Maurice Chevit Movies
Two men from two different walks of life develop an unexpected friendship in French director Patrice Leconte's 2002 comedy-drama The Man on the Train. Weary from his trip and in anticipation of the heist he's about to perform, Milan (French rock star Johnny Hallyday) steps off the train after arriving in the small town where he's to meet his co-conspirators and heads straight to the town pharmacy. After accidentally buying the wrong product, Milan makes the acquaintance of retired teacher Manesquier (Jean Rochefort), who offers to help the traveler and then promptly begins talking ad nauseum. Milan, after paying partial attention to the old man's ramblings, excuses himself to find accommodations -- only to run into Manesquier once more after learning that the hotel has closed for the night. As the two men talk, they develop a respect for one another, as well as a secret longing to live the type of lifestyle the other man lives based on the desire to escape their own. The Man on the Train gained positive notice after being selected for competition in the 2002 Venice Film Festival, as well as for the 2002 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Rochefort, Johnny Hallyday, (more)
Three older Jewish women deal with issues in their families and the long shadow of the Holocaust in this episodic drama. In the film's first segment, Rivka (Shulamit Adar) is on a bus tour of Poland with her husband and is accidentally left behind after a stop at a cemetery. She is furious with her husband, who didn't notice that she was missing; she's felt neglected by him for years, but she doesn't have the strength to leave him. The second story moves to Paris, where Regine (Liliane Rovere) receives startling news: her father, who supposedly died in a concentration camp during World War II, is actually alive in Lithuania. When she arrives in Lithuania, she's startled by the sight of her father, a very old man who doesn't quite recognize her, as well as his story: after the liberation of his camp, he made his way on foot and ended up behind the Iron Curtain, from where he was unable to return to Europe. In the final story, Vera (Esther Gorintin) and her neighbors travels from Moscow to Tel Aviv, hoping to visit a cousin who is now in a rest home. She eventually gets lost and is befriended by Rivka, from the first episode. Voyages is the directorial debut for Emmanuel Finkiel, who previously worked as an assistant director for Krzysztof Kieslowski and made a short film that won a César award in France. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shulamit Adar, Liliane Rovere, (more)
- 1997
Ariel Zeitoun directed this French comedy depicting Ashkenazic-Sephardic rivalries in the Jewish garment district of Paris. Tunisian-Jewish businessman Alain Berrebi (Michel Boujenah) courts Ashkenazi princess Arlette Stern (Elsa Zylberstein). Her father David (Maurice Chevit) learns of the death of a rural Auvergne peasant who once hid David and his cousin Nathan (Felix Fibich) from the Nazis. Nathan is now a NYC diamond dealer on West 47th Street. David, Nathan, Arlette, and Berrebi head for the funeral in Auvergne. There they encounter the deceased peasant's son, Jean Bourdalou (Gerard Depardieu), who operates the family's restaurants in Paris. Arlette does a romantic take on Bourdalou, which sends the distraught Berrebi off to cry on the shoulder of his mother Gaby (Gina Lollobrigida). Back in Paris, Bourdalou and Berrebi make plans to open a trendy fashion restaurant in Manhattan. The title of this movie is a pun reference not only to shirt size and the central characters' wide scope of ambitions, but also to XXL, a Paris porn channel. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Boujenah, Gérard Depardieu, (more)
- 1996
An ice-cold, ruthless business woman, desperate to have a baby, makes a deal with a small manufacturer, desperate to save his business from being take over by the woman's larger company. This French comedy, filled with open discussions of the reproductive process, chronicles the result of their bargain. In order to keep his family toymaking business in France, Eric Fleury agrees to marry the 36-year-old, tough executive Sandrine Rey. Unfortunately, he believes that conjugal rights are part of the bargain. Sandrine has other plans. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clémentine Célarié, Patrick Braoudé, (more)
Erotic, funny, and very French, this film relies heavily on the critically-acclaimed performance of Jean Rochefort. As a child, Antoine (Rochefort) was obsessed with the ample beautician who cut his hair, and since then, his single ambition in life has been to marry a hairdresser. As an adult, Antoine meets a woman (Anna Galiena) who seems to be the perfect incarnation of his childhood fantasies. He promptly marries her, then spends most of his daylight hours sitting in her shop, watching her every move. They are so crazy in love that some days they close up early to be alone. As time passes the shop becomes their entire world. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Rochefort, Anna Galiena, (more)
- 1987
In this comedy, young Moses Levy is a Hassidic Jew who lives a quiet existence, avoiding entanglement with the modern world. However, his job requires that he travel between the diamond capital of Antwerp to Paris to deliver diamond powder to an auto assembly plant. Without his knowledge, a gang of cocaine smugglers stashed some of their similar-looking wares amid his own, so as to make it past customs. When they begin taking drastic actions in order to get their stash back, Moses is forced to call on his worldly brother Albert -- a man who has left the faith -- in order to stay alive. Along the way, he almost becomes romantically entangled with a Muslim girl and has encounters with an undercover cop in drag at a club featuring transvestite performers. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Anconina, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1965
The first film directed by Costa-Gavras, The Sleeping Car Murders was based on a novel by Sebastien Japrisot. During a Marseilles-to-Paris overnight train trip, a girl is found dead in a sleeping car. As Paris detective Yves Montand steps up his investigation, more and more passengers turn up murdered. The unlikely climax is the only sore point of this otherwise well-wrought mystery. Bereft of the politicizing of Costa-Gavras' later works, The Sleeping Car Murders exhibits the director's fondness for American "film noir" thrillers. The film first hit Parisian movie screens under the title Compartiment Tueurs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Jean-Louis Trintignant, (more)
- 1963
The scene is the French Riviera. Based on eyewitness testimony, three identically dressed men are accused of kidnapping and murdering a child, but two of them can possibly be guilty. Is the innocent party Anthony Perkins, an American who has fled to France in the wake of a sex scandal? Is it Italian Renato Salvatori, whose bad reputation with women has preceded him? Or is it Jean-Claude Brialy, a French businessman whose sister uses her sexual wiles to clinch her brother's big business deals? We'll never know...because Two Are Guilty director Andre Cayatte, a longtime critic of the French justice system, contrives to have all three suspects killed by an out-of-control mob. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Perkins, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
