Sam Karmann Movies
- 2008
Three couples wrestle with temptation and fidelity in this tart romantic comedy from France. Anne (Karin Viard) is a producer at a local television station in Lyons; she's edging into her forties and is wound a bit tighter than she needs to be. As Anne struggles to get ahead at work, she finds herself growing tired of her husband Thomas (Sam Karmann, who also directed the film), a laid-back academic. Before she met Thomas, Anne was married to Marc (Francois Cluzet), a workaholic real estate man who left her to wed younger and prettier Caroline (Julie Delarme). But now that Caroline is pregnant with his child, Marc finds he's not as attracted to her, and begins having disloyal thoughts about other women. And Vincent (Andre Dussollier) is a successful writer who is involved with a man who is young and handsome; however, Vincent's lover doesn't always trust him, and is convinced Vincent will be playing the field when he goes out on a promotion tour for his next book and researches a biography of once-famous jazz singer Pauline Anderton (Ginette Bellue). True Enough (aka La Verite ou Presque) was based on a novel by author Stephen McCauley. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 2003
French filmmaker Sam Karmann directs the crime drama A La Petite Semaine (Nickel and Dime), co-written with actual ex-con Desir Carre. When fiftysomething Jacques (Gerard Lanvin) gets released after serving five years in prison, he goes right to his local hangout and reunites with his old hoodlum friends in a working-class section of Montmarte. His friend Francis (Jacques Gamblin) has been taking acting classes, living with his mother (Liliane Rovere), and dating the waitress Camille (Julie Durand). His other friend, small-time crook Didier (Clovis Cornillac),has been gambling a lot, event though he and his wife Josiane (Sarah Haxaire) are expecting a baby. To the dismay of head criminal Marcel (Etienne Chicot), Jacques doesn't want to continue with a life of crime. A La Petite Semaine also stars Philippe Nahon as the bartender. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gérard Lanvin, Jacques Gamblin, (more)
- 1999
In Oscar-winning director Sam Karmann's feature debut, full-time novelist Simon (Jean-Pierre Bacri) slowly slides off the deep end. Bored and thoroughly self-absorbed, he spends more of his time playing with a revolver and performing oral surgery on himself than on his writing. In a series of morosely defiant voice-overs, Simon ridicules everything from his grown children who he thinks he never should have bothered with fathering to his wife who is having an affair with an ears, nose, and throat specialist. In his tedium, he becomes obsessed with his psychologist's watch, supposedly the very watch that John F. Kennedy had on his wrist the day he was assassinated. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Bacri, Nicole Garcia, (more)
- 1999
- NR
In this irreverent comedy, four guys from a Paris housing project fabricate a documentary about drug dealers working in the City of Lights. When a television network falls hook, line, and sinker for the prank video, the foursome are given a free three-week vacation in the upscale resort community of Biarritz. As they interact with both locals and fellow tourists, they learn about love, friendship, racism, and the differences between the rich and the poor. This debut feature from director Djamel Bensalah was expanded to feature length from a short subject (the fake exposé on drug dealing) and became a surprise box-office hit in France. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jamel Debbouze, Stéphane Soo Mongo, (more)
- 1998
Martin Lamotte made his directorial debut with this French comedy. Building contractor Patrick (Sam Karmann) is unaware that Helene (Catherine Frot), his wife for 15 years, intends to celebrate their wedding anniversary with a surprise party. She's invited friends and relatives to spend the weekend at their blue house. Elsewhere down the road, at an identical blue house, Patrick and his other love, Elizabeth (co-scripter Carol Brenner), the mother of his two-year-old daughter, are planning an engagement party for the son of their neighbor. Neither woman knows about the other, and this sticky situation requires Patrick to rush back and forth from one blue house to another throughout the evening. The story is told in flashback by Patrick -- from his hospital bed. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Catherine Frot, Sam Karmann, (more)
- 1994
- PG
This French comedy parodies horror movies and detective films. It is set at the Cannes Film Festival. There, Odile, a sincere publicist, tries to promote the horror movie "Red Is Dead." The movie tells of a killer in a welding mask who wields a hammer and sickle with deadly results. The trouble begins when a real killer with the same m.o. begins knocking off projectionists at market screenings. In true publicist form, Odile immediately brings the film's star to the festival. To protect him, Odile hires a handsome bodyguard. Odile finds herself romanced by a police commissioner. Meanwhile a stranger lurks in the distance. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alain Chabat, Dominique Farrugia, (more)
- 1993
Martine and Jacques (Zabou and Sam Karmann) knew their friend before he became an important television personality, but have not seen him for over ten years. They are hospitable people - witness the fact that they have been putting up with having writer Georges (Jean-Pierre Bacri) be their informal roommate, as he sleeps on their living-room sofa off and on over the years whenever he is between jobs. They have invited their friend and his wife Charlotte (Agnes Jaoui) over for dinner, and are on pins and needles, as they want everything to go just right. Instead, George allows his bitterness that Charlotte, his ex-girlfriend, married a success to overwhelm him, and Martine and Jacques are apalled when their brother, who hasn't a penny and is deeply in debt, persuades their guest of honor to join him in a high-stakes poker game. The many subcurrents taking place between the celebrity and everyone else necessitate frequent conferences in the kitchen. This movie is based on a successful stage play, and features the original cast. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Bacri, Zabou, (more)
- 1989
Postwar France was slow to recover from the after-effects of the World War Two. The economy was doing poorly, and many people were poor and homeless, sleeping under bridges, etc. The winter of 1953-54 proved particularly difficult for these people, as it was one of the coldest on record. Father Pierre (Lambert Wilson), a parish priest, on seeing the suffering of these people (and their frequent death from the cold), was moved to write the French government seeking help for them. When his letter, which was published in the newspapers, succeeded in rousing overwhelming popular support for helping the homeless, he was able to form a charitable group (still active today) titled "Les Chiffoniers d'Emmaus," or "The Ragpickers of Emmaus" to channel help to them. This biographical film tells the true story of Abbe Pierre's successful efforts in those years. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lambert Wilson, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
Diminutive pop star Prince plays another variation on the suave gigolo in this vanity piece. Set on the French Riviera, the story follows Christopher Tracy as he plays piano in a bistro and woos rich Continental ladies for dollars. Tracy and his accomplice Tricky (Jerome Benton of The Time), compete for the attention of a fabulously rich heiress (Kristen Scott Thomas), much to the dismay of her stodgy father (Steven Berkoff). The rest of the screen time is padded with songs and musical montages. ~ Jeremy Beday, Rovi
- Starring:
- Prince, Steven Berkoff, (more)
- 1983
Sam Fuller (1911-1997) directed this rather mediocre crime story about a Bonnie-and-Clyde couple -- how they got together and how they are pursued for a murder they never committed. François (Bobby Di Cicco) and Isabelle (Veronique Jannot) meet in an unemployment office, a likely place to find others in their profession: he is a cellist and she, an art historian. While there, Isabelle gets into a nasty incident with one of the clerks, and François helps her out of the office with the end result that the two continue meeting and eventually fall in love. They try to make money as street musicians, though nothing seems to work out. Isabelle then suggests they rob the three unemployment office personnel who were the most obnoxious to them, a suggestion that leads to their breaking into an apartment in which the occupant accidentally falls to his death. At first both Isabelle and the police believe she pushed the man out the window -- and the chase is on. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Véronique Jannot, Bobby Di Cicco, (more)
In the French-made film (La Balance), a couple get caught between the French underworld and the cops who pledge to destroy it. The man is a one-time mobster, now pimp named Dede (Philippe Leotard) who's forced to squeal on some mob-land biggies in exchange for his acquittal from any connection to crimes committed and to get the cops off the back of his prostitute wife Nicole (Nathalie Baye). This one's full of chase scenes, profanity (it's dubbed in English), and violence. It was awarded many Caesar awards (the French equivalent of the Oscar). ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Nathalie Baye, Philippe Léotard, (more)
