Sergi López Movies
A burly Spaniard whose soft, open features are equally suited to expressing nice-guy innocence and sociopathic malice, Sergi Lopez came to the attention of an international audience with his title role in Dominik Moll's Harry, un Ami Qui Vous Veut du Bien (With a Friend Like Harry), for which he won Best Actor prizes from the European Film Awards and the French Academy of Cinema.Hailing from the Catalonian town of Vilanova, where he was born Sergi Lopez Y Ayats on December 22, 1965, Lopez got his start in film in the early '90s. He made his screen debut as the protagonist of Manuel Poirier's La Petite Amie d'Antonio in 1992; the actor's collaboration with French director Poirier would be the first of many. After appearing in a number of subsequent films, including Poirier's La Campagne (1995), Lopez won wide acclaim for his role as a Spanish shoe salesman adrift in a series of picaresque adventures through Brittany, in Poirier's Western (1997). Screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the film was a critical success, earning Lopez probably his greatest exposure to date.
Lopez also continued to act in Spanish productions, including the 1999 film Lisboa, in which he played a salesman who has a lusty affair with a hitchhiker (Carmen Maura) he picks up, and Manuel Gomez Pereira's Entre las piernas (1998), an erotic drama starring Spanish screen goddess Victoria Abril. In addition, even as he became more prominent on the big screen, he continued his involvement in a number of Spanish stage productions.
In 1999, Lopez did some of the most internationally prominent work of his career, when he starred alongside French actress Nathalie Baye in Une Liaison Pornographique. An erotic drama directed by Frederic Fonteyne, it featured Lopez in the role of a Parisian man who embarks on an affair with a stranger (Baye) with whom he explores the parameters of intimacy and anonymity. The film earned critical raves on both sides of the Atlantic, with particular praise going to Lopez and Baye. The success of this film was nicely complemented by that of Harry, un Ami Qui Vous Veut du Bien the following year, with Lopez's portrayal of a creepy guy with a penchant for boiled eggs and murder garnering the actor widespread respect. His rising profile was reflected in the number of projects with which he was subsequently involved, including two more collaborations with Poirier, Te Quiero and Les Femmes....Ou Les Enfants d'Abord, and El Cielo Abierto, which cast him as an analyst whose wife leaves him for another man. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1992
The young Catalan Antonio lives in France earning his keep by doing construction work. He gradually falls in love with Claudie, an off-kilter girl with a mixed-race family. As he grows attached to her, he becomes even more willing than he was before to love her as she is, warts and all. However, he wants to understand what could have led her to spending some time inside a mental hospital. She tends to be depressed and uncommunicative, but Antonio's warm acceptance helps her to open up gradually. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergi López, Florence Giorgetti, (more)
- 1995
This French slice-of-life drama follows the laid-back exploits of a small group of people who leave Paris to experience the quiet country life. Lila, a recent ex-con in her twenties, decides to exchange Parisian life for live in the small village where her sister is living. There she meets Benoit, another Paris refugee in his late thirties. Though, not well suited, they fall in love. Both of them carry torches for former loves. Suddenly, Lila leaves; Benoit grieves. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoit Regent, Judith Henry, (more)
A French road movie with an unlikely and mystifying title, Western is actually a romantic comedy-drama from writer-director Manuel Poirier. A charming Spanish shoe salesman, Paco (Sergi Lopez), picks up a Russian hitchhiker, Nino (Sacha Bourdo). Nino steals Paco's flashy car because Nino thinks that it will help him find a woman. Paco is befriended by Marinette (Elisabeth Vitali), and they fall in love, but he loses his job. Paco attacks Nino, but the two later become friends. Marinette tells Paco that she wants to have a trial separation before making a commitment, so Paco and Nino take a trip across the French countryside. At a hotel, two women reject the awkward Nino and sleep with Paco. Paco tries to help Nino by canvassing the town's women in a fake poll on their ideal man, but this scheme also backfires. As they continue their romantic misadventures, luck begins to shift from Nino to Paco. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergi López, Sacha Bourdo, (more)
Scripter Sergi Belbel and director Ventura Pons based this film on Belbel's 1991 play, structured in a fashion similar to Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde (1900) and Richard Linklater's Slacker (1991): Two character set-ups feature one character from each scene turning up in the next scene, and so on, as a variety of people parade through diverse romantic and sexual situations. Cars careen about via an altered camera speed to provide the linkages between the 11 interlocking scenes. Shown at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Selvas, Laura Conejero, (more)
- 1998
Often referred to as a cousin to Pedro Almodovar or Bigas Luna, Manuel Gomez Pereira has been covering up his sharp social satire behind nice exteriors in his previous five films. No more nice guy, says Pereira, in an erotic tale of sex-o-mania. And with who else but ravishing Victoria Abril in the role of radio show assistant Miranda who just can't get enough! Miranda meets budding screenwriter Javier (Javier Bardem) during a group therapy session for sex addicts. Javier cannot live without regular telephone sex, while Miranda goes out every night in search of quick sexual encounters. They make love in the back of an abandoned car which has a corpse hidden inside its trunk. Miranda's jealous husband is the cop investigating the case.and it soon looks like Javier has been framed. There is quite a bit of Hitchcock here, which is acknowledged by Pereira. But on the whole, the film does not have a strong structure to carry the weight; the sex addiction theme of the first part goes out of focus when several subplots (unidentified corpse, etc.) distract the audience, resulting in a soft porno picture with little plausibility. The redeeming factor is the convincing acting by the sensual Victoria Abril. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victoria Abril, Javier Bardem, (more)
In this drama, two people discover that it's not as simple as they thought to have a purely sexual relationship. A man and woman in their early 40s (Nathalie Baye and Sergi Lopez), are introduced to each other through a personal ad and agree to meet once a week for a sexual liaison. The meetings are meant to be exciting but impersonal; they agree that they won't exchange names or ask questions about their lives outside this relationship. They also don't engage in convention, though we're never told (or shown) just what the couple is sharing instead. However, as the weeks go by, a bond grows between them, and after several weeks he proposes that they have dinner together before retiring to their hotel room; a few months down the road, she suggests that they should try making love in the traditional manner for the first time. These events bring them closer together, but they also change the tenor of their relationship; this change is symbolized most clearly when a man collapses in the hallway outside their motel room and together they take him to a hospital. Une Liaison Pornographique was screened at the 1999 Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nathalie Baye, Sergi López, (more)
A salesman offers a ride to a sexy woman and soon finds himself deep in trouble in the thriller Lisboa. Joao (Segi Lopez) is a traveling salesman from Portugal who is somewhere outside of Madrid when he stops to offer a lift to Berta (Carmen Maura), an attractive hitch-hiker. Sparks soon fly between them, and moments later they're having sex in a public restroom. Joao starts to wonder what he's gotten himself into when he discovers Berta is carrying a gun, but despite this he agrees to drive her to Lisbon. She claims to be going there to clear up some financial misdoings committed by her husband; however, Joao soon finds Berta's son, daughter and father are all following their trail, and the situation becomes all the more complicated when Berta's husband (Federico Luppi) shows up. This (along with Las Huellas Borradas) was one of two films featuring Federico Luppi to be shown at the 1999 Malaga Film Festival in Spain. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carmen Maura, Federico Luppi, (more)
- 1999
In this low-key drama from France, Marie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) has been laid off for over a year; depressed and with little to do, she drifts through the aisles of a supermarket, aimlessly doing her shopping. She bumps into Pierre (Patrick Dell'Isola); they strike up a conversation and she discovers that he worked for the same firm and was also let go, about a month ago. They keep running into each other at the market and strike up a friendship that grows into an affair. But Marie and Pierre are both married, and neither wants their spouses to know; this relationship has less to do with love than with a need to fill up the empty hours of the day and restore their damaged self-esteems. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Patrick Dell'Isola, (more)
- 1999
Raul Veiga directs this Spanish psychological thriller about a double suicide. After a couple is found shot to death, old flames of the deceased Modia (Rosana Pastor) and Luis (Sergi Lopez) comb through their personal belongings and soon enter into their own romance. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosana Pastor, Sergi López, (more)
