Julie Gayet Movies
With a classical upbringing that instilled in her a fundamental love and appreciation of the fine arts, and that found her traveling in extremely cultured Parisian circles during girlhood, the glamorous Julie Gayet balanced collegiate courses in vocal performance, drama, art, and dance, then opted to move into a professional acting career. A famously meticulous performer and something of a perfectionist, Gayet insisted, from the very beginning, on engaging in months of advance preparation prior to tackling a new role. She took her cinematic bow on a note of great esteem by working for Krzysztof Kieslowski on the director's Blue, though she maintains an extremely low profile in the picture (as a girl in the Paris Metro whose "silhouette" is visible onscreen). Released two years later, the legendary Agnès Varda's A Hundred and One Nights boosted Gayet to fourth billing; she played Camille, a French cinema student who assists the century-old Simon Cinéma (Michel Piccoli) in remembering the highs and lows of the first century of French filmmaking. Gayet next obtained the prestigious Prix Romy Schneider for her work in Laurent Bouhnik's Sélect Hôtel (1996).Many Gallic box-office highlights were quick to follow over the next ten years, including the 1999 Les Gens Qui S'Aiment, the 2002 La Turbulence des Fluides, and the 2003 Lovely Rita: Sainte Patronne des Cas Désespérés. The gay-themed romantic comedy 3 Guys, 1 Girl, 2 Weddings was Gayet's (the "girl" of the title) first major international success. In 2006, the actress garnered immense popularity for her lead in director Patrice Leconte's romantic comedy My Best Friend, opposite French screen icon Daniel Auteuil. She plays Catherine, the business partner of a ruthless antique dealer (Auteuil), who makes a wager with him over the ownership of a rare vase. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
When the gay roommate and best friend of a commitment-phobic radio show hosts learns that his womanizing roommate is planning to settle down, he does everything in his power to sabotage the wedding plans and win the unassuming roommate for himself in this comedy that proves love can come from the most unexpected of places. While Dan spends his days hosting a sex-oriented radio show and bedding as many females as possible, his lovelorn roommate Laurent campaigns for gay marriage with the singular goal of ultimately winning Dan's hand in marriage. When Laurent discovers that Dan has finally found the woman of his dreams and is finally willing to take the plunge, he sets into motion a complex plan aimed at scaring Dan out of his plans and eventually converting him to homosexuality. As the wedding plans continue and Dan asks Laurent to be his best man, the heartbroken Laurent must summon the courage to let Dan know how he really feels or face the prospect of losing not only his best friend, but the man of his dreams as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olivier Sitruk, Arnaud Giovaninetti, (more)
This homage to the cinema by venerated movie-maker Agnes Varda, often dubbed the "grandmother" of the French New Wave, features an all-star international cast. The story is based upon the memories and insights of the 100-year old Mr. Simon Cinema. He lives in a magnificent house filled with movie memorabilia. To help him remember the important details of his career he hires Camille, a film student to write down his remembrances and experiences which have involved all areas of movie-making. Camille comes once a day for 101 days. Film clips, photographs and actual visitors highlight his stories. As he continues to spin his yarns, the imagery in the film smoothly morph into other images. Camille, when not recording, is involved in other exploits including a romance with a production assistant, Mica who aspires to becoming a director. She also begins plotting a way to get to Mr. Cinema's fortune by having a friend pose as his long lost heir. Many other characters are peripherally involved including Death, an Italian seeking the rights to his film catalogue, and a memory specialist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
- 2005
A man with a belief in travel between different realities encounters a woman who seems to be the living embodiment of his theories in this drama. Michael Seraph (Jamie Sives) is an astronomer and author who has a passionate interest in what he calls "quantum cosmology" -- the belief that we exist in one of several parallel universes, and that some people can move from one plane to another at will. Michael has published a book on his theories, and he also works at a state-of-the-art observatory with David (Jason Flemyng, who believes there's merit in his ideas, and Marianne (Susan Lynch), who puts little stock in them. One evening, Michael attends a screening of an art film and meets Caroline (Julie Gayet), a beautiful French woman who takes an immediate interest in him. Michael and Caroline spend the night together, but while he's keen on pursuing a relationship with her, she keeps dropping in and out of his life, and seems somehow different each time he meets her. Michael's curiosity about Caroline grows greater when his friend Hunt (Brian Cox), a doctor, tells him she was once one of his patients -- but that she was much older when he met her years before. Like director Richard Jobson's debut feature 16 Years of Alcohol, A Woman in Winter was shot using digital video technology, and transferred to 35mm film for theatrical screenings. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Sives, Julie Gayet, (more)
A group of Jewish Holocaust survivors attempt to restart their lives after Europe's liberation from Nazi occupation in director Michel Deville's 2002 ensemble drama Almost Peaceful. Husband and wife couple Albert (Simon Abkaryan) and Lea (Zabou Breitman) attempt to rebuild their tailoring business in central Paris, starting with the hiring of staff for their company. All of their new employees have been scarred -- in varying degrees -- by their experiences during the war. Charles (Denis Podalydes) lost his entire family to the death camps, while Maurice (Stanislas Merhar) seems to be unable to sustain long-term relationships and -- as a result -- frequents whorehouses for companionship. While all of them initially refuse to discuss their experiences during the war, they all also eventually realize that the only way to truly move forward with the rest of their lives is to come to terms with their pasts. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simon Abkarian, Zabou Breitman, (more)
Arnaud Viard's 2003 French-language feature Clara et Moi chronicles the eccentric romance between the 33-year-old struggling actor Antoine (Julien Boisselier of Le Convoyeur) and Clara (Julie Gayet Les Menteurs), a girl he happens to meet on the subway. Clara happens along at exactly the right time for Antoine, who - worn out from celibacy - has just avowed to his analyst that he'll find a wife within a set period. All is heaven at first, almost farcically so (and Viard, well aware of this, even defies the audience's formic expectations by playfully interjecting a musical number into the middle of the movie, in which the lovers "sing" their feelings to one another, ala Demy). But suddenly, a dark and unexpected twist emerges in the relationship, that strips bare Antoine's emotional immaturity and thus threatens to bring everything crashing down. Michel Aumont co-stars. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
A lawyer finds himself playing on so many sides at once that he has trouble keeping score in this offbeat comedy. Alain (Pascal Greggory) is a bisexual attorney stuck in a deep well of sexual and professional confusion. Alain has become involved with Laurence (Nathalie Richard), another lawyer who shares his office; after they sleep together for the first time, Laurence finds herself pregnant, then wants Alain to marry her, even though she knows he doesn't love her. Meanwhile, Alain is obsessed with one of his clients, Marc (Vincent Martinez), who has just been handed a life sentence for murder but is still the man of his dreams, despite the fact that Christophe (Cyrille Thouvenin), Laurence's brother, is in love with Alain and willing to do anything to satisfy his sexual appetite. In order to get closer to Marc, Alain warily agrees to become an intermediary between Marc and his girlfriend Babette (Julie Gayet). But as he begins passing messages between the two, Alain finds himself falling into an affair with Babette. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pascal Greggory, Nathalie Richard, (more)
- 1996
Done as a parody of reality television shows such as MTV's Real World, this faux docudrama from France also pokes fun at the foibles of modern day monogamy as it spends a year in the life of one young Parisian couple. Delphine works as a proofreader in a publishing house, her live-in lover Yvan works as a tour guide for Japanese visitors. A documentary crew moves in with them to record their every move for the next year. As events progress, two famed sportscasters appear to offer their expert commentary and present instant-replays of highlights including an awkward dinner party at a friend's home, a miserable vacation and Yvan's drunken lapse in judgment with a beautiful stranger, a mistake that costs him Delphine, leaving him to try to dejectedly try to figure out ways to get her back. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Gayet, Serge Hazanavicius, (more)
- 2006
Earning frequent comparisons to the finer work of David Lynch for its defiantly unpredictable and enigmatic narrative twists, neophyte director Brice Cauvin's political thriller Hotel Harabati opens at a Parisian train depot, with a European couple in their mid-thirties, Philippe (Laurent Lucas) and Marion (Helene Fillieres, waiting to journey to Venice. Without substantial explanation, they promptly retrieve a suitcase that doesn't belong to them; labeled with the words "tel Harabati" (or 'Hotel Harabati'), it contains a massive amount of neatly-rolled foreign currency. They decide impulsively to skip their Venetian tour and hearken back to the City of Lights, but deceive kith and kin, fabricating accounts of Venice to Philippe's mother Nelly (screen legend Anouk Aimee) . In time, the couple begins to search for new living quarters for themselves and their two little boys; open talk of the bag dissipates, yet Philippe's paranoia mounts, particularly given the discussions of neighborhood bombings on the local news and sightings of an unsavory character who exudes a menacing aura - and who may or may not be connected with the suitcase. Cauvin co-authored the original script with Jerome Beaujour and Pierre Schoeller; Julie Gayet (Les Gens qui s'aiment) and Anthony Roth Costanzo (A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries) co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hélène Fillières, Laurent Lucas, (more)
- 2002
A scientist living in Tokyo is sent to a small Canadian town to study the tides in this visually inventive feature from director Manon Briand. Suspecting that the cecassion of the tides may indicate an impending earthquake, Seismologist Alice (Pascale Bussieres) arrives in her hometown of Baie-Comeau, Quebec to commence her investigation. Soon confronted by numerous figures from her past, the unusual weather and inexplicable behavior of the citizens lead Alice to believe that something beyond her comprehension is occurring to her old hometown. With a mysterious waitress (Genevive Bujold), a lusting woman, a pack of nuns, a sleepwalking child and a widower pilot who grows ever closer to Alice all factoring into the strange goings on, it seems as if human emotions may have somehow played an integral part in the sudden climate shift. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pascale Bussières, Julie Gayet, (more)
