Alain Terzian Movies

Recalling such prior successes as The Big Chill, Peter's Friends, and Return of the Secaucus 7, director Danièle Thompson's seriocomedy A Change of Plans follows a group of four French couples who converge in an apartment over the course of one lengthy summer's eve and spend the time chatting about life, personal goals, relationships, and sex. The said event unfurls during the perennial "Fête de la Musique" in the City of Lights. Attendees include the shark-like divorce attorney who owns the apartment, ML (Karin Viard), and her out-of-work husband, Piotr (Dany Boon); slick, unctuous attorney Lucas (Christopher Thompson) and his slightly stuck-up homemaker wife, Sarah (Emmanuelle Seigner); gynecologist Melanie (Marina Fois) and her oncologist husband, Alain (Patrick Bruel); and ML's sister, Juliette (Marina Hands), and her much older boyfriend, Erwann (Patrick Chesnais). As the night unfurls, it becomes readily apparent that none of the partners are happy and that virtually all have cheated or are planning on cheating on each other, which turns the film into an extended meditation on dissatisfaction and infidelity among the Parisian upper crust. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

At $23 million, this sequel cost three times as much as the earlier Les Visiteurs (1993), France's second largest postwar success (with 13.6 million tickets sold). The follow-up features a voiceover summary of the first film while pages flip in an illuminated book. In the 1993 film, a magic potion launched 11th-century knight Godefroy de Montmirail (Jean Reno) and his loyal vassal Jacquouille la Fripouille (Christian Clavier) spinning through time to the modern-day French countryside where they found the Montmirail chateau converted into an upscale resort run by Jacquart (also played by Clavier), an innkeeper soon transported to the Middle Ages. The sequel opens with a prologue showing Jacquouille and Ginette (Marie-Anne Chazel) creating confusion in a contemporary supermarket. A stolen relic left in the 20th Century must be returned to the past, or Godefroy's marriage will be cursed. Jacquart faces his own problems -- wolves, angry peasants, torture, and burning at the stake. All the key characters flit back and forth between the 1990s and the past. In the present day, playboy Hubert de Montmirail (Reno) has been missing for 15 years, and his shrewish wife Cora (Claire Nadeau) finds the missing relic. When Godefroy turns up, he's naturally assumed to be the missing Hubert. Les Visiteurs II had the biggest opening day in French film history, breaking the record set by Men in Black and generating Gallic guffaws galore in a country where few films ever receive the sequel treatment. English language title The Corridors of Time: The Visitors II. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

This gently satirical French comedy centers on the resulting brouhaha that erupts when the preadolescent daughter of a very conservative bourgeoisie couple gets the chance to appear in a raucous music video starring a raunchy, aging female rocker. When pipe-puffing patriarch and solid citizen Brice learns that his daughter Clemence has been to selected for the music video with tacky has-been rocker Gloria, he nearly comes unglued. His prim wife, Benedicte, the organist for the local congregation, has a different perspective and understands her daughter's eagerness. She quietly agrees to secretly accompany Clemence during the shoot. Once there, the two are filmed dancing around and having fun. Neither realize that they will become special-effects victims by time production on the film ends and find themselves apparently dancing amongst men who but for the presence of small rubber sea creatures, would be buck naked. Poor Benedicte is appalled and so launches a campaign to save the family reputation. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Two men find themselves pulled away from their natures by otherworldly forces in this French comedy. While they're very different people, Antoine Carco (Gerard Depardieu), the owner of a strip club in Paris, and Father Tarain (Christian Clavier), a straight-laced man of the cloth, have one thing in common -- both are followed by guardian angels who guide them and tell them what to do. However, the good father's angel has a wild streak and likes urging him into trouble, while Carco's is very proper and a bit appalled with what he does for a living. When friend of Carco's is killed in Hong Kong, Carco honors the man's last request and flies to Hong Kong to bring his son back to Paris to be with his mother. Carco is also asked to fetch some money from members of the Triads (the Hong Kong Mafia), but this doesn't go over especially well with the mobsters. To insure the boy's safe return, Carco asks Father Tarain, who has been traveling, to take the boy back to Paris for him. The father agrees and takes the boy, not knowing that Carco stashed $40 million in Triad money in the kid's suitcase. Before long, Carso's conscience is bothering him about his recklessness, while Father Tarain's guardian angel is encouraging him to take a walk on the wild side. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A modern farce about medieval life, this is a time-travel comedy by French director Jean-Marie Poire. A 12th-century nobleman, Godefroy (Jean Reno), and his squire Jacquouille (Christian Clavier) are the victims of a mistake by an aging wizard. While trying to work another spell, the sorcerer accidentally transports the pair to the late 20th century. To his great dismay, Godefroy finds that his family is now poor and has sold their estate to Jacquouille's rich descendants, including Jacquart (also played by Clavier). The insensitive new owners plan to turn the castle into a modern hotel. Meanwhile, the sorcerer asks his own descendant for help in trying to get his charges to return back to medieval times. The film, which details with comic precision the differences in manners and technology between the two eras, was a huge hit in France. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

Michaud (Michel Serrault) is a timid and anxiety-ridden security-systems technician who is prone to daydreams like Walter Mitty. Continually teased by his colleagues and his taunting alter ego, Michaud is victimized by a fellow employee who tries to implicate him in a bank robbery. He emerges from his emotional isolation and daydreams to help trap the crooks. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Martin Morel (Jean Poiret) is a philandering executive who talks his friend Guillaume (Jacques Villeret) into posing as the husband of his teenage mistress in this uneven romantic comedy. Morel's indulgent wife Beatrice (Eva Darlan) must decide whether or not to forgive Martin after Guillaume and the mistress fall in love. All the action takes place at the Morel family's Alpine ski resort. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Nicolas (Francis Perrin) is the director of a swinging club for singles in this routine sex comedy. In addition to his own amorous conquests, he tries to help his shy friend improve his lonely love life. Nicolas eventually begins to wonder if settling down in a relationship with the right woman is the way to go. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Scene of the Crime (Le Lieu du Crime) begins with a quote from Great Expectations. Thirteen-year-old Nicolas Giraudi, picking flowers in a cemetery, is surprised by escaped criminal Wadeck Stanczak, who orders the boy to bring him some money. Displaying no signs of fear, Giraudi does what he is told, and as a "reward" his life is spared by the convict. Later on, Stanczak gets stinking drunk at a road house managed by Giraudi's mother, Catherine Deneuve. Fascinated by Stanczak, Deneuve arranges for the fugitive to take a room at a local hotel. On the day that Giraudi is to receive his first communion, his mother plans to run off with Stanczak. The climactic set-to between criminals and police has the negatory effect of separating Giraudi from his mother; on a more positive note, however, the boy has been drawn closer to his father Victor Lanoux, whom Deneuve despised. The dreamlike, new wave-ish Scene of the Crime is a lot more complex than this skeletal synopsis would suggest. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi