Catherine Jacob

The shocking story of a young man sentenced to a brutal juvenile home comes to the screen in this drama based on an autobiographical novel by Auguste Le Breton set in the early Thirties. Yves Treguier (($Emile Berling}) is a fourteen year old who has run away from home and is picked up by police for vagrancy. Yves is sent to an "educational home" for orphans and juvenile felons; the home is more like a prison than anything else, and adults who oversee the youngsters in their care are more interested in discipline and hard labor than in attempting to teach their charges. Many of the boys at the home have become hardened prisoners who greet new inmates with violence or sexual abuse, but Yves is fortunate enough to share his cell with Blondeau (Guillaume Gouix), an older boy with a gentle spirit. Blondeau was simply abandoned by his wealthy mother, and has bittersweet memories of music lessons and reading poetry. While Blondeau has become resigned to his fate, Yves's spirit has not been broken, and he isn't in stir long before making plans to escape. After two attempts to run away fail, Yves is warned that a third offense will result in him being transferred to a prison for adults, but despite the long odds against him, Yves believes that he has a slim chance of escape but no chance at all if he stays on the inside. Les Hauts Murs (aka Behind The Walls) was the first theatrical feature from director Christian Faure, who previously distinguished himself working in television. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two thick-headed pals stumble through a town where nearly everyone is as dumb as they are in this manic comedy from Belgium. Jean-Claude (Jean-Luc Couchard) is a loud-mouthed, know-it-all and full time boor who is best friends with Stef (Dominique Pinon), a self-styled lady killer who would do better with the fair sex if he could work up the ambition to wake up in the morning. Stef has decided that despite his lofty ambitions, he may need some help in finding the woman of his dreams, and embracing loyalty rather than logic he turns to Jean-Claude for advice. As Jean-Claude explains his deeply flawed techniques for impressing women, he and Stef cross the paths of a handful of local eccentrics, including perpetual mugging victim Greg (Jeremie Renier), misguided school teacher Nadine (Marion Cotillard), sex crazed Natacha (Melanie Laurent), short-tempered cop Laurence (Florence Foresti), wealthy spoiled brat Fabianne (Marie Kremer), and abattoir enthusiast Claudy (Francois Damiens). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Gilles Marchand, who co-wrote the scripts for Human Resources and With a Friend Like Harry..., makes his directorial debut with Who Killed Bambi?, which he co-wrote with Vincent Dietschy. Isabelle (Sophie Quinton) is a student nurse. One night while leaving the hospital, she hears a ringing in her ear and loses her balance, passing out. When she awakens, the handsome young Dr. Philipp (Laurent Lucas of With a Friend Like Harry...) is standing over her. Amused by the young woman's seeming inability to stand on her own feet, he nicknames her "Bambi." Isabelle is not amused. Their relationship becomes adversarial when Isabelle notices that someone has been diluting the hospital's supply of general anesthetic. She suspects that the doctor is drugging female patients so that he can have sex with them. Before long, it's not just medicine, but patients who are going missing. Isabelle's boyfriend, Sami (Yasmine Belmadi), an intern, begins to think that she's having an affair with Dr. Philipp, and no one believes her accusations, not even her cousin, Véronique (Catherine Jacob), a more experienced nurse. Isabelle finds herself in danger, and her recurring fainting spells create a situation in which she may soon find herself on Dr. Philipp's operating table. Who Killed Bambi? was shown at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival and at the Walter Reade Theater in New York as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center's 2004 Rendez-Vous With French Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, 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

Lots of people wish they could be someone else, but a French businessman decides to do something about it in this satirical comedy. Francis Bergeade (Michel Serrault) runs a factory in a small town that makes toilet seats. With his employees on strike and his wife plundering his bank account as she plans their daughter's wedding, Francis's life isn't much fun; his one real pleasure is eating and drinking well, in the company of his friend Gerard (Eddy Mitchell). One evening, Francis is watching a television show about people who've gone missing, and he sees the sad story of Dolores (Carmen Maura), a woman living on a beautiful farm in the South of France who has no idea where her husband has gone. When a picture of Dolores's husband is shown, Francis is amazed to discover that it looks just like him. He soon steps forward and poses as Dolores's husband, leaving his wife to wonder where he is. However, she doesn't seem all that worried, since before long she's having an affair with Gerard. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This French comedy delivers many laughs as it labors to poke fun at pregnancy from the man's viewpoint. Shrink Samuel flips out after he learns that his girlfriend Mathilde, an interpreter is pregnant. He is much older than she. Meanwhile Samuel's artist friend Marc has just split from his wife because he doesn't want children and she does. His sister Dominique is pregnant with her fourth. Dominique and her husband Georges adore pregnancy and the great sex it generates. Samuel begins to have nightmares reflecting his reluctance. Marc dates comely lasses who do not resemble his ample sister. Dominique is supportive of Mathilde. Included in the film are many examples of the trials of pregnancy including bumbling gynecologists, food cravings, and sex. In the end, Samuel reconciles his feelings and welcomes the birth of his child. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this crime comedy, Urbain (Christian Clavier) only got married because his wife blackmailed him into it: she was a tax fraud investigator. Since she's divorcing him, and will be entitled to a share of his prefabricated housing business, he's been skimming as much money as he can from it. The business will probably be bankrupt when the divorce goes through, but what does he care? He's got oodles of gold stashed in the walls of a model home mounted on a trailer. He and his beloved and similarly avaricious grandmother (Tsilla Chelton) plan to smuggle them in to Switzerland. Meanwhile, his soon-to-be ex-wife (Catherine Jacob) and his former chauffeur (Philippe Khorsand), who have been lovers for a long time, get wind of the scheme and take up the chase. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, Andre is anxious to please his fourteen-year old daughter when he picks her up from her mother (whom he's divorced from) for a vacation on Maritius. She is full of romantic notions, and when she spies a cute windsurfer at the resort, she concocts a story to win him to her side. First of all, she claims to be eighteen, not fourteen. Secondly, she claims that she is the mistress of a dangerous gangster who is dying (her father). Not only that, but everyone believes her. Her father is understandably surprised by these revelations when she is forced to take him into her confidence, but he is a romantic too. He gamely plays the role assigned to him while maintaining a fatherly eye on the proceedings. Gérard Depardieu plays the father in this movie and also in its 1994 American remake. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Tatie Danielle is a black comedy about a widow who is intent on ruining the lives of her great-nephew and his wife. Tsilla Chelton plays the title character, who mourns the death of her husband by tormenting everyone she meets. Eventually, she moves in with her nephew and his vain wife. Soon, her family is at war with Tatie, and takes off for Greece, leaving her in the care of Sandrine (Isabelle Nanty), an au pair who is as equally bitter as Tatie herself. At first the two don't get along, yet the two eventually become friends. However, Sandrine is invited to accompany an American student for an overnight stay at the beach, which would leave Tatie alone for a night. Angered, Tatie fires Sandrine, and while she is alone, she goes into deep depression, eventually setting the family's apartment on fire. The fire becomes a national story, with Tatie cast as a poor old lady and the family labeled as cruel and heartless villains. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Life is a Long Quiet River is the satirically philosophical title for this French domestic comedy. Borrowing a page from The Corsican Brothers, the film begins with a castoff mistress spitefully switching a pair of newborn babies at the maternity ward managed by her doctor lover. As a result, the daughter (Valerie Lalande) of a family of tramps and thieves is raised in a comfy bourgeois household, while the lowlife family ends up with the middle-class family's offspring (Benoit Magimel). Twelve years after the fact, the discarded mistress confesses to her misdeed. The mistress' ex-lover, doctor Daniel Gelin, tries to set things right, with hilariously disastrous consequences. Director Etie Chatiliez had received his training in French TV commercials, so it's not surprising that Life is a Long Quiet River is a string of anecdotes and punchlines. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide