Richard Berry Movies

French farce master Francis Veber (The Dinner Game) combines slapstick laughs with rapid-fire dialogue as he tells the tale of a Parisian valet unwittingly drawn into the affairs of a wealthy industrialist. François Pignon (Gad Elmaleh) is a simple valet employed by a posh Paris restaurant. Blissfully unaware of the paparazzi stalking powerful businessman Pierre Levasseur (Daniel Auteuil) and his stunning mistress, Elena (Alice Taglioni), the innocent passerby François wanders haphazardly into the frame. Realizing that the common man in the photograph may be Levasseur's only hope of avoiding a nasty divorce from his wife, Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas), Pierre's quick-thinking lawyer (Richard Berry) arranges for François to live with Elena in order to mislead the tabloids. Having just been dumped by childhood sweetheart Emilie (Virginie Ledoyen), François accepts the proposal, in the hopes he can win her back through jealousy. But Pierre's jealousy flares, Elena grows frustrated with her new digs, and Christine might know more than she's letting on. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

French filmmaker and professor of music Denis Dercourt directs the family drama Mes Enfants Ne Sont Pas Comme Les Autres (My Children Are Different). Widowed cellist Jean Debart (Richard Berry) is strict with his two children in regards to their musical education. Teenager Adele (Elodie Peudepiece) studies the cello but yearns for some rebellious independence while 11-year-old Alexandre (Frederic Roullier) is firmly committed to playing the piano and observing his father's wishes. Their stern grandfather Maître Erhardt (Maurice Garrel) is an orchestra conductor and their uncle Gerald (Mathieu Amalric) is a less-ambitious musician who finds work making background sounds. Soon Adele finds herself growing away from her father's harsh rules when she meets fellow musician Thomas (Malik Zidi). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Gerard Depardieu and Jean Reno headline this comedic chase film about a pair of escaped convicts with two very different goals. Ruby (Reno) is a criminal with real gusto; in addition to stealing a crime boss' wife, he also made off with most of the gangster's cash. He almost got away with it, too. Now serving hard time for his bold crime, Ruby runs into Quentin (Depardieu), a desperate inmate with a brilliant escape plan. Before long, Ruby and Quentin are back on the outside. But they're hardly free; the cops are searching high and low for the fleeing convicts, and Ruby has a high price on his head. All Quentin wants is to maintain a low profile and open a coffee-house, but Ruby won't be happy until he's taken revenge on the criminal who had him incarcerated. Perhaps with a little look, both men will get what they're after. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Alexandre Arcady's thriller Entre Chiens et Loups (Break of Dawn) is about dishonor among hitmen. Radman (Joaquim de Almeida) hires terminally ill Adrien (Richard Berry) and brash youngster Werner (Saïd Taghmaoui) to fire at a Romanian political figure. The catch is that they are supposed to miss and be killed in order to make the politician look strong. Adrien agrees to the arrangement because he wants to collect a windfall for his family before leukemia claims him. The "shooters" are double-crossed and then have to stay alive long enough to get revenge. The film is based on a novel by Claude Klotz. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Two people on opposite sides of the law are brought together under unusual circumstances in this thriller. Lea (Elsa Zylberstein) is a young woman with a checkered past who has just finished a stretch in prison and is waiting for her teenaged brother, Sammy (Vincent Martinez), to pick her up. As it turns out, Sammy has been nurturing an impressive criminal career of his own, and he's killed in an ambush with plainclothes police officers within Lea's sight. Traumatized, Lea isn't sure where to turn, and finds solace in the arms of David (Richard Berry), a police detective who is dealing with a crisis of his own -- he confiscated two kilos of heroin during a drug bust, which ruthless criminal, Zak (Pascal Greggory), is demanding as ransom after kidnapping David's nine-month-old son. While their tragedies have brought them together, what Lea doesn't know is that David is the policeman who shot her brother, and soon they both find themselves at odds with one another's allies in the French criminal underworld. Un Ange was a rare foray into theatrical filmmaking for established television director Miguel Courtois. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Neither the youthful or the experienced have a monopoly on the joys or the follies of romance -- or at least that appears to be the message of Jean-Charles Tacchella's Les Gens Qui S'Aiment. Jean-Francois (Richard Berry) and Angie (Jacqueline Bisset) have known each other for 25 years and have been lovers on and off for most of that time. After two marriages (one ending in divorce, the other with her husband's death) and two children, the free-spirited Angie has returned to Jean-Francois, only to announce after a year of living together that she's leaving him to open a antique business in the United States. Jean-Francois regrets Angie's decision, but also knows her well enough to know there's little he can do to change her mind. Five years later, Jean-Francois has become friends with Angie's daughter Winnie (Julie Gayet), who now lives in Paris and has fallen in love with Laurent (Bruno Putzulu), a carefree artist who lives in a studio given to him by his father. However, after sleeping with Laurent, Winnie is convinced he can't be trusted and keeps him at a distance. Over the next few years, Laurent keeps running into Winnie, and Angie periodically arrives at Jean-Francois' doorstep only to leave again shortly after. Les Gens Qui S'Aiment was enthusiastically received in its' screening at the 1999 French-American Film Workshop at Avignon, France. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this saga of the love affair between an actor (Richard Berry) and an actress (Josiane Balasko, also the director) the two have gone from being lovers and working together, to being separated, and now are faced with an additional challenge to their relationship: they are both working in the same play. Berry and Balasko acted their roles in the stage production of Grand Cri D'Amour, which may not have helped here because some critics feel the play is not as effective in its movie incarnation. The story is relatively light-hearted, as these two lovers/actors who know each other so well communicate on several levels. But the danger is that Berry and Balasko also know these two actors so well that some of the excitement in portraying them is gone, and the stimulus of a live audience is naturally missing during the shooting of a film. For these reasons or for the fact that the script is not exceptionally innovative or the storyline unexpected, Grand Cri D'Amour is not a surprise, but it remains good light entertainment. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Based on a short novel by Ania Carmel, this dark drama follows the survival developed by a brother and sister forced to grow up under the tyrannical rule of a father who brutally attempts to instill a sense of self-reliance and preparedness into them by acts of cruelty. They cannot turn to their mother as she is dying of a terrible illness. To cope, Daniel and Marie form a close bond and communicate telepathically. When their mother finally dies, the children flee as their father tosses furniture out the windows. First they stay with a group of kindly cheese makers. When they prove to have sinister ulterior motives, the kids move on. One night at a disco, a man tries to seduce Marie and this sets the stage for tragedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This French farce chronicles one special day in the lives of a married pair of Parisian architects, Fabienne and Bruno, as they anxiously await the results of an important architectual contest they have entered. Unable to handle the stress of waiting, both turn to sexual liason's to ease their tension. Bruno ends up enacting a dark sexual fantasy with a stranger while Fabienne eventually succumbs to the advances of Bruno's friend Simon, a fortyish Lebanese businessman and part-time drug dealer. The comedy takes on overtones of psycho-drama when the contest winner announced and the couple discovers the truth of each other's actions. A cache of drugs, discovered in an apartment only adds to their troubles. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This unique French offering is a compilation of 30 short films focused on AIDS. The mini-films were based on over 3,000 ideas put in by French school children and were made by filmmakers on a voluntary basis. Most of the vignettes deal with heterosexuality and AIDS, but one deals with drug-usage, and one with homosexuality. It took four production houses three years to create this inspirational and informative film. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi