Asterix at the Olympic Games, a strangely important film in the career of Alain Delon

When he agreed to play, in 2007, in Asterix at the Olympic Games, released in 2008 and broadcast this Monday, February 6, 2023 at 9:10 p.m. on TF1, Alain Delon is at a particular moment in his life and career. Father of two young children, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, it’s been twenty years already that the actor does not hesitate to say all the bad things he thinks of a cinema no longer having the magic or the splendor of his magnificent debut, where he shone in front of the cameras of René Clément, Luchino Visconti and Jean-Pierre Melville. This magnetic, instinctive performer hasn’t appeared on the big screen since 2000 and Players, by Bertrand Blier. On the other hand, he distinguished himself in thrillers on television where, from Fabio Montale To Frank Rivathe one who appeared as a has-been for some critics and comedians, has had the luxury of breaking audience records.

Hail him!

In this third adaptation of the adventures of the little Gaul, after the films of Claude Zidi and Alain Chabat, Alain Delon has agreed to play the role of Julius Caesar and, incidentally, that of Benoît Poelvoorde’s father. For what reason the hero of the Samurai and of Mr. Klein did he risk compromising himself among this assembly of stars lost in a poor scenario, he who complained so much about the mediocrity of the scripts that were submitted to him? Perhaps the desire to win over a young audience that doesn’t know him and is the age of the children he had with Rosalie Van Breemen? Let’s remember the Zorro which he played in 1974, partly to please his 10-year-old son, Anthony. Perhaps also to show that as an arrogant and narcissistic Caesar, he was able to make self-mockery of his own myth and in a way, often mocked, to speak of himself in the third person of the singular? In fact, the most remembered passage in this Asterix is Delon-César’s monologue, played with histrionics and peppered with references to the star’s career and his films: “Caesar does not age, he matures. Her hair doesn’t turn white, it lights up. Caesar is immortal, for a long time. Caesar has succeeded in everything, conquered everything. He’s a cheetah, a samurai; He owes nothing to anyone. Neither to Rocco, nor to his brothers, nor to the Clan of the Sicilians. Caesar is of the race of lords. Moreover, the César for best emperor was awarded to César. Come with me!”

Delonian record

Only here: whatever the admiration that one devotes to the actor Delon, a double regret attaches to this film of Forestier and Langmann. When questioned in the 1990s, the star shared her feelings, her disappointments and her desires: “Neither Sautet, nor Resnais, nor Pialat, nor Polanski ever offered me a role. However, I am open to everyone! Fifteen years later, he added the names of Luc Besson and Maïwenn to these filmmakers with whom he would have liked to end his prestigious career. Alas… Before an ultimate and forgettable TV movie on TF1 in 2010, entitled One Husband Too Many, it is with this barnum at 78 million euros where we meet Christian Clavier, Gérard Depardieu, but also Michael Schumacher and Zinédine Zidane, that Alain Delon’s filmography ends. What to be disappointed, the actor having subsequently refused other more intriguing proposals that would have allowed him to leave the big screen with more panache. The fact remains – and this is the second surprise – thatAsterix at the Olympic Games will remain its biggest commercial success, with 6,791,000 spectators. Far ahead of the yet most memorable The Clan of the Sicilians (4,821,585), Borsalino (4,705,360) and The Red Circle (4,339,821). Fortunately, the selective memory of moviegoers has nothing to do with box office figures.