- 1998
Director Nicolas Boukhrief, who debuted with the 1995 Up Yours, returned with this French-Italian-Luxembourgian-Belgian drama in seven segments. In a variation on Schnitzler's La Ronde, each segment introduces a character seen in the next episode: In the opening, a murderer strangles a woman. A French soldier, injured in a bomb blast, is attracted to his nurse, but she's engaged to an aspiring stand-up comic. In the Paris Metro, the comedian befriends an older woman, who travels to Italy to join her impotent husband. The husband seeks excitement and finds it with a con artist who supplies sex and drugs. The young con artist's sister is an actress in porn films, and she brings the story full circle when she meets the murderer from the first scene. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Cassel, Francois Renaud, (more)
- 1996
This hilarious French farce puts a whole new spin on the menage-a-trois as it tells the story of a sperm donor who develops patriarchal feelings for the unborn child of his best friend's wife. The tangled mess begins when Jerome and Delphine, his wife of five years, learn that Jerome is sterile. Though Jerome is willing to adopt, Delphine wants to experience the birthing process. They decide to use a donor to impregnate her and choose Jerome's womanizing best friend Salim, an Arab. This could cause problems in their bourgeoisie, white breaded families, but the husband and wife don't care. Salim agrees to do the job and so the three go to Switzerland (in France all sperm donors remain anonymous). It is successful and the return to France. A few months later trouble ensues when Delphine runs into Salim's girl friend Sophie in a department store. She accidentally hears that Delphine is carrying Salim's baby and goes over the edge thinking he cheated upon her. Salim ends up homeless and so moves in with his best pal. Now the three must somehow work out the jumble of conflicting emotions as both men feel quite fatherly towards poor Delphine's baby. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arielle Dombasle, Smain, (more)
- 1999
- NR
Neither the youthful or the experienced have a monopoly on the joys or the follies of romance -- or at least that appears to be the message of Jean-Charles Tacchella's Les Gens Qui S'Aiment. Jean-Francois (Richard Berry) and Angie (Jacqueline Bisset) have known each other for 25 years and have been lovers on and off for most of that time. After two marriages (one ending in divorce, the other with her husband's death) and two children, the free-spirited Angie has returned to Jean-Francois, only to announce after a year of living together that she's leaving him to open a antique business in the United States. Jean-Francois regrets Angie's decision, but also knows her well enough to know there's little he can do to change her mind. Five years later, Jean-Francois has become friends with Angie's daughter Winnie (Julie Gayet), who now lives in Paris and has fallen in love with Laurent (Bruno Putzulu), a carefree artist who lives in a studio given to him by his father. However, after sleeping with Laurent, Winnie is convinced he can't be trusted and keeps him at a distance. Over the next few years, Laurent keeps running into Winnie, and Angie periodically arrives at Jean-Francois' doorstep only to leave again shortly after. Les Gens Qui S'Aiment was enthusiastically received in its' screening at the 1999 French-American Film Workshop at Avignon, France. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Berry, Jacqueline Bisset, (more)
- 1996
Zac is a well-respected French filmmaker who creates a major uproar when for no apparent reason he suddenly vanishes from his posh Parisian apartment leaving behind his lover Helene, a popular star. Marcus, his producer searches for eight months before locating Zac who has since become a homeless street bum in an expensive neighborhood. Marcus sends Zac to a posh hotel. He then sends Daisy, an ambitious secretary and aspiring screenwriter to learn what happened to the great director. It takes a lot of mutual verbal sparring and false turns (which are presented as creatively filmed vignettes that are done using a variety of techniques) from Zac before he finally tells her the truth. The two then decide to turn the story into a film. As they write, Daisy and Zac slowly fall in love. At the same time, Marcus has his hands full trying to avoid some tough Russian Mafiosos who want the money they invested back. In order to make Zac and Daisy's film, the whole production is moved to the relative safety of South Africa. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Hugues Anglade, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, (more)
- 2003
French filmmaker Stephane Clavier directs the comedy Lovely Rita: Patron Saint of Lost Causes, based on the novel by Benjamin Legrand. The director's brother, French TV star Christian Clavier, is the comedic star. He plays accountant Edgar Lamarck, who gets unwittingly involved in criminal situations. After getting messed up in a financial scam with Thierry (Eddy Mitchell), he ends up disposing of a body with prostitute Rita (Julie Gayet). She also happens to be an art thief who has just stolen a priceless Botticelli from an art dealer (Jean-Claude Dreyfus). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Clavier, Julie Gayet, (more)
