By Toutatis !
Twenty-four years after the first film adaptation of the adventures of Asterix by Claude Zidi, our dear irreducible Gauls are back in a fifth feature film adapted from the adventures of Asterix and Obelix.
Read alsoAsterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom unveils its comic book cover
Entitled
The Middle Empire,
this film with a comfortable budget of 65 million euros directed by Guillaume Canet in the company of a host of laughing stars does not take up the plot of one of the Asterix albums imagined by the Uderzo-Goscinny duo.
This time, our heroes are going to help a Chinese princess in danger...
This unpublished final trailer allows you to learn more about the plot and the tone of this fifth film.
As always, we are in 50 BC The Gallic village sees its tranquility shaken by the arrival of a Chinese princess in distress Fu-Yi, accompanied by the Phoenician merchant Graindemaïs (Jonathan Cohen) and by his faithful warrior Tat Han.
The only daughter of the Empress of China, imprisoned after a traitorous coup, comes to ask for help from the irreducible Gauls, valiant warriors endowed with superhuman strength thanks to the magic potion.
Hilarious reference to the
Kung-Fu series
Asterix and Obelix are therefore setting off on an adventure to the Middle Kingdom in a team that is furiously reminiscent of the back of a Citroën 2CV, pulled at high speed by Obelix.
Meanwhile, in Rome, Caesar (Vincent Cassel), with his powerful army, always thirsty for conquest, has also made the decision to invade China to impress Cleopatra (Marion Cotillard)...
Gilles Lellouche, Guillaume Canet, Julie Chen and Jonathan Cohen in
Asterix and Obelix
The Middle Empire.
Pathe
This final trailer, rich in new sequences, teaches us more about the plot and the very schoolboy general atmosphere of this fifth film.
As a Phoenician merchant disguised as a Gaul, Jonathan Cohen seems to play a capital role in the adventure.
He is in every plan from start to finish.
The video reveals two new “gaguesque” sequences which ensure the show.
The first kindly makes fun of the Gauls and their crass ignorance in geography.
"Reassure me!
Do you know where China is?
asks, with a suspicious air the character of Jonathan Cohen...
The second summons up some memories of grandpa's television, by humorously diverting a
gimmick
present in the television series
Kung-Fu
with David Carradine, broadcast in France in the 70s and 80s.
The character of Graindemaïs is confronted by an old blind sage who asks him to resume his play, calling him a “little beetle”.
"It's very easy, you're blind,"
remarked Jonathan Cohen, a bit embarrassed.
The wise old man replies pontificating as in the American soap opera:
“Never assume that a man does not see because he is blind!”
But hardly has he finished his sentence than Cohen shoots him a good right and recovers the coin:
"And that one, did you see it coming!?"
The gag works perfectly.
And even for anyone who didn't catch the hilarious
Kung-Fu
reference .
José Garcia, twisting in Orlando
After John Gottfried, Alain Chabat, Alain Delon and Fabrice Luchini, it's Vincent Cassel's turn to take on the role of Julius Caesar.
He forms a delightful tandem with the twisting José Garcia, his faithful scribe.
For the occasion, Garcia made the head of Orlando, Dalida's brother, also adopting his delicious Egyptian accent:
“I love it when you say that!
I love!
Ha!
You say it well."
The gag also hits the mark the first time.
We fervently hope that other gags of this ilk will be sprinkled throughout the film, which is scheduled for release in theaters on February 1st.
