Roschdy Zem Movies

Bourlem Guerdjou directed this French-Belgian-Norwegian-Algerian co-production, a drama set in the Paris suburbs during the early '60s. Algerian immigrant Lakhdar (Roschdy Zem) works at a building site and lives in a corrugated metal hut. Since Lakhdar is literate, he helps others send letters home. He misses his wife and children and invites them to come live with him. However, his wife Nora (Fadila Belkebla) is disturbed by life amid the shantytown squalor and becomes politically active. In hopes of moving his family into an apartment, Lakhdar moonlights at a warehouse night job. Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Patrice Chereau (Queen Margot) directed this French drama about a train trip to an artist's funeral. Friends of painter Jean-Baptiste Emmerich (Jean-Louis Trintignant, seen in flashbacks) gather at a Paris railroad station for a four-hour journey to Limoges, where Emmerich wanted to be buried. The dozen travelers include art historian Francois (Pascal Greggory) and his lover Louis (Bruno Todeschini), who develops an interest in teenage Bruno (Sylvain Jacques). Traveling parallel with the train is a station wagon with Jean-Baptiste's body, and this vehicle is driven by Thierry (Roschdy Zem), husband of Catherine (Dominique Blanc), who's on the train with their daughter. Francois plays a taped interview with Jean-Baptiste, revealing his sexual appeal to both men and women. Lucie (Marie Daems) is convinced that she was his main love. Also on board is his nephew, Jean-Marie (Charles Berling) and Jean-Marie's estranged wife, Claire (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), After the funeral in "Europe's largest cemetery," the storyline continues in the mansion of Jean-Baptiste's brother, Lucien (also played by Trintignant). With hand-held camerawork for almost two-thirds of the film, the production involved two extra cars connected to a real scheduled train, headed one way in the morning and returning in the afternoon, with cast and crew logging some 12,000 kilometers over two weeks. Source music runs the gamut from James Brown to Jim Morrison. The title refers to the dying words uttered by the painter -- which actually are the last words spoken by filmmaker Francois Reichenbach who died in 1993 (and appropriated here by his friend, co-scripter Daniele Thompson). One of Francois Reichenbach's best-known films (and subject of an entire book) is the documentary Medicine Ball Caravan (aka We Have Come for Your Daughters,1971), a curious effort to duplicate the success of Woodstock (1970) by simply inviting a large number of musicians, hippies, and counterculture types aboard a cross-country train and filming the result. Shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

A young woman in her 20s spends a day visiting Paris. When she misses the last bus home, she finds herself stranded on the outskirts of Paris. While wandering about, she encounters a youth who suggests she hang out at a local club. He then gives her a little of the drug Ecstasy to help pep her up. She goes into the busy establishment and finds it filled with African and Arab immigrants. Eventually, the girl encounters a troubled drug addict. A former boxer suffering from impotence, he becomes attracted to the woman and a relationship begins. This displeases the boxer's girlfriend, a dancer at the club. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Two very violent men have conspired to steal a valuable solid gold image of an African deity from the museum in Mali where it is being kept. They had it smuggled out with a number of well-made but very cheap replicas. The plan was to give each of the replicas to the members of a new squash club as a diversion, and profit from the original (worth $1 million) themselves. There is a slip-up, however, and the real statue goes to one of the players. The deliveryman now has to track down all the statues, and in this antic caper comedy, that's easier said than done. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A genteel teacher finds himself out of his element when his request to be assigned to a Parisian school lands him in an impoverished, multi-cultural ghetto suburb outside of Paris. There Laurent Monier (Gerard Depardieu) finds himself forced to live in a project apartment and teach classes full of underprivileged, tough and troubled youth. His former spouse is also a teacher, but she got a plumb job in an upscale part of Paris while Laurent -- who moved to Paris to be near her -- struggles to keep his car intact and to stay alive on the dangerous streets. Still, he does his best in the schoolroom and eventually earns the respect of his students. Trouble brews however, when school gossip gets out of hand and threatens to destroy his career. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Alice (Sandrine Kiberlain) is a young woman working in a fish cannery in Boulogne-sur-Mer, who feels that her life has come to a dead end. When she is laid off from her job, she decides to pull up stakes, leaving her boyfriend behind and heading to Lyon. While having a drink at a hotel bar, she meets construction worker Bruno (Arnaud Giovaninetti). Like Alice, Bruno feels alone and unhappy with life, and as the two strike up a conversation, each senses that they've found a kindred spirit, and a tentative romance begins to emerge. Sandrine Kiberlain's performance earned her a Cesar Award (the French Oscar) as Most Promising Young Actress of 1996. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

French critic and filmmaker André Téchiné directs the intense family drama Ma Saison Préférée (My Favorite Season), which he co-wrote with screenwriter Pascal Bonitzer. Family matriarch Berthe (Marthe Villalonga) is advancing in years and developing health problems, so she goes to live with her daughter Emilie (Catherine Deneuve). Emilie is a cold, fiftysomething professional who lives in a large upper-class home in Toulouse. She also lives with her husband Bruno (Jean-Pierre Bouvier), her daughter Anne (Deneuve's real-life daughter Chiara Mastroianni), and her adopted son Lucien (Anthony Prada). When Christmas arrives, Emilie's troubled brother Antoine (Daniel Auteuil) arrives at the house for a visit. He and Emilie have not spoken since their father's funeral three years ago. Despite his attempts to maintain control, Antoine quickly comes into conflict with Bruno. Painful emotional realities from the past return and cause violent conclusions. My Favorite Season was shown in competition at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide