After his touching film portrait of singer Renaud made in 2002 for France 3, the director Eric Guéret is back with a new documentary about France’s greatest clown. Coluche, la France à besoin de toi is the story of a personality who is still deeply missed by the French public even 20 years after his untimely death.
The film in some way replaces Coluche’s own acetic prose of times past. In an era when media censorship reigned and where homosexuality, race, drugs were silenced by taboo, Coluche was the master of a rudeness that explicitly challenged the established order of French society.
Coluche’s great friend, Josiane Balasko, guides us with her words and written accounts through what really motivated the rebel stand-up comedian. Previously unseen archival images and classic sketch footage reveals a Coluche who never hesitated to outrage or to disturb the status quo. Journalists, politicians, the armed forces, the police and advertising: no person, subject or institution was spared his tirade.
Twenty years after his death, his feisty, popular and provocative humour has not aged one bit. Today France’s best-loved clown is remembered for his brazen mockery and great courage, both qualities achieved at great risk.
Contrary to what he what he was accustomed to say, Coluche has left an indelible mark in the hearts and memories of the French people.