Les Bronzés font du ski Shooting in Val d'Isère

Les Bronzés font du ski is a film starring the Splendid cast, directed by Patrice Leconte and released in 1979. It follows on from Les Bronzés (1978), which took place in the sun (filming in the Ivory Coast). Today, it’s considered a classic of French popular cinema and has taken on “cult” status. To our great delight, it was filmed in Val d’Isère in 1979. A behind-the-scenes look at a cult film!

Les bronzés font du ski – The sugar pancake

Key facts of the film

Film release

1979

Director

Patrice Leconte

Filming locations

Val d’Isère and its ski area

Synopsis:

The friends from the first part meet up again in Val d’Isère, where Jérôme, Gigi and Popeye work. Jérôme and Gigi are now married: Gigi runs a crêperie while Jérôme works in his medical practice. Nathalie and Bernard, reconciled, form a “nouveau riche” couple and own a timeshare apartment in the resort.

As for Jean-Claude, he’s still looking for his soulmate. He hasn’t made any progress in his seduction techniques, and is desperately trying to hit on anyone who moves.

Christiane arrives with a married man, Marius, who is much older than she is. Popeye is now much less sure of himself: humiliated by his wife, who is cheating on him with her cousin, he pretends to his friends that he is the manager of a winter sports store run by the same couple.

Behind the scenes:

It’s also worth noting that the film cast a number of Avalins (Val d’Isère residents) as actors and extras, including Fernand Bonnevie, the film’s emblematic ski instructor. It’s with him that Jean-Claude Dusse learns to “planter de bâton”! A real-life instructor at the French ski school, Fernand had been chosen by Patrice Lecomte for the role because, as he said himself, he wanted a real Savoyard instructor with an accent and a face burnished by the sun’s reflection on the snow.

The cast:

Michel Blanc, Christian Clavier, Marie-Anne Chazel, Josiane Balasko, Thierry Lhermitte, Gérard Jugnot, Bruno Moynot, Dominique Lavanant

The different locations shooting

During the heliskiing picnic, just behind the group, we see the Marais plateau, dominated by Dôme de la Sache and Mont Pourri further to the right. This scene was most probably shot above the right-bank station, or further away, on the side of the tête de l’Arollay. We can certainly see the summit of Rocher du Saut in the lower left-hand corner of the image (masking the access road to Tignes). The next shot shows the Bellevarde massif and one of the pylons of the high-voltage line that feeds the Val d’Isère power plant.

The famous refuge with the Italians is certainly in the Val d’Isère commune, more precisely in the Fours valley, and we can see the corner of the Plan de l’Arselle chalets.

We can also locate some aerial views of the resort in the film’s opening credits.

In the village :

All the town scenes are shot in Val d’Isère: streets, Gigi’s crêperie (in the restaurant La Charpenterie, avenue du priariond), sports store (today a Poya restaurant, avenue olympique), restaurant terraces (the Grande Ourse on the snow front), La Daille with the scene where Popeye gets kicked out of his girlfriend’s house and the famous scrabble scene!

The racing stadium is the OK piste at La Daille, which at the time hosted the Critérium de la Première Neige men’s races. The slope is still used for alpine skiing competitions to this day, with the women’s races of the Critérium.

Back to the replicas cult films

On the Bellevarde Express chairlift with “Quand te reverrais-je? pays merveilleux!

ESF Val d’Isère with ” Monsieur Duss, ce qui ne va pas, c’est le planté de bâton ” (Mr. Duss, what’s wrong is the stick planting)

At Chalet La Charpenterie “Do you have batter? Do you have sugar? With the dough you make a crêpe and put sugar on top!”

At the Hôtel Le Val d’Isère “Je sens que je vais conclure”, where it is now possible to enjoy the Gigi crepe “A thin layer of Sarazin with warm rose petals”.

À la Daille “Hey, you forgot your scrabble!”

At the Précision Iseran ski store (now replaced by the Poya restaurant), “J’t’expliqueai, j’t’expliquai…” (I’ll explain, I’ll explain).

To the Big Dipper for “They won’t fall any lower!” in reference to skis.

At the Précision Iseran ski store (now replaced by the Poya restaurant), “J’t’expliqueai, j’t’expliquai…” (I’ll explain, I’ll explain).

The actors themselves returned to Val d’Isère in 2019 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film’s release, a memorable evening, and found that the resort had changed a lot.

You’re sure to come across locals in Val d’Isère who’ll be able to tell you stories about the legendary film “Les Bronzés font du ski”, which still captivates millions of viewers every time it’s rebroadcast.

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