Evelyne Buyle Movies

A down-and-out sleight-of-hand artist tries to pull off the trick of a lifetime by keeping a decaying cabaret in business in this comedy-drama with music from director Thierry Klifa. Gabriel Stern (Claude Brasseur) has spent over four decades running the Blue Parrot, a Parisian nightclub where he regularly appeared in a drag act as "Gabriella." One evening, a weary Gabriel asks his friend and confidante Nicky (Gerard Lanvin), a magician who regularly appears on the Blue Parrot's stage, to finish closing up the club so he can go home. Nicky agrees, and the next morning he gets the sad news that Gabriel died in his sleep. Gabriel's son and daughter, both in their thirties, come to Paris to handle the funeral details -- Nino (Michael Cohen), a gay accountant who brings along his younger lover (Pierrick Lilliu), and Marianne (Geraldine Pailhas), who edits a well-known magazine for women. Also on hand are Simone (Miou-Miou), Gabriel's ex-wife, Marianne's mother and Nicky's former co-star; Alice (Catherine Deneuve), another of Gabiriel's exes who's also Nino's mom; and a number of the regular performers at the club. When Gabriel's will is read, to the surprise of many the ownership of the Blue Parrot is handed over to Nino and Marianne; the two have no interest in running a nightspot and announce the place is up for sale. Nicky wants to keep the Blue Parrot open, but doesn't have the money to buy the club, even though Gabriel's ghost frequently visits him, imploring him to find a way to prevent it from closing. Le Heros de la Famille (aka Family Hero also stars Emmanuelle Beart and Valerie Lemercier as members of the club's stable of regular performers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Claude Duty's feature-length debut Filles Perdues, Cheveux Gras (Hypnotized and Hysterical, (Hairstylist Wanted)) is an offbeat comedy about three women. Elodi (Olivia Bonamy) is a struggling single mother. Natacha (Marina Fois) is an upbeat alcoholic hair stylist whose beloved pet cat has disappeared. Marianne (Amira Casar) is drawn to a roguish, sexually adventurous art dealer. Their lives intertwine in a variety of ways. Song and dance numbers, as well as animated sequences, punctuate the film. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

In this broadly comic variation on the old saw of the female scientist who is beautiful when she takes her glasses off, anthropologist Cecile (Judith Godreche) has spent some time tracking what she believes to be a lost tribe only to find out that they're really just the employees of a firm with a lousy record on environmental issues. Stuck for a new project, Cecile gets the brainstorm of a scientific study of the contemporary "bimbo" tribe, and soon starts dressing herself up like a sleaze in short skirts and midriff-baring blouses in order to study the habits of these women. However, Cecile's bimbo disguise is so effective that Laurent (Gerard Depardieu), the head of her department, doesn't recognize her -- and finds himself infatuated with the newly flashy-looking Cecile. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

Claude Brasseur stars in this cinemadaptation of the Moliere play Georges Dandin, ou le mari confondu. Written in 1668, the play has been somewhat dwarfed by such like-vintage Moliere classics as The Imaginary Invalid. Still, it was popular enough in its time to inspire imitation, most notably Betterton's Don Juan and The Amorous Widow. The plot, involving a wealthy man's avoidance of marriage until he is trapped by a crafty widow, is but a peg upon which to hang any number of comic complications and character vignettes. Brasseur's leading lady is the toothsome Zabou. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this film that sends up the foibles of filmmaking, a standard crew of actors, stage-hands, director, writers, producers, and others are gathered for the filming of a 45-second automobile commercial. Each role embodies an archetype (the harried director who has a deadline to meet, the Scrooge production manager who has a budget to meet, and the writers who are above these mundane concerns), and these personalities drive the working actors over the edge until they decide to lock them up and do their own thing -- happiness can be just around the corner if you are in the driver's seat. Hopefully, the actors will be able to bow out before the police catch on to the situation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

When a rich man' dies and his maid Maria (Andrea Ferreol) unexpectedly becomes his heir, she is now the mistress of the man's household. In order to get revenge on the man's nephew Jerome (Victor Lannoux), for slights on her person which he committed while she was but a maid, she has kept him on as her personal valet. The two of them engage in a form of rivalry bordering on warfare, because the nephew thinks he should have gotten the money. However, every mean trick she plays on him makes her feel even worse, because he accepts them all without a qualm. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This crime drama, with elements of comedy and satire, is most notable as the final screen appearance of Michel Simon. In the story, Simon plays Zizi, a news vendor who is tired of anonymity and doesn't much like people anyway. He confesses to a series of strangling murders which, in fact, he has nothing to do with. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide