Le gendarme de Saint Tropez, 1964: An embodiment of the modern French society of the sixties, tending to get rid of a traditionalism well anchored in the mores.

The filmmakers never thought for a second that this low-budget film would be so successful with the public. Almost 8 million viewers! How to explain such an outcome for a film conceived without huge pretension? The light atmosphere perhaps, the humor surely, Louis de Funès obviously, but not only! The idea of this movie is already unusual: during the summer of 1962, while the scriptwriter Richard Balducci was scouting for a film, a thief stole his camera. He complained to the local police, who were idle and lazy and did not take his request seriously. The idea of a story about a brigade of incompetent gendarmes was born here.

Le Gendarme is not limited to this masterpiece, as five other films have followed the immense success of the first film: Le Gendarme à New York (1965), Le Gendarme se marie (1968), Le Gendarme en balade (1970), Le Gendarme et les extra-terrestres (1979) and Le Gendarme et les gendarmettes (1982).

Le gendarme de Saint Tropez, a comedy directed by Jean Girault, shot in two months (June-July 1964) in Saint Tropez and in a studio in Nice, tells the story of a gendarme, Cruchot (Louis de Funès), from a remote village in the countryside, who is transferred to the post of Chief-Sergeant in Saint Tropez, along with his daughter Nicole (Geneviève Grad). Authoritarian towards his men (Merlot (Christian Marin), Fougasse (Jean Lefebvre), Tricard (Guy Grosso), Berlicot (Guy Grosso)) and servile towards General Gerbert (Michel Galabru), he takes his duty as a gendarme very seriously, which consists mainly of hunting down nudists, while his daughter tries to integrate herself among the fresh, golden youth who only think about having fun, which will basically generate a lot of trouble to her father…

The series Le Gendarme is simply cult, and it goes without saying that Louis de Funès, by his hilarious acting, has contributed considerably to the success of the piece.
Is there really a French person in this country who has not seen even one of the six films? If there is, it is necessary to remedy it quickly, because whether one likes this saga or not, it is integrally part of the French cinematographic culture. Beyond the parody of the gendarmerie that predominates in this movie, it is a film that tells a lot about its time (the early 60’s in France), as much about its cultural, social, economic, historic and political context.

Le gendarme de Saint Tropez: a new France, oriented towards modernity

The first minutes of the film present a rural France, rooted in its traditions but when Cruchot is transferred with his daughter to Saint Tropez, the setting completely changes. The film emphasizes this rupture between the rural environment of a small rural village and the urban universe, between a traditional France and a modern France, reinforced by the passage of the black and white in the first part of the movie to color when Cruchot arrives in Saint Tropez. This visual choice embodies this French society in evolution towards modernity. Saint Tropez is also marked by an important mass tourism. Indeed, Cruchot who just arrived in the city, discovers crowded terraces, a port overflowing with yachts and other very expensive boats, etc. The choice of St Tropez as the place of the intrigue was not decided randomly. On the contrary, it should be clarified that since the 1950s, the small Provençal village has enjoyed an international media success, having served as a setting for several films such as Et dieu créa la femme (1956) and Bonjour, tristesse (1958). These films generated a huge scandal, the main characters embodied by Brigitte Bardot in Et Dieu créa la femme and Jean Seberg in the film adaptation of Françoise Sagan’s novel being the spokesmen for a sexual liberation. Thus, when the filming began, Saint Tropez was already known to the public for its artificial, modern and provocative essence. Modernity is also visible in the new services offered by the city and France more broadly. For instance, Cruchot mentionned at one point the Carrefour hypermarket, whose first store in France opened on July 15th, 1963 (a year before the film was shot) in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois. Carrefour, an undeniable symbol of modernity, is part of the context of the “Trente Glorieuses” in France, a period of strong economic growth that saw the advent of the consumer society, linked hand in hand with the American Way of life.

Berlicot, what is a nudist? It is a naked person. Merlot, what is a policeman? It is someone dressed, chief. The modernity of French society is achieved by a sexual liberation but also by a physical liberation: a liberation of the body, explicitly put forward by naturists. One of the roles of the gendarmes is to arrest them, a phenomenon that was real and accurate in 1964 («anti-nudist offensive on the Var coast»). These naturists who participate in the modernization of the new French society, are also animated by a refusal of authority which is particularly seen by the way naturists mock the gendarmes by foiling many times their increasingly ingenious attempts to arrest them.

A dechristianization of the French society?

