Gerald Thomassin Movies
- 2008
A bored girl from a bourgeois background decides to spice up her life by giving her love to the man she believes needs it most in this expressive relationship drama from director Jacques Dillon. Camille has decided to intensify her life by committing herself to Costa - a nondescript drifter who sleeps in a bunker and seems incapable of giving love. One day, as Camille and Costa wander the streets of the city, a policeman becomes smitten with the girl and begins to follow them from afar. As the relationship between Camille and Costa gradually opens up to include the curious policeman, the interactions between the three gradually begin to drift into uncharted territory. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clémentine Beaugrand, Gerald Thomassin, (more)
Four friends looking for a good time are lured into a strange and dangerous netherworld in this wildly offbeat horror film from France. It's Christmas Eve, and twentysomethings Bart (Olivier Barthelemy), Ladj (Ladj Ly), Thai (Nico Le Phat Tan), and Yasmine (Leila Bekhti) are bored and looking for fun. They end up at a rowdy dance club where, after Bart gets into a fight, they meet Eve (Roxane Mesquida), a sexy girl who seems to take a liking to the three guys. Eve invites the foursome to come back to her place in the country; the guys are more than game, and Yasmine tags along for the ride. Eve's house is a ramshackle mansion overflowing with broken plastic dolls and looked after by Joseph (Vincent Cassel), a cheerful but subnormal handyman whose pregnant wife spends most of her time upstairs. Before long, some of Eve's friends from town come by, and while the women are sexually accommodating, Yasmine soon gets the feeling something is wrong, and in time the guys reach the same conclusion. Joseph's topics of conversation become downright creepy as he talks in great detail about incest and Satanism with his guests, and Christmas Day devolves into an orgy of violence and perversity. Sheitan received its North American premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Cassel, Olivier Barthelemy, (more)
- 2003
French filmmaker Emilie Deleuze directs the psychological drama Mister V. Research scientist Lucas (Mathieu Demy) is an uptight man who studies the movement of horses. His crooked brother Luigi (Patrick Catalifo) buys a stallion named Mister V. as part of an insurance scam, but the horse ends up killing him. While the stable hand wants to have the horse put down, Lucas shows up to train the horse himself, even though he's actually afraid of horses. In the process, he also warms to his widowed sister-in-law Cecile (Aure Atika). Mister V. was shown at the 2003 Locarno International Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mathieu Demy, Aure Atika, (more)
- 2001
Two homeless men are brought together by fate in this gritty neorealistic drama from France. After quarreling with his family, college-age Victor (Cyril Troley) decides to move out and find an apartment of his own. However, Victor's desire for independence isn't coupled with a bankroll, and when he falls behind on the rent at his tenement flat, he's evicted on New Year's Eve and is forced to fend for himself on the streets. Victor steals some CDs and sneaks into a party, hoping to sell them, but an argument causes him to be thrown out, and he finds himself trying to catch a few hours sleep in a train station. While Victor sleeps, his shoes are stolen by Momo (Gerald Thomassin), an older homeless man who is hoping to put himself back on his feet by marrying a woman from North Africa who is having problems with immigration authorities. As Victor and Momo wander the streets of Paris, they bump into each other, and get along well enough to spend an evening drinking together, until Victor realizes that Momo is the man who stole his shoes. A fight between them leads to an arrest and a night in a homeless shelter, where the two have a sobering encounter with Blaise (Didier Berestetsky), an elderly vagrant. Paria had its North American premiere at the 2001 San Francisco Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cyril Troley, Gerald Thomassin, (more)
- 1999
French filmmaker Manuel Boursinhac directs this bleak, gritty film about addiction and redemption. Fledging writer Eric (Vincent Elbaz) and his girlfriend (Laurence Cote) consort with junkie thieves. After getting busted by the cops for drug possession, he chooses to enter rehab over going to prison. Helped by his sympathetic roommate and his writing muse, Eric finds temporary relief from the pain of withdrawal. Un pur moment de rock 'n' roll was screened at the 1999 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Elbaz, Nicolas Abraham, (more)
- 1998
Siegfried made his directorial debut with this French drama. In addition to directing and scripting, the multi-talented twentysomething Siegfried composed the film's jazzy, uptempo music score and also shared the camerawork (with Vincent Buron and Herve Lode) that features handheld scenes tracking through the Paris Metro. The central role of Louise is portrayed by Elodie Bouchez, who won a 1998 Cannes "Best Actress" award for The Dreamlife of Angels. When Louise has an encounter with homeless Remi (Roschdy Zem), they have a magnetic attraction, but she is already attached to illiterate shoplifter and pickpocket punk Yaya (Gerald Thomassin). Although allied with Yaya in petty crimes, Louise lives with her widowed father (Lou Castel), a devoted writer of fiction. After a Metro bum (Bruce Myers) tells her of his desire to see his young son, she plucks the kid, Gaby (Antoine de Merle), right out of school, making him the newest rookie recruited into their subway gang. Shoplifting in a department store, the young toughs escape the store's security guards by hiding in the ballet rehearsal rooms of the nearby opera. But does Louise really belong with the subway toughs, or is she just pretending? When she's arrested, Louise is forced to reexamine her lifestyle. Some aspects of the plot parallel Leos Carax's haunting and memorable Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (1991) -- as does the use of genuine homeless people in certain scenes. Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival in the Certain Regard section. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Élodie Bouchez, Roschdy Zem, (more)
- 1997
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
- Starring:
- Élodie Bouchez, Béatrice Dalle, (more)
- 1990
Life is pretty grim for the boy in this story. School holds no pleasures, his mother is a drunk, and his stepfather is a real pill. It's no surprise that he plays hooky sometimes. One day he discovers that he has an older sister. Consumed with a desire to find her, he uses his stepfather's pistol to hold up a store for money for his quest and then takes a policeman hostage. The policeman helps him find his sister, and the young woman whom he has never met before is surprisingly willing to try and help him get out of trouble and away from his depressing family. This drama is filmed in a sensitive and unusual fashion and won all sorts of French and European film-making awards, including the Prix Louis-Delluc. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Anconina, Gerald Thomassin, (more)
