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So Long, Stooge

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So Long, Stooge
So Long, Stooge French poster
Directed byClaude Berri
Written byAlain Page (based on his novel)
Claude Berri
Produced byClaude Berri
Pierre Grunstein
StarringColuche
Richard Anconina
Agnès Soral
CinematographyBruno Nuytten
Edited byHervé de Luze
Music byCharlélie Couture
Distributed byAMLF
Release date
  • 21 December 1983 (1983-12-21)
Running time
100 minutes
LanguageFrench
Box office€32.5 million

So Long, Stooge (French title: Tchao Pantin) is a 1983 French crime drama film directed by Claude Berri and based on a novel by Alain Page, starring Coluche, Agnès Soral and Richard Anconina. It tells the story of Lambert, a broken, bitter man who befriends a younger, lost, man whom he tries in vain to help, and later seeks to avenge his friend's murder.

A success at the French box-office, the film is best known for being the first dramatic role of Coluche, then a very famous comedian in France. Coluche won the César Award for Best Actor for his performance.

Plot

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Lambert, a withdrawn, middle-aged man, works the night shift at a gas station in a disadvantaged area of Paris. He is lonely, forlorn, and drinks heavily. One night, Youssef Bensoussan, a young man of mixed Jewish-Arab origins who scrapes a living by selling drugs, enters Lambert's shop both to get supplies from an accomplice and to avoid a police patrol. Lambert and Bensoussan hit it off. They later meet regularly at Lambert's gas station. Lambert, who disapproves of Bensoussan's drug usage, tries to act as a father figure for him, though without much success.

Bensoussan starts a relationship with Lola, a young punk woman. To impress her, he "borrows" the motorbike of Rachid, the gang leader for whom he sells drugs. As punishment, he gets beat up by Rachid's men.

One night, Bensoussan gets his merchandise stolen. Lambert proposes to help him out financially so he can pay off his debt to Rachid. Bensoussan later comes back crying for help; he is murdered by Rachid's men as Lambert watches powerlessly.

Lambert decides to avenge Bensoussan's death and takes a leave from work to pursue that mission full time. Bauer, the police detective who is investigating the murder, visits Lambert: during their conversation, Bauer mentions that Lambert was once in the police himself.

Lambert asks Lola for help; she is initially reluctant, but later helps him find Mahmoud, one of Bensoussan's murderers. Lambert shoots Mahmoud dead. Lola, while shocked, decides to follow Lambert.

After the attendant who was replacing him at the station is mistaken for him and murdered, Lambert understands that he has been identified as Mahmoud's killer. He ambushes Rachid outside his bar and shoots him dead. Lambert is suspected by Bauer, but Lola provides him with an alibi.

Lambert intrudes into the home of Sylvio, Rachid's main drug supplier, and holds him point blank. Sylvio grovels in terror; Lambert decides not to kill him. Lambert gets back home and sleeps with Lola, later telling her his story: when he was in the police, his son developed a drug habit. Lambert then locked him up in their apartment to force his withdrawal; his son escaped and was later found dead from an overdose.

Lambert and Lola leave his apartment, preparing to escape from the city. As he waits for Lola outside the building, Lambert is shot twice. Lola runs towards the dying Lambert, grabs his gun and fires at their unseen assaliants.

Cast

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Production

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Development

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In 1982, during a train trip, producer Christian Spillmaecker read several novels, including Tchao Pantin, a crime book recently released by Alain Page. He was thrilled by the story[1] and later lent the book to Claude Berri. While not particularly interested at first, Berri came to think that Lambert could be a fitting role for Coluche. Berri had a long working history with Coluche, to whom he had given his first film role in Le Pistonné (1970), later directing him in the comedy hit Le Maître d'école (1981) and producing several other films with hom. Berri bought the adaptation rights to the novel and pitched the project to the actor who initially turned it down, being reluctant to play such a dark role.[1]

According to Frédérique "Fred" Romano, his girlfriend at the time, Coluche was a complexed man who disliked not feeling in control, which contributed to his refusal. Eventually, Coluche changed his mind as he owed a large tax debt which the salary offered by Berri would allow him to pay off. He half-heartedly accepted Berri's offer. At the time, the actor was also going through a bad patch as his wife Véronique had left him with their two children. Following their divorce, he had developed a drug addiction. Coluche was also reeling from the suicide of his friend Patrick Dewaere, for which he felt responsible. His personal suffering helped him add depth to his portrayal of Lambert.[1][2] At the time of filming, both he and Romano were still struggling with drug addiction.[3]

Richard Anconina, then little known to the general public, was cast as Bensoussan. Lola's portrayal in the film was partially based on Fred Romano. Berri considered casting Romano herself, but she turned down the offer.[3] The role went to Agnès Soral, whom Berri had already directed as a teenager in the 1977 film Un moment d'égarement. These would prove to be the breakthrough roles for both Anconina and Soral.

Filming

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Shooting began on 9 May 1983 at Paris[4] with sets designed by Alexandre Trauner. The gas station, which has since disappeared[5] (illuminated with neon, under the suggestion of cinematographer Bruno Nuytten), was located rue Pajol, a stone's throw from the La Chapelle metro station[6] Scenes were also shot in the Belleville neighborhood.[6]

The film was shot at night in a deliberately gloomy atmosphere. Shooting conditions were complicated by Coluche's condition which sometimes made it necessary to film him from behind.[1] The actor kept wearing his gas station attendant jacket when not filming.[7] Soral, in order to blend in with her role, adopted the punk lifestyle and lost weight.[1] The actress later said that Coluche and her had become friends on the shoot.[8] According to Soral, the main actors were all undergoing personal problems during filming, which benefited the film by helping achieve the desired tone: besides Coluche, Anconina had just ended a relationship, just like Léotard who had just separated from Nathalie Baye, and Berri himself was going through a complicated sentimental episode.[8]

Anconina later said that the slap Coluche gives him in one scene was very much real.[9] At first, Coluche was reluctant to hit him hard, so Anconina asked him to go all the way.[9][10]

The punk concert sequence takes place at the "Gibus" (then called "Le Petit Gibus", described in the film as "a punk bar at République"), a tiny Parisian concert hall known at the time to be the CBGB's Parisian. The group appearing in the movie were a famous punk band from the 1980s, "The Horde", and their singer Gogol Premier.[10][11]

The shots in the infamous districts of the north of Paris went not without a hitch, due to the embarrassment that the film crew caused for petty trafficking, but arrangements could ultimately be made.[1]

Release

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Claude Berri personally insisted that the film, shot in June 1983, be released in December of the same year in order to be able to compete to the César Awards ceremony in March 1984: he had a premonition that Coluche could win an award.[7]

Reception

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Box office

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Released in theatrically in France on 21 December 1983, So Long, Stooge started in third place at the box office on the week of its release with more than 433,000 admissions, behind a reissue of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Les Compères.[12] on the following week, the film still remained in the third place, having sold 851,188 admissions since its release, including 417,690 admissions during the second week.[13] On the week of 4 January 1984, the film climbed to second place behind a new release, the crime film Rue Barbare, selling 383,850 tickets, This allowed the film to reach a total of 1,235,038 admissions.[14] It had sold 2 million admissions by the start of February 1984.[15] While it was a modest success in cinemas throughout the month of February, So Long, Stooge climbed back to 9th place following its triumph at the Césars Awards in March 1984, which allowed it to get closer to 2,400,000 admissions.[16] The following week it moved up to third place at the box office with 224,565 admissions, bringing the total to 2,600,970 admissions.[17] The film passed the 3 million admissions mark on the week of 2 April 1984, before leaving the top 30 at the end of that month.[18] The film benefited from a theatrical rerelease during the summer of 1986, following the death of Coluche. This allowed it to return to the weekly top 30 and pass the 3.5 million admissions mark by 25 June 1986, only a few days after the actor's death.[19] At the end of August 1986, the film was still in the top 30 and reached 3.7 million admissions.[20]

Overall, the film was a great commercial success with 3,829,139 admissions, including 856,133 in Paris, ranking 8th at the box-office for the year of its release.[21]

Critics

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So Long, Stooge was well received by critics. Upon release, Jacues Siclier of Le Monde praised Coluche's performance and Berri's evolution as a director, likening the film's style to a return to poetic realism. He noted, however, that the film became meandering after Bensoussan's death with the character of Lola then becoming too important at the story's expense.[22] In 2025, 42 years after the film's release, Jacques Morice of Télérama called it a classic and praised Coluche's "unforgettable" performance.[23]

Awards

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So Long, Stooge received 12 nominations at the 9th César Awards in 1984, including Best film and Best director. It eventually won five Awards, most notably the César Award for Best Actor for Coluche. Richard Anconina won two Awards for his performance, Best Supporting Actor and Most Promising Actor. Agnès Soral was also nominated for the Best Supporting Actress and Most Promising Actress Awards, though she won neither. The film also won the Awards for Best Sound and Best Cinematography.[24]

The film was selected as the French entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 57th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[25]

Coluche did not take his Award very seriously and did not capitalize on it for his choice of roles. His next films were comedies, which he admittedly did for the money.[26] Coluche's friend Gérard Lanvin later said that Coluche made fun of the fact that "those idiots" had given him a César Award for his performance, whereas in his opinion he had not been acting at all and had just been filmed in his natural depressed state.[27]

Home media

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So Long, Stooge was released on DVD and Blu-Ray,[28] and on VOD on various streaming services including Pathé, Arte, Canal+[29] and Amazon Prime.[30] In 2022, it was temporarily made available on Netflix.[31] It was released in the United States and United Kingdom on Blu-ray by Radiance Films on July 30, 2024.[32]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Petit, Olivier (6 September 2016). "Tchao Pantin : un tournage très compliqué pour Coluche". Téléstar (in French). Retrieved 28 June 2025.
  2. ^ Schneider, Emilie (23 May 2020). "La Femme de mon pote sur France 2 : pourquoi ce film a-t-il été une expérience douloureuse pour Coluche ?". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  3. ^ a b Rajchman, Olivier (9 June 2018). "Coluche : qui sont les femmes de sa vie ?". Télé Star (in French). Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  4. ^ BiFi file
  5. ^ parisfaitsoncinema.com
  6. ^ a b Jacques Morice (7 May 2017). ""Tchao Pantin": the role of a life, the role of a city (updated on 1st February 2018)". Télérama. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  7. ^ a b Thierry Chèze (17 June 2011). "Coluche, the master of comedy in 11 films". L'Express. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  8. ^ a b Guyard, Bertrand (15 December 2016). "Agnès Soral : «Pendant Tchao Pantin, Coluche souffrait»". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 20 April 2019..
  9. ^ a b "Richard Anconina recounts Coluche's slap in "Tchao Pantin"". Europe1. 30 September 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016..
  10. ^ a b Film review
  11. ^ "Tchao Pantin : 5 anecdotes sur le film culte avec Coluche [Photos]". 6 September 2016.
  12. ^ FabriceBO (8 March 2020). "BO France – December 27, 1983". Les Archives du Box-office. Retrieved 2 April 2020..
  13. ^ FabriceBO (9 March 2020). "BO France – January 3, 1984". Les Archives du Box-office. Retrieved 2 April 2020..
  14. ^ FabriceBO (10 March 2020). "BO France – January 10, 1984". Les Archives du Box-office. Retrieved 2 April 2020..
  15. ^ FabriceBO (14 March 2020). "BO France – February 7, 1984". Les Archives du Box-office. Retrieved 9 April 2020..
  16. ^ FabriceBO (18 March 2020). "BO France – March 6, 1984". Les Archives du Box-office. Retrieved 9 April 2020..
  17. ^ FabriceBO (19 March 2020). "BO France – March 13, 1984". The Box-office Archives. Retrieved 9 April 2020..
  18. ^ FabriceBO (25 March 2020). "BO France – April 24, 1984". Les Archives du Box-office. Retrieved 9 April 2020..
  19. ^ Weekly Box-office – 1st July 1986
  20. ^ BO Hebdo – 12 August 1986 (accessed 24 July 2020).
  21. ^ "Tchao Pantin: box-office". Jp's box -office. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  22. ^ Siclier, Jacques (24 December 1983). "" TCHAO PANTIN ", de Claude Berri Coluche et les couleurs du destin". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  23. ^ Morice, Jacques (24 December 1983). ""Tchao Pantin", sur France 5 : un rôle à la mesure du talent dramatique de Coluche". Télérama (in French). Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  24. ^ "Tchao Pantin Récompenses et nominations". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  25. ^ Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  26. ^ "Coluche et le cinéma, l'amour vache". Première (in French). 15 July 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
  27. ^ Omaïs, Mehdi (9 June 2016). "5 choses que vous ne saviez (peut-être) pas sur Coluche". TF1 (in French). Retrieved 25 June 2025.
  28. ^ "Tchao Pantin". Pathé Films (in French). Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  29. ^ "Tchao Pantin VOD". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  30. ^ "Tchao Pantin". Amazon Prime (in French). Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  31. ^ Arlin, Marc (1 February 2022). "Tchao Pantin sur Netflix : la terrible descente aux enfers de Coluche sur le tournage". Télé Loisirs (in French). Retrieved 27 June 2025.
  32. ^ "Tchao Pantin (Limited Edition)". Amazon. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
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