Character page for the French film series Taxi.
open/close all folders
Protagonists
1998-2007
Daniel
Daniel Morales
Appears in: Taxi | Taxi 2 | Taxi 3 | Taxi 4
Played by: Samy Naceri
A former pizza delivery guy, and the fastest in the city of Marseille at that, Daniel decided to become the city's fastest taxi driver with his tuned and souped-up Peugeot 406, not caring much about what the police would think of it. One day he is caught in the act by Émilien, who hires him as chauffeur and car expert to stop the bank robbers known as "Mercedes gang", which marks the start of their Odd Friendship.
- Badass Driver: If you want to hire someone who's supremely skilled for a high speed chase or just get to the airport on time, he's just the guy you need. Provided you're not afraid of him not respecting the road code.
- Boxed Crook: Émilien makes an offer to Daniel in the first film after catching him: he can help him against the German bank robbers and get a pass for all his traffic lawbreaking, or go to jail. Daniel chooses to help the cop.
- Casual Sports Jersey: He often wears Association Football jerseys. In Taxi 2 (released in 2000), it's that of the French national team, the #10 of Zinedine Zidane
more precisely. That player is regarded as one of the greatest the sport has ever known, he was the local pride of Marseille (as well as the nation's) and was a major factor in the French victory at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Daniel also wears Olympique de Marseille jerseys, naturally — that team is the very definition of Serious Business in Real Life in and around the city. - Cool Car: His famous tuned and souped-up Peugeot 406, which can reach speeds as high as 306 kilometers per hour (190 mph). He changed it for a Peugeot 407 in Taxi 4.
- Crazy-Prepared: His 406 taxi is just a few gadgets short of a Batmobile or a James Bond car. And he added automatic vomit bags just behind the forward seats in Taxi 2 so his customers won't have to throw up outside (or, more precisely, won't ruin his backseats). Just in case.
- I Shall Taunt You: His ballsy strategy against the Mercedes gang. It eventually pays off.
- Lovable Rogue: He breaks traffic laws all the time and hates the police, but he's charismatic and charming enough to not appear as a major offender to the viewer.
- Nice Guy: He's always friendly with his customers.
- Optional Traffic Laws: He does care about traffic laws when not on a race, but when he has a customer to rapidly drive around, traffic laws don't exist anymore for him as long as they slow him down. Then one day, he meets Emilien, who reveals himself as a cop.
- Street Smart: He knows his city's streets very well.
Émilien
Émilien Coutant-Kerbalec
Appears in: Taxi | Taxi 2 | Taxi 3 | Taxi 4
Played by: Frédéric Diefenthal
A clumsy police detective who always fails to get his driver's license. Upon catching Daniel in the act after a high speed drive of his, he makes a deal with the taxi driver: he will not put him in jail, confiscate his car or ask him an enormous fine, and in exchange, Daniel will work with him to stop the German gang. Daniel reluctantly accepts. Then an Odd Friendship develops between them.
- Amazon Chaser: He is infatuated with Petra who is taller than him and who is a pro at martial arts.
- Berserk Button: In the first film, he gets mad whenever someone enters his office without knocking except when it's Petra.
- Butt-Monkey: From failing his driver's license yet again to regularly falling into a garbage container and being tortured with oral sex, he's gone through a lot of shit, but he never gives up.
- Captain Crash: Whenever he tries to get his driver's license, the exam car he drives always ends up crashing in a shop's front window, much to his driving instructor's growing frustration.
- Determinator: Émilien is essentially unstoppable. No matter how often he fails at driving school, he tries again and again. And even if there's no realistic chance for him to catch the villains, he chases them anyway, and be it on foot.
- Failure Is the Only Option: When he does obtain his driver's license after countless failed attempts, it's only because the instructor had enough of his inexplicable incompetence at the wheel.
- Friend on the Force: He becomes this for Daniel once the two of them become best friends.
- The Klutz: He is very clumsy yet lovable.
- Leeroy Jenkins: When spotting the Mercedes gang with the help of Daniel, and not listening to him, he quickly gets the idea to hide himself in the trunk of their car while they are searching new tires and doesn't listen to Daniel. While he's hiding in the trunk, Daniel points out how stupid it is, since the gang has to put the new tires somewhere...
- Momma's Boy: He still lives with his mother in the first film.
- Police Are Useless: He's far from Commissioner Gibert's stupidity, thankfully, but he wouldn't get very far without Daniel's help.
- Self-Deprecation: He tend to call himself dumb a lots when he mess up, Daniel often call him up on this when he does it.
Lilly
Lilly Bertineau
Appears in: Taxi | Taxi 2 | Taxi 3
Played by: Marion Cotillard
Daniel's girlfriend. She is supportive of his job change, although she is unhappy that he now spends less and less time with her.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Whenever she hears a woman on the phone when talking to Daniel (it's one of the series' Running Gags), even when it's always Not What It Looks Like, she gets awfully suspicious.
- The General's Daughter: Her father is a General of the Armée de Terre.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Whenever she's about to have an intimate moment with Daniel, something will suddenly interrupt them and ruin it.
- Love Interest: She is Daniel's girlfriend.
- Mistaken for Cheating: A Running Gag has her think Daniel cheats on her whenever she hears that there's a woman alongside him on the phone, like the pregnant woman who's giving birth in his taxi and whose screams sound awfully close to an Immodest Orgasm.
- Sequel Non-Entity: She doesn't appear in Taxi 4. Marion Cotillard wasn't available, as she was busy filming La Vie en Rose. She wasn't interested in the film series anymore anyway, as she wanted to focus on bigger roles (such as, again, La Vie en Rose).
Gibert
Commissioner Gibert
Appears in: Taxi | Taxi 2 | Taxi 3 | Taxi 4 | Taxi 5
Played by: Bernard Farcy
A police commissioner and Émilien's boss. He is quite stupid and particularly ineffective at his job, but isn't aware of that.
- Amusing Injuries: Whenever he gets hurt, it's always funny.
- Catchphrase: Often shouts "ALERTE GÉNÉRALE!"
- Da Chief: He regularly berates his police subordinates when his operations fail, even though it's pretty much all the time due to his own stupidity — he's NOT a Reasonable Authority Figure.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Whenever he plans an operation, it's doomed to fail. By his own fault, most of the time.
- Flanderization: The first film shows him as fairly incompetent already, but not completely stupid and not quite the Large Ham yet, as he didn't shout that much. The sequels exaggerated his stupidity and shouting.
- General Failure: It's a wonder how he managed to keep his commissioner rank this long with all the failures on his belt.
- Large Ham: In light of his Flanderization, he chews the scenery more and more with each sequel.
- Malaproper: Briefly refers to the Yakuza as "Jacuzzis".
- Narcissist: He's arrogant, self-important and utterly oblivious to his own stupidity.
- Operation: [Blank]: Likes to give code names to his operations to arrest gangs, most often related to said gang's distinctive feature.
- Police Are Useless: He exemplifies the trope with his own uselessness and stupidity.
- The moment that really takes the cake is the escort he has to provide to a Japanese minister on official visit in France in Taxi 2. The whole thing is made to look like he's Crazy-Prepared, but it's all staged and he's absolutely clueless when an actual Yakuza gang easily kidnaps the minister pretty much right under his nose. The attack wasn't anticipated/expected on the staged course so it couldn't possibly happen for him.Daniel: Oh, what a surprise, a trap!
- The moment that really takes the cake is the escort he has to provide to a Japanese minister on official visit in France in Taxi 2. The whole thing is made to look like he's Crazy-Prepared, but it's all staged and he's absolutely clueless when an actual Yakuza gang easily kidnaps the minister pretty much right under his nose. The attack wasn't anticipated/expected on the staged course so it couldn't possibly happen for him.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: "Hero" is a stretch but he's still a figure of the law and order, technically. He hates Germans (except Petra) and calls Japanese people (or Asian people in general) "niak" (short form of "niakoué"note ).
Petra
Petra
Appears in: Taxi | Taxi 2 | Taxi 3 | Taxi 4
Played by: Emma Sjöberg-Wiklund
A German exchange police agent and colleague of Émilien, who's infatuated with her. Unlike Émilien, Commissioner Gibert or pretty much everyone at their Marseille police station, she is very competent.
- Action Girl: Her martial arts training comes in handy when having to deal with Yakuza ninjas in Taxi 2.
- Ascended Extra: She has a much more prominent role starting with Taxi 2.
- Cunning Linguist: At the very least, she speaks German, French and Japanese.
- Fair Cop: There's no denying she's attractive.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: She speaks several languages (something her boss Gibert failed to notice due to only looking at her measurements in her files, rather than her competences), she's much more aware of foreign customs than her boss, she's smart and she's trained in martial arts. Mostly things Émilien and to a much greater extent Gibert are not.
- Love Interest: She becomes Émilien's girlfriend after the first movie.
