonely and confused the child is.
The French remake of The New Toy (Le nouveau jouet) came out in 2022 with a good rating. We think the old film is much more atmospheric!
La moutarde me monte au nez
- Rating IMDB – 6.4
- Genre: Comedy
- Production France / 1974
- Directed by Claude Zidi
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Jane Birkin, Claude Pieplu, Jean Martin, Daniel Minazzoli, Vittorio Caprioli, Julien Guiomar, Henri Guibet, Jean-Marie Prolier, Clement Arary
A nice, light, goofy comedy with Pierre Richard and Jane Birkin. Pierre Duroy is a kind, ironic intellectual who helps everyone. He works as a teacher at a boarding school for girls and serves as a writer for his father the mayor and a friend who works for a tabloid newspaper.
When students jokingly mix up the contents of his folders, the mayor’s future speech, a caustic article about a famous actress, and the students’ work get mixed up. To make sense of the situation, Pierre has to endure a lot of hilarious adventures and spend the night at the home of movie star Jackie Logan, which causes resentment from his fiancée.
Pierre’s fiancée, a physical education teacher, was played by Richard’s first wife Danielle Minazzoli.
