In 1910 Paris, in the midst of the Great Flood, shy projectionist Emile Petit travels with his friend Raoul to the Botanical Gardens to make a delivery. In the absence of the Professor who works there, the place is guarded by a proboscis monkey named Charles. Raoul experiments with two potions, one named "Atomize-a-Tune" (which gives operatic singing voices to whoever it's used on) and the other "Super Fertilizer" (which causes plants to temporarily grow to enormous sizes). An explosion occurs after the two chemicals mix, and Emile glimpses a monstrous creature which escapes the laboratory and appears to terrorise the citygoers.
Meanwhile, Lucille, a cabaret singer at the club L'Oiseau Rare and Raoul's childhood friend, is pushed by her aunt Carlotta to marry wealthy Police Commissioner Victor Maynott. After numerous sightings of the creature, Maynott fronts an investigation launched by his second-in-command, Pâté. One night, Lucille encounters the creature and is at first terrified, but discovers it is actually an enlarged flea - launched from Charles' fur - with a euphonious singing voice. Lucille dubs the creature "Francœur" and lets him live in her dressing room.
Maynott learns of Emile and Raoul's involvement in the laboratory explosion, but disregards it and awards them the Medal of Honor. They both get seats at Lucille's next show, where she and a disguised Francœur sing as a duet. After the show, Lucille accidentally reveals the identity of Francœur to Emile and Raoul, who attend a conference the next day where Maynott announces that he plans to find and kill the monster. After Francœur is nearly revealed when Albert - a waiter at the L'Oiseau Rare - tips the commissioner off to the flea's location, Lucille plans to have Francœur feign his death in a ceremony the following day.
The plan goes awry, and Maynott chases Francœur and his friends through the streets of Paris. The chase culminates in a battle at the Eiffel Tower; a gunshot from Maynott and Francœur's sudden disappearance lead everyone to believe that Francœur has been killed. Maynott is placed under arrest by Pâté on the basis that Francœur is innocent. Later that evening, Lucille discovers that Francœur is alive and has returned to his natural size. The Professor returns to the laboratory and restores Francœur to human size with a new mixture. Francœur takes second billing on posters advertising Lucille's show, while Lucille and Raoul become a couple after clearing up a misunderstanding from their childhood.
In a post credit scene, Francœur, Emile, Lucille, and Raoul are shown solving the Great flood by dropping sunflower seeds which have been enhanced with super fertilizer, consuming large amounts of water and growing to large size.
In another post credit scene, Albert and a street thief are shown in a cell, badly singing much to Maynott's horror.
The soundtrack includes both songs and short clips from the film, in both French and English. The soundtrack of the English version was released in the UK a few days after the film's release on both CD and digital download. The album is credited to Vanessa Paradis & (-M-)
"La Seine and I" (Vanessa Paradis & Sean Lennon) (2:48)
"Perquisition" (0:59)
"Sacré Cœur" (0:56)
"Papa Paris" (Vanessa Paradis) (2:23)
"Sue le Fleuve – Tournesol" (1:15)
"Tour Eiffel Infernale" (2:29)
"Love is in My Soul" (Sean Lennon) (1:30)
"Flashback" (1:39)
"Just a Little Kiss" (Vanessa Paradis & Sean Lennon) (2:24)
"Funky Baiser" (5:13)
Reception
The film received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received an aggregate score of 87% based on 23 reviews (20 "fresh" and 3 "rotten").[4]
