“Papamobile”, a technical outing for the film with Kad Merad

Its producer finds it “failed”. The comedy with Kad Merad, wearing a pope outfit is ultimately visible in Paris, or in any cinema of the largest French cities. Explanations.

Dyears The summer torpor, on the eve of the Assumption weekend, the case Papamobile is wavering the Vatican. Naaan, we joke. She especially excites Parisian journalists in search of refreshing information after forty-three subjects on swimming in the Seine (tested and approved, no bubon to deplore). Return: Wednesday August 13 was to go out on the screens a good big polade with Kad Merad entitled PAPMOBILE. The summary and the trailer left no hope to the Bergmanians, but could seduce lovers of plywood comedies: on an official visit to Mexico, the sovereign pontiff (Kad Merad, of course) is removed by a drug cartel, before the chef noticed that he is a double and then decides to change sex. No, we reblague. No transition to the program but rather a humor of a colossal finesse, like ours, and not necessarily devoid of a wacky, if we rely on the brief CV of the director, Sylvain Estibal, who had won, to the general surprise, the César of the best first film in 2012 for The Gaza pig — The story of a Palestinian fisherman who caught a pink and impure animal in his nets which he tried to sell the seed to a young Russian-Israeli colonist, pig breeder (287,323 admissions anyway).

Thirteen years later, Sylvain Estibal’s second film could be appointed to the film’s César at the most sloppy release of the year. Only the inhabitants of Avignon (Vaucluse), Bagnoles-de-l’Orne (Orne), Saverne (Bas-Rhin), Douvaine and Évoian-les-Bains (Haute-Savoie), or Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme) will be able to see the film. No projection in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Bordeaux … In the jargon, this is called a technical outing. When the producer and the director cannot lead to a film that satisfies them each other, the version approved by the director leaves on the Catimini, in very few rooms, for a duration often reduced to a week, with an advertisement limited to the bare minimum. The ultra discreet theaters released, allows the producer to assume his contract. In the case of a film labeled art and essay (which is not the case with Papamobileif you follow), the payment of help from the National Center for Cinema and Animated Image (CNC) can only intervene if the film is released in thirty different rooms. For a movie without label, no minimum of sessions or screens, but the release is compulsory for the preaches of TV channels to be approved.

The final assembly turned out to be disappointing for everyone, not only for us, and not up to the script, the director, its actors and associated promises.

Violaine Barbaroux, distributor

The distributor opts for a technical release when he assesses that the marketing costs spent for the promotion of the film (display, trailer, advertising on networks, press projections, etc.) will be more important than potential revenues. Contacted, the distributor of Papaamobile, Violaine Barbaroux (The Jokers), on vacation, explained to us “Having had several exchanges with production on assembly, because the result was not satisfactory. The final assembly turned out to be disappointing for everyone, not only for us, and not up to the script, the director, its actors and associated promises. »» After the Cannes 2025 film market, where the producer tried in vain to find a more motivated distributor, The Jokers complies with his contract and “Offers the film to operators, whose feedback has been very largely negative, consolidating us in the idea of a minimum outing in theaters that would request it. »»

Another distributor, on vacation too, confirms the financial interest of a technical outing: “Without release Salles you are a TV movie, with release Salles you are a movie film. You enter other cinema budgets, with higher prices. Papamobile Will not sell on TV but he has been preached by OCS and Amazon in their cinema budget, so he must go out in theaters (even technically) to be able to enter their investment obligations in the cinema. »»

In Le Canard Enchaîné, The producer of the film, Jean Bréhat, dropped: “It’s missed, it’s a funny comedy, according to most of those who saw it. It happens in the profession. We worked for a year and a half on assembly, with three different editors. But, in France, it is the director who has the “final cut”… ” Pique to the heart, Sylvain Estibal split, on X, of a factual text to remind you that Kad Merad put his salary “Essentially in participation for the project to be done despite (the) lack of budget”, estimated at 1.2 million euros. “My director’s salary as well as that of the main actress were also attached so that the project can succeed. Since the film is hardly coming out in theaters, we will touch anything. »» Street or heat wave effect, the film flows a little bitter ink. Telerama will watch the broadcast on OCS to finally give its opinion. In good faith.