PARIS — Despite the traditional August lull and the terrorist attacks in Barcelona, the death of Jerry Lewis has been big news here in France, where the American actor-writer-director-producer was revered as an outstanding artist, and a polymath auteur. The French daily newspaper Libération stated it clearly and simply on its front page: “Génie Lewis” (“Lewis the Genius”), summarizing in two words what the French have thought of the American comedian since the early 1950s.

Françoise Nyssen, France’s culture minister, said Mr. Lewis had “reinvigorated American burlesque.” She added that he “didn’t always receive the praise he deserved in his home country, whereas French critics recognized his talent from early on.”

Ms. Nyssen’s statement concluded: “Jerry Lewis made us laugh, he made us happy. France, which was the country of his heart and of his success, will always dearly remember his voice, his silhouette and his humor.”

Jerry Lewis was always a subject of a deep trans-Atlantic misunderstanding, one that triggered sarcasm in the United States, and bewilderment in France. While some Americans felt embarrassed by this contortionist comic, the French embraced Mr. Lewis’s humor as both an abstract art and social satire of American life. Americans mocked the French for falling for this crass clown, while the French couldn’t understand why Mr. Lewis’s genius was not obvious to his compatriots.