Eric Metayer Movies
- 2001
Part black comedy and part crime thriller, director Gerard Cuq's debut feature film The Wackos follows the story of four undercover narcotics officers as they take an unexpected detour into a life of crime. As they head to their assignment of infiltrating a costume party -- disguised as partygoers in Confederate army costumes -- the four aforementioned officers, along with their informant, make a quick stop at a bank so that one of their ranks might make a withdrawal. When the ATM eats his bank card, Debe (Christophe Laubion) and his companions head inside to complain, only to receive the cold shoulder from the tellers. Inexplicably, Debe impulsively exacts his revenge by robbing the bank -- and kills a number of people in the process. While fleeing the scene, the gang discovers that their informant has been shot and -- just as they start to consider what to do with him -- they come across a rural mental hospital. Their situation goes from bad to worse when their location is revealed to the authorities by the one nurse on duty and they are forced to take into captivity the patient population of the hospital -- a population in dire need of their daily medication in order to keep their illnesses in check. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ingrid Chauvin, Christophe Laubion, (more)
- 1993
Elle (Isabelle Gélinas) wants to make a film about African wildlife. Adrien (Eric Métayer) is obsessed with the idea of making love to Elle in a very peculiar and theatrical imaginary bedroom. Perhaps following a principle of sympathetic magic, he arranges for a crew of eccentric friends to help create the bedroom of his dreams. If one part of his dream comes true, perhaps the other one will. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Metayer, Marc Jolivet, (more)
- 1992
Zina (Nora) is the French-born child of a North African immigrant. She is mightily self-centered, in the manner of a spoiled child: at one point she declares that "the love of my life is me." Despite this, two men are vying for her affections. One of them is the leading man (Alain Fromager) in acting company where Zina is an usherette. The other (Sami Bouajila) is a child of immigrants like herself, and is studying law while driving a cab to make ends meet. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alain Fromager, Sami Bouajila, (more)
- 1990
The tale of this movie is familiar enough, Sheherazade (Catherine Zeta-Jones) has been married to a ruler (Thierry Lhermitte) who wants many wives, but only one at a time. Consequently, as soon as he has bedded them, he has them put to death. In most retellings, the girl staves off this unfortunate conclusion by putting off the connubial event for a thousand and one nights, telling irresistable stories instead. In this one, she gets hold of a magic lamp and acquires a genie named Jimmy Genius (Gerard Jugnot) from the 20th century, who helps her escape and avoid recapture a thousand and one ways, by providing her with airplanes, cars, and other twentieth-century magical devices. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thierry Lhermitte, Catherine Zeta-Jones, (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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lambert Wilson, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1986
With embarrassing dialogue and a theatrical style, this feature-length comedy is based on cartoon characters and is equally two-dimensional. After some misguided attempts at mixing with the riff-raff, the young rich heiress Paulette (Jeanne Marine) decides to start giving her money away to anyone who sounds like they really need it. Considering this to be an act of insanity, her greedy and crooked estate administrator gets her institutionalized. In retaliation, Paulette escapes with a fellow inmate, and after several misadventures (some nudity here) she finds herself nearly drowned and still no closer to regaining her estate. She is saved by some bargemen who decide to help her out -- and the adventure continues. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luis Rego, Catherine Leprince, (more)
