The Big Restaurant

The Big Restaurant (Le Grand Restaurant) is a 1966 French comedy thriller directed by Jacques Besnard. Louis de Funès stars as Monsieur Septime, the owner of a prestigious Parisian restaurant on the Champs-Élysées, who is tyrannical toward his staff yet obsequious toward his customers. His life is thrown into turmoil when a South American head of state is kidnapped inside his celebrated establishment and suspicion falls on him. Bernard Blier plays the police commissioner.

De Funès conceived the project in the late 1950s, drawing on his own memories as an exploited bar pianist in his youth, co-wrote the screenplay with Jean Halain and helped shape the casting. Filming took place at the Saint-Maurice studios and on location in Paris, the Côte d'Azur and Val-d'Isère. Despite mixed reviews, the film drew over 3.8 million moviegoers in 1966 and later became a fixture of French television.