Working with de Funès makes me feel as if I was going to shoot with Chaplin

These words were spoken by Coluche in 1976 at the time of filming L’Aile ou la Cuisse, Coluche’s 14th film

and Louis de Funès’ 140th.

With nearly 150 films and no less than 300,000 million cinema tickets sold, Louis de Funès is undoubtedly one of French cinema’s most popular figures.

For the French, he embodies a series of familiar and timeless characters. He is one of those actors who is loved by the whole family, who transcends generations and creates bonds. These five films, the most widely broadcast on television, have reached an audience of nearly 400,000 million viewers to date, more than six times the French population!

These figures speak not only for France: Louis de Funès is a globally recognised star. His films have been translated into many languages with immense popularity in various countries including Russia, the Czech Republic and Germany.

Louis de Funès is undoubtedly a popular, intercultural and intergenerational figure.

However, since 2016, there has been no museum dedicated to him in France.

Located between Cannes, the city of cinema, and Saint-Tropez, the city of the Gendarmes, Saint-Raphaël seemed the ideal place for this museum. A place that Louis de Funès knew well, having shot several scenes of the Gendarmes series as well as one of the legendary sequences of Le Corniaud, one of his greatest successes, in the town.

In this place, opposite the very spot where he shot the first scene of his last film, you have the opportunity to rediscover this beloved actor, unearth the scope of his work and his exceptional personality: a man with an incredible sense of timing and yet so often ahead of his time.

Discover film clips, rare documents from the National Audiovisual Institute (INA), Gaumont collections but also photographs, letters and workbooks belonging to the de Funès family, who have done us the greatest honour by entrusting them to us. As you wander round the museum, explore fabulous memories of this beloved actor, this man who is such a joy to discover.

Frédéric Masquelier,

MAYOR OF SAINT-RAPHAËL