Deux heures moins le quart avant Jésus-Christ (Quarter to Two B.C.) is a 1982 French comedy film directed by Jean Yanne. The film relates the story of the garage mechanic Ben-Hur Marcel, also known as Aminemephet (Coluche), who gets wrapped up organizing a plot against Caesar (Michel Serrault). The picture is an anachronistic parody of Bible films like Ben-Hur, somewhat comparable to Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979). It has become a cult film in France.
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Plot
During the Roman Empire, a modest cart maker found himself the victim of a political plot targeting Julius Caesar.
In this parody of peplum, peopled with anachronisms, a garage mechanic for carts, Ben-Hur Marcel finds himself unwillingly representative of the union against the Roman army. Caught up in a story of a plot against a homosexual Caesar and interested only in his hairstyle and the drape of his toga, Ben-Hur Marcel finds himself embroiled in a political embarrassment towards ancient Egypt and its queen, Cleopatra VII, decked out in an accent of the Parisian suburbs. He will get by thanks to the talent of his friend Paulus.
At first glance, the satire is aimed first at state power which presents all the usual flaws: liar, cynical, manipulator, contemptuous, hateful, but also fearful: "Citizens, we can do nothing for the moment ... But as soon as possible as we can, we will do double! The people, cowardly and submissive (cf. the final speech of Ben-Hur Marcel to all the protagonists), and the operetta revolutionaries also take it for their rank: if things are going so badly, it is because, in the end, they let it go. And, in the end, everyone forgets while watching the silliness of the television news during which the birth of a child is announced in a stable in Bethlehem.
The film ends with an involuntary ironic retort from Ben-Hur Marcel: "The birth of a child in a stable won't change the face of the world!" At this moment we hear the first three fortissimo notes of the music written by Miklós Rósza for the film Ben-Hur (1959) by William Wyler.
Cast
Coluche as Ben-Hur Marcel / Aminemephet
Michel Serrault as César
Jean Yanne as Paulus
Françoise Fabian as Laetitia
Michel Auclair as Consul Demetrius
Mimi Coutelier as Cleopatra
Darry Cowl as Faucuius
Paul Préboist as The Lion Keeper
Daniel Emilfork as Tatouius
Valérie Mairesse as A Prostitute
André Pousse as A centurion
Michel Constantin as Secutor
José Artur as Reginus
Discography
The CD soundtrack composed by Raymond Alessandrini and Jean Yanne was released on the Music Box Records label.