Asterix & Obelix: God Save Britannia (French: Astérix & Obélix: Au service de Sa Majesté) is a 2012 Sword and Sandal French comedy film and the fourth to be based on the René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo comic book series Asterix after Asterix & Obelix Take on Caesar, Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra and Asterix at the Olympic Games. More specifically, it adapts both Asterix in Britain and Asterix and the Normans.
It stars Édouard Baer as Asterix, Gérard Depardieu as Obelix, Fabrice Luchini as Julius Caesar, Catherine Deneuve as Queen Cordelia, Guillaume Gallienne as Anticlimax, Valérie Lemercier as Miss Macintosh and Gérard Jugnot as Redbeard.
Followed by Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom in 2023, with a whole new cast.
See also the animated adaptations of the comic books, Asterix in Britain and Asterix and the Vikings.
Asterix & Obelix: God Save Britannia provides examples of:
- Abbey Road Crossing: A poster
uses the iconic Beatles' pose. - Adaptational Jerkass: Asterix is usually a fairly Nice Guy despite his tendency towards sarcasms. In this movie, however, he's a bit of a Jerkass.
- Adaptation Amalgamation: This film's scenario borrows stories from two comic books, Asterix in Britain and Asterix and the Normans.
- Artistic License – History: Tartan and kilts in mid-1st century BC Britain. They weren't introduced until the 16th century.
- Canon Foreigner: Three female characters, Queen Cordelia, Miss Macintosh and Ophelia, do not originate in the comics.
- Did They or Didn't They?: Obelix kisses the hand of Miss Macintosh. The contact between their bodies creates a big electric arc. In the next scene, Obelix tells Asterix that he is very glad to have done it, that he feels different since he has done it, that maybe one day Asterix will have the opportunity to do it too...
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: A guy from South Asia tries to cross the Channel to start a new life in Britannia. Roman soldiers patrol on the beaches of Gaul to control the migration. It is an obvious reference to the present situation of migrants in Europe.
- Electric Love: When Obelix kisses the hand of Miss Macintosh, the contact between their bodies creates a big electric arc.
- Freudian Couch: Julius Caesar is seen in this position and he speaks about his desire for power.
- Gender Flip: The leader of the British village is Queen Cordelia. In the comic book, it was a man, Mykingdomforanos (Zebigbos in French).
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Deconstructed. Asterix realizes his friendship with Obelix has prevented him from having any other serious relationship, in particular a romantic one. So he distances himself from Obelix and he (unsuccessfully) tries to charm British girls. In the meantime, Obelix manages to charm Miss Macintosh. Reconstruction in the end. Obelix realizes that friendship is important to him. He goes back to Asterix and reconcile with him.
- I Kiss Your Hand: When Obelix meets Miss Macintosh, he kisses her hand. The contact between their bodies creates a big electric arc.
- The Ludovico Technique: Tetedepiaf is forced to look at Miss Macintosh when she teaches him politeness, in the same way Alex is cured in A Clockwork Orange.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Subverted and Parodied. When Asterix asks Julius Caesar why he should ally with him, Caesar answers him that he is his father. He was joking.
- Mistaken for Gay: Asterix and Obelix are mistaken for gays by Anticlimax, because they live together with a dog.
- Mythology Gag: Asterix (played by Édouard Baer) asks the executioner if executioner is a good job. In a previous installment, Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, Édouard Baer played a scribe and Getafix asked him if scribe is a good job.
- Parody:
- Julius Caesar tells Asterix that he is his father and a Vader Breath can be heard.
- In the final battle, the Romans are pushed toward a cliff by the Britons and they fall, just like the Persians in 300.
- Shout-Out:
- The French title translates as "On Her Majesty's Service".
- Asterix tries then to trick Tetedepiaf into escaping: he is left alone, but he still does not escape. So Asterix opens a door from the outside to clearly show Tetedepiaf that it is possible for him to escape, but he still does not. The same thing happens to Michel Clément (Coluche) in Inspector Blunder.
- When Ophelia tells Anticlimax that real courage is daring to tell his true feelings. Asterix quotes Beaumarchais (The Marriage of Figaro): "Ô femme! femme! femme! créature faible et décevante!" ("Oh Woman, Woman, Woman! Inconstant, weak, deceitful Woman!")
- Team Power Walk: The Normans do a very powerful walk when they are introduced.
- Tricked into Escaping: Asterix tries to trick Tetedepiaf into escaping, because he thinks he will lead him to his fellows Normans.
- Unrelated in the Adaptation: In the comic that it's primarily based on, Asterix in Britain, as well as its animated adaptation, Anticlimax is Asterix's cousin. In the live-action movie, they aren't related at all, seeing how neither of them recognize the other during the first scene they share together.
- We Can Rule Together: Julius Caesar tells Asterix that he should join him.
