19/06/2002 - Francis Weber´s Le Placard - The Closet tickles Britain´s funnybone and triumphs at the box office - Star Wars: the Return of the Clones notwithstanding...

A very French comedy, Le Placard - The Closet, directed by Francis Weber and starring two of France´s cinematographic icons, Daniel Auteuil and Gérard Depardieu, is breaking box office records in the U.K.
Released on 16 May together with George Lucas´ latest offering from planet Star Wars, instead of sinking without a trace, Weber´s film about an employee who pretends to be gay (Auteuil) in order to avoid being fired came 10th in the British top ten after its first weekend and three weeks into its release onto just 21 screens, has totalled £304,950 (approximately €457,425).
Another French production, Sur mes lèvres - Read My Lips by Jacques Audiard is 4th, having totalled a hefty £183.962 (€276 approx) in under three weeks on 13 screens. Nevertheless, the French record holder for 2002 remains Les visiteurs - £725,021 (€108,000 circa) on 320 screens.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from Italian)