[Citroën in film] The Citroën DS in The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob

To complete our extensive series dedicated to Citroën in Cinema, it was absolutely unthinkable to overlook two essential monuments of French popular culture: Louis de Funès, the leading figure of French comedy, and the Citroën DS, a true icon of automotive engineering. These two legends shared many adventures on the silver screen, leaving a lasting impression on generations of viewers. However, one of the most memorable and spectacular appearances undoubtedly remains in Gérard Oury's 1973 film The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob), where the famous chevron sedan goes through the wringer before ending up in an unforgettable posture.

The statutory role of a mythical car

From the very first minutes of the film, the 1972 Citroën DS 21 Pallas, in its majestic black livery, stands out as much more than a simple transport accessory. It embodies the direct extension of the social status of Victor Pivert, the wealthy, conservative, and prejudiced industrialist brilliantly portrayed by Louis de Funès. As the quintessential status car for the notables and upper bourgeoisie of the time, this luxurious sedan, powered by a 2175 cc inline 4-cylinder engine developing 109 DIN horsepower, offered supreme comfort. Driven by his phlegmatic chauffeur Salomon, the DS serves as a comic confined space during the first thirteen minutes of the feature film. It is in this luxurious interior that Victor Pivert loses his patience in Parisian traffic jams, rushes through a wedding ceremony, and discovers with sheer amazement the religious confession of his employee. A strong visual element of this introduction is the prominent motorboat strapped to its roof: the "Germaine II," ironically named after the main character's very bossy wife, perfectly setting the stage for a particular scene that quickly became a myth.

A memorable stunt and cult catchphrases

This off-road stunt scene, which closes the first act of the film, is a true masterpiece of French comedy. To avoid a truck blocking the road, the car abruptly leaves the pavement, takes off majestically over a grassy bank, and crashes upside down right in the middle of a pond. The image of the submerged bodywork, artificially kept afloat by the overturned hull of the boat, is etched in collective memory, as is Pivert's unmissable line while stuck in the flooded cabin: "But where is this boat?!". Filming this feat required great technical precision. The stunt team had to conceal a dirt and wood launch ramp right behind the slope. Finding the perfect balance between the substantial weight of the Citroën DS chassis and the disruptive aerodynamics of the motorboat required complex mathematical calculations to ensure the vehicle landed precisely upside down, without sinking straight to the bottom. This sequence made such a strong impression that the miniature market heavily capitalized on it. Collectors can look into the high-quality official Norev 1/43rd scale model (reference 157072), or seek out the rare "Car Maniac" edition featuring the characters' figurines. Advanced modelers might prefer the French "Steel Young" transkit, allowing anyone to transform any miniature DS themselves by adapting the roof bars and the resin hull of the famous Germaine II.

Continuity errors and directorial secrets

While cinema is an art that involves meticulous editing and months of preparation, long and complex film shoots often let a few continuity errors slip through. Despite Gérard Oury's genius, numerous "faux raccords" (continuity mistakes) dot the sequences featuring the Citroën DS. The most spectacular one concerns the stunt itself: the car that takes off and plunges into the lake is absolutely not the gleaming black DS 21 Pallas from the beginning! For obvious budget reasons, the production sacrificed an aging Citroën ID, whose roofline design and lack of chrome side moldings betray the deception to expert eyes. Other amusing details are worth highlighting, such as the conflicted power steering where Salomon sharply turns the wheel to the left, while the exterior shot shows the car swerving sharply to the right. There is also ghost traffic near the church, where a 2CV parked behind Pivert mysteriously disappears in the next shot. Finally, the filming conditions are literally reflected on screen: the glossy black paint betrays the presence of powerful cinema spotlights during the forest overtaking scenes, while the highly capricious weather provides a spotless blue sky during the ramp takeoff, which magically turns into a grey and cloudy ceiling a fraction of a second later during the splashdown.

Ultimately, the Citroën DS is not just a masterpiece of design and a global automotive benchmark; it is also an immense icon of the silver screen, having illuminated countless French and international films. When combined with the comic genius of Louis de Funès, the hydraulic sedan finds itself propelled into the most extravagant situations, whether literally flying through the air with Fantômas or floating upside down beneath a boat in Rabbi Jacob. It is precisely through these moments of bravery that we perceive the full extent of Citroën's genius: having successfully designed vehicles with such stage presence and versatility that they allowed the greatest directors to bring their most grandiose follies to life.

Documentary sources: Film production archives (Gaumont), Norev miniature catalogs, technical analysis from the IMCDB (Internet Movie Cars Database).