Jo

Jo is a French comedy film, originally released in 1971. It is known in English-language territories either as Joe: The Busy Body or The Gazebo. It was directed by Jean Girault and stars Louis de Funès as playwright Antoine Brisebard, Claude Gensac as an actress and his wife Sylvie Brisebard as well Bernard Blier as inspector Ducros. The script is based on a play by Alec Coppel, published in 1958, The Gazebo. Jo is its second adaptation, the first one being the 1959 film The Gazebo, starring Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds. In the film, a comic playwright is being blackmailed by someone who knows about his wife's familial relationship to a notorious criminal. The playwright decides to kill the blackmailer and to hide his remains in the foundations of his new pavilion. The supposed blackmailer is killed accidentally, and the body is hidden as planned. But the writer soon finds out that his blackmailer was murdered elsewhere, and that the man which he met was an imposter. His hiding place turns out to be inadequate due to faulty construction, and he must find a way to transport the corpse. Synopsis Antoine Brisebard, a famous comedy playwright, is struggling with financial difficulties and is preparing to sell his country villa to an English couple. What no one knows, however, is that Brisebard is actually a victim of blackmail since his wife Sylvie, a famous actress, is the daughter of a notorious robber-murderer. His extortionist is a malevolent criminal only known as Jo, who visits him often to pick up his hush money. But faced with certain ruin, Brisebard is preparing to do away with Jo once and for all, planning his deed under the guise of him trying to write the script for a crime play and consulting his friend, attorney Colas, for ideas of how to efficiently get rid of the body. He finally takes up the offer of garden landscaper Tonelotti to erect a pavilion, whose foundation would provide the ideal hiding place for the corpse.