Pascal Greggory Movies

Writer/director Olivier Dahan (Crimson Rivers II) helmed La Vie en Rose, the screen biopic of tragic French songstress Edith Piaf. Marion Cotillard portrays Piaf, the superstar once raised as a young girl by her grandmother in a Normandy bordello, then discovered on a French street corner -- as a complete unknown -- by cabaret proprietor Louis Leplée (Gérard Depardieu). The film segues breezily between various episodes from Piaf's life -- such as her lover, French boxer Marcel Cerdan's (Jean-Pierre Martins) championship bout in mid-'40s New York; her period in Hollywood during the '50s; Piaf's abandonment as a young girl by her contortionist father (and earlier by her mother, a street singer); her brushes with the law as an adult; and her 1951 car accident and subsequent morphine addiction that caused her to age well beyond her years and left her barely mobile; and, through it all, her ability (like Billie Holiday) to funnel personal tragedy and emotional struggles into her vocalizations -- dazzling audiences in the process. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Writer/director Maiwenn authors and stars in the sobering and disquieting psychological drama Pardonnez-Moi (aka Forgive Me, 2006). She plays Violette, an expectant wife who opens a nasty barrel of worms by filming a documentary about her dysfunctional family -- to be shown to her (as yet) unborn son.Through her ever-present lens, Violette begins to unearth one nasty family secret after another. When she finishes, many long-established familial bonds will be broken, and no one in the family unit will emerge without blood on their hands. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Years after her once-promising career as a professional pianist is tragically sidelined, a young musician still haunted by the past receives a second chance at making things right in director Denis Dercourt's elegant tale of shattered dreams and delicate mutual dependence. Upon performing for the examination board in order to gain entrance into the prestigious musical Conservatory, young pianist Mélanie (Julie Richalet) finds her concentration shattered when the chairwoman of the jury - herself a famous concert pianist - carelessly signs an autograph for a fan. Her endless hours of rigorous training suddenly rendered useless by the pass of a pen, Mélanie remains unable to regain her composure after the incident and subsequently gives up music altogether after failing to pass the test. Years later, Mélanie is a file clerk at a well-renowned law firm whose skills soon catch the eye of senior partner M. Fouchécourt (Pascal Greggory). Impressed by her solid work ethic and unwavering dependability, Fouchécourt hires Mélanie as a live-in nanny whose duty it will be to watch over his son during an extended business trip. Upon arriving at Fouchécourt's lavish countryside mansion, Mélanie makes the acquaintance of Mme. Fouchécourt (Catherine Frot) - the very same pianist whose thoughtless action sent Mélanie's life into an irreversible downward spiral. It seems that now the tables have turned, and Mme. Fouchécourt herself has lost the confidence to perform. Her frazzled nerves somehow calmed by the presence of the quiet new helper, Mme. Fouchécourt implores Mélanie to sit in on her recitals and become her personal page turner as she attempts to overcome her debilitating fear of failure. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A seemingly ideal marriage is thrown into embarrassing turmoil in Patrice Chéreau's period drama, Gabrielle. Based on the short story The Return by Joseph Conrad, the film opens with Jean (Pascal Greggory) extolling the virtues of his pretty wife, Gabrielle (Isabelle Huppert), in voice-over as he makes his way home from work. Jean and his wife, with help from their team of servants, have fostered the illusion of a perfect bourgeois household. Jean is particularly happy with the way Gabrielle presents herself at the couple's frequent dinner gatherings, attended by their "set," whom, as he describes them, "fear emotion and failure more than war." We see glimpses of these occasions in flashback, while Jean explains of his wife, "I'm proud of what she is -- impassive." The secure little world he's fashioned for himself is shattered when he arrives home and finds a note from Gabrielle, explaining that she's leaving him. "It's terrible, and right," the missive states. After a brief explosion of rage, Jean tries to compose himself, but he's thrown into chaos again when Gabrielle unexpectedly returns home. She finds it impossible to speak to Jean. "This letter is not the worst of it?" he asks her. "The worst is my coming back," she explains. The two struggle bitterly to regain the balance in their relationship. Soon, in the interest of appearances, another dinner party is planned. Gabrielle, switches from black-and-white to color and back from scene to scene, and is also notable for its intriguing use of intertitles. It was adapted by Chéreau and his frequent collaborator, Anne-Louise Trividic, and was shown at the 2005 New York Film Festival, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Raja (Najat Benssallem) is a 19-year-old Moroccan girl. An orphan, she's led a difficult life, but has gotten off the streets and lives with her cousin Nadira (Ilham Abdelwahad) and her family. Raja and Nadira are happy to get low-paying jobs working in the garden of a wealthy middle-aged Frenchman, Fred (Pascal Greggory). Fred is immediately attracted to the new girl and the other girls tease Raja about his interest, encouraging her to go after his money. Fred discusses his growing infatuation with his two elderly cooks, Oum El Aid (Oum El Aid Ait Youss) and Zineb (Zineb Ouchita), who try to discourage his interest. Because they don't speak the same language, Fred and Raja often have to rely on others to translate as they dance around each other. Fred hires Raja to be his maid, and flirts shamelessly with her. She's intrigued, and desperate to change her life, but she keeps him at a distance, uncertain of the seriousness of his interest. Raja has a boyfriend, Youssef (Hassan Khissal), who resents her relationship with the Frenchman; in addition, her brother (Abdelilah Lamrani), who pimped her out as a girl, still tries to control her life, taking a share of the money she earns. He plans for her to marry a policeman he knows. Fred struggles with his emotions. They obviously feel something for each other, but the cultural and economic differences between them may be too immense to overcome. Raja, written and directed by Jacques Doillon (Ponette), was shown at the 2003 New York Film Festival. Benssallem won the Marcello Mastroianni Award (for best first performance) at the 2003 Venice Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

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, Rovi

Two people on opposite sides of the law are brought together under unusual circumstances in this thriller. Lea (Elsa Zylberstein) is a young woman with a checkered past who has just finished a stretch in prison and is waiting for her teenaged brother, Sammy (Vincent Martinez), to pick her up. As it turns out, Sammy has been nurturing an impressive criminal career of his own, and he's killed in an ambush with plainclothes police officers within Lea's sight. Traumatized, Lea isn't sure where to turn, and finds solace in the arms of David (Richard Berry), a police detective who is dealing with a crisis of his own -- he confiscated two kilos of heroin during a drug bust, which ruthless criminal, Zak (Pascal Greggory), is demanding as ransom after kidnapping David's nine-month-old son. While their tragedies have brought them together, what Lea doesn't know is that David is the policeman who shot her brother, and soon they both find themselves at odds with one another's allies in the French criminal underworld. Un Ange was a rare foray into theatrical filmmaking for established television director Miguel Courtois. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A lawyer finds himself playing on so many sides at once that he has trouble keeping score in this offbeat comedy. Alain (Pascal Greggory) is a bisexual attorney stuck in a deep well of sexual and professional confusion. Alain has become involved with Laurence (Nathalie Richard), another lawyer who shares his office; after they sleep together for the first time, Laurence finds herself pregnant, then wants Alain to marry her, even though she knows he doesn't love her. Meanwhile, Alain is obsessed with one of his clients, Marc (Vincent Martinez), who has just been handed a life sentence for murder but is still the man of his dreams, despite the fact that Christophe (Cyrille Thouvenin), Laurence's brother, is in love with Alain and willing to do anything to satisfy his sexual appetite. In order to get closer to Marc, Alain warily agrees to become an intermediary between Marc and his girlfriend Babette (Julie Gayet). But as he begins passing messages between the two, Alain finds himself falling into an affair with Babette. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An ambitious project of Chile-born, Paris-based Raul Ruiz, this psychological drama brings to the screen the famous classic of Marcel Proust with fidelity to its interior monologues and streams of consciousness. Proust (Marcelo Mazzarella), on his deathbed in his small apartment on Rue Hamelin, is looking through old photos and remembering his life, as real characters intermingle with fictional ones from his novels. The period is 1914-18, when WWI is raging. Hidden in Paris, thanks to his asthma, Marcel Proust wanders into the night. He finds an aging courtesan in Café de la Paix, which is deserted by the curfew. Charlus, the seducer of young boys, is at the Palais des Felicites where he meets his lovers. Gilberte returns alone to Tansonville to evade the confiscation of her chateau by the Germans after the death of her husband at the front. Famous violinist Morel is hiding in a decrepit hotel. The demoralizing effects of war affect all the characters, hastening their decadence or transforming them into caricatures. In the whirlpool of the grotesque specter of war, Marcel finds refuge in his childhood memories to escape the atrocities around him. Death and decadence, the evanescence of human existence, and the relations between space and time are some of the main themes explored in this film, which reflects the works of Marcel Proust in every detail. Raul Ruiz has on his side a very good screenwriter, Gilles Taurand, and an impressive cast: Catherine Deneuve and John Malkovich, who have collaborated with Ruiz before, Emanuelle Béart, Vincent Pérez, Pascal Greggory, and the Italian man of theatre, Marcello Mazzarella. Shown in competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

