Credits: Harald Krichel / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0.
At 91, Pierre Richard returns with L’Homme qui a vu l’ours qui a vu l’homme, an intimate fable about friendship and freedom, partly shot in Gruissan. After a premiere met with a standing ovation in Le Mans, the actor-director defended his film on France 2’s 8 p.m. news. He also didn’t miss the chance to mock the rumors about him. National release September 17, 2025.
A Film Expected On September 17
Pierre Richard, aged 91, is back behind the camera. He is also in front of it in L’Homme qui a vu l’ours qui a vu l’homme. This film is scheduled in theaters on September 17, 2025. The story weaves the friendship between an old man devoted to independence and a teenager. This teenager has a condition on the autism spectrum. The two of them take in a bear who escaped from a circus, a figure both comic and metaphorical. The actor-director describes this feature as his most intimate film. It is enriched by his youthful memories. It also reflects his stubborn taste for freedom.
In Gruissan, The Secret Land Of A Winemaking Filmmaker
Filming took place partly in Gruissan (Aude), where Pierre Richard spends part of the year amid his vineyards. The landscape of lagoons, salt flats and pine woods becomes a character here: a nature that is protective but never tame, framing the fable without illustrating it. We see the light step of the “absent-minded” man and his ironic blue gaze. Yet we also sense the gravity of a man. Indeed, he films his territory as one films a memory.
In Le Mans, A Premiere Met With A Standing Ovation
On September 09, 2025, the premiere at CGR Saint-Saturnin (Le Mans) drew a large crowd. The theater was full and the applause sustained. The evening felt like a national reunion with such a familiar actor. His silhouette has accompanied French comedy for decades. Enough to anticipate a strong start at the box office 2025. Alongside Pierre Richard, young Timi-Joy Marbot was praised for his portrayal of the autistic boy, while the crew described the shoot as a “human-scale” adventure.
“I Am Not Dead Yet”: Humor As A Compass
Guest on France 2’s 8 p.m. news, opposite Léa Salamé, Pierre Richard defused rumors about his health with a smile: the actor admits to “limping,” but continues to write, act and shoot. A few days earlier, on August 28, 2025, he had posted a mocking message on Instagram to correct alarmist reports. He also reminded people that it was “the third time” his death had been announced. True to his approach: irony to fend off worry and the stage as an answer.
A Memory-Film That Talks About Confinement And Open Air
This story of a hermit and a teen who learn to understand each other resembles a moving self-portrait. Richard summons his dreams of escape, his childhood huts, his Mediterranean land. The screenplay plays against type: the bear, a symbol of wildness, becomes the spur that opens the characters to the world. At 91, the seasoned filmmaker films confinement (that of the old man as much as the young one) to better seek open air: the outdoors, the pond oceans, the slow, steadfast walk.
Burlesque Heritage: From The Tall Blond To The Companions
You don’t return to Pierre Richard without finding the benevolent shadow of burlesque. The lunar slow-motion, the gag born of a sidestep, the art of ellipsis: a whole heritage that comes from music hall, from Buster Keaton to Jacques Tati. The public long remembers the Tall Blond of the 1970s (Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire, 1972) and the trio Francis Veber Gérard Depardieu Pierre Richard (La Chèvre, Les Compères, Les Fugitifs). Here, the comic machinery is more trembling, more tender: silences, looks, a humor that allows melancholy.
Difference And Ecology: A Fable Of French Cinema
The film chooses the point of view of the encounter: that of an old man with a secret world and a young neurodivergent person. Rather than psychologizing, the direction favors gestures, rhythms, a patient listening. Ecology is not a slogan: it permeates the dunes, huts, winds setting and places the story in a present where people debate coexistence with living beings. The bear is not a monster: it is a presence that forces everyone to decenter.
A Nonagenarian At Work
“I limp,” the actor admits. But the gesture remains precise: an economy of movement, a sobriety that refuses showiness. The role seems written for him: a body that stumbles, a voice that soothes, a joy that surfaces. This on-set energy, Pierre Richard claims it alongside theater (I’m here but I’m not here!), and out of loyalty to a simple credo: continue as long as desire lasts.
Quick Timeline
- August 28, 2025: ironic Instagram message to deny reports about his health.
- September 09, 2025: premiere at CGR Saint-Saturnin (Le Mans), sold-out evening.
- September 11, 2025: interview on the 8 p.m. news (France 2); discussion of the film and clarification about the rumors.
- September 12, 2025: publication of a major profile devoted to the actor and the film.
- September 17, 2025: national release in France.
Credits (Main)
- Director: Pierre Richard
- Cast: Pierre Richard, Timi-Joy Marbot, Gustave Kervern, Anny Duperey
- Filming Location: Gruissan (Aude)
- Themes: intergenerational friendship, independence, nature, difference
- Production: Moby Dick Films
Why This Film Matters
Because it elegantly weaves the thread of popular memory into an ecological present, Pierre Richard offers more than a mere comeback: he reinvents French comedy in his own way while never renouncing his tender, poetic vein. At 91, he doesn’t sign a cinematic will, but rather a true declaration of independence, an act of a free artist who refuses to be consigned to the past.
What you hear then is a rare music: that of a creator who looks at his era with the delicacy of experience, but without the blindness of nostalgia. In that, he embodies a singularity: that of a man who has crossed generations, who has marked the collective imagination, and who continues to surprise by his ability to blend tenderness, humor and freedom.