Benoît Magimel Movies
The impossibly slick and suave, fair-haired Gallic actor Benoît Magimel grew up as the son of a Parisian banker and entered the ranks of show business at age 12, when he responded to a casting call for director Étienne Chatiliez's offbeat comedy La Vie est Une Longue Fleuve Tranquille (1988). He promptly landed the lead in that smash, and his performance as one of two little boys switched at birth put him on the international map; in subsequent years, he grew into one of the most prolific French performers of his generation, enjoying collaborations with top-tiered directors including André Téchiné (Les Voleurs, 1996), Mathieu Kassovitz (La haine, 1995), and Michael Haneke (La Pianiste, 2001). The said Téchiné role, in particular, further ensured his stardom, placing him alongside heavyweights Daniel Auteuil and Catherine Deneuve and proving that he could more than hold his own (in fact, he netted a César Award for it -- the French Oscar -- as the most promising actor). Magimel's many additional projects included the lead in the racially themed drama Lisa (2001) opposite Jeanne Moreau, another lead in director Olivier Dahan's supernaturally charged detective drama The Crimson Rivers II (2006) opposite Jean Reno, and a four-barreled portrayal of an unstable pharmaceutical heir in director Claude Chabrol's acerbic black comedy thriller La Fille Coupée en Deux (2007). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide- 1994
A teen party gone out of control provides the focus of this drama which explores the transitions of youth in a transitional time set in the post-disco, pre-punk, early 1980's. Ariane, a teenager, is rebelling against her father and her boyfriend Pierre. She decides to hold a small party. The party is crashed by a large crowd of rude outsiders who proceed to destroy her home. Afterward, Ariane must face her obsessive neatness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claire Keim, Benoît Magimel, (more)
- 1992
- R
Virginie is the daughter of the local bar owner and has ambitions to become a writer. She is an upbeat and inquisitive girl. In her mountain town just after World War II, the two local children at the top of the economic ladder are the grown, orphaned siblings Anne and Jacques, both of whom are in love with the vivacious Virginie. However, Anne gets to her first, and the two of them share a deep romantic bond which Virginie writes about in her diary. Jacques can tell that his beloved is in love with someone else, and he is deeply jealous. One day he steals her diary and finds many entries in it about a mysterious person named "Paul." To Virginie's dismay, her enraged male suitor reads intimate passages from her diary to the villagers passing through the town square after church. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Élodie Bouchez, Benoît Magimel, (more)
- 1992
Jules is a refreshingly level-headed fifteen-year old who lives with his grandparents in the country because his parents have careers that require them to travel a great deal. He enjoys fishing with his grandfather, and the local kids are just fine with him. Whenever his mother appears on the scene, he is especially happy, but the same can't be said when his business-obsessed father shows up. When his grandparents can no longer afford their country life, they move to a small town nearby, and Jules goes with them. On the whole, he manages pretty well, though the new kids are not a particularly nice bunch. He is particularly fortunate in being initiated into sex with the help of an attractive gal by the name of Sophie. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Aznavour, Benoît Magimel, (more)
- 1992
In this tedious and excessively complicated thriller, a cop (Patrick Bruel) who has been sent to investigate the corruption in a small French town, encounters a mysterious rival (Jacques Dutronc), who is trying on his own to investigate the murder of his father. Michel Deville demonstrates a whole set of movie cliches -- quite surprising for a director of his level -- but the biggest surprise is the lifeless and world-weary performance from Dutronc. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Dutronc, Patrick Bruel, (more)
- 1989
Young Laurette (Sophie Aubry) is mature beyond her years. Certainly, compared with her feuding parents, she's a pillar of responsible behavior. It's a good thing, too, as she has three younger siblings who would come to no good end if she weren't there to look after them. Particularly after both parents have run off screaming into the night (in different directions) after an argument. In this comedy, Laurette is left in charge on that occasion for almost two weeks. Little boss that she is, she insists that her parents come back together, but receives her comeuppance when that happy result comes about through no act of hers. Meanwhile, during her parent's absence she had had a brief fling of her own, and, pregnant, is headed off to New York city to join her boyfriend. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophie Aubry, Benoît Magimel, (more)
- 1988
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
- Starring:
- Daniel Gélin, Benoît Magimel, (more)
