Director/Screenplay – Claude Zini, Dialogue – Gerard Lauzier, Based on the Characters Created by Rene Goscinny & Albert Uderzo, Photography – Tony Pierce-Roberts, Music – Jean-Jacques Goldman & Roland Romanelli, Visual Effects Supervisor – Pitof, Visual Effects – Duboi, Special Effects – Le Versaillais (Jean-Baptiste Bonetto, Yves Domenjoud & Olivier Gleyze), Makeup Effects – Giannetto De Rossi, Production Design – Jean Debasse. Production Company – Katharina/Renn Productions/TF1 Films Production/Bavaria Film/Bavaria Entertainment/Melampo Cinematografica/Canal+/Centre National de la Cinematographie.
Cast
Christian Clavier (Asterix), Gerard Depardieu (Obelix), Roberto Benigni (Detritus), Claude Pieplu (Panoramix/Getafix), Gottfried John (Julius Cesar), Michel Galabru (Abraracourcix/Chief Vitalstatistix), Daniel Provost (Prolix), Jean-Pierre Castaldi (Caius Bonus), Laetitia Casta (Falbala), Pierre Palmade (Assurancetrourix/Cacofonix), Sim (Agecanonix/Geriatrix), Marianne Sägebrecht (Bonemine), Jean-Jacques Devaux (Ordralfabetix/Unhygenix), Michel Muller (Malosinus), Arielle Dombasle (Arielle), Jean-Roger Milo (Cetautomatix/Fulliautomatix), Jean-Yves Thaul (Mathusalix), Beppe Clerici (Trolleybus), Hardy Krüger Jr. (Tragicomix)
Plot
Julius Cesar has conquered all of Europe but his advisors have kept from him that there is one exception to this – a small village in Gaul. The villagers maintain defiant opposition to the Romans because of a magic potion created by the druid Getafix that gives super-strength for ten minutes only. Cesar’s scheming advisor Detritus seeks to find a way to defeat the villagers. He sends in a fake soothsayer Prolix who predicts the villagers will find a great haul of gold. This comes true when the villagers drive off the Roman tax collector and take their chest of gold. Detritus then kidnaps Getafix from a druid gathering in the sacred forest. He holds him prisoner with the intention of getting him to make a cauldron of magic potion so that he can use it to overthrow Cesar and declare himself emperor. It is left up to Asterix and his best friend Obelix to infiltrate the Roman camp and rescue Getafix.
The Asterix comic-books enjoy an enormous international popularity. Asterix first appeared in the magazine Pilote in 1959 and the stories were released in the familiar large-sized book format beginning with Asterix the Gaul (1960). The books are set in a tiny village in Gaul (as France used to be known during the Roman occupation). The villagers maintain a cheerful resistance to the Romans, which usually consist of Asterix and his large, slow-witted companion Obelix beating up as many centurions as they can, something they regard as a sport, where they have a natural advantage due to the druid Getafix’s creation of a magic potion that bestows great strength. Much of history and modern culture is spoofed in some often witty gags. The series extends to 41 books to date – 24 of these come from co-creators Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, while Uderzo produced a further ten books on his own following Goscinny’s death in 1977 and there have been seven from other writers following Uderzo’s retirement in 2011.
There have been numerous film adaptations of the Asterix comics over the years. The French animation company Dargaud made a series of animated films – Asterix the Gaul (1967), Asterix and Cleopatra (1968), The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976) – the latter two both being co-directed by Goscinny and Uderzo – Asterix Vs Caesar (1985), Asterix in Britain (1986) and Asterix and the Big Fight (1989). There have been several animated films from other companies with Asterix Conquers America (1994) and Asterix and the Vikings (2006) and more recently the CGI-animated Asterix: The Mansion of the Gods (2014) and Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion (2018).
Asterix and Obelix Vs. Cesar was the first in a series of live-action Asterix films. It was followed by Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002), Asterix at the Olympic Games (2008) and Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia (2012). The common factor between all of these was Gerard Depardieu as Obelix. Asterix was played by Christian Clavier here and in the subsequent film, but by a different actor with each subsequent film. Each film in the series also comes from a different director. More recently, there was a fifth live-action film with Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom (2023) but this did not star Depardieu.
(front l to r) Obelix (Gerard Depardieu) and Asterix (Christian Clavier)
Asterix and Obelix Vs. Cesar was quite an expensive production at the time and seemed a risky gamble in many ways. The French producers even made it as a co-production with German and Italian companies, shooting in either country. This is why we also end up with a mix of German and Italian actors – Roberto Benigni, Gottfried John and Marianne Sägebrecht – in the cast. This paid off and the film was a smash box-office success,
Being the first of the live-action films, Asterix and Obelix Vs. Cesar was essentially making it up as it went along. The film adapts elements from several Asterix books. The majority of the plot comes from the first of the books Asterix the Gaul, while the character of Prolix comes from Asterix and the Soothsayer (1972) and some elements are taken from one of two works.
The subsequent live-action films polished the formula but all the essence of it is honed here right out of the starting gate. The opening scene is designed to introduce us to the village and takes us through meeting all the familiar supporting characters. There are all the customary touches, including the comic’s recurring image of punched Romans flying off through the air, frequently en masse. The comedy hand is somewhat more broad than it was in subsequent films – in the opening scenes, we even have villagers engaged in a fish fight.
(l to r) Detritus (Roberto Benigni) and Julius Caesar (Gottfried John)
The production looks as though it has a decent budget thrown at it. There has been a full-size replica of the Gaul village made, along with the Roman fort. And director Claude Zini gets great visuals out of helicopter shots of the Romans riding along beaches on horseback and hundreds of them lined up in the middle of a field ready to go into battle, resplendent in their red capes. Particularly impressive are the scenes with Asterix in the arena going up against lions, elephants, snakes, crocodiles and a pit of spiders. (The visual effects incidentally are supervised by Pitof, who would later become a director with the great Vidocq (2001) and Catwoman (2004), where the flop of the latter alas ended up wrecking his directorial career).
Asterix and Obelix Vs. Cesar is a very well cast film. All of the actors seem perfectly at home in their roles. Obelix feels like the role that Gerard Depardieu was born to play. Gottfried John has an aristocratic regality as Cesar – you can make an historic quibble in that John seems to be playing a Cesar who seems well into his sixties/seventies when the real Julius Cesar was only 55 years old when he was killed. Roberto Benigni was just coming off the Academy Award win of Life is Beautiful (1998) and is perfectly oily and obsequious as Detritus.
Claude Zini was known as a specialist in comedy. His most well-known film was the spy comedy La Totale! (1991), which was later remade in English by James Cameron as True Lies (1993).
