Edouard Baer Movies

Based on the original '60s French comic books by René Goscinny, Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre is the big-budget sequel to the 1999 box-office hit Astérix and Obélix vs. Caesar. Empress Cleopatra (Monica Bellucci) makes a wager with Julius Caesar (played by writer/director Alain Chabat) that her people can build a beautiful palace in three months. She chooses architect Numerobis (Jamel Debbouze) for the project, which must be completed in time or he will be fed to the crocodiles. Numerobis travels to Gaul to get help from the superpowered Panoramix (Claude Rich) and the warriors Astérix (Christian Clavier) and Obélix (Gérard Depardieu), along with their faithful pet Dogmatix. They use their magic potion to make the Egyptian slave-labor population into superheroes, thereby building the palace in no time. Meanwhile, the angry architect Amonbofis (Gérard Darmon) and Julius Caesar don't want to see them succeed. At the time of its release, Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre was the most expensive French film ever made, with a budget of $50 million. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

The star of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 2001 hit Amélie, Audrey Tautou is cast in this romantic comedy as Michèle, a 20-year-old model who has just broken up with her boyfriend and is mired in an identity crisis. Although her life appears to be full, she is convinced something is missing, and thus sets out on a mission to inject a bit of spirituality into her life, donning a bindi and dabbling with Buddha. Along the way, she meets François (Edouard Baer), a veterinarian and non-practicing Jew. Before François has time to exclaim "Oy, vey," Michèle is studying the Torah, festooning François' front door with a mezuzah, and asking to meet his parents. Unsurprisingly, this creates some tension between the two, particularly as what initially seemed a passing interest on Michèle's part soon resembles a somewhat disturbing obsession. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Writer/director Samuel Benchetrit takes the helm for this laid-back crime comedy that weaves together four stories which all eventually convene at a roadside diner. Franck (Edouard Baer) is a petty criminal who is currently pondering the prospect of holding up a remote diner. When observant waitress Suzie (Anna Mouglalis) eventually realizes that Franck has more than a meal on his mind, she reveals that she too had considered robbing the place until getting disheartening peak at the anemic cash register. In the second story, desperate criminals Leon (Bouli Lanners) and Paul (Serge Lariviere) kidnap the daughter of a wealthy businessman in hopes of earning a tidy ransom, but soon find themselves forced to act as surrogate parents when the young girl is revealed to be suicidal. Later, after two aging rock stars (Alain Bashung and Arno) discuss their careers over a meal at the diner, four former gangsters smuggle an old friend out of the hospital for a nostalgic trip to their former hideout, only to discover that the familiar log cabin has long since been razed and replaced with a modest diner that provides no means for lying low. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Claude Miller directs this surreal comedy about a woman's nightmarish trip to the hospital. Beset by troubles with her family, her married lover, and her studies, anthropology grad student Claire (Anne Brochet) suffers from fainting spells and migraines. After a couple of unnervingly bizarre consultations with Dr. Fish (Yves Jacques), she is sent to a neurological hospital to recuperate. There she shares a room with Odette (Mathilde Seigner), who was recently paralyzed, and with elderly Eleonore (Annie Noel), who is harmless, though simply stark raving mad. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

This French comedy looks at sex from the perspectives of the participant's navels. The story focuses upon the complex and titillating relationship crises between a large group of Parisian baby boomers. Watch them as they come together, move apart, gossip, pout, and engage in witty dialog. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In 1645, the French playwright and actor Jean-Baptiste Poquelin -- better known as Molière -- mysteriously disappeared for several weeks, and this lavish comedy drama imagines a scenario that could explain what may have happened to him. At this time, Molière (Romain Duris) is touring the French countryside with his traveling theater company, and he's yet to be recognized as one of the continent's great authors (or achieve significant financial success). Molière is put in jail after skipping out on some unpaid debts, but is freed after his fine is paid by two strangers. Molière discovers his benefactors are acting on behalf of Jourdain (Fabrice Luchini), a very wealthy man who has a beautiful wife, Elmire (Laura Morante) and two lovely daughters. However, Jourdain has fallen head over heels for Celimene (Ludivine Sagnier), a gorgeous widow, and he's written a short play in order to demonstrate his feelings for her. Jourdain needs someone to help him polish his script and serve as an acting coach, and he's recruited Molière for the job. Needing the money, Moliere accepts, but he poses as a man of the cloth, Monsieur Tartuffe, to keep his identity a secret. Molière soon realizes that Jourdain's talent exists only in the rich man's imagination, and that Jourdain already has a rival for Celimene's affections, the charming but duplicitous Dorante (Edouard Baer). Molière was written and directed by Laurent Tirard. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Rien sur Robert is a smart comedy about a man haunted by his experiences. Didier Temple (Fabrice Luchini) is a journalist who writes an article about a Bosnian film he had never seen, calling it "pure fascist propaganda." (The director, Pascal Bonitzer, was once the editor of the celebrated film magazine Cahiers du Cinema. However, this episode is not based on his own experiences, but on an incident some years ago regarding Underground by Emir Kusturica, which was declared a fascist movie by the French daily, Le Monde.) Following an argument with his girlfriend, Juliette (Sandrine Kiberlain), Didier's life falls apart. He is convinced he is being followed by a dark haired man. He thinks everyone is looking at him, just waiting to insult him. He fights with his family. Juliette is fed up and leaves him for another man, a TV director she meets in a park. At a dinner party, Didier is introduced to his shadow, Jerome Sauveur (Laurent Lucas), who could be his double except that he's more handsome and writes better. Didier also encounters a strange young girl, Aurelie (Valentina Cervi), but Juliette soon comes back. All these ghosts of his life keep haunting him, and he finally winds up at the foot of Mont Blanc in rather unpleasant circumstances. Rien sur Robert was screened as part of the Panorama section of the 49th Berlin International Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

As World War I looms ever closer on the horizon, an elite police task force organized by Minister of the Interior Georges Clemenceau (aka "The Tiger") mobilizes to apprehend the gang responsible for the first motorized hold-up in French history. The year is 1912, and despite operating in the shadow of the guillotine French gangsters continue to flourish. In order to ensure the safety of the public Minister of the Interior Clemenceau creates a dozen "mobile brigades" consisting of policemen with automobiles and fingerprinting equipment and deploys them nationwide. One such unit, fronted by straight-arrow cop Valentin (Clovis Cornillac, and consisting of sardonic brute Pujol (Edouard Baer), badge-toting pugilist Terrasson (Oliver Gourmet), and Italian immigrant Achille (Stefano Accorsi), is assigned the task of tracking down the gang led by notorious anarchist Jules Bonnot (Jacques Gamblin). An ambitious criminal mastermind whose recent heist involving a getaway car set a new standard in armed robbery, Bonnot has grown dangerously emboldened while establishing himself as France's most wanted. Meanwhile, as the Paris opera prepares to stage a new version of Ivan the Terrible and Russian princess Constance Bolkonski (Diane Kruger) embarks on an affair with Bonnot behind the back of her unsuspecting husband (Alexandre Medvedex) - who is furtively attempting to establish a self-serving three way alliance between Russia, England, and France - crack journalist Jean Jaures (Andre Marcon) struggles to bring it all together in the headlines as World War I and the Russian Revolution loom heavy on the horizon. Director Jerome Cornuau collaborates with screenwriters Xavier Dorison and Fabien Nury to resurrect the popular French television series of the 1970s with a multi-layered period thriller that is likely to evoke memories of the similarly themed Untouchables for stateside audiences. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide