PREPARE for a visitation. Coming our way next Sunday is a film that has been taking France by storm. Called Les Visiteurs, it has grossed more than 60 million francs (HK$78 million) and been seen by 13.2 million people since it opened. And it has alsomade a larger than life star even bigger.
Jean Reno co-stars with Christian Clavier as a knight and squire transported from 12th to 20th century France. And Reno, perhaps best known for his work in director Luc Besson's exquisite art film The Big Blue and thriller Nikita, has taken to comedy like a Frenchman to garlic.
''To make people laugh is a gift from God,'' enthused Reno from Paris. ''By chance I have a funny physical appearance - I am big and strange, like a comic book character. We [he and Clavier] make a good couple. We're like Laurel and Hardy.'' Hong Kong audiences will have a chance to assess the double act when Les Visiteurs is screened as part of the Alliance Francaise-organised French Cinepanorama '93. And, if anyone needs any pointers, Reno is happy to supply them.
''First, it is a comedy, and a comedy for all of the family,'' he explained.
''Also, in the movie there are references to the past, and you can also see how the French people have progressed. We have already planned to make a second Les Visiteurs in 1995. When you have a success like this you have to do something about it.'' The film comes shortly after another Reno-Clavier screwball comedy, L'Operation Corned Beef, and marks a career swing for the classically-trained Reno.
''I like comedy,'' he said. ''It's a completely different exercise. You have to have a lot of rhythm and it's a new way to work.