by Jean Poiret
Written in 1980, the play Happy holidays! has already become a classic show of the boulevard theater. Poiret's text became famous through its film adaptation in 1984 with an exceptional cast, among which Jean-Paul Belmondo and Sophie Marceau stand out in the leading roles. On the theater stage, the play has been reprised many times from 1982 to the present with great success, being played including at the Théâtre du Palais Royal in Paris.
A few days before Easter, Ştefan, a middle-aged man, takes advantage of the absence of his wife, Silvia, to invite Magda, a beautiful young woman he has fallen head over heels for, to his home. His plans are turned upside down by a strike that causes flights to be canceled and his wife's unexpected return home in the middle of the night.
Caught red-handed, Stefan shows an overflowing imagination, fabricating stories to justify the girl's presence at their home. He confidently maintains the lie that Magda is his daughter from a previous marriage that he kept hidden from his current wife. The fact that his wife plays his game with intelligence and humor creates complicated, improbable situations, Silvia encouraging Stefan to get entangled in the complicated web of his own lies to the point where the comedy reaches paroxysmal proportions.
