PROFILBARU.COM

I Do
I Do
	French theatrical poster
French	Prête-moi ta main
Directed by	Éric Lartigau
Written by	Alain Chabat; Philippe Mechelen; Laurent Tirard; Grégoire Vigneron; Laurent Zeitoun
Produced by	Amandine Bilot; Patrick Bordier; Alain Chabat
Starring	Alain Chabat; Charlotte Gainsbourg; Bernadette Lafont
Cinematography	Régis Blondeau
Edited by	Juliette Welfling
Music by	Erwann Kermorvant
Distributed by	Mars Distribution
Release date	1 November 2006;
Running time	90 minutes
Country	France
Language	French
Budget	$9 million
Box office	$30.2 million

I Do (French: Prête-moi ta main; lit. 'Lend me your hand') or Rent a Wife (international working title), is a 2006 French romantic comedy film directed by Éric Lartigau, based on an original idea by Alain Chabat. The film stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat and Bernadette Lafont. It is Chabat and Gainsbourg's third collaboration, after Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d'enfants (2004) and The Science of Sleep (2006). This film was officially remade into an Indian Telugu language film Manmadhudu 2 released in August 2019.^[2]

Plot summary

Luis Campos (Alain Chabat), 43, happily single, mollycoddled by his family (mother and 5 sisters, who by design established by his late father Hercule form a kind of family council known as the G7), has a successful career as a perfumer and an easy life. Tired of taking care of him, the G7 decide he should get married within a year. The problem is Luis does not want any kind of serious relationship since they ruined his first true love. After turning down all the girls introduced to him, he gets an idea: "rent" his best friend's sister, Emma (Charlotte Gainsbourg), turn her into the perfect bride-to-be, and make her not show up on their wedding day. That way, Luis thinks his family will leave him alone. Unfortunately for him, his family likes Emma and blames him when she apparently jilts him at the altar. He then comes up with an alternate plan to have Emma act horribly towards his family so they will not like her anymore. The two begin to fall in love so Luis finally stands up to his family, confesses his schemes and finally settles down with Emma.

Cast

Alain Chabat - Luis Costa
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Emma
Bernadette Lafont - Geneviève Costa
Wladimir Yordanoff - Francis Bertoff
Grégoire Oestermann - Pierre-Yves
Véronique Barrault - Catherine
Marie-Armelle Deguy - Axelle
Aïssa Maïga - Kirsten Hansen
Katia Lewkowicz - Carole
Louise Monot - Maxine
Anne Marivin - Sales Associate
Éric Lartigau - A passerby

Production

Alain Chabat originally came up with the idea for the film and planned to produce the film and write the script. Director Éric Lartigau asked him to play the role of Luis so he rewrote the character as an older man.^[3] Over a five-year period Chabat's original script went through seven different rewrites by four other scriptwriters.^[4] Chabat decided to include a scene where the character of Emma watches an action film. After comparing different Chinese kung fu films, he settled on a 100-second fight sequence from the Indian film Muthu (1995).^[5]

The film was shot in Mézy-sur-Seine, and in different parts of Paris, including the Parisian suburb of Pantin.

Box office reception

Released on November 1, 2006, in France, the film went straight to #1 at the box office, grossing over a million tickets.^[6] It spent six consecutive weeks in the box office top 10.^[7] By December 19, the film had reached the 3 million tickets sold mark.^[8] It eventually sold just over 3.5 million tickets, making it the second most successful film of 2007 at the French box office.^[9]

Awards and nominations

César Awards (France)
- Nominated: Best Actor – Leading Role (Alain Chabat)
- Nominated: Best Actress – Leading Role (Charlotte Gainsbourg)
- Nominated: Best Actress – Supporting Role (Bernadette Lafont)

References

^ PRêTE-MOI TA MAIN (I DO) – BY COUNTRY, Box Office Mojo.com, FOREIGN MOVIES SECTION
^ "Manmadhudu 2 is remake of a French film, confirms Nagarjuna". India Today. July 25, 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
^ Pagura, Mathieu (November 1, 2006). "Alain Chabat "Le principe même de la comédie"". Metro. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
^ "Prête-moi ta main Secrets de tournage". Zoom Cinema (in French). Retrieved June 24, 2011.
^ Feroze, Usman (January 26, 2007). "Style, camera, action". The Hindu. Archived from the original on November 10, 2012. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
^ In France, box office is based on the number of tickets sold
^ Merlet, Benjamin. "Box-office : Arthur et les minimoys sont géants !". Nord Cinema. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
^ Corriez, Olivier (December 8, 2006). ""Casino Royale" résiste aux "Infiltrés"". TFI News. Archived from the original on January 23, 2011. Retrieved April 24, 2011.
^ "Box-office : déjà un mois de règne pour "Arthur"". Allocine (in French). January 11, 2007. Retrieved June 24, 2011.