Artistic License – History page for the Time Travel comedy film series Les Visiteurs.
The whole series:
- The language French medieval people speak in the films is to old French what Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe is to older English.
- Jacquouille actually wouldn't be able to be Godefroy's squire. A squire is more or less an apprentice knight serving as the aid of a knight, which is part of his own knight's training. Which means that a squire is 1) noble, with the expected upbringing and education 2) a teenager (or a young adult), while Jacquouille is a commoner or serf and Christian Clavier was 41 when the first film was released.
- Godefroy (a knight coming from 1123) has a flail and a type of armored gauntlets that both wouldn't be seen until the 15th century.
Les Visiteurs (1993):
- The royal coat of arms
worn by Henry I Beauclerc wouldn't be seen until the very late 14th/early 15th century. - The English knight who gets beheaded by Godefroy wears a plate armor the likes of which wouldn't be seen until maybe the very end of The Hundred Years War, circa 1450. The medieval part of the film is set in 1123.
- The Fleur-de-lis symbol is featured heavily on the royal regalia of King Louis VI the Fat, but it didn't become this prominent until the reign of his son, Louis VII.
- Godefroy is seen wearing "poulaine" shoes (crackowes, shoes with an extremely long toe). It would take several centuries to see them being worn in France, circa 1360.
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Les Visiteurs II: The Corridors of Time (1998):
- The picture was filmed at the castle of Beynac for the medieval parts set in 1123. The castle's construction started circa 1101, but some fortifications of the late Hundred Years War (circa 1440) are very visible.
- The Burgundians are in conflict with the king of France Louis VI the Fat, whereas Godefroy is faithful to him. At the time (1123), the Duke of Burgundy was Hugues II, who was faithful to the king of France (he fought with him against the king of England) and was nicknamed "the Pacifist", because he did not like conflicts. There was a conflict between the kings of France and the dukes of Burgundy, but it was much later (after 1407 during the Hundred Years War, when the Duke of Orleans was killed by the Duke of Burgundy John the Fearless).
- Friar Ponce is an inquisitor... in 1123. The first Inquisition was created in 1199.
- During the Burgundians' raid, Jacquouille steals richly made clothes including a type of hat that wouldn't be seen until the early 15th century.
- At the very end, Jacquouillet refers to Napoléon Bonaparte as "General". The end of The Corridors of Time most certainly happens in late 1792 (Brunswick's army is mentioned by the fleeing nobles, this army attacked the French revolutionary army at Valmy on 20 September 1792), and King Louis XVI's beheading happened on 21 January 1793 (it is mentioned at the beginning of Bastille Day). Napoleon got promoted as General in December 1793.
Les Visiteurs: Bastille Day (2016):
- The can of Franck Provost hairspray. Jacquouille is supposed to have stolen it in 1993, but Franck Provost's name wasn't a brand name back then, he was a mere hairdresser among dozens of thousands, his name became a brand in the 2000s only.
- Godefroy says he wants to "save the Dauphin" (Louis XVI's son Louis XVII) after escaping at the beginning. He is from 1123, the title of Dauphin appeared in 1350.
- Fashion is all over the place for the part set during The French Revolution.
- Lorenzo and Robert are seen wearing Incroyable-style clothes in 1793. This fashion wouldn't appear until 1795, when French people celebrated the end of the paranoid Reign of Terror with parties and more jolly/carefree/eccentric fashion.
- Meanwhile, Duke Hendrix wears Louis XV style clothes (1750s-1770s) and a wig of the same era. Those were completely out of fashion for at least 25 years by 1793, and would actually get him suspected and killed in no time during the Reign of Terror.
- Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois is seen reciting poetry he wrote to celebrate Maximilien Robespierre. In reality, Robespierre and Collot d'Herbois barely tolerated each other, and since each member of the Comité de Salut Public was equal and Robespierre was personally quite humble, there was no need for trading poems. While Collot d'Herbois was a theatre actor and playwright and therefore perfectly capable of dropping a dithyramb or two, it's unlikely he'd ever do it for the Incorruptible.
- Some language anachronisms:
- Robert de Montmirail uses the word "terrorist". The word's first use in French was in 1794, one year later.
- Prune uses the word "racist". It wouldn't be used in French language until at least a full century later.
- Adélaïde uses the word "barda" (meaning "stuff"). That word originates in Arabic, and didn't enter French language until after the 1830 French colonization of Maghreb (Northern Africa).
