Fanfan la Tulipe is a 1952 French comedy swashbuckler film directed by Christian-Jaque and starring Gérard Philipe, Gina Lollobrigida and Noël Roquevert.
Fanfan (Philipe) is a womanizer in 18th-century France, at the time of the Seven Years' War. The father of a girl he seduced wants to force him to marry her. On the way to the wedding ceremony, a gypsy woman (Lollobrigida) predicts that Fanfan will have a successful military career and that he will even marry the daughter of the king. Fanfan runs away from the wedding ceremony and joins the army. He soon realizes that the gypsy woman is actually Adeline, the daughter of the recruiting sergeant.
A remake was made in 2003, also titled Fanfan la Tulipe.
Fanfan la Tulipe provides examples of:
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: After being pardoned, Fanfan gets drunk. He is then told that Adeline is safe in a convent. While he is still drunk, he tells La Franchise and Fier-à-Bras where she is, which is not wise: Fier-à-Bras informs Lebel of Adeline's hiding place.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Fier-à-Bras is in love with Adeline, who is in love with Fanfan, who is in love with Henriette de France.
- Anti-Hero: Fanfan is very brave, but he is self-centred and does not pay attention to the others' feelings (for example he totally ignores Adeline's feelings for him). He is a womanizer who is not attached to the many women he seduces. He is also undisciplined.
- Artistic License – History: The story is set during the Seven Years' War and Henriette of France is alive. In reality, she died in 1752, four years before the start of the war (1756-1763).
- Attempted Rape: Louis XV is going to rape Adeline, but she slaps him in the face, runs away and hides in the room of Madame de Pompadour.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: In the beginning, Fanfan and Adeline constantly quarrel because Adeline tricked Fanfan into joining the army. Adeline mocks him because he believes that he will marry the king's daughter. When Fanfan is sentenced to death, Adeline confesses her feelings, but Fanfan keeps on telling that he does not love her. It is only when they are reunited in the end that Fanfan confesses his feelings.
- The Casanova: In the beginning, Fanfan is a womanizer who seduces many women and does not become attached to them. He does not want to marry Marion, a girl he seduced.
- Contrived Coincidence: Fanfan has just joined the army because Adeline predicted that he would marry the daughter of the king. Fanfan's detachment bumps into a coach that is attacked by thieves. Who's in the coach? The daughter of the king, Princess Henriette.
- Damsel in Distress: In the climax, Adeline is kidnapped by Lebel. Fanfan, Tranche-Montagne and La Franchise try to free her.
- Dirty Coward: La Franchise orders his men to hide when he sees a group of thieves attacking a coach. Subverted in the end when he joins Fanfan and Tranche-Montagne to fight Lebel's men and save Adeline.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Fier-à-Bras drills the new recruits and he is a sadist. He insults them and orders them to do repetitive exercises. Fanfan is soon fed up with it and he stops exercising.
- Fortune Teller:
- Adeline pretends to be a gypsy fortune-teller to lure men into the army.
- Later, Adeline consults a fortune-teller, but Fier-à-Bras bribed her so that she predicts that Adeline will marry someone who looks like Fier-à-Bras.
- Happily Ever After: In the end, Adeline and Fanfan get married.
- Historical Domain Character: Louis XV, his daughter Henriette de France, his mistress Madame de Pompadour and the Duke of Estrées.
- Hot Gypsy Woman: On the way to the wedding ceremony, Fanfan meets a sexy gypsy woman in a low-cut dress (played by Gina Lollobrigida). Subverted because she is not a real gypsy woman, she is actually the daughter of the recruiting sergeant.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: After pardoning Fanfan, Louis XV invites Adeline in the castle and tries to rape her. She manages to escape from the castle with the help of Madame de Pompadour.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Fanfan is having sex with Marion in a haystack when her father and other villagers catch them.
- Lemony Narrator: The narrator is very sarcastic. For example in the opening narration, he says that in the 18th century people were happy and men were practicing their favourite sport, war. He also says that the purpose of battles is to produce historical sayings that children will have to learn at school in the future.
- Miles Gloriosus: La Franchise orders his men to hide when he sees a group of thieves attacking a coach, but later, after Fanfan has neutralized the thieves alone, he boasts about killing the thieves in front of his superiors.
- Ms. Fanservice: Adeline (played by Gina Lollobrigida) always wears low-cut dresses.
- One-Man Army: Fanfan is able to neutralize alone a group of five thieves. Later, after escaping from the prison, he confronts alone the whole garrison of the training camp.
- Phony Psychic:
- Adeline, the daughter of a recruiting sergeant, pretends to be a gypsy fortune-teller to lure men into the army. For example, she predicts that Fanfan will have a successful military career and that he will even marry the daughter of the king.
- Another fortune-teller is bribed by Fier-à-Bras to tell Adeline that she will marry someone who looks like Fier-à-Bras.
- Prophecies Are Always Right: In the beginning, Adeline (who pretends to be a fortune-teller) predicts that Fanfan will have a successful military career and that he will marry the king's daughter. In the end, her fake prophecy comes true.
- Prophecy Twist: In the beginning, Adeline predicts that Fanfan will marry the king's daughter. In the end, he marries Adeline, whom the king has just adopted (which is quite strange given the fact that her biological father is still alive).
- Runaway Bride: Marion's father wants to force Fanfan to marry her. He escapes during the wedding ceremony and joins the army.
- Shotgun Wedding: Fanfan has sex with Marion. When her father catches them, he wants to force Fanfan to marry her. Fanfan runs away from the wedding ceremony and joins the army.
- Swashbuckler: It is an adventure film set in the 18th century, with a love-story and a lot of swordfights.
- The Trickster: Fanfan does not accept the rules and conventions of society. He is a womanizer. He laughs at the father of the the girl he seduced. He boldly kisses the daughter of the king. He does not accept the military discipline. After escaping from prison, he taunts the officer who jailed him.
- Villainous Crush: Fier-à-Bras, the main antagonist, is in love with Adeline. Louis XV also falls for her and tries to rape her.
