Philippe Khorsand Movies

Former Cahiers du Cinema editor Serge Le Peron writes and directs this screwball crime comedy chock full of ironic film references. The film opens with student radical-turned-magistrate Francois Marcorelle (Jean-Pierre Leaud) stumbling into an art house movie theater mid-film. The rather comely woman next to him first begins to caress Marcorelle's leg, then she drops over dead. Later in the film, Marcorelle and his wife Claudie (Dominique Reymond) and their children are supposed to go on a family vacation. Unfortunately, Marcolle is snowed under by a case and is forced to stay behind. A lonely dining excursion in a Turkish restaurant leads to Marcolle driving a beautiful Polish waitress Agneska (Irene Jacob) back to her apartment. After an enjoyable round of adultery, he is attacked by Agneska's father, and the altercation leads to Marcolle inadvertently braining the old man. Agneska claims that she knows people who can dispose of bodies quietly and asks him to leave. Though no body ever turns up and Marcolle tells no one of his encounter -- save his best friend George (Phillippe Khorsand) -- an ambitious lawyer sets out to make a name for himself by accusing the magistrate. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Jeanne Labrune wrote and directed this French psychological drama that begins on a train when impoverished carpet salesman Samuel (Daniel Duval) eyes a sleeping woman, Muriel (Nathalie Baye), and peppers her with personal questions when she awakens. A successful screenwriter and novelist, Muriel has just been dropped by her older lover, so it's not long before Samuel becomes a presence in her polished Paris apartment, an arena for some intense sexual activities. Only problem -- as Muriel realizes the demented Samuel has drawn her into an abusive relationship, she is simultaneously attracted to him and frightened of him. The soundtrack features an excerpt from Philip Glass' opera Einstein on the Beach. Shown in competition at the 1998 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

A feather-light and funny musing on the nature of love, fate and starting over, Claude Lelouch's comedy begins with the meeting of Fabio Lini, an actor turned undercover Paris cop and the notorious lawyer-cum-businessman Benoit Blanc . Both have come to the same clinic to have their ulcers checked, and as they chit-chat, they realize that they have much in common. Relations with women have played big parts in their ulcers. Both freely acknowledge that male/female relations are always problematic, and yet, despite the hindrances the unions present, neither Claude nor Benoit is able to live without them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ratings wars on nightly news and lovers quarrels are parodied in this French comedy. The people behind the TV8 news are obsessed with getting good ratings. After their anchor suffers a debilitating accident, Gerard Breha is called to replace him. Breha, a minor market newscaster was chosen because he possesses the kind of face deemed most trustworthy by the French public. Sure enough his ratings soar. He interviews a politician about the YAM gang who have been terrorizing local gun shops. Corine, Breha's wife is getting frustrated as his popularity has caused him to be increasingly away from home. Soon the newscaster is seduced by his predatory producer Marie-Ange. Corine is out for revenge. She gets it when she and Breha appear on the French version of "Truth or Consequences." The show is suddenly interrupted by the YAM gang as they burst into the studio and begin taking hostages. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In his work as a notary, Hippolyte has registered prenuptial agreements entrusted to him by hopeful young couples and divorce settlements by unhappy older couples. He has often seen the spark of romance wither and die among his clients and the people in his life, and he is determined not to allow that to happen with his marriage. As a consequence, he is constantly making one dramatic scene after another, in order to ensure that his wife will prove her love with him. Once, he threatened to leave her just to see if it would upset her. On another occasion, he drove them in their car into a lake, to see how she would feel about dying with him. Despite these unsettling antics, Camille genuinely loves the fool, though she is intrigued by the anonymous love letters she has begun getting. Are they from Hippolyte? If not, should she agree to see their writer? This light romantic comedy was the only film directed by the playwright (La Cage aux Folles) and actor Jean Poiret (he was most frequently paired with Michel Serrault) before he died in March of 1992. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Max (Wojtek Pszoniak) is a Polish Jew who survived World War II and runs a second-hand store in the suburbs of Paris. He gives war orphan Victor (Thomas Langmann) a job and a place to stay after the conflict ends. Victor and his young cronies dabble in the black market as he is ignored by his former friend, a bourgeois anti-Semitic. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In order to cover up the multiple murders they have committed, a gang of killers tries to convince police that a serial killer is on the loose. Victims are found with their ears lopped off and stuffed in their mouths. Criminal psychologist Jean-Paul Blido (Jean-Luc Bideau) is summoned by the government to provide a personality profile of the killer. A martial arts practitioner becomes the innocent victim targeted for investigation when he fits the composite profile suggested by Blido, and the psychologist enlists the help of the daughter of one of the murder victims in his search for the truth. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this comedy-drama, Manu (Gerard Lanvin) and Momo (Jacques Villeret) are two men who are at first unwittingly involved in a drug deal, but then get quite wittingly involved when they realize that there may be some money to be had in the sale of illegal substances. Once they decide to launch into this dubious vocation, they get caught in several difficult situations. On their supposed way to making a really big splash, they set out to steal drugs from the police station's confiscated stash. Disguised as cleaning women, the two men grab a vacuum and try to suck up as much white powder as they can. Their antics and the film's explicit sympathy for the two pushers caused some considerable controversy before the release date in France. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Some young international terrorists are holed up in the apartment Loulou Dupin (Coluche) inherited from his recently deceased grandmother, a premise that quickly leads to unlikely entanglements in this low-brow political farce. When Loulou opens the closets and finds dynamite, nitroglycerine, and various weapons, he begins to get suspicious about the intentions of the young men and women who have commandeered the apartment. In fact, they are planning to smuggle their leader out of prison and then head to Mexico to plant a bomb at a meeting of world leaders in Cancún. The imprisoned gang leader assigns the most seductive terrorist (Maruschka Detmers) the task of eliminating Loulou -- which she finds increasingly difficult and finally, impossible to do. After the leader is freed from prison, the gang takes off for Mexico and Loulou, furious, follows in hot pursuit. Their destination is the Mayan ruins, and Loulou is the only one who can stop their dastardly plot -- though he cannot do much for this plot which is rarely paired with funny lines or inspired comedy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide