Godefroy is proud and stubborn. Xerxes is infinitely more so. When Jacquouille (having switched back) sneaks into the Persian palace to retrieve the crystal fragment, he accidentally insults the king’s beard. Xerxes’ response—to order the execution of every bald man in the empire—is a perfect comedic escalation. It mirrors the medieval absurdity (like Jacquouille being sentenced to the guillotine for refusing to pay TV license tax) but on an epic, historical scale.
The character of Xerxes, played with unhinged joy by Jean-Pierre Clami, remains a high-water mark for comedic historical figures in cinema. He is absurd, terrifying, and pathetic all at once. When he finally disappears back into the corridors of time, you almost miss him. Almost. Les Visiteurs 2 : Les Couloirs du temps is a messy, chaotic, brilliant film. It asks the question: What happens when you open too many doors in time? The answer: You get Xerxes demanding tax returns from a medieval lord inside a 20th-century hypermarket. les visiteurs 2 les couloirs du temps xerxes
This is where the film transforms from a simple medieval-fish-out-of-water story into a sprawling, tri-temporal farce. When film historians discuss Les Visiteurs 2 , the name "Xerxes" triggers a distinct response: a mix of laughter and confusion. The character appears for only a handful of scenes, yet his presence looms over the entire second act. Who is this Xerxes? Godefroy is proud and stubborn
Historically, Xerxes I was the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, famous for his massive invasion of Greece (immortalized in the film 300 ). In Les Visiteurs 2 , however, he is something far more delightful: a petty, vain, easily manipulated despot who becomes an unwitting pawn in the time-travel chaos. Xerxes’ response—to order the execution of every bald
The virtue of including Xerxes is that it elevates the stakes beyond a simple family squabble. Godefroy isn't just fighting to fix his bloodline; he is fighting to prevent a temporal paradox where Persian culture overwrites Merovingian France. The film toys with the idea of the "Grandfather Paradox" but replaces it with the "Xerxes Paradox": What if the king who burned Athens showed up at a Carrefour? For years, critics dismissed Les Visiteurs 2 as inferior to the original. But in the age of the MCU and multiverse storytelling (e.g., Everything Everywhere All at Once ), this 1998 film looks prophetic. It understood that time travel is not about history; it is about collision . And no collision is more satisfying than watching a Persian king, dripping in gold, scream at a French peasant about a stolen magic rock.
This line encapsulates the film’s genius. Xerxes is not evil; he is simply a man of his time (which is a different time) applying his logic (conquest and fire) to a world that has no category for him. Godefroy ultimately defeats him not with a sword, but with a lesson in temporal mechanics: he shoves the crystal into Xerxes' crown, causing the king to be violently sucked back to 467 B.C., where he arrives mid-feast, confused and wearing a 20th-century sneaker on one foot. Let us be clear: Les Visiteurs 2 has zero interest in historical accuracy regarding Xerxes. The real Xerxes was a sophisticated administrator and builder. The film’s Xerxes is a screaming caricature of Orientalist despotism—but it is a self-aware caricature. The film mocks all eras equally: the Middle Ages are brutish and superstitious; the modern era is sterile and bureaucratic; the Persian Empire is opulent and irrational.
Xerxes, not understanding the science of temporal displacement, interprets this as an act of war by a "king of the barbarians from the North" (the Franks). Enraged, he declares a holy decree: he will build a second set of "Couloirs" (corridors) – not of time, but of conquest – to find this Godefroy. On paper, pitting a 11th-century French knight against a 5th-century B.C. Persian king is nonsense. But Les Visiteurs 2 is a film that runs on nonsense—high-octane, logically consistent nonsense. Here is why the Xerxes subplot is comedic genius:
