Samir Guesmi Movies

The devastating reverberations of a profound tragedy echo through generations of a long-suffering French family in this emotional family drama from director Arnaud Desplechin. When Abel and his wife, Junon, started a family, it seemed like the seeds of true happiness had been planted. But while their daughter, Elizabeth, was healthy from the day she was born, things quickly turned dark when her brother Joseph was diagnosed with a rare and deadly genetic condition. Joseph's only hope for survival was a bone marrow transplant, but Abel, Junon, and Elizabeth were all incompatible. In one last, desperate chance to save their son's life, Abel and Junon conceived a third child. But not even little Henri could save his ailing brother's life. Joseph died at the age of seven, and neither his siblings nor his parents have ever found the strength to recover. Years later, family relations have deteriorated beyond the point of repair; the tensions between family matriarch Elizabeth and her cynical brother Henri finally culminating in a violent confrontation in which Elizabeth banishes her alcoholic brother and refuses him further contact with his troubled adolescent nephew, Paul. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A suicidal police detective travels from La Havre to Deauville at the behest of a mysterious femme fatale in the suspenseful sophomore feature from actress-turned-director Sophie Marceau. For Lt. Jacques Renard (Christopher Lambert), every night is a struggle. Rendered sleepless following the untimely death of his beloved wife, Lt. Renard finds his curiosity taking over after he is approached by an enigmatic beauty (Marceau) and implored to visit room 401 of the extravagant Hotel Riviera. Upon arriving at the hotel Lt. Renard discovers that Antoine Berangere (Robert Hossein), who has been the director of the establishment at the Riviera for nearly four decades, vanished forty-eight hours ago under suspicious circumstances. In his father's absence, Antoine's thirty-nine year old son Camille (Nicolas Briancon) has assumed control of the hotel. While Camille insists that the Hotel Riviera has no room 401, the suspicious actions of Antoine's wheelchair-bound second wife (Marie-Christine Barrault) leads Lt. Renard to suspect that foul play is afoot. Shortly after Lt. Renard discovers that Camille's famous mother Victoria (again Marceau) died precisely thirty-six years ago, a mangled body presumed to be that of Antoine Berangere turns up in the city morgue. While his loyal partner Pierre (Simon Abkarian) is convinced that this is an open and shut case, Lt. Renard himself discovers a series of well-concealed clues that lead him to believe that something far more sinister is afoot. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

An innocent man is on the run after he's accused of murder and his spouse seemingly returns from the grave in this thriller from France. Alex Beck (François Cluzet) is a doctor who has slowly been putting his life back together after his wife Margot was murdered by a serial killer. Eight years on, Alex is doing well enough until he finds himself implicated in the murder of two people, with plenty of evidence pointing to him as the killer even though he knows nothing of the crimes. The same day, Alex receives an e-mail that appears to be from Margot (Marie-Josée Croze), which includes a link to a video clip that seems to be recent and features his late wife looking alive and well. Margot's message warns Alex that they are both being watched, and he struggles to stay one step ahead of the law as a gang of strong-arm men intimidate Alex's friends into telling whatever they might know about him. Alex's sister Anne (Marina Hands) persuades her well-to-do lover Helene (Kristin Scott Thomas) to hire a well respected attorney, Elisabeth Feldman (Nathalie Baye), to handle Alex's case. While Elisabeth tries to keep Alex out of jail, she learns that her client has a warrant out for his arrest, and Alex goes on the lam while he and his lawyer struggle to find out the truth about the murder as well as Margot's reappearance. Tell No One (aka Ne Le Dis a Personne) was based on the international best-selling novel by Harlan Coben. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A talented woman struggles to get out from under the shadow of her father in this comedy. Lolita (Marilou Berry) is the 20-year-old daughter of Étienne Cassard (Jean-Pierre Bacri), a wealthy and well-known editor and writer, and most of the people she meets seem to be more interested in her dad than in her; her zaftig figure doesn't help her self-esteem much, either. Lolita is a gifted singer and has been studying with a voice coach, Sylvia (Agnès Jaoui); however, as it turns out, Sylvia has a husband, Pierre (Laurent Grévill), who is a novelist and hopes that Cassard might be willing to help him get his new book into print and onto bookstore shelves. The great writer seems to take a cavalier attitude toward nearly everyone around him, though, including his wife, Karine (Virginie Desarnauts). Lolita strikes up a friendship with a young man named Sebastien (Keine Bouhiza) which seems to be leading to romance, but when Lolita learns that Sebastien wants to become a writer, she finds herself wondering if he really wants her, or just an introduction to her dad. Jaoui, who plays Sylvia, also directed Comme une Image (aka Look at Me) and co-wrote the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A nuclear weapon has been stolen by the most powerful gang in Paris' treacherous, walled-in ghetto, and it's up to a determined cop and a vigilante criminal in search of his sister to infiltrate the sector, save the girl, and get the bomb out of the bad guys' hands in an action-packed tale produced by Luc Besson and directed by cinematographer Pierre Morel. The year is 2010, and a massive wall has been erected to keep the violence of the Paris ghetto confined to District B13. Within these walls, gangs rules the streets and law enforcement is powerless. This time the gangs have gone too far, though, and when the authorities realize that a nuclear weapon has been smuggled into the district, specially trained policeman and martial artist Damien is assigned the task of retrieving the weapon of mass destruction before Paris goes up in flames. He's not going to be able to do it on his own, though, and when Damien learns that breakaway bad guy Leïto's sister has been abducted by the very same gang, the pair soon forges a tentative partnership that merges the power of law enforcement with the anything-goes attitude of the criminal element. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

French filmmaker Jean-Marc Moutout makes his feature debut with the drama Violence des Echanges en Milieu Tempéré (Work Hard Play Hard). Jérémie Rénier stars as Philippe Seigner, an ambitious young executive at a management consulting firm. Things are going well for him at work and he starts dating single mom Eva (Cylia Malki). Soon his boss, Hugo Paradis (Laurent Lucas), chooses him for a special job auditing a company outside of Paris. When Philippe realizes that he's been effectively downsizing a company, he begins to feel a moral opposition to his task. Work Hard Play Hard was nominated for the Golden Leopard at the 2003 Locarno International Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A young man from Africa finds himself torn between honesty, the law, and his personal goals in this drama. El-Hadj Diop (Djolof Mbengue) is a student from Senegal who has almost completed his studies at a university in Paris when he discovers that he has neglected to renew his residency papers. While El-Hadj regards this as a minor oversight, the immigration authorities take a much harder line on the matter, and make it clear that they intend to send him back to Senegal at the earliest opportunity. El-Hadj doesn't want to be sent home before he can complete his degree, and is desperate to find a way to stay in France long enough to graduate. El-Hadj's girlfriend offers to marry him so that he may stay in the country, but he prefers not to involve her in his immigration troubles; instead he arranges to purchase forged immigration documents, and takes a job with a construction crew in order to pay for them. However, it isn't long before El-Hadj's plans hit a very serious snag. L'Afrance was screened in competition at the 2001 Locarno Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Revenge is the subject of this episodic drama comprised of three 30-minute stories. All of the episodes are based on short stories by expatriate American author Paul Bowles who introduces each of them from his study in Tangiers. The tales are set somewhere in the mid-20th century. The first tale is "Merkala Beach" and follows two impoverished youths living in a north African town. Though they have different temperaments: Lahcen prefers alcohol and becomes violent when he drinks and Idir is a mellow pothead, the two are close friends. The strength of that friendship is tested when Lahcen falls for a young woman who joins him in his room. In the second vignette, "Call at Corazon" two newlyweds from Britain have a fight on their honeymoon cruise down the Amazon. Soon after leaving the luxury liner, the two embark upon a cargo boat. It is a rugged craft with few amenities and the bride finds this distasteful. She decides to get even by sleeping with one of the sailors, causing her husband to get his own kind of revenge. The final story is "Allal," and centers on a young boy who is mercilessly teased because his mother is unmarried. The boy's fate changes when he encounters an enigmatic old man with a box full of deadly serpents. The boy cons the man into leaving a lovely green one with him. The snake is magical and that night the boy undergoes a dramatic transformation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide