The Visitors

In twelfth-century France, the knight Godefroy de Montmirail mistakenly kills his future father-in-law, having taken the man for a bear. Hoping to undo the deed, he asks a wizard to send him back to the moment before it happened. The spell misfires, and Godefroy and his servant Jacquouille are thrown forward into the 1990s instead. Stranded in a world of cars, telephones and motorways, the two medieval men cause havoc as they try to understand their surroundings and find a way home, eventually crossing paths with descendants of their own families.

Jean-Marie Poiré directed and co-wrote the film with Christian Clavier, who plays Jacquouille alongside Jean Reno as Godefroy. Valérie Lemercier appears in a dual role as Godefroy's medieval betrothed and her modern descendant. The film was the fifth feature Poiré had directed, following Men Prefer Fat Girls, Santa Claus Is a Stinker and Gramps Is in the Resistance, and it was followed by several later instalments in the series. Produced by Alain Terzian on a budget of about 50 million dollars, it took roughly 99 million dollars worldwide, a strong return and among the biggest French commercial successes of its time.

On IMDb it holds a rating of 7 out of 10 from around 41,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.1 out of 10 from roughly 2,100 votes, indicating a broadly favourable audience response. The critics' rating of 5.3 out of 10 from 13 reviews is noticeably lower, suggesting that reviewers were less enthusiastic than the public.