Film / The Big Restaurant

A recipe for disaster^note making a important foreign figure disappears

"MUSKAT NUSS, HERR MULLER!!!"

— Mr. Septime (imitating a infamous German chancellor...)

The Big Restaurant (in French Le Grand Restaurant) is a 1966 French comedy film. The film was directed by Jacques Besnard and it stars Louis de Funès and Bernard Blier.

Mr. Septime (de Funès) is the manager and owner of a gourmet restaurant named "Chez Septime". He is very strict with his employees so that the service remains perfect. When the president of a foreign country books a table for dinner, Mr. Septime does everything he can for him to have a perfect evening.

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The Big Restaurant provides examples of:

• Adolf Hitlarious: When Mr. Septime explains a recipe to a German patron, some shadows coincidentally add a pencil mustache and black hair just in the right spot on his face. Then Mr. Septime starts speaking just like Hitler during his public speeches.
• Amphibious Automobile: Mr. Septime drives a black Citroën DS throughout the movie. When the car falls into the Seine by accident it shows amphibious abilities by not sinking and is apparently able to navigate through the river.
• The Bait: The police uses Mr. Septime as a bait. First, the police makes him think that the kidnappers want him to bring the ransom somewhere. Then he is given a Briefcase Full of Money and he is instructed to go in the mountains. The police hopes that the real kidnappers will show up when they will hear that someone tries to double-cross them.
• Banana Republic: The unnamed Spanish-speaking country where the president comes from. Its fictional flag and its fictional national anthem feature in the film. Sophia also says that in that country, Mr. Septime would be shot down just because the president disappeared in his restaurant.
• Batman Gambit: The plan of the police. In order to catch the kidnappers, they make them think that someone asked for a ransom. The police hopes that the real kidnappers will be outraged by the fact that someone tries to double-cross them and that they will try to catch The Bait who carry the ransom, Mr. Septime.
• Binocular Shot: When the superintendent watches Mr. Septime with binoculars in the mountain.
• Briefcase Full of Money: Mr. Septime is given one when he is used as a bait by the police.
• Butt-Monkey: Mr. Septime. He is dominated by the chef of his restaurant. He is threatened by the superintendent and by Sophia. Then he is manipulated by the police who makes him think that the kidnappers are constantly watching him, so that he has to do everything he is told (for example, he is asked to go around a newspaper kiosk). Finally, the accomplice of the president forces him to get on a plane.
• Call to Agriculture: The president is tired of governing, so he decides to spend some time in the French countryside to do some gardening.
• Chez Restaurant: The gourmet restaurant is named "Chez Septime". Justified because it is in France.
• Control Freak: Septime constantly verifies if his customers are satisfied, berates his waiters if they slack off, check the dishes and forces his staff to do "comedy applied to restauration". It is however justified by being a gourmet restaurant and thus having high standards of service.
• Cooking Stories: In the beginning, Mr. Septime is seen managing his restaurant and preparing for the visit of a foreign head of state. Subverted. When the president is kidnapped, the film does not focus any more on the restaurant.
• Danger Takes a Backseat: Always Downplayed, because nobody really wants harm to come to Mr. Septime.
  • First Sophia hides in the back of his car and she threatens him with a gun to force him to tell the press that he has seen the kidnappers.
  • Then Subverted. Mr. Septime thinks someone is seated at the back of his car and threatens him, but it is just a radio speaker placed by the police.
  • Finally, the president's accomplice hides in the back of Mr. Septime's car and forces him to get on a plane to fly to the president's retreat.
• Dead Foot Leadfoot: When Sophia threatens Mr. Septime in his car, he faints and his car accelerates dangerously.
• Escalating Chase: In the mountains, Mr. Septime is chased by Sophia, then by the conspirators. Two motorcycle cops start chasing him too because he does not stop at a stop sign. The police superintendent follows him too in a helicopter.
• Faked Kidnapping: The president faked his kidnapping to have a few days off.
• French Cuisine Is Haughty: The story is set in Paris and its protagonist is the director of a gourmet restaurant. Septime is a Professional Butt-Kisser to his powerful and wealthy customers (politicians and nobles) but a Mean Boss to his employees. Again, it's justified for being a very famous gourmet restaurant.
• Good Guns, Bad Guns: The villains in this movie use a Luger P.08 to fire on Mr. Septime. Fitting since the Luger is considered a "bad gun" because of its association with Nazi Germany.
• Here We Go Again!: Subverted. The plot is triggered by the disappearance of the president when the lights are out in Mr. Septime's restaurant. In the end, he goes back to the restaurant. The lights go out. He seems to disappear in exactly the same way, but actually he was just hiding below the table.
• I Am Spartacus: Played for Laughs. One of the waiters trips Mr. Septime's pet. Mr. Septime is furious and he asks who did it. In response, all the waiters, who are in line, stretch a leg forward.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Twice. For all his Mean Boss moments, Mr. Septime sometimes makes a legitimate criticism to someone.
  • When he goes undercover to spy on his employees, he discovers their shameful behavior: the younger Maitre d' is easily annoyed and disrespectful to the customers, the sommelier secretly drinks in the wine reserves, the waiters are mocking him or sleeping and the pianist even picks a note that is lying on the ground.
    Monsieur Septime: [quietly but very angrily] Shhh... You are a jackass! The professional conscience? The French tradition? The restauration? Did you have forget everything? The grandeur, the nobility... you are a jackass, a jackass!
  • At the end, when he found out that the president has faked his kidnapping, he chews him (albeit very politely) for putting him on a lot of trouble and for neglecting his duty as a statesman. While the president laments about The Chains of Commanding, Septime rightfully reminds him that you have to be aware of the consequences and responsibilities of choosing a particular job.
    Monsieur Septime: [to President Novalès] Yes I know, France is beautiful and everything, but Mr. President, that's not serious. You have to know what you want in life: you have to think before taking power because when you take the power, you keep it!
• Last-Name Basis: The restaurateur is only known as "Monsieur" Septime
• Lovable Coward: While he manages with an iron fist his waiting staff and his cooking staff, Septime is completely dominated by his chef who is much taller and heftier and the superintendent who doesn't let him have preferential treatment.
• Manipulative Bastard: The superintendent. He makes Mr. Septime think that he is watched by the kidnappers and that he must do everything that he is told, so that he can use him as a bait to carry the ransom. His ultimate goal is to make the kidnappers think that someone tries to double-cross them.
• Mean Boss: Mr. Septime terrorizes all his employees, except the chef, so that they deliver an outstanding service.
• Meaningful Name: Septime is a reference to "Septime Sevère" (Septimius Severus in English), a roman emperor who was a "harsh but fair" leader between 193 and 211 AD. Ironically enough, Sevère means "stern" in French.
• The Mole: Enrique, who is in charge of the security of the president, but who is secretly part of a conspiracy against him.
• Ms. Fanservice: Sophia, who often wears dresses with a plunging neckline.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Mr. Septime uses one to spy on his employees. It is made of a suit, a wig and a womanly tone.
• The Perfectionist: In his very first scene, Monsieur Septime whistle his waiters when one of his customers is facing a minor issues, to the point it becomes ridiculous: five for changing a dish or four to clean a tie. And there is the infamous Paper-Thin Disguise and "comedy applied to restauration" scenes...
  Monsieur Septime: Gentlemen, you are the decadence of French restauration!
• Queer People Are Funny: Mr. Septime disguises himself and adopts an effeminate persona to spy on his staff. His womanly attitude is played for laughs.
• Ramp Jump:
  • When he is threatened by Sophia, Mr. Septime loses control of his car and it accidentally drives on a ramp and falls into the Seine river.
  • In the mountain, his car slips on a ski jump upside down.
• The Piano Player: There is one in Mr. Septime's restaurant. At some point, Mr. Septime slams the wooden keyboard lid on his fingers because he is angry at him.
• Sexy Secretary: Sophia, the president's secretary, who seems to be his mistress too.
• Spicy Latina: Sophia, the president's Sexy Secretary and probably mistress. She is hot-blooded: when the president disappears, she threatens Mr. Septime with a gun to force him to help her. In the end, the president confesses to Mr. Septime that she was one of the main reasons why he needed some rest.
• Spontaneous Choreography: When the pianist speeds up the tempo, the exercise performed by Mr. Septime and the waiters turns into a crazy dance.
• Unsatisfiable Customer: A disguised Mr. Septime acts as one. He orders only a radish and slightly sparkling water.
• Yes-Man: Mr. Septime towards his customers, in particular towards the minister. He start laughing at his joke even before the minister has told it.

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