Through this movie, we see a clear decline in the practice of the Catholic religion from the beginning of the 1960s. To the cultural and societal revolution, both characteristics of the sixties, is added a religious crisis. There is indeed an obvious divide in Le gendarme de Saint Tropez, between, on the one hand, this very pious and supportive rural France and, on the other hand, a modern urban France, separated from religion, and caring only about its individual pleasure. This is notably clear at the beginning of the film when Cruchot still lives in a small town in the darkest depths of rural France. While Cruchot is trying to catch up with a poacher, he finds himself singing the glory of Lord with the same person and other villagers in a church on a weekday. Religion was still deeply rooted in morals and concerned everyone, old people as well as the gendarme and the sinner. However, such a sequence does not take place in the second part of the movie. The only mention of religion is made ironically with the figure of Sister Clothilde, a hyperactive and hysterical nun behind the wheel of her car. Moreover, the actress France Rumilly who played the nun had herself described her character as «a bit lunar and crazy» during an interview made during the inauguration of the De Funès museum on July 31, 2019. Through this character, the Catholic religion is mocked or even discredited, perfectly transcribing the spirit of the 1960s marked by a sharp decline in the Christian moralizing discourse that still permeated the mores in France until the 1950s. Two years after the film was released, John Lennon said in a provocative tone: “Christianity is dying. It is fading and retracting… We are more famous than Jesus” (March 1966). This accelerated de-Christianization of the 1960s was studied by the French historian Guillaume Cuchet in his book Comment notre monde a cessé d’être chrétien, in which he argues that baby-boomers born in the 50s are the first generation responsible for religious dropout in France. In 1964, we were still at the beginning of this secularization which only strengthened in the following years and especially among young people. By 1965, the curves presenting cult practice, frequency of prayer and belief among young people had already begun to fall. Studies show that the weekly practice of French people fell from 28% to 17% between 1962 and 1971 and the weekly practice of young people (between 20 and 34 years old) fell from 33% to 17%. But how can this evolution be explained? Of course, it goes without saying that the political context has something to do with it. The generation of baby boomers in a context of permissiveness of morals, sexual revolution, and contestation of authority evolved considerably whereas the Church reaffirmed its traditional positions by remaining deeply opposed to sexuality outside marriage, artificial contraction, and others social reforms.

The central place of the youth culture

Young people are driven by a desire to enjoy the life and leisure, as evidenced by the lyrics of the song Douliou Douliou Saint Tropez, performed by Geneviève Grad herself (interpreting Nicole) on the steps of twist, typical of the sixties: “You shine in the sun, you burn your 20 years, you have fun, you laugh, you dance, you do crazy things, you sing, you live your life.” Hedonism is therefore at the center of this mentality since all that matters is the search for pleasure. Superficiality is also very much at stake, as Nicole lies to her friends regarding the nature of his father, testifying of this desire to seem “cool”, wealthy and socially acceptable. It is this generation of baby boomers, this youthful and gilded youth that is depicted in the film. Every time young people are on the screen, they are either at the beach, or at a party, or at the bowling, etc. They are represented as irresponsible (excessive speed behind the wheel), frivolous (they alternate between beach and party) and disobedient/provocative (they steal a car, they drink champagne on a yacht, Nicole goes out at night…). A gentleman behind the wheel of his car describes these young people by the term “gang of thugs” when they were trying to damage his car on the road. By the way, it is rather funny to note that the actors perfectly embodied their role. In a 2018 interview, Patrice Laffont, who played one of Nicole’s friends, said: “We felt like we were in summer camp. We kept messing around. As soon as we heard “Coupez!”, we were like locusts. We were in a heavenly place, clubbing all night and arriving in the morning with exhausted mines. The production lent us cars, we broke two of them during clashes in Ramatuelle…”. This behavior angered Louis de Funès who, on the contrary, was very rigorous in his work. “He didn’t like young actors playing in Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez (…) It was one of his first important films, so he took it all very seriously. He wouldn’t say “hello” and kept blaming us for not being disciplined enough.” The young baby boomers were doing the same thing in real life, and they were out of step with the older generation, the De Funès’ generation. The mentality of the actors thus fit perfectly with the characters they embodied.

Emancipation and sexual revolution

The youth of the 60s is also marked by a desire for emancipation, perfectly visible by the character of Nicole who tries to free herself from paternal authority, especially when she undertakes night outings and returns far too late at night. «An old blue jean is enough to dress, it is the ideal outfit in Saint-Tropez» (Douliou Douliou Saint Tropez). The emancipation of the youth is partly due to a new style of clothing which alone proved this desire to break away from a well-established cultural conservatism. This blue jean mentioned in the film’s music is a good example. From the 1950s onwards, this garment became the symbol of a rebellious and protester youth. It embodied the revolt of young people itself. James Dean and Marlon Brando notably contributed to its success and in the 1970s it was used by feminists as a claim for gender equality. “I try to be fashionable, to be like everyone!” (Nicole’s words). The physical and moral liberation of women was also possible through fashion. In the movie, we see women wearing very colorful outfits, trousers, slit skirts (especially during the fitting scene of Nicole with her father in a clothing store), but also bikinis on the beaches, bringing obviously us back to the famous photo of Brigitte Bardot at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953. Whereas in the 19th century, it was unthinkable to reveal any part of the woman’s body, the fashion of the 1950s began to release the woman’s body and this trend only increased throughout the century. When the bikini appeared in 1946, it generated so much scandal that it was banned from many beaches in Europe, considered as an object that broke the rules too provocatively. This garment was so controversial that no professional model accepted to wear it, which forced its creator Louis Réard to hire a stripper from the Casino de Paris to show its creation to the public. However, this item of clothing was eventually accepted, thanks to Brigitte Bardot in the film Et Dieu…. créa la femme.

Cruchot between authority and traditionalism

“The gendarme is order, and order is always unpopular.” “The gendarme is to the nation, what the shepherd dog is to the flock, it is often necessary to bark, sometimes to bite and always to be feared”. Cruchot embodies the authority and in a certain way the refusal of modernity, the refusal of a France in change. He retained the authority he used to exercise in his commune when he was relentlessly hunting chicken thieves or fishermen. Indeed, when he arrived in Saint Tropez, his first actions consisted in giving nine minutes (“procès-verbaux”) while the gendarmes of the city had a drink on the terrace. He looks like out of step with a society that has evolved. The authority of the Chief-Sergeant is evidently embodied by his gendarme uniform and his traditionalism is embodied by his civilian garment (see below) where all the French clichés are gathered: the French beret, the little red sweater and the baguettes.

Cruchot’s self-comparison with the tree (“You are the branches, I am the trunk”) testifies to his rigidity. The gendarmes emphasize two essential points: the respect for the hierarchy and the sense of discipline. Cruchot, in an excess of authority, abuses his hierarchical position over his men, making them regularly stand to attention, and making them undergo physical training not necessary for the tasks they must perform (like the hunt for nudists). However even Cruchot is subordinated hierarchically to Gerber. This noticeable professional hierarchy is synonymous with order and discipline, in perfect contradiction with the free and independent youth of the time. Two opposing worlds are thus depicted.

The chief-sergeant is the spokesman of public opinion, and this is obvious since the scenario takes his point of view. Faced with a youth that is asserting itself more and more by trying to acquire its independence (Nicole), he responds to this crisis by locking Nicole in her room and refusing to let her leave the place without him. Cruchot approaches the public by presenting the problems that the father figure must face in this period, an common experience to all the parents who are spectators and live the same issues at home. During a dinner at the Gerbers’ house, Ms. Gerber tries to warn Cruchot of Nicole’s behaviour: “You are right to look after her, Mr. Cruchot. A girl of that age, especially here, I shudder!” There is therefore a general fear as well as a contempt for the new generation which breaks all the codes and is presented as deviant (immaturity, nudity, etc.) Modernization, the evolution of society is presented as suspect.

The fact that the scenario rules in Cruchot’s favor at the end of the story could, in some way, epitomizes the victory of French traditionalism against the developing modern society and the threat of social and cultural change. The transformation of French society even seems to be taking place within the gendarmerie, because we see that the gendarmes, when they are not concerned with the traffic or the nudists, undertake idle activities such as napping, sea urchin hunting, Aperitifs, etc. In a way, authority seems corrupt or at least lured by the new atmosphere of the 1960s. Cruchot is the hero who restores order in the midst of this collective laissez-faire. The authority of the gendarme is symbolically presented by the Gaullian figure of Cruchot during the epilogue after Cruchot arrested the painting thieves.

While the mutation of Cruchot at the beginning of history can be compared to the arrival in power of De Gaulle, the liberation of Saint Tropez from the nudists and the thieves in the end can be compared to the liberation of Paris. On one side De Gaulle arrived in a France emerging from the war and authoritarianism of Pétain, and on the other side Cruchot arrived in a city where disorder and human overflow reign, with too many tourists, omnipresent naturists and young people to control.

Although the plot of the film is insubstantial, rediscovering this film in its context is captivating since it says much more than it lets on. Le gendarme de Saint Tropez is finally a very nationalist speech. On the one hand we perceive a young French society turned to frivolity while others reject any form of modernity. With the victory of the gendarmes and in particularly of the chief-sergeant, it is finally the durability of the traditional French structures that are reaffirmed.

(World count: 2853 words)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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