Le Tatoué is a French-Italian film directed by Denys de La Patellière, released in 1968.
Louis de Funes is an antique dealer who is rich in the trade of naive paintings.
Félicien Mezeray meets at the painter Dubois, a former legionnaire named Legrain, who has come to have his portrait done, and who has an authentic Modigliani tattooed on his back.
As soon as he sees it, he sells it to two American collectors, Smith and Larsen.
As the ex-military man is reluctant to sell the painting on his back, Mezeray offers to restore his country house in exchange for this unique work of art. But he is unaware that the house in question is a ruined 11th century castle, the ancestral home of the angry and misanthropic legionnaire who happens to be the last Count of Montignac.
The film is shot, mainly, in the Dordogne.
The post office is in Domme and the castle of Montignac is actually located in Saint-Vincent-de-Paluel.
The Castle
Between mid-February and April 1968, the castle located in Saint-Vincent-le-Paluel, built in the 15th century, was used as a set to film the main scenes of the feature film. However, the building has the particularity of being completely in ruins.
"It's a ruin, look at it" exclaimed Louis de Funès on screen. He didn't think he was saying it right, because after the filming, the castle of Paluel was left to decay. Burned during the Second World War by the Germans on their return from Oradour-sur-Glane, the building made the headlines when the body of a drug dealer from Bordeaux was found in the well in 1980.
Among the owners of the castle of Paluel, we remember the doctor Jean Lassner who lived within the walls. When the pioneer of anesthesia died in 2007, his children put the property up for auction. Before being completely cleaned and renovated by the new English owner Kevin Cartledge in 2010. Then, unable to pay his debts, he had to part with his property. After an online auction on a participatory site, the castle of Paluel was sold in 2017 to a restorer from Périgord for a value of 853,000 euros.
The film
Director: Denys de La Patellière
Screenplay: Based on the novel by Alphonse Boudard "Gégène le tatoué
Adaptation and Dialogue : Pascal Jardin
Music : Georges Garvarentz
Running time: 85 minutes
Release date: September 18, 1968
Cast
Jean Gabin: Count Enguerand, Louis, Marie de Montignac alias Legrain (legionnaire)
Louis de Funès : Félicien Mézeray
Paul Mercey : Maurice Pellot
Dominique Davray : Suzanne Mézeray
Pierre Tornade : brigadier
Yves Barsacq : letter carrier of Montignac
Ibrahim Seck : Mézeray's valet
Henri Virlojeux : Mr Dubois
Hubert Deschamps : professor Mortemont
Patrick Préjean : detective
Pierre Maguelon : 2nd detective
Castle of Saint-Vincent-le-Paluel
24200 Saint-Vincent-le-Paluel
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