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Umbrella Coup

Umbrella Coup

Comedy · Crime · 1980

Grégoire Lecomte, the unlucky actor anxious to find a "real job", goes to take a screen test for a role of a killer, but gets to mafiosi by mistake. He takes their don for a producer, and they mistake him for a hitman with whom they had an appointment. Deluded Lecomte signs contract with them. He is supposed to kill gun dealer Otto Krampe at his birthday party in Saint-Tropez by piercing him with a cap of the umbrella with a built-in syringe with potassium cyanide. Lecomte is not aware that it has to be a real murder.

Movie details

Umbrella Coup

1980 Comedy · Crime 1h 35m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.9 / 10

Community rating

Grégoire Lecomte, the unlucky actor anxious to find a "real job", goes to take a screen test for a role of a killer, but gets to mafiosi by mistake. He takes their don for a producer, and they mistake him for a hitman with whom they had an appointment. Deluded Lecomte signs contract with them. He is supposed to kill gun dealer Otto Krampe at his birthday party in Saint-Tropez by piercing him with a cap of the umbrella with a built-in syringe with potassium cyanide. Lecomte is not aware that it has to be a real murder.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Umbrella Coup?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Gérard Oury

Written by

Danièle Thompson · Gérard Oury

Pierre Richard

Pierre Richard

Grégoire Lecomte, acteur à mi-temps, dragueur à plein temps

Valérie Mairesse

Valérie Mairesse

Sylvette, alias Bunny, inspecteur à la D.S.T.

Christine Murillo

Christine Murillo

Josyane Leblanc, contractuelle parisienne, régulière de Grégoire

Gérard Jugnot

Gérard Jugnot

Frédo, agent artistique de Grégoire

Gordon Mitchell

Gordon Mitchell

Moskovitz, le tueur à gages

Roger Carel

Roger Carel

Salvatore Bozzoni, couturier et fournisseur de poison

Gert Fröbe

Gert Fröbe

Otto Krampe, dit La Baleine

Court is in session

Put Umbrella Coup on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Arthouse Gremlin

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.