Maurice Barthelemy Movies

As written and directed by Maurice Barthélémy and adapted from a story by Hector Cabello Reyes, this farce stars Jean-Paul Rouve as Dagobert, a French industrial spy with a serious anxiety problem. He boards a cheap flight in Djerba, Tunisia, and endures a hellish eight-hour delay with the rest of the passengers as everyone waits patiently for the non-air conditioned plane to take off. Eventually, the crowd receives the infuriating news that the flight has been cancelled. Enraged, Dagobert tries to win the heart of the sexy airline stewardess, Nuance (Judith Godrèche) by starting a mutiny - and one of the passengers, clinically depressed ex-pilot Jean-Claude (Gérard Darmon), leads the way in taking control of the plane. This outing reunites Barthélémy and Rouve, both charter members of the popular French comedy troupe Les Robins des Bois since 1997. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Based on the original '60s French comic books by René Goscinny, Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre is the big-budget sequel to the 1999 box-office hit Astérix and Obélix vs. Caesar. Empress Cleopatra (Monica Bellucci) makes a wager with Julius Caesar (played by writer/director Alain Chabat) that her people can build a beautiful palace in three months. She chooses architect Numerobis (Jamel Debbouze) for the project, which must be completed in time or he will be fed to the crocodiles. Numerobis travels to Gaul to get help from the superpowered Panoramix (Claude Rich) and the warriors Astérix (Christian Clavier) and Obélix (Gérard Depardieu), along with their faithful pet Dogmatix. They use their magic potion to make the Egyptian slave-labor population into superheroes, thereby building the palace in no time. Meanwhile, the angry architect Amonbofis (Gérard Darmon) and Julius Caesar don't want to see them succeed. At the time of its release, Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre was the most expensive French film ever made, with a budget of $50 million. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi