
Up to His Ears (French: Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine) is a 1965 French-Italian adventure comedy film directed by Philippe de Broca and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Ursula Andress, Jean Rochefort and Jess Hahn. It is a loose adaptation of Tribulations of a Chinaman in China, an 1879 novel by Jules Verne. It also takes some notable inspirations from the Tintin comic books.
Arthur Lempereur (Belmondo) is a rich young man who is bored with life. After multiple suicide attempts, he hears that he has lost his fortune, so that he is still more determined to die. His friend, Mr. Goh, suggests he get a life insurance policy and give up suicide. Instead, Mr. Goh offers to murder Arthur.
Up to His Ears provides examples of:
- Adaptational Wimp: In Jules Verne's book, Craig-Fry, the duo of detectives sent to protect the protagonist, were competent and efficient, unlike Cornac and Roquentin, who are clumsy and stupid. This is probably because of the influence of Thompson and Thomson, the detectives from the Tintin comic books.
- Bungled Suicide: Arthur has a history failed suicide attempts. In the opening sequence, he drives his car into a chasm, but he is somehow ejected from the car before it crashes and survives.
- Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: Arthur, hung to a crane, is completely covered in soot when the crane lifts him into a funnel, then he falls into a bakery and finds himself covered in flour. He runs across the city to escape from his pursuers and hides inside a strip club, where his suit is suddenly perfectly clean.
- Coffin Contraband: The pirates use coffins to carry opium on their boat.
- Construction Zone Calamity: When he is chased by mobsters in Hong Kong, Arthur ends up in a construction zone. He makes various stunts in a bamboo scaffolding to escape from his pursuers.
- Disguised in Drag: Arthur disguises himself as a female stripper when he is hiding in the strip club because mobsters are after him.
- Disney Villain Death: Fallinster dies when he falls out of his plane.
- The Dividual: Cornac and Roquentin, the detectives sent by the insurance company to protect Arthur, are always together and wear the same clothes.
- Driven to Suicide: In the beginning, Arthur wants to commit suicide because he is bored with life. When he hears that he has lost his fortune, he is still more determined to die.
- Expy: The bumbling duo of Cornac and Roquentin are a copy-paste of Thompson and Thomson from Tintin. In Jules Verne's book, there was a duo of detectives sent to protect the protagonist, but they were competent and efficient, unlike Cornac and Roquentin, who are clumsy and stupid like Hergé's characters.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: Arthur's car explodes and burns when it falls into a chasm in the opening sequence.
- Family-Friendly Stripper: Alexandrine Pinardel works as a stripper in Hong Kong and even explicitly says that she earns her living by showing her breasts. However, when Arthur attends her show, all her naughty bits are covered.
- Fat Bastard: Charlie Fallinster, the mob boss who wants to kill Arthur, is obese.
- The Film of the Book: The film is a loose adaptation of Tribulations of a Chinaman in China, a 1879 novel by Jules Verne.
- Friendly Scheming: Mr. Goh, a friend of Arthur, notices that he is bored with life and needs some adventures to learn to enjoy life. So he pretends that he intends to murder him.
- Get into Jail Free: When Arthur gets out of jail, he realizes that the mobsters are out to kill him, so he asks to get back into jail, but the warden does not let him in. Arthur then punches him in the face, but his colleagues still do not let him in.
- Happily Ever After: In the end, Arthur is going to marry Alexandrine and Léon is going to marry Alice.
- Happily Failed Suicide: Arthur tries to commit suicide several times and always fails. After falling in love with Alexandrine, he regains a taste for life.
- Henpecked Husband: Cornelius always obeys his wife. He spends most of the film holding a wool thread while she is knitting. He tries to murder Arthur when she orders him to do so. He eventually dares to take stand against her, when he agrees with Léon and Alice's marriage.
- High-Speed Hijack: Arthur and Alexandrine manage to take control of Fallinster's plane when it is flying. They throw him out of the cockpit.
- Important Haircut: When he is bored with life in the beginning, Arthur has a long lock. When he falls for Alexandrine, he cuts it to seduce her. In the end, when he hears that he is still rich, he gets bored again and his lock reappears suddenly.
- It's the Journey That Counts: When Arthur tries to meet Mr. Goh to tell him he does not want to die any more, Mr. Goh sends a message saying that he has left Hong Kong for a temple in the Himalayas. Arthur travels to this temple and has many adventures on the way, only to find that Mr. Goh is not there. Arthur goes back to Hong Kong, where he meets Mr. Goh. Mr. Goh explains that he has never left the city and lied to Arthur to give him the opportunity to have adventures and learn to enjoy life.
- Kiss of Life: When they end up on a beach, Arthur pretends to be unconscious so that Alexandrine has to attempt artificial respiration. She quickly realizes that he is pretending to steal a kiss from her.
- Life-Affirming Aesop: In the beginning, Arthur is bored with his life and wants to die, but he learns that life is precious over the course of the story.
- Lighter and Softer: The film is a crazy comedy. Although it had some comedic elements, Jules Verne's book was a more serious adventure story.
- Mistaken for Murderer: Arthur thinks that Cornac and Roquentin, who are constantly watching him, are hitmen sent after him, but they are detectives sent by the insurance company to protect him.
- Never Trust a Title: The original French title, Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine (which is identical to the title of Jules Verne's book), translates as "the tribulations of a Chinese in China", whereas the protagonist of the film is a Frenchman and the tribulations take place only partially in China (in Hong Kong, to be specific).
- Outside Ride: First, Arthur and Alexandrine catch hold of the plane of Fallinster when it is taking off. After throwing Fallinster out, they just jump from his plane to the plane of Léon.
- Punch-Clock Hero: Cornac and Roquentin help Arthur only because their employer, the insurance company, told them to protect him. As soon as Arthur's contract expire, they leave him to his fate.
- Race Lift: The protagonist of the book was a Chinese. Arthur Lempereur is a Frenchman.
- Rich Boredom: Arthur is a millionaire who is bored with life and even driven to suicide.
- The Rich Have White Stuff: In the opening sequence, Arthur, a millionaire, wears a white tuxedo and attempts to commit suicide in a white Jaguar Mark VII. The white tux is also mentioned and seen later in the movie.
- Robinsonade: Arthur and Alexandrine end up on a tropical island and live some time alone on the beach, until Cornac and Roquentin join them.
- Saved by the Coffin: To escape from the boat of the pirates, Arthur, Alexandrine, Léon, Cornac and Roquentin use coffins as small boats.
- Setting Update: The original book was set at the end of the 19th century. The film is set in the 1960s.
- Standard Hollywood Strafing Procedure: Used by Fallinster when he shoots from his plane at Arthur and Alexandrine. The bullets hit the beach on a straight line, close to their targets.
- Suicide by Assassin: Arthur wants to commit suicide. Eventually, he agrees to get a life insurance and to let Mr. Goh kill him. He changes his mind when he meets Alexandrine.
- Talking Down the Suicidal: When he hears that he has lost his fortune, Arthur tries once again to commit suicide, this time by hanging himself. Mr. Goh talks to him while he is preparing the rope and persuades him to change his plans.
- Tribal Carry: Arthur and Léon get this treatment when they are caught by villagers in a part of Himalaya forbidden to foreigners.
- Undercrank: This effect is used several times to stress the slapstick nature of the film. For exemple, it is used when Arthur finds himself hung to a crane.
- "Wanted!" Poster: Mobsters put up posters with the portrait of Arthur and the word "人尋" ("looking for a man") everywhere in Hong Kong.
- Wealthy Yacht Owner: Arthur owns a yacht and uses it to travel from France to Hong Kong.