- 2002
Christopher Loizillon's Ma Camera et Moi (My Camera and Me) is the story of Max (Zinedine Soualem), a young man obsessed with videotaping life. Adopted and later ignored by parents who eventually conceived a biological child of their own, Max becomes preoccupied with videotaping everything after being given his first camera by an uncle. A hose fire only strengthens this need. Now in his mid-twenties, Max has fallen in love with Lucie (Julie Gayet), a blind woman who needs to feel life as much as Max needs to look at it. As Max negotiates this new relationship, he attempts to keep up his business of producing videotapes for other people. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zinedine Soualem, Julie Gayet, (more)
A businessman tries to belatedly learn the fine art of friendship in this comedy from French filmmaker Patrice Leconte. François (Daniel Auteuil) is an antique dealer who runs an upscale shop with his business partner, Catherine (Julie Gayet). François is a gently ruthless trader who will do nearly anything to make a deal, and when Catherine throws him a birthday party, someone points out that all the guests are business associates, not personal friends. While François protests that he does indeed have friends, Catherine calls him on it and makes him a deal -- if he can produce his best friend within ten days, he'll be allowed to keep a valuable vase he recently found for the shop, but if not, the vase will belong to her. François agrees to the challenge, but while going through his address book, he begins to realize he really doesn't have any especially close friends. Over the course of several days, François keeps running into Bruno (Dany Boon), a gregarious and friendly taxi driver, and while Bruno's personality rubs François the wrong way, he notices that the cabbie has a way of making (most) people like him. Eager to win his bet with Catherine, François recruits Bruno to give him a crash course in making friends and influencing people, hoping to find a buddy before his deadline. Mon Meilleur Ami (aka My Best Friend) received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Auteuil, Dany Boon, (more)
- 1998
The story of this gay comedy reminds one of the fashionable boulevard theatre of 1950's Paris whose major theme was bourgeois adultery. A couple would invite another couple to dinner, and half way through the second course it would be revealed that the husband was having an affair with his best friend's wife. Pourquoi pas Moi? also starts off with a dinner party, but today revelations come with a difference -- and it is no big deal. Nico, Eva and Ariane are gay and just about to confess it to their parents. Camille, who lives with Ariane, has already told her mother. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amira Casar, Julie Gayet, (more)
- 2007
A sixteen year-old girl living with her widowed father in the Ardennes forest befriends a twenty-two year old orphan whose manipulative aunt contrives to keep him immature in the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Stéphan Carpiaux. A tragic accident has claimed the life of Alex's mother, and now the grieving teen will be forced to grow up before her time. Though Alex's father Frank wages a valiant struggle to overcome the apathy that consumes him following the loss of his beloved wife, the situation grows complicated when the naïve adolescent unintentionally compounds her father's pain. As tenderness threatens to give way to desire, Alex makes the acquaintance of twenty-two year old Hector. Later, as a friendship begins to blossom between Alex and Heather, Alex becomes acutely aware of just how damaging her relationship with her father has become. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Déborah François, Frederic Pierrot, (more)
- 2007
Emmanuel Mouret's romantic comedy Shall We Kiss? begins with two strangers who end up attracted to each other, even though they both are involved in relationships with others. The woman refuses to kiss the man goodnight after a dinner together, explaining that a single kiss can alter a life. This set-up acts as a framing device for the main story, a tale she shares with him about friends who complicate their lives by becoming sexually involved. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginie Ledoyen, Emmanuel Mouret, (more)
- 1996
This thoughtful French drama centers on a brother and sister, living on the furthest frontier of society's fringe in the title flophouse. Nathalie was once beautiful, but a life of drugs and prostitution has stolen her joie de vivre. Her oily, fast-talking pimp Denis, who has zero respect for women, does little to help her. Nathalie's brother Tof is a petty thief. One day he visits Pierre, a local shopkeeper who through Tof out of his store. Tof repays the favor by publicly humiliating Pierre at gunpoint, causing a far-reaching change in Pierre's life and circumstance. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Gayet, Jean-Michel Fête, (more)
- 1993
In this very physical comedy, Thomas (Mathieu Demy) is an unusually goofy young man, and is forever tripping over something. However, when he chances upon the lovely Marion (Aurelia Thieree), he achieves new heights of ineptitude because he is thoroughly smitten. Luckily for him, his best friend has a girlfriend (Chiara Mastroianni) who will work to help him get to know her. Unluckily, another girl (Camila Mora) whom he isn't interested in is just as smitten with him as he is with Marion. It's too bad about the fellow who just got buried, but the flowers left on his grave only need a little rearranging to be made into a suitable gift for Marion. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mathieu Demy, Julie Gayet, (more)
