(Paris) A little something extra that do not have blockbusters : starring actors with disabilities, Artus’ first film attracted 4.5 million spectators in less than a month on screen, becoming the biggest success of the year in theaters ahead of Dune, part two.
The tidal wave observed since the 1er May continued over the past seven days, with 1.1 million additional admissions, according to figures released by CBO Box-Office on Wednesday.
This tender comedy, which aims to laugh with disabled people and not at their expense, is ahead of Denis Villeneuve’s blockbuster (4.1 million admissions) and the continuation of Po’s adventures in Kung Fu Panda 4 (2.3 million) at the top of the 2024 box office.
Another feat, she is now close behind Asterix and Obelix: the Middle Kingdom by Guillaume Canet, the biggest French success in theaters since the health crisis, which attracted 4.6 million spectators in 2023 with a much higher budget.
Enough to prolong the “waking dream” of Artus and his gang, a week after their climb to the Cannes Film Festival for this film, which immediately created a surprise by signing the best start of the year, carried by its performance in the region and a timely launch on a public holiday.
Father and son on screen, Clovis Cornillac and Artus play two little thugs who hide in the middle of a summer camp for young people with mental disabilities, in order to escape the police. Artus poses as a boarder and Clovis Cornillac as his specialized educator.
Around ten amateur actors with disabilities appear in the cast of professionals, supplemented among others by Alice Belaïdi, bringing that “little extra something” which had nevertheless put off certain cautious producers, according to Artus.
His box office scores sound like revenge for this figure of humor – real name Victor-Artus Solaro – who couldn’t have dreamed of better for his very first feature film behind the camera, at 36 years old.
Small “stone”
“In these somewhat anxiety-provoking times, it’s a film that does good” and which allows us to discover “a population that we don’t often see,” said the director to explain this rush into cinemas.
Its success is reminiscent of that of the drama the eighth day (1996), worn by Daniel Auteuil and the actor with Down syndrome Pascal Duquenne, and is in line with the successes ofUntouchables (2011), with Omar Sy and François Cluzet, and The Aries family (2014), with the singer Louane.
Associations working for people with disabilities also welcomed this comedy, believing that it represents a welcome small “stone” in trying to improve the situation of those mainly concerned.
On the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, cinema personalities (Léa Drucker, Alexandra Lamy and Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache) signed a column on the Cannes Film Festival website. Releasefor a “reform of the status of intermittent workers in the entertainment industry, towards disabled artists” in cinema and on television.
But the road to integration still remains long. When climbing the steps, Artus had to carry one of his actors, Sofian Ribes, who uses a wheelchair.
“It is no longer acceptable to see these kinds of images, it is an attack on the dignity of the person, to have to be carried to the top,” the Minister Delegate for People subsequently commented. disabled, Fadila Khattabi, in the newspaper Nice morning.
“Next year, the steps must be accessible to people with disabilities. It’s not up to them to adapt to society, it’s up to society as a whole to adapt to them,” she insisted.