La Nouvelle Eve is a bittersweet comedy about an independent woman, thirty-ish and single, and her unexpected need for the affections of a forty-ish balding family man with no interest in acquiring a mistress. Camille (Karin Viard) works as a lifeguard at an indoor swimming pool in Paris. The idea of domesticity bores her to tears; she would rather see herself having kinky sex in elevators or restrooms than carrying a baby in her arms. But something has been missing in her life, and she's absent-minded and irritable. When she trips on the street and falls, Alexis (Pierre-Loup Rajot) offers her his handkerchief. Camille is self-destructive in her obsession to possess Alexis. But Alexis is not totally indifferent, either. Acting is quite remarkable, particularly the performance of Karin Viard as a modern woman who is completely confused with her old-fashioned emotions. The film pokes fun at the bourgeois family life as well as the singles scene. La Nouvelle Eve, which was produced by Paolo Bronco, was screened as part of the Panorama section of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karin Viard, Pierre-Loup Rajot, (more)
Dominik Moll directs this black comedy about a family outing gone to hell. The film opens with Michel (Laurent Lucas) and Claire (Mathilde Seigner) on the edge of a nervous breakdown in a cramped hot car with three screaming children. At a roadside rest stop, Michel meets Harry (Sergi Lopez) who, after some encouragement, recalls that they went to high school together. Harry and his girlfriend Plum (Sophie Guillemin) weasel their way into Michel and Claire's life, and soon the two are following the haggard family to their tumbledown summer cottage. Though he seems friendly enough, Michel and Claire start to notice that something is not quite right with their newfound friend -- he recites from memory a poem Michel wrote 20 years ago, he suddenly buys them an expensive new Jeep when their old car dies, and he has a tendency to kill people who get on his nerves. This film was screened in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurent Lucas, Sergi López, (more)
Noted Spanish director Ventura Pons closes his "minimalist trilogy" with this morbid meditation on the frailty of life, told in seven vignettes depicting the final moments of seven very different people. A filmmaker (Lluis Homar) overcomes his writer's block just as he has a heart attack, a junkie (Marc Martinez) is confronted by his concerned sister (Anna Azcona) and later overdoses, a young girl (Carlota Bantula) chokes to death on a chicken bone in front of her horrified mother, a hospital patient (Mingo Rafols) can't reach the panic button during a fatal coughing fit, a youth on a motorbike is knocked over by a pair of cops, and finally, a deeply religious middle-aged businessman (Francesc Orella) is executed by a hitman. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carmen Elias, Roger Coma, (more)
Seven pairs of people exchange a variety of thoughts, feelings, and concerns in this comedy-drama from Spain. Pepa (Antonia San Juan) wants her lover Teo (Sergi Lopez) to tell her that he loves her, only to be disappointed. Newly single Jorge (Antonio Resines) calls to have the water put in his name at his new apartment, only to discover that the customer service representative is his ex-wife Laura (Fedra Lorente). Angel (Roberto Alvarez) is about to receive a liver transplant when he receives a visit from Mercedes (Adriana Ozores), wife of the deceased donor -- who wants to say goodbye to the liver. Benito (Jorge Alcazar) and Jacinto (Felix Alvarez) discuss life at Boy Scout camp. Teenaged Susi (Diana Cerezo) confides to her best friend Virgi (Melany Belena) that she might be pregnant. Street sweepers Milagros (Geli Albaladejo) and Rosario (Elvira Lindo) find an abandoned infant and wonder if they should keep it. And Elke (Marta Fernandez-Muro) visits Cuba to see her significant other, Cari (Lucrecia). Ataque Verbal reunites much of the cast and crew from director Miguel Albaladejo's first film, 1999's surprise success Manolito Gafotas. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
The feature debut of writer/director Javier Balaguer, Sólo Mía opens on a scene of a relationship gone terribly awry. Some type of violence is occurring off-camera. Soon we see that Angela (Paz Vega of Sex and Lucia) has Joaquín (Sergi López of Dirty Pretty Things) bound and gagged. "Have you ever tried, just once, to see my side?" she asks him. The film jumps back in time, showing us the history of their tumultuous relationship. On the first day of her job as a receptionist at an ad agency, Angela meets Joaquín, who turns out to be her boss. He charms her, and after a whirlwind courtship, they get married. Angela quickly gets pregnant, and Joaquín insists that she quit smoking and quit her job. He wants to control her; she will not be controlled. Their arguments grow more heated. One day, when he finds a pack of cigarettes she's hidden away, he smacks her. He quickly apologizes, and she eventually forgives him, but things just get worse. He gets a promotion at work, where he works with Alejandro (Alberto Jiménez of El Bola). Joaquín gets more and more stressed out about what's going on at the office. One night, after their anniversary party, while their baby girl is at Angela's mother's (María José Alfonso), Joaquín drunkenly assaults Angela. Andrea (Elvira Mínguez), Alejandro's wife, eventually persuades Angela to leave Joaquín, but Joaquín is not ready to give up on their relationship, or give up his daughter. With the legal system unresponsive to her concerns, Angela is forced to take bold action to protect herself. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergi López, Paz Vega, (more)
- 2001
A woman discovers that the joys of parenthood are not making her especially happy in this dark comedy/drama. Christelle (Marilyne Canto) is a new mother who isn't dealing well with the anxieties of caring for her child. One day, she suffers a severe panic attack while alone with the baby, and her neighbor, Claire (Dominique Blanc), takes her and her baby over to her apartment while trying to soothe her nerves. Christelle's husband, Laurent (Patrick Bruel), arrives home to discover both his wife and child missing and goes frantically searching for them, unaware they're in the apartment next door. Before he can find them, Laurent has to leave to have lunch with several members of the family, including his brother and his wife, who also happens to be Christelle's sister. Tempers begin to fray, and Laurent ends up in a shouting match with his family as he is forced to declare his own shortcomings as a husband and father. Meanwhile, as Claire tries to calm Christelle, she reveals that she's having her own problems -- Claire has been having an affair with a married man (Sergi Lopez). Le Lait de la Tendresse Humaine was written and directed by Dominique Cabrera, who previously explored her own problems with depression and anxiety following the birth of a child in the documentary Demain et Encore Demain. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Bruel, Marilyne Canto, (more)
- 2001
A close circle of friends and relatives become involved in a complicated game of musical beds in a spicy satirical comedy for adults. Angel (Sergi Lopez) is married to Ana (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), but while he stays with her for the sake of their four children, he hasn't been very happy in their relationship for some time, and is often unfaithful to his wife. Angel's brother, Hermano (Pepon Nieto), has just the opposite problem; his wife seems to have lost interest in him, and he discovers she's been having an affair with his boss. As Hermano tries to hold on to what's left of his pride, Ana becomes convinced Angel has been unfaithful to her, and in order to test her husband, she convinces her friend Amiga (Maria Esteve) to try and seduce Angel. The plan works a bit too well, and Amiga ends up sleeping with Angel. Ana tries to convince herself that this shouldn't affect her friendship with Amiga, but to spite her husband, she begins having an affair with Hermano -- something she keeps a secret from her husband until she finds him in flagrante delicto with his secretary. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Sergi López, (more)
- 2001
A psychiatrist must take some time off from helping others as he tries to come to term with his own troubles in this subtle comedy-drama. Miguel (Sergi Lope) is an analyst whose wife Sara (Marcela Wallerstein) has left him for another man; to add insult to injury, Miguel learns that his wife's new lover happens to be his father. Meanwhile, Sara's mother Elvira (Maria Jose Alfonso) has arrived in town for a visit, and with Sara out of town, Miguel has to pick her up from the airport and play host at a time when he would prefer not to have any visitors. As Miguel turns to his assistant Carola (Geli Albaladejo) for help, he discovers that Paquito (Javier Dorado), one of his patients, has run off his wallet. Miguel sets out to find Paquito, but reaches a dead end with his sister Jasmina (Mariola Fuentes), who has the wallet but has already spent Miguel's money. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergi López, Mariola Fuentes, (more)
- 2002
French filmmaker Manuel Poirier directs the comedy drama Femmes... ou les Enfants d'Abord... (Women or Children First). Middle-aged Tom (Sergi Lopez) lives in Brittany with his wife, Sylvie (Marilyne Canto), and their children. He leads a very tedious existence that may be headed toward a mid-life crisis or divorce. One day, his ex-girlfriend Virginie (Sylvie Testud) arrives with the news that he had fathered a child with her eight years ago. Needing a break to get herself together financially, she unloads the little girl on Tom. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergi López, Marilyne Canto, (more)
Two of the biggest stars of the French cinema bring their contrasting styles together in this lively romantic comedy. Rose (Juliette Binoche) is an emotional makeup artist who is hoping to get out of a bad relationship with her boyfriend, Sergio (Sergi Lopez), by leaving him in Paris and heading off to Mexico for a holiday. After losing her cell phone, Rose borrows one from Felix (Jean Reno), a somewhat stiff salesman with an interest in gourmet cooking, who is en route toMunich to attend a funeral. When both Rose and Felix find themselves grounded due to changes in flight scheduling and a transportation strike strands them at the airport, they end up sharing a room at a nearby hotel, where their contrasting personalities make the evening rough sledding for them both. As their unexpected stay wears on, will these opposites begin to attract? ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliette Binoche, Jean Reno, (more)
Director Stephen Frears returns to the grittier themes of his earlier films for the urban thriller Dirty Pretty Things. Residing in London, the medically trained Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a Nigerian immigrant working as a taxi driver and a hotel concierge, but he still lives on the edge of poverty. He shares a room with Senay (Amélie's Audrey Tautou making her English-language debut), a Turkish refugee who works as a maid at the hotel. As illegal immigrants, Okwe and Senay live in fear of being deported. One night, working at the front desk, Okwe receives a call from prostitute Juliette (Sophie Okonedo) to check a broken toilet, where he makes a horrifying discovery. He reports it to the manager Sneaky (Sergi Lopez), who blackmails Okwe into staying quiet about it. Okwe soon discovers the presence of a shady business operation that sends him into the seedy London underworld. Senay becomes lured in with hopes of being able to fund her escape to America. Dirty Pretty Things marks the screenwriting debut of Steve Knight, co-creator of the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audrey Tautou, Chiwetel Ejiofor, (more)
Claude Duty's feature-length debut Filles Perdues, Cheveux Gras (Hypnotized and Hysterical, (Hairstylist Wanted)) is an offbeat comedy about three women. Elodi (Olivia Bonamy) is a struggling single mother. Natacha (Marina Fois) is an upbeat alcoholic hair stylist whose beloved pet cat has disappeared. Marianne (Amira Casar) is drawn to a roguish, sexually adventurous art dealer. Their lives intertwine in a variety of ways. Song and dance numbers, as well as animated sequences, punctuate the film. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amira Casar, Marina Fois, (more)
- 2003
French filmmaker Hélène Angel directs the medieval drama Rencontre Avec le Dragon (The Red Knight). Daniel Auteuil stars as the titular knight, an immortal adventurer named Guillaume de Montauban who was scarred in a terrible fire. Naïve teenager Felix de Sisteron (Nicolas Nollet) wanders out to join the hero on his adventures. Meanwhile, Guillaume travels with Raoul de Vautadour (Sergi Lopez), a man who unwittingly turns into a wild beast at night. Gilbert Melki plays the bad guy, Micholas Mespoulede. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Auteuil, Nicolas Nollet, (more)
- 2003
First-time director Samuel Benmchetrit's 2003 debut Janis et John (Janis and John) follows the comedic exploits of a down-on-his luck insurance salesman as he attempts to make up for some very poor financial decisions. Pablo Sterni (Sergi Lopez), the aforementioned insurance salesman, has, until recently, been an honest business man. As of late, though, Pablo had been siphoning money from one of his more successful client's accounts -- one that covers a very expensive sports car. When that client, Mr. Cannon (Jean-Louis Trintignant), turns in a loss claim for that car for a half-million francs, Pablo finds himself in a tight spot. Inspiration strikes when Pablo learns that his hippy-dippy cousin Leon (Christopher Lambert, billed as Christophe Lambert) has just inherited a million francs from his recently deceased father. Leon, a perpetually stoned record store owner, lives solely for the day his 1973 vision of John Lennon and Janis Joplin's Christ-like return to Earth is fulfilled. After visiting with his cousin, Pablo decides to assist Leon in reliving his dream -- as well as parting him with much of his inheritance -- by convincing his wallflower wife, Brigitte (Marie Trintignant, murdered mere weeks before the film's debut, thus marking her final film appearance) and an out-of-work actor (François Cluzet) to impersonate Janis and John. Janis et John was selected for inclusion in the 2003 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergi López, Marie Trintignant, (more)
