Gilbert Melki Movies

This French prison drama focuses on a penitentiary inmate known as the Mute (Olivier Martinez), who either cannot or will not speak, even though he can apparently hear well enough. When the Mute's cellmate escapes, both the Warden (Bernard Le Coq) and the Chief Guard (Claude Brasseur) try to get him to tell what he knows about the disappearance -- the Guard through violence, the Warden by transferring him to a new cell with four other prisoners and cutting off TV privileges to the inmates until the Mute spills the beans. One of the Mute's new roommates is a white collar criminal (Said Taghmaoui) who has just landed in prison and is not dealing well with the pressures of life behind bars, but his skills with computers make him a very usefully ally among the prisoners. Meanwhile, Flic (Gilbert Melki), a self-important police detective, is investigating the escape of the Mute's cellmate and is not happy with the low level of cooperation among the prison's population. La Taule received its North American premiere at Montreal's World Film Festival in 1999. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Acclaimed Belgian novelist Jean-Philippe Toussaint drew attention to his directorial talents in 1990 with a remarkable satire on modern life, Monsieur. His third feature, La Patinoire, is about a film director who is shooting a highly symbolic film called 'Dolores' at an ice rink. He has hired a Lithuanian ice hockey team with which he is having enormous communication problems. His actors all have inflated egos, his film crew is made up of fools, and there is a politician on his back. But he must finish the film, no matter what, in time for the Venice Film Festival. A black comedy which is applicable to all absurd situations of life, but particularly those associated with the film industry, La Patinoire is a clever satire from beginning to end, including its title. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

A visually stylish comedy with dramatic overtones from director Tonie Marshall, Vénus Beauté (Institut) looks at the lives of three women who work at a small but successful beauty salon. Angele Nathalie Baye is an attractive woman just edging into middle age who is looking for companionship without commitment, even when it comes knocking. Her co-worker Samantha (Mathilde Seigner) has more boyfriends than she knows what to do with, and Marie (Audrey Tautou), the youngest of the group, is still learning the ropes of both love and beauty treatment. Fans of classic French cinema will want to keep an eye peeled for guest appearances from Emmanuelle Riva, Micheline Presle and Edith Scob. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Former French television star Antoine de Caunes turns his sights on the horror genre in his first feature in this goth comedy about trendy nightlife and new-millennium vogue. Antoine (Guillaume Canet is a layabout slacker who lives in a lounge at a health club where a friend lets him stay. After outsmarting a bouncer at an exclusive club in town, he gets a tip from another friend, Etienne (Gerard Lanvin), about a new party in the know. When Antoine attempts getting into the swanky soiree, he claims his friend "Jordan" has invited him. Though he cannot describe his fake friend's features, the staff agrees to let him in. He is then hauled away to meet the party's wealthy host Von Bulow (played by Jean-Marie Winling), who is extremely enticed by the prospect of meeting "Jordan" as he hears he only lives by night. Von Bulow offers Antoine one million francs, half on the spot, if he can be led to Jordan. Antoine must then buy information with his new money, leading him on all-night, violent odyssey that goes further into dark territory. The film also features Asia Argento, Vincent Perez, and Gilbert Melki. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide

Inspired by Lawrence Durrell's collection of interrelated novels, The Alexandria Quartet, Lucas Belvaux's trilogy--the violent noir On the Run, the romantic comedy An Amazing Couple, and the melodrama After the Life, examine many of the same characters from three distinct perspectives. In On the Run, taciturn leftist revolutionary Bruno (Belvaux) escapes from prison with the help of one of his former comrades. When his partner is killed by the police, Bruno tracks down another former member of his gang, Jeanne (Catherine Frot), who is now living a quiet, respectable life as a schoolteacher, with a husband and a young son. Bruno is determined to get revenge on the powerful man who betrayed his revolution. Jeanne doesn't want to live in the past. She offers Bruno enough help to get rid of him. Trying to trap his prey, Bruno follows a drug dealer who works for the man. He meets Agnes (Dominique Blanc), a junkie who happens to be the wife of the cop, Pascal (Gilbert Melki) who's hunting Bruno. Bruno ends up helping Agnes avoid the police and cop a fix. In return, she takes him to the vacation home of her co-worker, Cecile (Ornella Muti), where he hides out. But when his plans for revenge go horribly awry, Bruno turns to Jeanne again, and she has to weigh her family's safety against her allegiance to her old friend. While On the Run focuses on Bruno and Jeanne, An Amazing Couple is centered on the paranoid Cecile, who hires Pascal to watch her husband, while After the Life deals with the damaged marriage of Agnes and Pascal. The trilogy was shown at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

