Pierre Arditi Movies

Recalling such prior successes as The Big Chill, Peter's Friends and Return of the Secaucus 7, director Daniele Thompson's seriocomedy A Change of Plans follows a group of four French couples who converge in an apartment over the course of one lengthy summer's eve and spend the time chatting about life, personal goals, relationships and sex. The said event unfurls during the perennial "Fete de la musique" in the City of Lights. Attendees include: the shark-like divorce attorney who owns the apartment, M.L. (Karin Viard) and her out-of-work husband Piotr (Dany Boon); slick, unctuous attorney Lucas (Patrick Thompson) and his slightly stuck-up homemaker wife Sarah (Emmanuelle Seigner); gynecologist Melanie (Marina Fois) and her oncologist husband Alain (Patrick Bruel); and M.L.'s sister Juliette (Marina Hands) and her much older boyfriend Erwann (Patrick Chesnais). As the night unfurls, it becomes readily apparent that none of the partners are happy and that virtually all have cheated or are planning on cheating on each other, which turns the film into an extended meditation on dissatisfaction and infidelity among the Parisian upper-crust. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A caustic apartment owner finds her attempts to evict the ragtag occupants of a 3,000 square foot rent-controlled apartment challenged in a most unexpected way in director Pascal Thomas' communal comedy. Thanks to a legal loophole known as "the Law of 1948," a cap was placed on some rental units around Paris preventing real-estate speculation. As long as the original resident still resides on the premises, the statue still applies. Though Marie-Antionette (Gisele Casadesus)'s name does indeed remain on the lease, the free-spirited grandmother rarely stays at the apartment for any extended length, leaving Francisca (Laetitia Casta), her husband Martin (Mathieu Amalric), and the couple's daughter the primary beneficiaries of the unique law. Of course with all of that room there's plenty of space for others to enjoy, and in addition to three of Francisca's best friends additional occupants include a senile grandmother (Carmen Durand) and egocentric independent filmmaker Adrien (Pierre Arditi). When acrimonious landlord Charlotte Falingard (Noemie Lvovsky) makes it her mission to clear out the apartment in order to turn a tidy profit, former law student Francesca stands firm in challenging the conviction by putting her education to good use. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

An alien race attempting to gain a greater understanding of mankind focus their studies on a temperamental painter and a brooding musician in speculative sci-fi author-turned-filmmaker Bernard Werber's ambitious sci-fi mockumentary. Fascinated by the human creature and determined to gain a greater understanding of their life cycle, curious extraterrestrials plant hidden cameras all throughout modern-day Paris. The discoveries they make are sometimes poignant, and sometimes hilarious. In order to truly understand how the human mind works, however, the aliens will need to procure two test subjects - one of each gender. Placed together in a clear plastic cage suspended in darkness, Agathe (Audrey Dana) rails against her captivity as dejected Bertrand (Boris Ventura) exhibits a more subdued malaise. One by one, a serious of everyday objects are added to the cage so that the interstellar observers may take note of how each item is used by the humans. Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, Agathe and Bertrand's spouses make a connection as curious aliens observe quietly from afar. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This droll comedy from France was based on a popular stage play by the 18th century author Marivaux. As a lark, an attractive young heiress (Sandrine Kiberlain) disguises herself as a man as she travels with a servant for a weekend getaway to the estate of her close friend the Countess (Isabelle Huppert). En route, the heiress, introducing herself as "The Chevalier," encounters Lelio (Mathieu Amalric), the Countess' fiancée. Talking "man to man," Lelio confides that he isn't really in love with the Countess, but he is eager to get his hands on her dowry. He'd prefer to marry another woman he's met, who has an even greater fortune -- the heiress. However, he has already agreed to pay the Countess a considerable fortune if he breaks off the engagement; he's hoping that someone else will take her off his hands so that he can woo the heiress and come out ahead. The heiress, now aware just how much of a louse Lelio is, agrees as the Chevalier to romance the Countess, knowing that if "he" can win her away from Lelio, he'll be out of an income on both sides. Director Benoit Jacquot filmed La Fausse Suivante in a theater, using vintage costumes and minimal props to help retain the flavor of the stage production. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The first feature film of Benoit Peeters is a mystery drama involving a young director, an exiled writer, and the woman who comes between them. Virgil Iancu (Florin Piersic) is a Romanian director who arrives in Paris to make a documentary about Constantin Dolinescu (Mihai Dinvale), a famous dissident writer who fled to France in 1987 and had begun to make a film before disappearing without a trace. For his research, Virgil interviews several people and collects various documents. All this evidence plus the extracts from the two versions of the unfinished film of the exiled writer lead him to believe that the man had a tormented character. Dolinescu also seems to have encountered several problems with his film project. The meeting of Virgil Iancu with an actress from Dolinescu's unfinished film and finally Dolinescu himself reveal not only the mystery surrounding Dolinescu but also the motive behind the young man's quest and the close links which bind him to the writer. Le Dernier Plan was screened in the Filmmakers of the Present section of the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

Arthur Joffe directed this French comic fantasy, in French and English dialogue, about God (voice of Pierre Arditi), invisible and spinning through Heavenly space on an asteroid, along with his sidekick angel Rene (Ticky Holgado). God observes Earthly events on His television set. After hacking out a screenplay on the Hebrew keyboard of a manual typewriter, the Deity needs a director, lands as a burning bush in back of the Hollywood sign, finds Hollywood hostile, jumps to Paris, and travels from one body to another, eventually settling on tekkie Jeanne (Helene de Fougerolles), an employee at Harper Audiovisual. Faxes in Hebrew begin arriving, and Jeanne hears voices. With God's screenplay translated to French, it finally goes up to the 127th floor for an okay by Mr. Harper himself (Tcheky Karyo). But there's a problem -- God is not very happy about Mr. Harper's alterations, as he explains, "I wrote the Bible, the best-selling book of all time! Where do they get off editing my script?" ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This French family fantasy follows in the footsteps of the fine and funny Big (1988). Solemn French schoolteacher Albert Crastaing (Jean-Louis Richard) punishes a trio of 12-year-olds by having them write a Kafkaesque essay with a body-switching premise, cueing the film's storyline of kids transformed into their parents. Nouredine is a French-born Arab whose father (Zinedine Soualem) is an artist forced to drive a cab. Catholic Igor's father (François Morel) died from AIDS after a blood transfusion. Joseph is a Jew whose father (Pierre Arditi) is a cranky and irritable tailor. The trio encounters a prostitute, Yolande (Catherine Jacob). Elsewhere, the parents inhabit bodies of their children and experience problems kids face daily. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In this beautifully mounted historical drama, Angelo Pardi (Olivier Martinez), an Italian soldier, is fleeing his country in 1832. After the fall of Napoleon, Austria is swooping down on Italy to take control of the nation, and like many patriots, Pardi is hoping to escape to France and fight for their freedom abroad rather than submit to Austrian rule. However, as Pardi discovers upon arival, an epidemic of cholera is sweeping the land, leaving death in its wake and causing most people to be fearful of strangers, who may well be infected. As he tries to outrun a trio of mercenaries who have been hired to take him back to Italy, he finds himself accused by a group of villagers of infecting their water supply. Trying to escape would-be captors on all sides and searching for refuge in a rainstorm, Pardi finds a house and takes shelter inside. Unknown to Pardi, Pauline (Juliette Binoche), the lady of the house, is at home, but to his pleasant surprise, she welcomes him cordially rather than sending him away. It seems that Pauline's husband is missing, and as she desperately wants to find him and Pardi needs to escape to friendlier circumstances, they travel together through the French countryside, hoping to avoid both the disease and the tragedy travelling in its wake. Reportedly the most expensive French production ever made at the time of its release, Le Hussard Sur Le Toit (released in the United States as The Horseman on the Roof) was nominated for ten Cesar Awards (the French Oscar); it won two, for Best Cinematography and Best Sound. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide