Jacques Gamblin Movies

One man finds himself pulled in three directions at once by his family and a chance acquaintance in this breakneck comedy. Miguel (Jacques Gamblin) is a single parent and Spanish expatriate living in Belgium who has to deal with a young daughter, Laura (Raphaelle Molinier), his busybody mother, Abuelita (Carmen Maura), and his pushy brother, Juan (Pedro Romero). Miguel works for Juan's travel agency as a courier and errand boy. Shortly after sending Laura off to school, Juan gets an urgent call from Miguel and he has to head to the airport. En route, Miguel gets caught in a traffic jam and encounters Sonia (Ingeborga Dapkunaite), an illegal alien from the Ukraine who is on the run from police after being freed from custody by a group of activists. Sonia has been searching for her boyfriend who disappeared in Belgium a year ago, and after much haranguing Miguel agrees to help her, but that's before he gets word from Abuelita that an accident has sent his daughter to the hospital. Fortunately Laura's injuries are minor, but once Laura and Abuelita hear Sonia's story, they decide to drop everything to help her find her man with Miguel along for the ride, regardless of Juan's feelings about the matter (or Miguel's, for that matter). 25 Degres en Hiver was the first feature film from writer and director Stéphane Vuillet. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A beleaguered housewife watches her dreams come true when her obnoxious husband dies, in actress-turned-director Isabelle Mergault's romantic comedy The Merry Widow (AKA Enfin veuve). For years, Anne-Marie Gratigny (Michele Laroque) has buckled beneath the weight of her condescending husband, Gilbert's (Wladimir Yordanoff) constant oppressiveness. An unrelenting boor, he belittles her, chides her, and torments her - until the day that he perishes in an automobile accident. Anne-Marie, of course, is thrilled by this turn of events. Among other things, it will give her the freedom to abscond with her extramarital lover, Leo (Jacques Gamblin), a builder of boats who is preparing to head off to China on business and to take Anne-Marie along. Unfortunately for Anne-Marie, these plans are dashed when her unwittingly intrusive family moves in to "console" her and upsets her relationship with Leo. More problematically, Anne-Marie finds that she can never quite bring herself to the point of confessing her true feelings about any of the tumultuous events that have happened. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

