Fabrice Luchini Movies

Straight laced stockbroker and married father Jean-Louis Joubert encounters a free-spirited group of Spanish maids who inspire him to live life to the fullest, and forms a special bond with pretty servant Maria in this French comedy set in 1960s-era Paris. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Love and life pose dilemmas for a handful of friends in the City of Lights in this romantic drama from French filmmaker Cedric Klapisch. Pierre (Romain Duris) has enjoyed a successful career as a dancer performing in Parisian nightclubs, but when he's diagnosed with a serious heart condition, his doctor warns him that the strain of his work could kill him. Pierre must reinvent his life, and as he ponders his future and his mortality, he turns to his sister, Élise (Juliette Binoche), a social worker and single mother, for help. Élise is facing some life changes of her own; she's tired of being alone, and has developed an infatuation with Jean (Albert Dupontel), a grocer who sells his wares in the city's open-air market. But Jean is recently divorced and is still preoccupied with his former wife, Caroline (Julie Ferrier). Pierre also finds himself falling from afar for a lovely college student named Laetitia (Melanie Laurent), but he has a rival for her affections in Roland (Fabrice Luchini), one of her professors, who is considerably older than her. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A bodyguard hired to look after a lawyer ends up protecting the man from himself in this breezy comedy from France. Bertrand Beauvois (Fabrice Luchini) is a successful fiftysomething attorney who's hired to represent Edith Lasalle (Stéphane Audran), who has been charged with killing a man with ties to the Russian mafia. Edith's adult son, Louis (Gilles Cohen), has been warned that Russian strong-arm men may try to silence his mother and her legal team, so he hires a private security team to protect them and Bertrand finds he's shadowed at all times by stone-faced Christophe Abadi (Roschdy Zem). Bertrand doesn't see the need for Christophe's presence, but when the lawyer has trouble brushing off a former girlfriend he'd rather not see, the bodyguard turns out to be a valuable ally. Bertrand and Christophe strike up a friendship, as the former is increasingly impressed with the latter's street smarts and good judgment, but when Audrey Varela (Louise Bourgoin), a gorgeous woman nearly half Bertrand's age, begins throwing herself at him, Christophe has a hard time convincing his client that something is clearly not right. La Fille de Monaco (aka The Girl From Monaco) received its North American premiere at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Directed by Patrice Leconte, Confidences Trop Intimes revolves around Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire), who, after suffering from an abusive relationship, approaches a psychiatrist for advice. Determined not to leave anything out, Anna immediately begins an intimate retelling of her life story; unfortunately, she has entered the wrong office. Both intrigued by her story and reluctant to embarrass her, William (Fabrice Luchini), the shy tax lawyer on the receiving end of Anna's diatribe, tries to continue the charade. The film also features Michel Duchaussoy. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

A man keeping a few too many secrets finds them coming back to haunt him in this farcical comedy. Barnie (Fabrice Luchini) is an ordinary looking guy working in the shipping business who happens to have an unusually busy love life. While seemingly happily married to Lucie (Nathalie Baye) in Calais, Barnie has not one but two lovers in London -- Margot (Marie Gillian), a younger woman who works in commercial art, and Mark (Hugo Speer), a man employed by an auction house. Lucie doesn't know about Barnie's lovers, and neither Margot nor Mark is aware of Barnie's wife -- or his bisexuality. As chance would have it, all three decide upon the same present for Barnie's 45th birthday -- tickets for a getaway to Venice on the Orient Express. Barnie decides holding on to his marriage is his first priority, so he opts to visit Venice with Lucie, sending back Mark and Margot's tickets with polite notes of regret. However, Mark's letter is sealed in Margot's envelope and vice versa, and soon the two know about each other, with a little detective work tipping them off to the full extent of Barnie's secret life. Eager for revenge, Mark and Margot pay a visit to Venice, where posing as man and wife they drop in unannounced on Barnie and Lucie, throwing the unfaithful husband into a panic. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An older man and a younger woman find love, with his time in jail the unlikely catalyst, in this witty drama from France. Gregoire (Fabrice Luchini) is a formerly prominent French industrialist whose financial misdealings resulted in a term behind bars, which was especially embarrassing for his brother Louis (Vincent Lindon), a talk show host specializing in hard-hitting investigative interviews. When Gregoire is released from prison, he returns home to the apartment he shared with his wife Agnes (Isabelle Huppert) and their children. But everyone keeps telling Gregoire that he doesn't seem the same; he seems confused, he has a hard time making himself understood, and he freezes up during a television interview conducted after his release. A puzzled Gregoire stops by the beauty parlor where his wife gets her hair done and, to his surprise, he discovers someone he can talk to: Stephanie (Vahina Giocante), one of the hair stylists. Stephanie's boyfriend was in the same jail as Gregoire, and was released the same day, so they have some common conversational ground; Stephanie finds that she likes talking with Gregoire, and in time she finds herself falling for him. Pas de Scandale was shown in competition at the 1999 Venice Film Festival and also at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In the midst of WW I, a doctor and a lawyer team up to turn a ramshackle old mountain chateau into a sanatorium/health spa that caters to the afflicted from most every stratum of European society, most of whom show up with false hope in their hearts and plenty of equally false identities. Even the proprietors have a few deceptions, chief among them is the part of the resort where they provide shelter for dying and horribly maimed soldiers. Still the atmosphere of this high-class convalescent home is that of great gentility that thinly disguises the seaminess of the guests' secret activities. Though much of the film is a quirky comedy, tragedy comes creeping in when people begin dying of unnatural causes, and not even the pure mountain air can save the owners and the residents. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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, Rovi

The sexploits of a nerd are chronicled in this French film. Francois is a thirty-five year old playwright working on his autobiographical play "The Indecisive Guy". He is not a terribly interesting man, but he does manage to have a series of great sexual liaisons with a variety of experienced and inexperienced women. Each of the women he seduces (or that seduce him) want a commitment from Francois. But the title of his play is apt and he remains indecisive. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The mayor (Pascal Greggory) of this unpolished provincial town has plans for a beautiful field on the edge of town, and he's quite sure they will be put through the central government in time to help him with his political career. He intends to replace the field with a sports and "cultural" center, along with a large parking lot. The only overt opposition to this plan at the outset comes from an environmentally sensitive grammar school teacher (Fabrice Luchini), and he's hardly a threat, because he doesn't imagine he can successfully oppose the builders' designs. Meanwhile, the mayor has fallen in love with one of the local representatives of the intelligentsia, a woman novelist (Arielle Dombasle). Trouble begins to percolate into the mayor's life and thwart his plans when his daughter and the daughter of the schoolteacher become friends. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this erstwhile comedy, Penelope (Isabelle Adjani) is already sufficiently unsettled by the fact that she is no longer a top model, and must cast around for another occupation. When her boyfriend leaves her, she becomes quite hysterical, conjuring up schemes for revenge, contemplating suicide, and so on. These dramatics eventually exasperate her best friend Sophie (Clementine Celarie) so much that she contemplates killing Penelope, her ex-boyfriend, or the two of them together, just to stop the whining. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Visitors to Paris are forever regaling those back home with outrageous tales of rude or even abusive behavior by shopkeepers, sales attendants, and (in general) just about anyone whose business puts them in contact with the public. Even ordinary Parisians seem prone to this sort of behavior. On the one hand, it is easy to sympathise with the aggrieved tourist; on the other, what if your home were the object of interest for uninterrupted hordes of barely civilized strangers, poking and prying into its every nook and cranny? In this comedy, which was remarkably popular in France (and Paris!), an American-trained store manager (Fabrice Luchini) attempts to inculcate his staff with such unlikely notions as "service" and "the customer is always right," using the latest corporate training techniques. Some of these techniques are humorous in themselves, like the "trust" exercises which became so popular a few years back, or the technique of "bonding" in natural situations, joining together to win challenge matches, etc. The poor idealistic manager who attempts to accomplish this radical transformation in his staff is ill prepared for his program's odd result: the staff now has considerable ésprit de corps, but of a quite different kind than he had envisioned. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

When the arrogant, womanizing narrator, Antoine (Fabrice Luchini), goes to meet his girlfriend, Solange (Marie Bunel) at the train station, he's dismayed to find her with another man. Antoine tells us that this is a first. He is always the one to end his relationships with women. Antoine visits his elderly friend, Jean (Maurice Garrel), a book dealer, and tells him that he wants revenge, but he doesn't have the imagination to come up with a plan. Eventually, Jean tells Antoine that he knows a publisher who's interested in publishing a series of diaries. He suggests that to get his revenge, not just on Solange but on all women, Antoine should get another woman to fall completely in love with him and then dump her, while keeping a detailed journal about the affair. Antoine agrees, placing an ad for a typist to meet someone. Catherine (Judith Henry) responds to the ad. Antoine is initially repulsed by Catherine, but Jean pushes him to pursue her, saying Antoine's lack of interest will make the story even more interesting. Antoine assents, on the condition that Jean tell him exactly how to proceed. Antoine follows Jean's advice. Catherine resists his advances at first, and as Antoine gets to know her, he finds himself becoming more and more attracted to her. La Discrete won Cesar Awards for Best First Work, Best Writing, and Most Promising Actress (Henry). It also won the FIPRESCI Award at the 1990 Venice Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi