The 20th century characters from Les Visiteurs
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1992 / 1993
Béatrice
Béatrice Goulard de Montmirail
Portrayed by: Valérie Lemercier (Les Visiteurs), Muriel Robin (The Corridors of Time)
Appears in: Les Visiteurs | The Corridors of Time
A descendant of Godefroy and Frénégonde, and the cousin of Hubert de Montmirail. She married Jean-Pierre Goulard, a stomatologist.
- Affectionate Nickname: Jean-Pierre nicknames her "Béa".
- Blue Blood: She belongs to the Montmirail lineage.
- Identical Granddaughter: She looks exactly like Frénégonde, which troubles Godefroy more than a little.
- Impoverished Patrician: Somewhat. She most probably married outside of nobility for this reason, and her father sold the Montmirail family's château to Jacquart.
- Malaproper: She takes the strange habit of calling Jacquouille "Monsieur Ouille".
- Mistaken Identity: Godefroy initially thinks she is Frénégonde (see Identical Granddaughter) before quickly realizing she's a descendant.
- Nice Girl: Pretty much a saint for putting up with the mess her ancestor and his smelly squire puts her through, with a smile. She also calls out her contemporaries when they are rude to him, especially since she assumes that he's a mentally ill trauma survivor from a car crash.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In The Corridors of Time, as she can't find chocolate milk to make the time travel potion more drinkable for Jacquouille, she thinks adding an alcohol (Grand Marnier) to it will be just fine. Turns out it alters the potion's effects, and Godefroy and Jacquouille are sent to the late 18th century as a result.
- Nobility Marries Money: Heavily implied in her case on the "nobility" side. Her late father did have to sell the family's castle.
- Only Sane Woman: Even though she doesn't realize Godefroy and Jacquouille do indeed come from The Middle Ages until the very end of the first film, she's the most helpful person they have in the 20th century and keeps her cool all along, which is no small feat given the madness they cause to most people in 1992-1993.
- Sour Prude: Valérie Lemercier portrayed her this way so well that today, many French people's image of what's left of the nobility note basically amounts to "Dame Béatrice" exasperatedly addressing Jacquouille as "Monsieur Ouille" and her posh accent.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: She speaks with what sounds like a caricature of a posh French nobility accent. Valérie Lemercier was so good at acting with it that it surprised many people when they found out her normal accent doesn't sound like that.
Jacquart
Jacques-Henri Jacquart
Portrayed by: Christian Clavier, Ryan Brodie (as a child)
Appears in: Les Visiteurs | The Corridors of Time | Bastille Day
Jacquouille's prickly descendant, whose family made a fortune and came to possess the castle of Montmirail. He turned the castle into a prestige hotel and restaurant.
- Amusing Injuries: When he's stranded in The Middle Ages, he gets almost burned for sorcery (leaving marks on his feet) and then he's tortured with water. He's forced to drink so much water that his belly, navel and eyes inflate.
- Balloon Belly: When he's stranded in The Middle Ages and tortured, he's forced to drink gallons upon gallons of water, which makes his belly inflate.
- Butt-Monkey: An absurd amount of unpleasant things falls upon him the second he meets Godefroy and Jacquouille, and from then on it won't stop until the first sequel's ending. For more details, see the Butt Monkey entry in the film's tropes.
- Character Catchphrase: "Qu'est-ce que c'est qu'ce bin's?!" (which roughly translates either as "What the hell is going on?!" or "What the hell is this mess?!").
- Comical Overreacting: A Nervous Wreck who is confronted to the antics of two Medieval Morons, and reacts accordingly.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: He visibly can't survive in the Middle Ages without help.
- Identical Grandson: Looks very much like his ancestor Jacquouille, minus The Pig-Pen part, medieval moron demeanor and medieval clothes of course. Everyone in the 20th century thinks Jacquouille is his brother or cousin, which upsets him to no end.
- Jerkass: Not really a pleasant person, all in all. Which makes his Butt-Monkey status even funnier.
- Mean Boss: He is quite mean with Jacqueline, his hotel's receptionist. To the point of making her cry.
- Mistaken Identity: When he's sent to Middle Ages, everyone thinks he is Jacquouille or at least one of his relatives. Since they live in The Dung Ages, they all mock him and comment how clean and "handsome" he looks.
- Neat Freak: In complete and extreme opposite to his ancestor from The Dung Ages, he's obsessed by cleanliness.
- Nervous Wreck: A nervous man to begin with, it doesn't improve at all once he becomes the victim of our two medieval protagonists' antics...
- Nouveau Riche: He comes from a recently enriched family and has nowhere near the mannerisms of someone like Béatrice.
- Older Than They Look: Retroactively due to Bastille Day. Since he was a kid during World War II, he should be in his 60s at least in 1993. Christian Clavier was 41 when he played Jacquart in 1993.
Jean-Pierre
Jean-Pierre Goulard
Portrayed by: Christian Bujeau
Appears in: Les Visiteurs | The Corridors of Time
Béatrice's husband, a stomatologist.
- Butt-Monkey: Let's just say housing two Medieval Morons will never help him keep his cool, to say the least. The Butt Monkey entry on the main film page speaks for itself.
- Comical Overreacting: Like Jacquart, about 90 per cent of the character's funny moments are made of this.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: He's very upset when Béatrice gets too close to "Cousin Hubert" (Godefroy). He even suspects her and Hubert of being Kissing Cousins when they were younger, which Béatrice firmly denies.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: He is sent to the Middle Ages by accident and experiences some expected confusion and troubles in that era.
- Golf Clubbing: When he is stranded in Middle Ages, he uses his golf club to knock a Burgundian knight down.
- Nervous Wreck: He's way more nervous than Béatrice when confronted to Godefroy's and Jacquouille's antics.
- Nobility Marries Money: Heavily implied, with him on the "money" side.
Ginette
Ginette Sarclay
Portrayed by: Marie-Anne Chazel
Appears in: Les Visiteurs | The Corridors of Time
A vagrant woman Jacquouille and Godefroy meet in the 20th century. Jacquouille quickly bonds with her.
- Dreadful Musician: She sings quite dreadfully, accompanying her voice with a concertina.
- Fiery Redhead: She's a redhead, and clearly not the calmest type.
- Identical Grandson: She's the descendant of Prune and looks exactly like her.
- Mistaken Identity: For some reason, Béatrice keeps thinking Ginette comes from the Middle Ages in The Corridors of Time, calling her "Dame Ginette" after Jacquouille does. She also keeps trying to have Ginette drink the Time Travel potion.
- Sticky Fingers: She has no qualms stealing silverware at the Goulards' home or at Philippine's wedding.
- Street Performer: She's a Dreadful Musician, but she keeps trying her luck in the streets nonetheless.
- Time-Travel Romance: There is one between her and Jacquouille. She never realizes that he comes from Middle Ages, thinking he's just one particularly smelly (but not uncharming) hobo.
- The Tramp: In the first film, she lives in a trailer, and she is seen searching things in garbage containers as well as begging money while playing a recording of her dreadful singing.
Eusèbe
Ferdinand Eusèbe
Portrayed by: Pierre Vial
Appears in: Les Visiteurs | The Corridors of Time
An old medium, and the descendant of Eusaebius. He secretely keeps the legacy of his wizard ancestor, the time travel formula most notably, which comes in handy when Godefroy and Jacquouille are stranded in the 20th century.
- Genius Cripple: He is old, bedridden and needs life support, but he knows magic secrets his ancestor transmitted.
- Identical Grandson: Both he and his ancestor are played by Pierre Vial.
- Oh, Crap!: In The Corridors of Time, once Béatrice tells him that she mixed the time travel potion with alcohol, he instantly realizes how much she has screwed up...
- Secret-Keeper: He is the keeper of Eusaebius' formulas, which are transmitted from generation to generation in his family.
Dr. Bauvin
Dr. Bauvin
Portrayed by: Didier Bénureau
Appears in: Les Visiteurs | The Corridors of Time
An intern psychiatrist who is sent to examinate Godefroy. He provides sleeping pills to calm Godefroy down.
- Groin Attack: Godefroy ends up grabbing him by the groin and pinning him against a wall the first time they meet.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: He applies the trope to Godefroy, not knowing that he comes from Middle Ages. He tells Béatrice that Godefroy doesn't even know who "Michel Drucker" (a French TV host) is.
- One Dose Fits All: Averted. He comments on how Godefroy only slept two hours with a heavy dose of sleeping pills that would make a normal person sleep for days.
Gibon
Maréchal des logis Gibon
Portrayed by: Jean-Paul Muel
Appears in: Les Visiteurs | The Corridors of Time
A Gendarmerie officer who is called to handle Godefroy with his CRS (anti-riot) brigade in the first film. He then gets caught in our two medieval protagonists' antics.
- Birdcaged: Godefroy puts him in one of the cages in the Secret Underground Passage under the château.
- Butt-Monkey: Godefroy puts him in a birdcage and gives hims a heavy dose of sleeping pills (in retaliation for the beating he received from Gibon's CRS brigade). He is in a hospital bed by The Corridors of Time, and gets sedated again when nobody trusts him after he realizes that those two troublesome hobos come from Middle Ages.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: In The Corridors of Time, he realizes that Godefroy and Jacquouille come from Middle Ages but nobody believes him, and he goes mad.
- Meddlesome Patrolman: He fits this type of cop quite nicely.
Batardet
Capitaine Batardet
Portrayed by: Christian Pereira
Appears in: The Corridors of Time
A Gendarmerie officer who leads an investigation after Gibon has been found locked in a cage and drugged with sleeping pills.
- Butt-Monkey: To a considerably lesser extent than most of the other late 20th century characters but still noticeable. Jacquouille destroys his cap and shakes his hand after having kept salmon in his hands, for starters. Then Jacquart almost strangles him and transmits him his scabies.
- Meddlesome Patrolman: Much like Gibon, he fits the trope.
Edgar Bernay
Edgar Bernay
Portrayed by: Gérard Séty
Appears in: Les Visiteurs
The co-president of the Bernay & Bernay banking business with his brother Edouard. They are both on a business reunion at the château-turned-hotel/restaurant in Montmirail.
- Butt-Monkey: Some bad shit happens to him, though not quite on the level of Jacquart and Jean-Pierre who have to more directly take the blows from the two medieval men's Fish out of Temporal Water antics. First, he's not well due to having to shower with cold water due to a heating breakdown at Jacquart's château and gets a very nasty dental abscess (both unrelated to either Godefroy or Jacquouille). Then Jacquouille blasts his inner ear with his horn on the phone, which makes the abscess worse, then Jacquart sprays his eyes with a fire extinguisher by mistake, then he fears for his car (which is only covered in ashes, compared to Jacquart's charred new Range Rover).
- Family Business: Co-runs a bank with his brother.
- Gratuitous English: Often peppers his language with English business words like "prospecting".
- Nice to the Waiter: When Godefroy's ring from the present-day starts heating and causing a fire and a tunderstorm, he first thinks about the safety of his secretary Fabienne.
- Sequel Non-Entity: He's not heard of again in the sequel, and so is his brother. Presumably because the business reunion has ended by that time.
Edouard Bernay
Edouard Bernay
Portrayed by: Michel Peyrelon
Appears in: Les Visiteurs
The co-president of the Bernay & Bernay banking business with his brother Edgar. They are both on a business reunion at the château-turned-hotel/restaurant in Montmirail.
- Family Business: Co-runs a bank with his brother.
- Sequel Non-Entity: He's not heard of again in the sequel, and so is his brother. Presumably because the business reunion has ended by that time.
Fabienne
Fabienne Morlot
Portrayed by: Isabelle Nanty
Appears in: Les Visiteurs
The secretary to the Bernay brothers, who accompanies them on the business reunion at the château of Montmirail.
- Affectionate Nickname: She seems familiar enough with the Bernay brothers, or at least Edgar, for the latter to nickname her "Bibiche" (which is something one's more likely to hear in a couple, married or otherwise).
- Frivolous Lawsuit: She threatens Jacquart with a lawsuit basically everytime some bad shit happens to her boss Edgar.
- Sequel Non-Entity: She's not heard of again in the sequel, just like her bosses. Presumably because the business reunion has ended by that time.
Jean-François
Jean-François
Portrayed by: Alain David
Appears in: Les Visiteurs | The Corridors of Time
The butler of the Montmirail castle after it's been bought by Jacquart.
- Butt-Monkey: Again, to a lesser extent than Jacquart, Jean-Pierre or even the Bernay brothers, but Jacquouille's antics still make him the butt of a few gags.
- The Jeeves: He's most definitely professional, but he's still very much annoyed by Jacquouille's antics.
- Precision F-Strike: Upon being laughed at by a gardener after letting a tramp like Ginette enter the domain, he insults the gardener with "connard" ("shithead").
Hubert
Hubert de Montmirail
Portrayed by: Jean Reno (on the photo)
Appears in: Les Visiteurs (mentioned) | The Corridors of Time (on a photo)
Godefroy's direct descendant in the second half of the 20th century, Béatrice's cousin, Cora's former husband and Philippine's father. He was a rally driver and died during a race in Borneo in 1977. When Godefroy arrives in 1993, his striking resemblance with his descendant is noticed by Béatrice, who then thinks Godefroy is an amnesiac "Cousin Hubert".
- Identical Grandson: He looked very much like his ancestor Godefroy, minus the moustache, which causes many people who knew Hubert personally to confuse Godefroy with him and think he somehow survived his fatal accident.
- Porn Stache: Sported one on the photo Philippine keeps of him.
- Posthumous Character: He died long before 1993 and is often mentioned.
Cora
Cora de Luigny-Montmirail
Portrayed by: Claire Nadeau
Appears in: The Corridors of Time
The wife of Hubert de Montmirail before his death. She remarried with a man from the rival family of the Montmirails in medieval times, the Luignys.
- Blue Blood: She is a Montmirail by her first marriage.
- Second Love: She married Valéry de Luigny after Hubert's death.
Philippine
Philippine de Montmirail
Portrayed by: Marie Guillard
Appears in: The Corridors of Time
The daughter of Hubert de Montmirail and Cora. Hubert died when she was 5 years old.
- Blue Blood: The Montmirail lineage.
- Give Away the Bride: She asks Godefroy to bring her to the altar like her father would have done.
- Nice Girl: Perhaps the most gentle female character in the whole series (even moreso than Béatrice), in stark contrast with her mother. She realizes Godefroy is not her father but insists on his presence at her wedding. Godefroy agrees and accompanies her to the altar with the Relic of Sainte Rolande around her neck.
The Postman
The Postman
Portrayed by: Théophile Moussa Sowié
Appears in: Les Visiteurs | The Corridors of Time
A man working for La Poste (the French postal services). He is the first 20th century person Jacquouille and Godefroy meet, and for them he is a "Saracen" note . They scare him away and destroy his postal van, believing it to be a "devil-carriage". He bumps into them again in The Corridors of Time.
- Catchphrase: "C'est des malades!" ("Psychos!").
- Innocent Bystander: The first victim of our two Medieval Morons' Fish out of Temporal Water antics.
- Once per Episode: Jacquouille calls black men "Saracens" at least once per film.
- Recurring Extra: Director Jean-Marie Poiré liked Théophile Sowié's short performance in the first film so much that he had him return for the sequel.
- Running Gag: He bumps into Godefroy and Jacquouille again in The Corridors of Time and runs away screaming, again.
- Run or Die: When two men armed with medieval weapons are approaching you and throw a mace at you, the best choice you have is to run away...
- Scary Black Man: In-Universe, for Jacquouille only. Since Jacquouille bashes his postal van with a piece of wood, the postman has a good reason to be angry at him. Then Jacquouille comes back at him with Godefroy...
1943
Edmond
Edmond Jacquart
Played by: Christian Clavier
Appears in: Bastille Day
A descendant of Jacquouille, and the father of Jacques-Henri Jacquart. A German garrison uses his château as headquarters during the Occupation in 1943.
- Les Collaborateurs: He believes in Marshal Pétain's regime, collaborates with the Germans and believes in their projects for Europe.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: He berates his son for listening to American jazz (it was not tolerated back then).
- Identical Grandson: He is the fifth character of Jacquouille's lineage played by Christian Clavier in the films.
- Karma Houdini: At the very least, he seemingly wasn't executed for being part of Les Collaborateurs at the Liberation, as Jacques-Henri mentions him as enjoying retirement in Menton (on the French Riviera) in the first film (though that might not have been intentional from the writers considering the amount of Series Continuity Errors between each film). In the first film Fabienne mentions that Jacques-Henri doesn't like to talk about his family matters, and considering what his father was according to the third film, it's understandable.
- Like Father, Like Son: Jacques-Henri inherited his catchphrase "Qu'est-ce que c'est que ce bin's?!" from him.
- Strong Family Resemblance: To his son Jacques-Henri (since both were played by Christian Clavier).
- Villainous Lineage: Jacquouillet's less savory trait (being a servant of the Reign of Terror for personal profit) makes a return down the bloodline with Edmond's beliefs in the Vichyst "National Revolution" and his collaboration with the Germans.
Wurtz
Colonel Wurtz
Played by: Götz Otto
Appears in: Bastille Day
A Wehrmacht colonel who establishes his headquarters at the castle of Montmirail in 1943, waiting for the arrival of his superior Erwin Rommel in France. Edmond Jacquart (the castle's owner) collaborates with him.
- Cultural Posturing: He hates American jazz, and thinks German classical music is superior to it, which is very much in line with what Nazis thought of jazz (as a "degenerate" form of culture that "corrupts and depraves" the youth).
- Older Is Better: For him, nothing is better than German classical and romantic music.
- Those Wacky Nazis: What with the swastikas everywhere, German Funetik Aksent and hatred of jazz.
François
François de Montmirail
Played by: Franck Dubosc
Appears in: Bastille Day
A Montmirail family member and the chief of a Resistance group in 1943, he operates in the vicinity of the castle of Montmirail. He might be Béatrice's father.
- Blue Blood: The Montmirail lineage, again.
- Heroic Lineage: He is a resistant fighting against the Germans and his ancestor Godefroy was a fearless knight.
- Identical Grandson: The spitting image of Gonzague de Montmirail (both are played by Franck Dubosc).
- La Résistance: He leads a French resistance group against the Germans.
Geneviève
Geneviève Carraud-Robespierre
Played by: Sylvie Testud
Appears in: Bastille Day
The descendant of Charlotte de Robespierre in 1943. She is a resistant and François de Montmirail's Love Interest. Possibly Béatrice's mother.
- Identical Granddaughter: Sylvie Testud played both her and her ancestor.
- Love Interest: To François de Montmirail.
- La Résistance: She loves a resistant and is part of his group.