For 30 years the title eatery has delighted its customers with good family style French cooking, but as with many good things, its time has come and it must close. This semi-autobiographical French drama, adapted from screenwriter/director Laurent Benegui's novel, chronicles the final meal served to 15 loyal patrons on closing day. Amidst affectionate humor and occasional pathos, much attention is paid to the conversations, personal situations, and emotions of the diners and the staff. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Two leading figures in the French cinema, actor Gerard Depardieu and director Claude Chabrol, collaborate for the first time in this breezy whodunit. Paul Bellamy (Depardieu) is a French police detective whose wife Francoise (Marie Bunel) has managed to persuade him to take a vacation for the first time in years. While she's enjoying the sights in Nimes, he's itchy to get back to work, but as it happens crime follows him to the hotel where he's staying. A fellow guest, Noel Gentil (Jacques Gamblin), confesses to a very unusual murder -- Gentil has had plastic surgery to heighten his resemblance to a homeless man, who Gentil and his wife planned to murder as part of an insurance scam. However, the scheme fell apart when Gentil's wife discovered he was having an affair, and now he's responsible for the death of an innocent man. While Gentil admits his guilt, Bellamy thinks something isn't right about his story, and he sets out to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, Bellamy has to deal with an unwanted distraction in the form of his half-brother Jacques (Clovis Cornillac), who is addicted to booze and gambling and is a constant thorn in the cop's side. Bellamy received its British premiere at the 2009 BFI London Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Jérôme Cornuau's Dissonances, an adaptation of Stephen Dixon's novel Interstate, relates the story of how a child's death has affected a circle of people, and spans 15 years in those people's lives. Nat (Jacques Gamblin) is sentenced to jail after attacking the people he believes are responsible for the shooting death of his six-year-old daughter Julie. Julie's sister Margo (Berenice Bejo), who was nine at the time of Julie's death, has grown up and must accept her own sense of loss. Henry (Didier Flamand), the policeman who investigated Nat, also has his life changed by his interaction with this crime. Dissonances was screened in competition at the Avignon Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Director Martin Valente weaves this elaborate tale of intersecting lives that originally screened at the 2007 Montreal World Film Festival. Unemployed Sara is down in the dumps, but her best friend Isa is determined to liven things up by taking her downsized friend on a weekend holiday in Portugal. Meanwhile, disgruntled filmmaker Paul packs his bags for Lisbon in order to support his latest cinematic misstep as pharmacist Yves contends with a troublesome neighborhood dog, touring musician Nina makes a pit stop to visit her seven year old son, tone def police captain Vince continues to strum his guitar, and youthful grandmother Hélène is forced to face reality after being asked to babysit her grandson Ross. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Director David Oelhoeffen's French-language picture Nos retrouvailles - a resolutely disturbing psychological drama with an added element of crime - explores the damage wrought by an über-dysfunctional father on his straight-laced son. Jacques Gamblin stars as Gabriel, a thuggish character harboring an irrepressible grudge over money that someone allegedly swiped from him. With bitterness in his heart, this thoughtless and slimy brute cajoles his innocent son, the dishwasher Marco (Nicolas Giraud) into first tailing a night watchman (Jacques Spiesser) and then breaking into a warehouse to reclaim the "funds" - despite the inherent dangers posed by this scheme. Oelhoeffen co-authored the script with Antoine Lacomblez. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Three middle-aged men take a second stab at getting their high school degree in this comedy-drama from France. When they were teenagers, Michel (Jacques Gamblin), Gerard (Kad Merad) and Edmond (Rufus) all failed their Baccalaureat exams, the challenging comprehensive essay test that evaluates a French student's knowledge before they are given their high school diploma. While they planned to focus on their studies and take the exam again, all three ended up getting jobs in the same factory, with Michel and Gerard working on the line and Edmond eventually advancing to foreman. Twenty years after leaving school, Michel and his wife Claire (Anne Brochet), who works in a beauty salon, have a teenage son, Philippe (Edouard Collin) who has just flunked the Baccalaureat exam. As Michel and Claire encourage Philippe to buck up and give the test another try, Michel gets the word that the factory where he works is shutting down, and he, Gerard and Edmond are all out of a job. Michel discovers getting a new job without a degree is tough even with plenty of work experience, so he and Gerard pledge to crack open their textbooks and give the Baccalaureat another try, which Edmond becoming their unwelcome study partner. Michel also finds himself bonding with Philippe in a new way as both men work towards bettering their futures. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Not a strict adaptation of the oft-filmed Victor Hugo classic, director Claude Lelouch's ambitious epic instead focuses on the story of two men, a father and a son, whose life stories bear striking similarities to Hugo's character Jean Valjean. The father is Henri Fortin (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a chauffeur (in 1900) wrongly accused of his employer's murder. Like Valjean, he is subjected to a harsh and unfair prison sentence. While Henri vainly attempts to escape his unjust fate, his family suffers, with his wife forced to raise their young son alone. The film jumps ahead several decades to show the adult life of this son (also Belmondo), a former boxer turned furniture mover who agrees to help smuggle a Jewish lawyer (Michel Boujenah) out of France during the Nazi occupation. Along the way, the lawyer reads to the younger Fortin from Les Misérables, and Fortin begins to imagine himself in the role of Jean Valjean, on the run from the obsessive Inspector Javert. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Two people with little in common enter into a brief, impulsive love affair in this comedy-drama. Pierre (Jacques Gamblin) is the leader of an improvisational comedy team known as The Unpredictables, who specialize in blending unnoticed into social functions and large gatherings, then making comic mayhem out of their surroundings. Pierre and his partners Karim (Zinedine Soualem) and Alice (Isabelle Candelier) have been hired to provide entertainment at a conference for employees of a large pharmaceutical firm, where they'll pose as waiters and create humor out of improbable dining suggestions. One guest who is quite taken with their performance is Claire (Sandrine Bonnaire), who finds herself attracted to Pierre, even though she's been happily married for eight years and has two children at home. The morning after the conference, Claire discovers she's missed her train, and bumps into The Unpredictables; Pierre helpfully offers her a ride in their van, and Claire accepts. On a whim, Claire tags along for the troupe's next gig, a performance at a wedding reception, and the more time she spends with Pierre, the more she finds herself thinking about leaving her old life behind, if only for a while. Mademoiselle was the third feature from writer and director Philippe Lioret, one of the few movie soundmen who has graduated to directing feature films. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A successful prostitute attempts to fashion a homeless man into her ideal pimp in this unconventional, darkly humorous French drama. Marie (Anouk Grinberg) has no real need for a pimp, being a self-reliant, unabashed woman so fond of her job as a hooker that she is able to convince strangers to try it themselves. Indeed, her financial success allows her to take care of Jeannot (Gérard Lanvin), an impoverished vagrant whom she finds on the streets. She provides him with a bath and a place to sleep, and the two rapidly become lovers. Nevertheless, Marie is soon imploring Jeannot to act as her pimp, begging him to slap her around and take her money. He takes to his new role and soon decides to talk a manicurist (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) into becoming the next member of his stable. The newcomer's inexperience proves to be his downfall, however, as the manicurist lands him in trouble with the law. Director Bertrand Blier attempts to create a controversial look at sexuality by combining black comedy with scenes of smoky sensuality, though many critics found the central premise and the presentation of Marie's contradictory, masochistic character too unconvincing for the film to be fully successful. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

During the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, the nation's movie studios continued to operate; some filmmakers and technicians simply went along with what their new leaders demanded in hopes keeping themselves and their families safe, while others sought to subvert the messages of their captors through their work. Safe Conduct, directed by Bertrand Tavernier, is a fact-based period drama which examines two men working for a Parisian film company during 1942 and 1943, as well as their friends, family, and loved ones. Jean Devaivre (played by Jacques Gamblin) is an assistant director for Continental Pictures, a studio which has recently been taken over by the Germans and is headed by Dr. Greven (Christian Berkel), a self-styled aficionado of French filmmaking. With a wife (Marie Desgranges) and a newborn son to support, Devaivre feels he has little choice but to continue with his work, though as he rises from assisting to becoming a full fledged director thanks to the efforts of Maurice Tourneur (Philippe Morier-Genoud), he struggles to work his own views into his pictures as much as he can. Screenwriter Jean Aurenche (Denis Podalydes), a man who lives for wine, women and song (not necessarily in that order), refuses to work for Greven, and as he bounces between his many lovers - actress Suzanne Raymond (Charlotte Kady), no-nonsense streetwalker Olga (Marie Gillain), and soft-hearted Reine (Maria Pitarresi), a struggles to find a way to make a living with his words. Both Devaivre and Aurenche were real-life figures in the French film industry during the occupation, as were many of Safe Conduct's supporting characters; the real life Aurenche went on to write the screenplay for Bertrand Travernier's first feature film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide