Valérie Lemercier Movies

A fresh-faced orphan from the provinces labors away at the last old-fashioned café on Avenue Montaigne as the Paris theater elite prepare for the biggest night of the year in Jet Lag director Danièle Thompson's whirlwind comedy of intersecting lives. Jessica (Cécile De France) may have been orphaned at the tender age of four, but her doting grandmother (Suzanne Flon) did her best to bring the motherless girl up right. A one-time ladies' room attendant at The Ritz, Jessica's grandmother was a woman well known for her extraordinary taste. Upon arriving in Paris to work as a waitress at a modest café nestled between a renowned concert hall, a venerable theater, and a high-profile auction house, Jessica soon finds herself interacting with a curious cross section of the thriving entertainment industry. As rehearsals for the upcoming shows get under way and Jessica is assigned the task of delivering food to the hardworking actors and low-earning stagehands, she soon discovers that even the most famous of people are often forced to make difficult decisions in life.

Jean-François Lefort (Albert Dupontel) is a classical pianist whose devoted wife has him booked at venues across Europe for the next six years. As the free-spirited musician struggles to eschew the formality of his upcoming concert appearance, self-made businessman Jacques Grumberg (Claude Brasseur) takes time out from his May-December romance and his stressful medical treatment in order to auction off a collection that he has been building his entire life and reach out to his estranged intellectual son, Frédéric (Christopher Thompson). Meanwhile, back on the theater front, popular television actress Catherine Versen (Valérie Lemercier) prepares to star in a farcical play, a famous American film director (Sydney Pollack) begins auditioning actors for an upcoming film about Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, and a cheerful concierge on the verge of retirement (Dani) enjoys her final stint rubbing elbows with the biggest and brightest stars in Paris. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A down-and-out sleight-of-hand artist tries to pull off the trick of a lifetime by keeping a decaying cabaret in business in this comedy-drama with music from director Thierry Klifa. Gabriel Stern (Claude Brasseur) has spent over four decades running the Blue Parrot, a Parisian nightclub where he regularly appeared in a drag act as "Gabriella." One evening, a weary Gabriel asks his friend and confidante Nicky (Gerard Lanvin), a magician who regularly appears on the Blue Parrot's stage, to finish closing up the club so he can go home. Nicky agrees, and the next morning he gets the sad news that Gabriel died in his sleep. Gabriel's son and daughter, both in their thirties, come to Paris to handle the funeral details -- Nino (Michael Cohen), a gay accountant who brings along his younger lover (Pierrick Lilliu), and Marianne (Geraldine Pailhas), who edits a well-known magazine for women. Also on hand are Simone (Miou-Miou), Gabriel's ex-wife, Marianne's mother and Nicky's former co-star; Alice (Catherine Deneuve), another of Gabiriel's exes who's also Nino's mom; and a number of the regular performers at the club. When Gabriel's will is read, to the surprise of many the ownership of the Blue Parrot is handed over to Nino and Marianne; the two have no interest in running a nightspot and announce the place is up for sale. Nicky wants to keep the Blue Parrot open, but doesn't have the money to buy the club, even though Gabriel's ghost frequently visits him, imploring him to find a way to prevent it from closing. Le Heros de la Famille (aka Family Hero also stars Emmanuelle Beart and Valerie Lemercier as members of the club's stable of regular performers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this farcical spoof of spy thrillers, set in France, few obvious or old jokes are left untold, especially if they are at the expense of overweight women, the handicapped, or dogs who don't know where to defecate. The story itself concerns the unsanctioned efforts of a covert unit to gather evidence about illegal arms shipments with the unwitting help of an embassy employee. When it appears that she is about to ruin everything by getting married on a weekend which is important to their operation, project director La Squale (the Shark) (Jean Reno) directs that someone must seduce the woman's fiance so that she'll call off the weekend. Little does he know that the woman chosen is his own girlfriend -- the only one of his agents who is sufficiently thin to be alluring. One thing after another leads to the near failure of the operation -- including the efforts of the repentant fiance (Christian Clavier) to win his girlfriend back. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, veterinarian Henri Sauveur (Jean Rochefort) maintains his dignity and calm in the face of an incredible number of irritating or even genuinely upsetting encounters with inveterate pains-in-the-neck. He suffers from the rudeness (and worse) of Parisian drivers, his relatives, and friends and clients. All the same, he manages to convey an admirable appearance of insouciance and a devil-may-care attitude. That is, until he meets the redoubtable Louise Sherry (Miou-Miou). He is so smitten with her charms that his artfully maintained defenses crumble pitifully, and he is reduced to confiding his troubles to a bemused but sympathetic female chimpanzee. This fast-paced comedy features some of France's best-loved actors and comedians, including Claude Brasseur, Jean Yanne, and Jacques Villeret) in walk-on performances. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This comic excursion from Louis Malle is set in May 1968, concurrent with a series of Parisian student uprisings. After the death of family matriarch Mme. Vieuzac (Paulette Dubost), the survivors converge on the French countryside for her funeral; they include her two sons, Milou (Michel Piccoli) and Georges (Michel Duchaussoy); Camille (Miou-Miou), Milou's daughter; Camille's husband and children; and granddaughter Claire (Dominique Blanc), a lesbian. With the latest news of rebellion from Paris as their soundtrack, the family members argue over property, revive long-simmering arguments, and watch in dismay as an unlikely love affair begins. When the student uprising threatens to spill over into their community, the family heads for the hills, where the great outdoors only intensifies their reunion. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Philippe de Morannes has an agreement with his girlfriend, the well-known actress Paulette Nanteuil. Either one of them can sleep with someone else if they give their partner a day's notice. In the six years they have been living together, this agreement has not been an issue. Philippe is researching a book about Carl Herickson, an international screen star. One day, while waiting in the star's suite for him to return, he encoutners Claudine, a friend of Paulette's who is a journalist doing an interview of the star. In the midst of a mild but very witty flirtation with her, the star arrives, and expresses a wish to see a local theatrical performance. Hardly thinking about it, he recommends his wife's current play. In a series of misadventures, the film star and the stage star wind up sleeping together. The next day, Philippe and Paulette have a heated and funny discussion about who was unfaithful to whom. This comedy is a remake of the 1938 film Quadrille, by Sacha Guitry. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

One would think that Maud could divorce her completely unamorous husband: in ten years of marriage, they have never once had sex. In this comedy, based on Tom Sharpe's novel Blott on the Landscape, Maud's husband is the mayor of the town they live in, and she is the hereditary owner of an ancient and glorious mansion. If she divorces him, under French law, he will gain the mansion from her. However, even if she doesn't divorce him and keeps the mansion, if her perfidious husband's current plans go through, the mansion will be blown up to make way for a new railway line. He wants to get his hands on the cash settlement that would bring. Somehow, Maud has to find a way to save her mansion, and it would be nice if, somewhere along the line she could find somebody to have sex with. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide