French Director Claims Plagiarism 36 Years After Iconic American Film Triumphed!

In December 1990, “Home Alone” hit theaters and immediately became a cult classic! Over three decades later, the film featuring Macaulay Culkin is still ranked among the top Christmas movies, with fans eagerly passing down their love for the film to subsequent generations.

However, the success of Chris Columbus’s movie may be shadowed by a potential dark tale of plagiarism. In January 1990, “3615 Code Père Noël” was released in French cinemas, telling a story that bears striking resemblances to the American classic.

Director René Manzor conceived this unconventional thriller while collaborating with his son, Alain Musy, on “Le Passage,” his debut film. “He had an amazing imagination and playfulness, which inspired me to write a story centered around him. And as he was starting to doubt the existence of Santa Claus, I thought I needed to make a film to address this loss”, Manzor shared in an interview with BFM TV.

A Psychopathic Santa

The story follows nine-year-old Thomas de Frémont, who is deeply passionate about action films. Familiar with every corner of his large family home, he has turned it into a real playground with secret passages and clever traps.

Left alone on Christmas night with his grandfather, he eagerly awaits Santa Claus’s arrival. But when Santa comes down the chimney, the dream turns into a nightmare! The man behind the costume is a dangerous psychopath intent on shedding blood. Thomas’s night turns into a terrifying ordeal where his ingenuity is his only means of survival.

This plot should sound familiar, reminiscent of “Home Alone,” which premiered nearly a year after “3615 Code Père Noël.” The similarities are indeed uncanny! Was it inspiration, plagiarism, or just a coincidence? For René Manzor, one of these seems obvious!

The film was written in 1987 and shot in 1988. It then had a very limited release in January 1990. “We believed in the film. We thought we would hold a screening and then choose a distributor. But it didn’t meet the usual expectations of a French film, and people were too scared to release it. It wasn’t a children’s movie, yet it featured Santa Claus. They didn’t know how to market it”, Manzor analyzes.

Plagiarism or Not?

Before its limited release in France, “3615 Code Père Noël” was shown at various festivals, including Avoriaz (the precursor to Gérardmer). “In the audience were Ray Bradbury, Roman Polanski, and Wes Craven. All three stood up at the end of the screening and gave a standing ovation. It was crazy to see that in my own country, I couldn’t release my film, yet here were three masters of the fantastic up on their feet, applauding”, recalls the filmmaker.

The film was later presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 1989. There, John Hughes, the screenwriter of “Home Alone,” allegedly became captivated by this unlikely pitch. He, being on vacation in France at that time, reportedly returned to the USA with the idea of creating a children’s movie about a boy rigging his house with traps to evade criminals.

“Home Alone” was released in November 1990. My career in the United States started after this plagiarism.

“Even abroad, the film was quite well-known, as it was the precursor to ‘Home Alone.’ Gradually, it became sort of an invisible film that everyone wanted to see and rewatch”, explains Stéphane Bouyer, co-founder of the video publishing company Le Chat qui fume, which released “3615 Code Père Noël” on Blu-ray.

So, coincidence or plagiarism, what do you think? We’ll let you ponder that! An amusing detail: René Manzor, whose real name is René Lalanne, is the brother of singer Francis Lalanne, who also produced “3615 Code Père Noël.”

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