General Bertineau
General Edmond Bertineau
Appears in: Taxi 2 | Taxi 3 | Taxi 4
Played by: Jean-Christophe Bouvet
A general in the French army, and Lilly's father.
- Cool Old Guy: Although Lilly can't tell him about Daniel's true job and tries to have him appear a bit more "academic" to her father because she's apparently Dating What Daddy Hates, he comes up with a crafty plan to rapidly transport the Peugeot 406 by airdropping it in Paris, and even jokes on the phone with Émilien and Daniel when Émilien freaks out because one of the car's parachutes ends up not working.Bertineau: That's why you have three of them [parachutes], there's always one or two that's fucked up. (laughs)
- Dad the Veteran: He is an Algerian War veteran. He tests every visitor in his house by telling war tales.
- Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: He dons jungle camouflage in the climax of Taxi 2. The action is set in the middle of Paris. And he doesn't intervene in the field by himself.
- Supporting Leader: In the climax of Taxi 2 in Paris, he brings army reinforcements to stop the Yakuza gang as they are chasing Daniel's 406.
2018
Sylvain
Sylvain Marot
Appears in: Taxi 5
Played by: Franck Gastambide
A Parisian cop and an exceptional driver. He dreamed of joining the RAID (an elite police tactical unit), but ended up demoted for having an affair with a prefect's wife. He's been sent to a Municipal Police unit in Marseille.
- The Ace: He's one of the best cops in France and had all the qualifications to join the RAID... until a sex scandal ruined his dream.
- Badass Driver: His skills at the wheel are very much on par with Daniel's.
- Composite Character: He is both a Badass Driver like Daniel was and a cop, like Émilien was.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Daniel was a Badass Driver, and so is Sylvain. Daniel hated cops, Sylvain IS a cop.
- Cool Car: Since Eddy can't drive, it's Sylvain who gets to go behind the wheel of what was once Daniel's souped-up Peugeot 407.
- Legacy Character: He inherits Daniel's Peugeot 407 car, making him the franchise's new resident Badass Driver.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: He had a great chance at a brilliant career in the RAID, the French police's elite tactical unit... and it was all ruined when his affair with a prefect's wife was revealed, leading to him being demoted and sent to Marseille, amidst menial municipal police tasks and stupid/mean colleagues.
Eddy
Eddy Maklouf
Appears in: Taxi 5
Played by: Malik Bentalha
The nephew of Daniel Morales.
- Composite Character: He regularly gets himself in trouble with the law like his uncle Daniel, and he's as clumsy as Émilien was.
- The Ditz: He's quite stupid, and really clumsy.
- The Load: Past the fact that the Peugeot 407 is repatriated in France thanks to him, he's pretty useless. He's clueless with a Driving Stick and can't wield weapons properly.
- Odd Couple: Forms one with Sylvain.
Antagonists
The Mercedes Gang
The Mercedes Gang
Appear in: Taxi
Played by: Richard Sammel (leader), Niels Dubost, Franck Libert, Stephan Chrisz
A gang of German criminals who have decided to rob banks in Marseille. They are notorious for using Mercedes 500 E cars, and their secret hideout in Marseille is at Krüger's workshop.
- Bank Robbery: Their speciality.
- Cool Cars: They use two souped-up Mercedes-Benz 500 E (W124).
- Driving into a Truck: They redo their cars' paintjob into a truck after pulling off heists.
- Foreign-Language Tirade: The leader, upon getting eventually trapped by Daniel, lets out a stream of German expletives.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Once their red cars are repainted grey, and with the money hidden away to be retrieved later, they can cross police blockades without trouble. Even Commissioner Gibert is fooled.
- Knight of Cerebus: The movie is mostly comedic, but these guys are clearly not, and shit gets real whenever they show up.
- Metallicar Syndrome: Subverted. Their first escape happens with their cars which have conspicuously red paint, but then, after making the whole city police searching for red Mercedes cars, they drop off into a truck and quickly repaint the cars in inconspicuous grey.
- More Dakka: Everyone at Krüger's workshop is carrying a loaded submachine gun and ready to fire it when they someone just as much as looks like he's a cop walking in.
- Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: Their leader can't stand Daniel's provocations and accepts his car race challenges without thinking twice. It proves to be a Fatal Flaw and the gang's downfall.
- Phantom Thief: Commissioner Gibert's unit is unable to catch them on three occasions. It's partly due to Gibert's incompetence, but also due to their strategy — quickly redoing the paint job of their cars.
- Ruthless Foreign Gangsters: They are a ruthless German gang committing bank robberies in the French city of Marseille.
The Yakuza
Yakuza
Appear in: Taxi 2
Played by: Yoshi Oida, Kentaro, Hiro Uchiyama, Jui Gui Kwon, Ken Chung, Raymond Khamvene, Jean Lebidan, Pierre Nguyen, Châu Belle Dinh, Williams Belle, Guylain N'Guba-Boyeke, Malik Diouf, Charles Perrière, Laurent Piemontesi, Yann Hnautra
A group of Japanese gangsters who have come to France to kidnap the Japanese Minister of Defense while he's on an official visit in the country.
- Cool Cars: They drive Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 6 cars.
- Cool Shades: They all wear sunglasses.
- Gratuitous Ninja: They have black-clad masked henchmen who practice martial arts. Said ninjas are masked for practical reasons, since a number of the stuntmen playing them are not Asian.
- Yakuza: If it wasn't obvious already.
Other Characters
Driving instructor
The driving instructor
Appears in: Taxi | Taxi 2
Played by: Sébastien Thiéry
Émilien's hapless driving instructor.
- Butt-Monkey: Émilien always crashes into a shop while on exam to get his driver's license, with this guy on the passenger seat. It happens in both Taxi and Taxi 2. Even as the instructor is happy to finally be rid of Émilien when going to Paris, Émilien lands right in front of him in the middle of a street in the French capital city (inside Daniel's parachuted 406).
- Driving Test: His job is to oversee and sanction these, and Emilien repeatdely failing it with crashes in shops really gets on his nerves.
- Nervous Wreck: Emilien slowly wrecks his nerves with his inability to drive. It gets to a point where he just gives his license to Emilien for no other reason that he's had enough, and happily tells Emilien that he's leaving Marseille for Paris.
- No Name Given: He is not named onscreen.
Marco and Rachid
Marco and Rachid
Appear in: Taxi | Taxi 2
Played by: Malek Béchar (Marco) and Kassem Tarek (Rachid)
Two street thugs from Marseille. They always try to commit robberies in the worst place at the worst moment.
- Casual Sports Jersey: Marco wears sport jerseys all the time.
- Delinquents: Two stereotypical young delinquents from the French banlieues who look like they're straight out of La Haine.
- I Shall Taunt You: To prove that there are no cops around as he's about to steal a car in the first Taxi, Marco goes on cop-insulting boasts in the middle of the street. There are indeed cops in the place, and Émilien badly wants to get out of his car to arrest Marco, but they are forced to hide waiting for the gang of bank robbers to show up.
- Oh, Crap!: When Marco and Rachid get stuck in the car they stole in the middle of the chain-reaction crash and ensuing shootout, this is Marco's reaction.
- Only Sane Man: Rachid rightfully guesses there are always cops around, but always gets chastised by Marco and goes along with the plan.
- Running Gag: In the first Taxi film, they try to steal a car right under the eyes of Commissioner Gibert's unit as they are waiting for the Mercedes Gang to get out of the bank. The unit can't arrest them as it would blow its cover. Then the Mercedes Gang flees, a chain-reaction crash occurs and a confused shootout happens between police forces, much to Marco's and Rachid's confusion. Then in Taxi 2 the two street thugs try to rob a warehouse, which happens to be the place where Gibert's unit was waiting for the Yakuza gang to show up. Oh, Crap! ensues once again.
- Stupid Crooks: They are pretty stupid petty criminals, especially Marco.
- Those Two Guys: They're always seen as a pair.
The Secret Agent
The Secret Agent
Appears in: Taxi 3
Played by: Sylvester Stallone
Voiced by: Alain Dorval (French)
An American secret agent who is chased by thugs on roller skates. He hires Daniel for a ride to the airport.
- Adam Westing: Sylvester Stallone playing a small role that spoofs his action movie roles.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: A kickass secret agent wearing a black suit.
- The Cameo: None other than Sylvester Stallone.
- Stallone's famous French dubber Alain Dorval as well.
- Genre Refugee: A 1990s American action hero in a 2000s French action comedy.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After the ride, Daniel wonders if he hasn't seen this guy somewhere before, implying he watched Stallone's movies before.
- No Name Given: He is not named in the film.
- Noodle Incident: There's nothing indicated about the service he works for, what his mission in France is or how and why he ended up being chased.
- Pursued Protagonist: Taxi 3 opens with him being chased by black-clad enemies on roller skates.