Patrice Chereau (Queen Margot) directed this French drama about a train trip to an artist's funeral. Friends of painter Jean-Baptiste Emmerich (Jean-Louis Trintignant, seen in flashbacks) gather at a Paris railroad station for a four-hour journey to Limoges, where Emmerich wanted to be buried. The dozen travelers include art historian Francois (Pascal Greggory) and his lover Louis (Bruno Todeschini), who develops an interest in teenage Bruno (Sylvain Jacques). Traveling parallel with the train is a station wagon with Jean-Baptiste's body, and this vehicle is driven by Thierry (Roschdy Zem), husband of Catherine (Dominique Blanc), who's on the train with their daughter. Francois plays a taped interview with Jean-Baptiste, revealing his sexual appeal to both men and women. Lucie (Marie Daems) is convinced that she was his main love. Also on board is his nephew, Jean-Marie (Charles Berling) and Jean-Marie's estranged wife, Claire (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), After the funeral in "Europe's largest cemetery," the storyline continues in the mansion of Jean-Baptiste's brother, Lucien (also played by Trintignant). With hand-held camerawork for almost two-thirds of the film, the production involved two extra cars connected to a real scheduled train, headed one way in the morning and returning in the afternoon, with cast and crew logging some 12,000 kilometers over two weeks. Source music runs the gamut from James Brown to Jim Morrison. The title refers to the dying words uttered by the painter -- which actually are the last words spoken by filmmaker Francois Reichenbach who died in 1993 (and appropriated here by his friend, co-scripter Daniele Thompson). One of Francois Reichenbach's best-known films (and subject of an entire book) is the documentary Medicine Ball Caravan (aka We Have Come for Your Daughters,1971), a curious effort to duplicate the success of Woodstock (1970) by simply inviting a large number of musicians, hippies, and counterculture types aboard a cross-country train and filming the result. Shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

The mayor (Pascal Greggory) of this unpolished provincial town has plans for a beautiful field on the edge of town, and he's quite sure they will be put through the central government in time to help him with his political career. He intends to replace the field with a sports and "cultural" center, along with a large parking lot. The only overt opposition to this plan at the outset comes from an environmentally sensitive grammar school teacher (Fabrice Luchini), and he's hardly a threat, because he doesn't imagine he can successfully oppose the builders' designs. Meanwhile, the mayor has fallen in love with one of the local representatives of the intelligentsia, a woman novelist (Arielle Dombasle). Trouble begins to percolate into the mayor's life and thwart his plans when his daughter and the daughter of the schoolteacher become friends. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi