Romain Legrand Movies
- 2009
This offbeat musical drama concerns Lucas, an up-and-coming singer who spends 10 years from the 1990s through the 2000s working his way up to the top of the French pop scene. Unfortunately, he only manages to do so by stealing the tunes of his songwriter friend Thomas, who has vanished into thin air. When Thomas suddenly reappears at the height of Lucas's success, then, it threatens to bring everything that Lucas has worked so hard to build violently crashing down. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bénabar, Franck Dubosc, (more)
- 2008
A mother and daughter find themselves dealing with surprisingly similar romantic difficulties in this light-hearted French comedy. Lola (Christa Theret) is a pretty fourteen-year-old girl living with her mother Anne (Sophie Marceau), who is divorced from Alain (Alexandre Astier), Lola's dad. Young Lola has been taking her first steps into teenage romance, and has been dating a boy from her class named Arthur (Felix Moati), but when she decides to break things off with him, the situation becomes tense after Lola starts seeing his close friend Mael (Jeremy Kapone). Meanwhile, as a typical child of divorce Lola likes to play her mother and father against each other for her own advantage, but what she doesn't know is that Anne and Alain have begun dating again on the sly. Written and directed by Lisa Azuelos, Lol features music from Supergrass, Blur, Keane and Junesex. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophie Marceau, Christa Theret, (more)
A star is born in a time of both celebration and instability in this historical drama with music from director Christophe Barratier. In the spring of 1936, Paris is in a state of uncertainty; while the rise of the Third Reich in Germany worries many, a leftist union-oriented candidate, Léon Blum, has been voted into power, and organized labor is feeling its new power by standing up to management. While such matters might normally seem unimportant to Germain Pigoil (Gérard Jugnot), who runs a small vaudeville house in the Faubourg district, the chaos of the city seems to be impacting his life and his work -- his wife, Viviane (Elisabeth Vitali), has run off with her lover, she demands custody of their son, Jojo (Maxence Perrin), and unscrupulous local entrepreneur Galapiat (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) threatens to put Germain's theater out of business. With the help of a local political organizer, Milou (Clovis Cornillac), and veteran entertainer Jacky Jacquet (Kad Merad), Germain strikes a deal with Galapiat to reopen the theater, but business is slow until a lovely young woman with a remarkable voice, Douce (Nora Arnezeder), comes looking for a spot in Germain's show. Faubourg 36 (aka Paris 36) received its North American premiere at the 2008 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Jugnot, Clovis Cornillac, (more)
- 2007
Neophyte director Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's French-language romantic comedy Odette Toulemonde concerns the unlikeliest of relationships that develops between two Parisians. The title character (Catherine Frot) is a forty-year-old saleswoman, saddled with two children (an adolescent daughter and a hairdresser son), who spends her days hawking cosmetics from behind the counter of a Parisian department store. Odette has absolutely no reason to feel limitless joy or to retain a bright, positive outlook on life, but experiences both - thanks in no small part to the novels of her favorite author, Balthazar Balsan (Albert Dupontel). Meanwhile, Balsan ostensibly has everything - money, fame, success - and yet feels unbridled emptiness inside. These two lives suddenly intersect and complement each other in fantastic and unexpected ways. Nicolas Buysse, Jacques Weber, Nina Drecq and Fabrice Murgia co-star; Schmitt authored the original script. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Frot, Albert Dupontel, (more)
- 2007
Veteran screenwriter Franck Mancuso (36 Quai des Orfevres) helmed and penned the script for the French-language detective thriller Counter-Investigation (AKA Contre-enquête), loosely adapting for the screen American writer Lawrence Block's short story "Like a Bone in the Throat." The chilly tale unfolds in the Parisian suburbs, where happily married police captain Richard (Jean Dujardin) makes the fatal decision to pass up an opportunity for a bike ride with his nine-year-old daughter Emilie (Alexandra Goncalvez), in favor of department business. During Richard's absence, Emilie slips out for a rendez-vous with a young boy of like age - and not long after, joggers discover her body in the woods, raped and beaten to death, the victim of an apparent maniac. Richard's partners arrest the most likely suspect, pedophile Daniel Eckmann (Laurent Lucas) who first denies, then confirms his involvement. In time, however, Daniel writes long letters to Richard from prison, pleading his innocence and pointing to another culprit - the serial killer Salinas (Jean-Francois Garreaud). As an initially reluctant Richard investigates, his astonishment builds upon coming face-to-face with the conclusion that all of the evidence does indeed point to Salinas; to his wife's (Agnes Blanchot) chagrin, the detective thus works toward exonerating Daniel and arraigning Salinas for the death of his young daughter. Contre-enquête represents Mancuso's first directorial assignment; as a screenwriter, he takes a number of liberties with the story, making the necessary cultural adjustments for a French setting. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Dujardin, Laurent Lucas, (more)
"What would you think if I shaved my moustache?" asks Marc (Vincent Lindon) of his wife, Agnès (Emmanuelle Devos), one fateful night as they prepare to visit friends for dinner. She's never seen him without it, but while she goes to do some last-minute shopping, he impulsively shaves the moustache off. Thus begins a tragic odyssey that leads Marc to question every relationship in his life, and even his own identity. Marc's journey into darkness begins when Agnès returns home. At first, he playfully tries to conceal what he's done. When he finally reveals his bare face to her, with a flourish, her reaction is...nonexistent. She baffles him by appearing not to notice the change. Confused, he says nothing, and they proceed with their plans for the evening. When the couple's friends Serge (Mathieu Amalric) and Nadia (Macha Polikarpova) also fail to make note of the change in Marc's appearance, he begins to get angry, believing that Agnès is playing an elaborate prank on him. In the car on the way home, he loses his temper, and it's her turn to be baffled. What moustache? How can she have noticed that he shaved his moustache when he's never had one? While Agnès begins to question her husband's sanity, Marc frantically searches for evidence of his former facial hair. Things only get worse for Marc, as no one at his job remembers him having a moustache either, and before long, he discovers that there are other details of his life that only he remembers. The Moustache marks the directorial debut of Emmanuel Carrère, who adapted his own novel with Jérôme Beaujour (She's One of Us). The film was shown as part of The Film Society of Lincoln Center's 2006 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Lindon, Emmanuelle Devos, (more)
French producer and musician Christophe Barratier makes his directorial debut with the drama Les Choristes, inspired by the 1947 film La Cage aux Rossignols. Wildly successful orchestra conductor Pierre Morhange (Jacques Perrin) returns home when his mother dies. He recollects his childhood inspirations through the pages of a diary kept by his old music teacher Clément Mathieu (Gérard Jugnot). Back in the late '40s, little Pierre (Jean-Baptiste Maunier) is the badly behaved son of single mother Violette (Marie Bunel). He attends a dreary boarding school presided over by strict headmaster Rachin (François Berléand). New teacher Mathieu brightens up the place and organizes a choir, leading to the discovery of Pierre's musical talents. Featuring performances by Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc Choir. Les Choristes was shown at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Jugnot, François Berléand, (more)
When an archeology student unearths some ancient Celtic stones in a mysterious forest, she comes face to face with the malevolent supernatural presence behind a spate of recent deaths at her nearby university. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elsa Kikoine, Cylia Malki, (more)
Directed by Giordano Gederlini and produced by the same folks who packaged Francois Ozon's 8 Women, Samourais gives martial arts movies a rarely seen French twist. Beginning in feudal Japan, a pregnant woman manages to escape persecution long enough to have her baby, Kodeni (Santi Sudaros), a human-looking demon whose bald head reveals the shape of a spider peaking up from beneath the skin. Fast forward to present day Japan, where the death of a video-game engineer is traced back to Kodeni's goons. Though Tokyo policeman Fujiwara (Yasuaki Kurata) manages to foil and temporarily kill Kodeni, he is visited by the spirit of an ancient warrior, who warns him that Fujiwara's daughter, Akemi (Mai Anh Le), will give birth to the reincarnation of Kodeni. In order to prevent Kodeni's return, Fujiwara must travel to France, where his daughter has been studying for two years, and kill her demonic unborn child -- the fate of the world depends on it. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cyril Mourali, Mai Anh Le, (more)
Directed by Florent E. Siri, Nid De Guepes chronicles the unlikey cooperation between a band of thieves and an elite group of judicial escorts. As several characters prepare for their various missions on Bastille Day, an unapologetic Albanian mobster (Angelo Infanti) is being flown in to stand trial. Despite extensive security, Nexhep's (Infanti) armed flunkies stage a violent diversion, and the escorts end up in the same warehouse where some young criminals are attempting to steal truckloads of expensive computers. Though the group of thieves are initially suspicious of the new visitors, they must quickly combine their efforts to stay alive amongst the Albanian mafia's dogged and potentially deadly determination to find their captured leader. Nid De Guepes also features Damy Naceri, Benoit Magimel, Nadia Fares, Pascal Greggory, and Sami Bouajila.
~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samy Naceri, Benoît Magimel, (more)
- 1996
A paranoiac's delight, this contemporary mystery thriller warns that psychotherapy can be dangerous for both doctor and patient. The twisted tale begins with a funeral and then moves to the office of Dr. Antoine Riviere, a noted psychiatrist and author who deep down is more interested in his own needs than those of his patients. The only two clients who interest him are the filthy rich temptress Isabelle d'Archambault and the natty Edouard Berg, who brags of killing his wife and may actually be guilty of the crime. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Auteuil, Patrick Timsit, (more)
- 1996
- NR
In this black comedy from France, a family gathers in a tavern, ostensibly to celebrate a birthday, but poking each other's sore spots turns out to be the main order of business. Henri (Jean-Pierre Bacri) runs a saloon that he inherited from his father called "The Sleepy Dad," and in the near-empty bar, he plays host to several members of the family as they mark the 35th birthday of his sister-in-law, Yolande (Catherine Frot). Henri's sister, Betty (Agnès Jaoui), is 30, single, and not very happy about it; his brother (and Yolande's husband), Phillipe (Vladimir Yordanoff), runs a growing software company; Mother (Claire Maurier) is the siblings' strong-willed matriarch; and Henri's dog is on hand, whom someone describes as "like a rug, but alive." It's not been a good day for most of them: Phillipe is convinced that his business will go out the window as a result of the ugly tie that he wore on television; Betty is depressed about the sad state of her current relationship; Henri has just learned that his wife is leaving him; and Mother is tossing caustic barbs at everyone left and right. Henri's bartender Denis (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) is the one neutral party on hand, and he provides the voice of reason in the midst of the bickering. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, (more)
