My Uncle Benjamin (French: Mon oncle Benjamin) is a 1969 French-Italian historical comedy film directed by ÃÂdouard Molinaro and starring Jacques Brel, Claude Jade and Bernard Alane. It was shot at the Billancourt Studios in Paris and on location around Yonne. The film's sets were designed by the art director François de Lamothe. The film is based on a once-popular French comic novel My Uncle Benjamin by Claude Tillier (1843). The 1969 film Don't Grieve, directed by the Georgian Georgi Daneliya, is also based on Tillier's novel as was Francis Bousquet's 1942 comic opera Mon oncle Benjamin. The film was released on 28 November 1969.
The story is set in 1750 during the time of Louis XV. Benjamin (Jacques Brel) is a country doctor in love with the beautiful innkeeper's daughter, Manette (Claude Jade), but she refuses his advances until he produces a marriage contract. After suffering a humiliating practical joke and condemned to prison, Benjamin escapes with Manette, who realizes she prefers happiness to a marriage contract after all.