The best Stéphane Bern’s comedy movies

The Arbac de Neuvilles are one of the oldest families in France. They have inhabited their ancient château for fifty-two generations and are proud of their noble ancestry. But today they are stone broke. When a bailiff turns up notifying them that they owe two million euros in back taxes, these proud aristocrats are understandably shaken to the core of their ancestral seat. Just how are they to find this amount of money when none of them has any capacity for work?

Thirty-year-old Camilla, born a bitch, realizes that she doesn't have the life she deserves and decides that the only destiny worthy of her is that of a royal princess.

The wildly popular British television show Absolutely Fabulous gets a Francophonic makeover with this film version directed by Gabriel Aghion. In this go around, Josiane Balasko and Nathalie Baye play the incorrigible Eddie and Patsy, who leave no impulse unenacted and no lust unsated -- be it for sex or the latest in designer clothing. Waking up from a night of drunken debauchery, the two dip right into a feast of champagne and caviar, much to the irritation of Eddie's elegant mother and her resentful daughter. As Eddie stretches an appalling pair of leopard-print leotards (complete with matching shoes, purse, and hat) over her massive rear end, she and Patsy learn of a handsome young Rollerblading delivery boy who quickly becomes the object of their lust. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival.

Willy Vander Brook, a world with Franco-Belgian roots, travels to Paris for an interview. He is welcomed by his childhood friend Serge, an ex pub operator, and his roommate Frank, a fierce supporter of the Walloon independence. When Willy discovers that his candidacy is not accepted because he is Belgian, he and his compatriots decide to take revenge