Laurent Bateau Movies
- 2009
On the most fundamental level, the two neighboring French villages of Super-Charmoussey and Charmoussey couldn't possibly be more different: the former is an affluent, thriving ski resort town, the latter a village struggling financially - to such a degree that it seems barely able to stay afloat. For decades, the two villages have engaged in an intense and longstanding rivalry, with a perennial beauty contest between the towns; the lucky young winner, each year, automatically graduates to the Miss Franche-Comtr competition. For 22 years, Super-Charmoussey has won, hands-down, with its endless supply of gorgeous young European women who are primed and coached by outside professionals for maximum success. But this year, Charmoussey's mayor opts for a change in plan; longing to beat Super-Charmoussey at its own game, he summons village expatriate-turned-professional actor Franck (superstar Benoit Poelvoorde) to leave his Parisian home, move back into the community, and uncover the many secrets that Super-Charmoussey's citizens routinely use to give themselves a leg up. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoît Poelvoorde, Olivia Bonamy, (more)
- 2008
Laurent Chouchan's comedy Ca Se Soigne? follows the plight of Tom Bledish (Thierry Lhermitte of The Dinner Game), a musician who appears to have everything going for him; with a ravishing wife and a covetable new appointment to a job as the head of the Parisian symphony orchestra, it seems that circumstances could not possibly improve - and indeed, his fate soon takes a cruel downturn when he's stricken by a bout of severe clinical depression. Despite a myriad of treatments, nothing seems to work, and indeed Tom begins to wonder if he'll ever regain his zest for life. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thierry Lhermitte, Julie Ferrier, (more)
- 2008
To the French, Michel "Coluche" Colucci (1944-86) was not merely a household name but a veritable institution. A stocky, goofy comic who often turned up in big screen farces such as L'Aile Ou la Cuisse (1976) and Inspecteur la Bavure (1980) , Colucci gained notoriety for his emotionally rocky and stormy personal life that witnessed him battling alcoholism and extreme drug addiction - making him something of a French equivalent to John Belushi or Chris Farley. Unlike Belushi or Farley, however, Coluche made the unusual decision (for one of his background) to briefly enter mainstream politics. In a bid for the French presidential nomination in 1981, he delighted many and shocked others by reeling in an impressive 15% of the French popular vote - reason enough to believe that this actor, with solid humanitarian values and a commitment to civil rights, might have actually stood a solid chance had he campaigned more aggressively and remained in the running for a longer period. Antoine de Caunes's biopic Coluche, l'Histoire d'un mec hones in exclusively on this intriguing period of the comic's life and career, with François-Xavier Demaison playing the famous actor. The tale begins with his impulsive and drug-fueled decision to run on the ticket, coaxing bums, drunks and social outcasts to band together and lay waste to mainstream politicians. When Coluche pulls in around 10% of the vote, he draws the ire of politicos François Mitterand and Valerie Giscard d'Estaing, who promptly send out an advisor to dissuade the funnyman from running. Director de Caunes spends the majority of the film cross-cutting between recreations of Coluche's popular stage acts, and a not uncritical look at the star's attempts to push himself to his very limits and beyond -- with a mainstream political run that began as a joke but quickly took on very real and frightening proportions. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- François-Xavier Demaison, Léa Drucker, (more)
- 2006
- NR
- Add OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies to QueueAdd OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies to top of Queue
OSS 117: Cairo -- Nest of Spies constitutes the eighth installment in a long-running series of movies about OSS 117 (the government code name for Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath) -- a French super-spy and European equivalent of James Bond. The creation of author Jean Bruce, OSS eventually starred in over 265 novels and seven cinematizations through 1970. The first seven film outings were sober and straight-faced; the eighth go-round (the first after a 38-year lapse) does a 180 to shamelessly poke fun of the rules established by the genre. A glib yet intelligent spoof, it joins the ranks of Our Man Flint (1965), Aghaye Hallou (1970), Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street (1984), and other international pictures that glibly satirize the subgenre made infamous to Americans by Bond; like Mad Mission 3, it even packs in an OSS 117 (Jean Dujardin) with a startling resemblance to Sean Connery. The film's comic conceit involves making OSS 117 arrogant, conceited, culturally insensitive, chauvinistic, and thoroughly moronic (he pretends that various cultural institutions and religious practices, for instance, are nonexistent if he is unfamiliar with them); yet the character somehow manages to slide through outrageously dangerous situations unscathed, time and again. The teaser prologue finds OSS 117 in Berlin, where he outwits the Nazis by stealing vital documents from them, hijacks an Axis plane in mid-nosedive, and saves himself and the craft at the last yawning moment. Ten years later, he journeys from Rome to Cairo, where he investigates the death of a fellow agent, posing as the proprietor of a chicken farm. His "side" activities during this jaunt involve hammering out a peace arrangement for the Middle East, keeping tabs on the Suez Canal, and monitoring the Russians. Jean-François Halin scripted the film, maintaining an utterly deadpan tone throughout; Michel Hazanavicius directed. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, (more)
- 2005
A man looking for a reason to live gets more than he bargained for in this black comedy from France. Edy (François Berléand) is an insurance salesman who has fallen into a deep depression. Edy can scarcely work up the energy to do more than listen to his collection of classic jazz records (at full volume, much to his neighbor's annoyance) and drink all night, and he's made some unsuccessful attempts at suicide. However, Edy's efforts to end his own life not only don't do the job, they have a bad habit of destroying other people's property, and in one case killing an innocent bystander. Unsure of what to do, Edy calls upon his friend Louis (Philippe Noiret) for advice. Louis, who helped Edy get started in the insurance game, has some ideas of how to bring excitement back into his friend's life, but Edy becomes nervous when Louis leads him into a life of crime that gets messier with each passing day. Edy also stars Yves Verhoeven, Laurent Bateau, and Marion Cotillard. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- François Berléand, Philippe Noiret, (more)
An actor who lands the role of his life is forced into an even greater real-life acting challenge in this comedy drama from France. Maurice Kurtz (Stéphane Freiss) is an actor who is passionately in love with his wife, Perla (Bérénice Bejo), and wishes he could provide a better life for her. Maurice and his friends Simon (Lionel Abelanski), Sami (Olivier Sitruk), and Edouard (Stéphan Guérin-Tillié) work for a company that dubs American films into French when they're not looking for acting work, and when they learn that famous American filmmaker Grichenberg (Peter Coyote) is coming to Paris to shoot a Yiddish-language version of The Merchant of Venice, they all show up at a "cattle call" audition hoping to land bit parts. To his great surprise, Maurice's reading wins him the leading role of Shylock, and he quickly passes the good news along to Perla. As it happens, Perla needs some good news -- she's just been diagnosed with cancer, and her doctor tells her she's not long for the world. Maurice is comforted by the fact that his good fortune is lifting Perla's spirits, so when Grichenberg recasts him a few days later with a major American star, Maurice and his buddies devise a variety of scams to convince Perla that her husband is still making the movie that will make him famous. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stéphane Freiss, Bérénice Bejo, (more)
Actor Yvan Attal follows up on his 1997 directorial debut of I've Got a Woman with this wry romantic comedy about a regular guy dealing with his wife's fame and career. Yvan (Attal) is a youngish sports writer who, through some improbable luck, finds himself happily married to the beautiful Charlotte (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a fantastically popular movie actress. All is going swimmingly for Yvan until a stranger plants the seeds of jealousy and doubt in his mind over his wife and her libertine profession. Meanwhile, Charlotte is in London, starring in a movie with a very seductive and sophisticated Terence Stamp. Soon misunderstandings pile upon misunderstanding until Yvan's marriage is on the verge of collapse. Can he keep his marriage together? This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yvan Attal, (more)
