Crime doesn’t pay, but it certainly does make life a lot more entertaining – this seems to be the principle that Jean Lucas uses as motivation for his day-to-day life, and after being released from prison for the fourteenth time, decides that he is going to go straight – until he accidentally walks straight into a botched bank robbery that proves to be the work of the hopelessly incompetent François Pignon, who is resorting to desperate measures to support his young daughter after the death of her mother. This is the premise of Francis Veber’s wonderful Les Fugitifs, a charming comedy that disarms the viewer and takes us on quite an unexpected journey to the heart of a pair of individuals who find themselves on opposing ends of the psychological spectrum when it comes to how they understand the causes and consequences of a life of crime, which proves to be a source of considerable contention for the two of them as they try and escape the authorities that are soon on their tail. Veber has often been cited as being one of the most influential voices in French comedy, a fascinating director who may not have always produced works that are particularly complex or daring but had a revolutionary spirit and a desire to entertain and enlighten above everything else, which makes for quite a remarkable exercise in narrative storytelling. He keeps everything quite simple, and while it may not be the most consistent when it comes to logic, Les Fugitifs is still a wildly entertaining film with strong ideas, good performances and a decent set of artistic principles that allows it to be viewed as much more than just a ridiculous, off-the-wall comedy, but instead functions as something with a lot more depth and nuance than we initially would imagine, which is one of the many triumphant, entertaining aspects of this wonderful and compelling film that proves to be a lot deeper than a cursory glance would suggest.

The odd couple scenario has been done on countless occasions, and by this point, there is very little that can be said or done with this literary trope that we’ve not seen numerous times. The key isn’t to try and reinvent the structure but rather to adapt it to fit a particular narrative (instead of shoehorning a more slight idea into a less inspired format), which is what allows this film to feel so fresh and exciting, even at its most simple. Veber seems to have a fondness for this concept, with many of his films drawing their humour from the relationship between people who could not be more different, entire films being constructed from this style of storytelling, which has stood him in good stead for well over half a century by now in his capacity as both a writer and director. Les Fugitifs is a film about two people – one a career criminal, the other a bourgeois everyman without any sense of self-awareness – finding each other by chance but proving to be exactly who the other person needs to encounter to accomplish a particular task, which is the foundation of the story as a whole. Veber is a great writer, and his screenplay is sharp and very funny, but it is his direction that keeps us engaged since the realization of these bold ideas is what allows the film to be so incredibly engaging and enthralling. Darkly comical but never mean-spirited, Les Fugitifs seems to understand that humour is a tool, and through being constructed as a series of hilarious vignettes in which we see our two protagonists, as well as the adorable daughter who is forced into their plot, perpetually evading the authorities as they attempt to make their escape, which proves to be a lot easier said than done. There is even the potential to add a queer reading into the film since there are some oddly progressive dynamics scattered throughout this film that prove to be slightly ahead of their time, granted they may not have been intentional. Regardless of how we look at it, Les Fugitifs is a film with a lot of terrific ideas, and it lives up to most of them.

Les Fugitifs came at quite an interesting point in the careers of its two leading actors. Pierre Richard had gradually built himself as one of France’s major comedy stars, the heir apparent to Louis de Funès and his brand of off-the-wall zaniness and immense eccentricity, which is certainly not a quality that Richard has ever lacked. On the other end, we have Gérard Depardieu, whose career was defined by an equal aptitude in both comedy and drama, with the 1980s allowing him to ascend to become arguably one of the country’s most recognizable stars, and an actor who had global appeal, something that this film managed to use as a marketable quality. Les Fugitifs has a good story, but what makes it so entertaining is how it is built from the performances of its two leading actors – both Depardieu and Richard are putting in solid work, and their chemistry is incredible, much more than we may have expected based on a cursory glance. There is something electric that occurs when these two actors appear across from each other in a scene, mainly because they are so different in terms of both physicality and temperament, but in a way that works together beautifully. The director makes sure that we are constantly noticing the spark between the two actors, and they put forward hilarious, irreverent performances that are filled to the brim with heart and humour, an increasingly rare commodity for comedies at this time since there was a misconception that putting funny actors in absurd situations is sufficient for a comedy, when in reality the opposite is almost certainly true, and that complexity, even if it isn’t all that notable, drives the majority of these stories in unexpected ways, the two central performances proving to be incredible based solely on how willing the actors are to explore these characters in vivid detail, rather than just depending on the comedy.

It’s certainly very easy to suggest that these broad slapstick comedies produced around this time were just cheaply made and done to fill in a quota, aiming to make money without being particularly resonant on an artistic level. Les Fugitifs is part of this generation of films that have been written off as just being silly for the sake of entertainment, but like we have seen from many films made by Veber and his contemporaries, there is a method to the madness, and a lot of unexpected depth that comes through in the more subtle meaning, which brings forward several socio-cultural messages. It is never overt or blatant in what it means, but something is simmering below the surface of this film that is difficult to ignore, especially when it comes to unpacking the details that make it so compelling on a human level. We can just view this as 90 minutes of madcap mayhem and chaotic comedy, but that would remove the fact that this is a film made to showcase the sometimes dire financial state of France, as well as explore the desperate measures to which many people needed to go to simply survive. This is far more than just the aforementioned odd couple scenario – the pairing of a career criminal and a man simply trying to make a living for his daughter after he struggles to earn enough money through legitimate means is a very clear example of showing how everyone has an individual story, and while it never once attempts to justify a life of crime or even legitimize those who resort to these illegal acts out of desperation, the underlying themes are incredibly poignant, and lend a lot of depth to an otherwise outrageously funny film that never abates when it comes to the humour, but still infuses it with a lot more meaning than we may expect, which makes the experience all the more rich and impactful, preventing any allegation that Veber, or either of the two exceptional actors playing these roles, are only making this film for profit since there is much more to this wonderful story.

When a film is directed by someone who both helmed Le Dîner de Cons and served as a screenwriter on La Cage Aux Folles (which are both considered the gold standard for classic French comedy), there are going to be impossibly high expectations, and disappointment is always a major possibility, especially when dealing with something as notoriously fickle. Yet, Les Fugitifs is such a delight – it’s not an overly complex film, and its simplicity is what makes it so compelling, since it has a clear progression that may be predictable for the most part but doesn’t lack an ounce of nuance when it matters, which is quite a surprise considering the extent to which many filmmakers have gone to make comedies that don’t even possess an iota of the charm that we find scattered throughout this film. It is not the first crime comedy that has a more sombre meaning, but it uses it well, and the melancholy notes we find towards the end are quite impressive, especially considering the extent to which the actors were willing to go to develop these characters. Veber lives up to his reputation, and while it is not as funny or original as his other works, it is still quite a strong effort (and it is one of his more impressive directorial achievements, which counts for something when dealing with an artist primarily known for his strength as a writer), and one that is as refreshingly funny and unquestionably heartfelt today as it was decades ago, which makes for quite a riveting experience.