After two well-received parts in 1997 and 2001, the release of “The truth if I lie! 3” is one of the events of 2012 in French cinemas. However, to prevent the film from being criticized by critics, the film’s distributor used a less than stellar practice.
The truth if I lie ! 3: Yallah!
Already known for his films Black Mic-Mac and Raithe director Thomas Gilou produced 1995 a comedy based on “Jewish humor” from The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob. Her name: The truth if I lie !. The film which recounts the adventures of five friends is a surprise success with more than 5 million admissions. It also allows Richard Antonina to reconnect with notoriety, after years of crossing the desert. The latter is accompanied by the distribution of future great talents such as José Garcia, Bruno Solo, Gilbert Melki, and Vincent Elbaz.
In 2001, The truth if I lie ! 2 continues the success of the first part with 7.7 million entries. It will however be necessary to wait 11 years before Thomas Gilou and his team makes their return to the cinema with The truth if I lie ! 3.
For this third installment, our five friends have left the Sentier to settle in the flourishing suburb of Aubervilliers. However, the market has changed and it is now the Chinese wholesalers who are much more dynamic than them. Faced with these difficulties, the small band will once again have to show welded and solid to have to survive… even if it means committing one or two of these scams of which they have the secret.
Prohibited from project
The output of The truth if I lie ! 3 in 2012 was both expected and feared by the film crew. Indeed, the comeback of a popular saga in France is not always to the liking of spectators and the press. Thus, to avoid the spectators being undoubtedly too influenced by the glance of the criticisms, the distributor Mars Distribution had a bad idea to prohibit the press screenings of the film to certain media. Were only allowed those who would post a sympathetic review of popular comedy.
The scandal is then quickly relayed by media such as Street89 or even France Inter (via journalist Florence Leroy). In his review, Le Figaro even adds:
The distributor of The truth if I lie ! 3 did not invite Le Figaro to see his film before its theatrical release – according to custom. Too bad, we probably missed out on a masterpiece for which no negative reviews were allowed.
If in the beginning, the distributor denied this practice, he was forced to later recognize the maneuver. The defense was clumsy, however, as its only argument was the freedom to choose to do not to organize screenings for all the press.
The truth if I lie ! 3 is far from the first film to have been the subject of such a “ban”. Indeed, a few months before him, Hollywood (with Florence Foresti and Jamel Debbouze) made headlines by refusing entry to press screenings to certain media.
A few years later, it was The Visitors: The Revolution who in turn used this practice. Indeed, the JDD reveals that Gaumont would have censored the press.