A middle-aged Frenchwoman is either experiencing delusions of grandeur or the full force of destiny in director Tonie Marshall's 2002 romantic drama Nearest to Heaven (Au Plus Pres Du Paradis). When single non-fiction book author Fanette (Catherine Deneuve) accidentally bumps into former schoolmate Bernard (Bernard Le Coq) -- who was smitten with Fanette in school but whose affection remained unrequited -- she is reminded of another man whom she loved intensely. This other man, Philippe, left a huge impression on Fanette as she begins to lose herself in reminiscences over the brief, intense relationship the two experienced. After catching a number of screenings for the 1957 film An Affair to Remember -- which was also Fanette and Philippe's favorite film during their fling -- Fanette gets the notion from what may or may not be a figment of her imagination to go to New York and visit the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Setting out under the pretense of putting the finishing touches on her latest book, she arrives in the States and discovers her usual photographer has been replaced by the single and somewhat attractive male photographer Matt (William Hurt) -- which further confuses Fanette when she eventually develops feelings for him. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

A boy from a broken home finds a friend in an insular, spiritual shopkeeper in this period drama from writer/director François Dupeyron. Set in 1960s Paris, Monsieur Ibrahim et les Fleurs du Coran revolves around Momo (Pierre Boulanger), a young man who lives alone with his father in the bustling Rue Bleu district. Still smarting over the separation from his wife and other son, Momo's dad neglects his son in ways both minor and major, to the point where the teen spends most of his time out of school alone and isolated. He finds an unlikely ally in Monsieur Ibrahim (Omar Sharif), a Muslim shopkeeper who spends most of his days behind the counter of his store reading the Koran. As time passes, Momo and Ibrahim begin to bring each other out of his respective shell, sharing a series of everyday adventures, culminating in Momo's indoctrination into Ibrahim's faith. Monsieur Ibrahim et les Fleurs du Coran played the Toronto and Venice film festivals; at the latter, Sharif was given a lifetime achievement award for this and the rest of his career's work. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

A worldly construction supervisor travels to Tangier to ensure that a complicated job is completed by the projected date, only to find the torch he carries for a long-lost love rekindled with melancholy passion in director Andre Techine's pensive romantic drama. It's been thirty-years since Antoine (Gerard Depardieu) and Ceclile (Catherine Denuve) called it quits, but time has only seemed to amplify Antoine's longings for the woman that stole his heart so many years ago. Though Antoine has never married, Cecile is now the host of a successful radio show whose extended marriage to Moroccan doctor Nathan (Gilbert Melki) has yielded a now-grown son named Sami (Malik Zidi). When Antoine arrives in Northern Morocco to watch over his latest project, his attention soon diverts to Cecile - who has always been close in Antoine's mind despite the physical and emotional distance between them. Cecil isn't as willing to let go of her blissfully predictable routine, however, and as Antoine dejectedly ponders a means of making her change her mind, the appearance of Cecil's closeted son - who has recently arrived home with his troubled Moroccan girlfriend (Lubna Azabal) in tow - begins to cause complications of its own. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A desperate man in serious debt attempts to wipe his account clean in the most permanent way imaginable, only to find himself saved from a grim, self-inflicted demise by his selfless attempt to rescue another would-be suicide in director Luc Besson's tenth outing as a director. André (Jamel Debbouze) is a debt-ridden 28-year-old who has until midnight to pay back 40,000 euros to one of Paris' most ruthless gangsters. When the menacing Franck (Gilbert Melki) has his thugs dangle André over the edge of the Eiffel Tower soon thereafter, the debtor who views himself as an American on a technicality seeks the help of the U.S. Embassy to no avail. After failing to convince the local police to lock him up for his own protection, André, sensing death is eminent, determines to end his life on his own terms. As André steps over the edge of the city's most awe-inspiring bridges and prepares to take that fateful plunge, he suddenly notices a statuesque blonde in a little black dress preparing to meet her maker in a similar fashion. As the woman leaps into the Seine, André instinctively jumps in to rescue her. Resting safely on the shore after looking death straight in the eye, the sorrowful pair soon finds their fates inexorably tied. Though André initially scolds the ravishing Angela (Rie Rasmussen) for attempting to deprive the world of such stunning beauty, she bitterly assures her one-armed savior that her physical perfection is without question only skin deep. Nevertheless the aggressive blonde betrays her own negative self-image by pledging to stick by André through thick and thin, and the unlikely duo soon sets out on a mission to solve André's formidable list of problems and get his life back in order again. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

It's Summer Rental meets Blame it on Rio when a French family heads off to the Mediterranean for a sultry summer vacation in the ensemble sex comedy Côte d'Azur, co-directed by Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel (The Adventures of Felix). When the head of the clan, Marc (Gilbert Melki), decides to tote his wife, Béatrix (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), and his teenage children Laura (Sabrina Seyvecou) and Charly (Romain Torres) off to his childhood beach home on the Riviera, a number of sexy liasons ensue. Charly -- though straight -- must contend with the come-ons of his best friend, Martin, a closeted homosexual infatuated with him for years but too shy to say so. Meanwhile, as Laura takes up with a young biker, Béatrix re-encounters her old boyfriend Mathieu (Jacques Bonnaffé); Marc's ex-flame pops up, too, both former lovers expressing interest in rekindling affairs. Soon, the entire vacation becomes a surfeit of hilarious erotic complications. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

French helmer Lucas Belvaux's The Right of the Weakest - a stark kitchen sink drama with occasional and unpredictable flashes of humor - meditates on the question of when to resign oneself to a sad fate and when to buck the system, even if it means risking everything. This ensemble piece observes the perpetually flagging fortunes of several male steelworkers in a French industrial community whose one bright spot is a regular weekly card game. The men exist at varying levels of despair, but all are losers. They include: Jean Pierre (Patrick Descamps), a wheelchair-bound sad sack who must be carried to the card game; Robert, who lives in the same tenement and exhibits a propensity for waking up at odd hours and drinking himself into a stupor; and Marc (Lucas Belvaux), an assembly line worker at a beer factory whose job involves untangling bottles. Patrick (Eric Caravaca) qualifies as the most impressive of the group (which isn't saying much) - a househusband and college graduate, married and with a son, but one whose economic status sinks rapidly when his wife loses her only means of transportation to work. Ultimately, the men put their heads together and devise a wild method of escaping from the doldrums - which, though improbable, just might be crazy enough to work. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

In this Kafkaesque look at the injustices of modern life, Tres Bien, Merci follows an accountant named Alex who catches the eye of authorities for the minor infraction of lighting up his cigarette just a few feet shy of the smoking area near the subway. Guards force him to pay an exorbitant fine, but Alex's breaking of minor rules earns an even more disproportionately harsh punishment when police throw him in jail overnight simply for loitering to watch an I.D. check being performed on a young couple. As things become maddeningly more absurd, he's later imprisoned in a mental institution simply for rationally pleading his defense. Throughout Tres Bien, Merci, Alex's excruciatingly lucid state of mind contrasts with the increasingly insane reactions of authority figures, illustrating the indignities of society. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide