Maurice Bénichou Movies

A man is shot dead, but is the woman with the gun really the killer? That's the all-important question in this thriller from France. Henri Pages (Pierre Arditi) is a successful politician who with his wife Elaine (Miou-Miou) has invited an eclectic group of guests to their country home for a weekend get-together. Joining Henri and Elaine are Pierre Collier (Lambert Wilson), a prominent psychoanalyst; his unhappy wife Claire (Anne Consigny); Pierre's lover Esther (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), an artist; Lea (Caterina Murino), an exhibitionistic actress who was once involved with Pierre; Philippe (Mathieu Demy), a straight-laced writer; and Marthe (Celine Sallette), a beautiful woman given to severe mood swings. Henri has a large collection of guns, and while Pierre is enjoying a swim, he's shot to death with one of the rare firearms. While Claire is holding the murder weapon when the body is found, police detective Lieutenant Grange (Maurice Benichou) isn't so certain he has an open and shut case on his hands, and begins looking into the many people who have a reason for wanting Pierre out of the picture. Grange's investigation becomes even more challenging when Lea makes it clear she's sexually attracted to him. Le Grand Alibi (aka The Great Alibi) was adapted from the novel The Hollow, a Hercule Poirot mystery by Agatha Christie. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The French-language psychological drama Boxes - which represents veteran actress Jane Birkin's (Blow-up) directorial debut on a narrative feature - constitutes an extended, theatrically garrulous meditation on the rift of understanding inevitable between parents and children. In addition to directing, Birkin also stars, as Anna, a fiftysomething woman in the throes of menopause, who journeys to her family's summer home in Brittany and leafs through the boxes of the title, filled to the brims with mementos and tidbits of family history. As Anna pours over the contents, individuals from her life materialize before her eyes, including her venerable deceased father (Michel Piccoli), her three daughters by different men (Natacha Regnier, Lou Doillon and Adele Exarchopoulos), and her headstrong mother (Geraldine Chaplin). The journey into the past thus becomes a cerebral and philosophical meditation on familial relationships, and an exploration of such themes as love, faithfulness, betrayal, and changes wrought by the ravages of time. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A 30-year-old man finds the trials and responsibilities of adulthood are finally starting to catch up with him in this comedy-drama from France. Simon (Mathieu Demy) does not have an especially strong relationship with his father (Maurice Benichou), a psychoanalyst, his friends are going through a variety of crises, and his girlfriend is no longer happy with their relationship. But after the death of Simon's grandmother (Louise Benazeraf) and the breakup of his father's marriage, Simon and his dad find themselves communicating again. Simon also finds himself befriending a neighbor (Amira Casar), who is both pregnant and down in the dumps. Quand On Sera Grand was the first feature film from writer/director Renaud Cohen, who previously distinguished himself in short films. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

British TV host Antoine de Caunes (Eurotrash) stars in this French comedy about gay clarinetist Simon. His mother and wealthy uncle know he's gay, so the uncle says he'll give him $2 million dollars and a house if he will get married. Simon, who can barely survive on his income as a piano-bar musician, turns down the offer -- but then he meets soprano songbird Rosalie (Else Zylberstein), who sings Yiddish favorites for senior citizens. After she takes Simon to meet her large family of Hassids, those wedding bells might yet chime. Filmed in Paris and New York with French, English, and Yiddish dialogue. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This bright domestic drama captures a moment in time when, for a large number of idealistic and grateful French men and women, the promise of Russian communism was bright, and everything Russian was a source of joy and amazement. In the story, Irene (Josiane Balasko) was rescued from Auschwitz by soldiers from the U.S.S.R., and since that time she has enthusiatically considered Russia to be the source of hope in the world. Her more pragmatic husband (Maurice Benichou) has, by 1958, grown somewhat weary of her enthusiasm, which has led her to decorate their apartment with anything Russian she can get her hands on. Matters come to a head when she is befriended by three members of the Red Army Choir during their tour of Paris. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Roads to the South is often omitted from the "official" lists of Joseph Losey's films, principally because it was made for French television rather than theatres. Conceived by screenwriter Jorge Semprun and star Yves Montand as a sequel to Alain Resnais' La Guerre est Finie, the film details the further misadventures and disillusionments of Larrea, an aging old-line leftist (Montand). We find the protagonist a member of the European Establishment, embittered because he has been shut out from the radical movement of the 1970s. Now a wealthy author, Larrea from time to time yearns for the excitement of his antifascist days, but the parade has passed him by. He ultimately reverts to his old ways, with startlingly violent results. Co-scripted by director Losey Roads to the South was originally titled Les Routes du Sud. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Michel Gauché, a stunt double and trickster who is crazy in love with his former fiancee, work-mate, and fellow stunt performer Jane (Raquel Welch). She, however, is so angry with him for landing her in the hospital due to a badly performed stunt that she breaks off the engagement. Belmondo also plays Bruno Ferrari, the movie star he is doubling for, an effeminate homosexual who lusts after his stuntman. Because Jane is angry with Michel, she falls into the arms of a film producer, and arranges for Michel to re-do the same stunt over and over again endlessly. She also tries to woo Bruno the movie star and discovers that he is not interested in women. Michel tries hard to win her back, sometimes pretending to be the movie star, which confuses her to no end. Just as she is about to marry a dull aristocrat, Belmondo appears in an old gorilla outfit and abducts her from the aisles of the church. Belmondo was famous for doing all his own stunts, and he continued that tradition in this film. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Paranoia grips a bourgeois European family when a series of menacing videotapes begin turning up on their doorstep in Piano Teacher director Michael Haneke's dark drama. From the outside, Georges (Daniel Auteuil), Anne (Juliette Binoche), and son Pierrot (Lester Makedonsky) are the typical middle-class European family, but when a series of mysterious videotapes accompanied by morbid drawings reveal that someone has been monitoring their house, Georges begins to suspect that his past has come back to haunt him. It was during France's occupation of Algeria that Georges wronged a young Algerian boy named Majid (Maurice Bénichou), and as the enraged father and husband begins tracking down his former friend, the line between victim and predator becomes increasingly blurred. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

One woman decides to change the world by changing the lives of the people she knows in this charming and romantic comic fantasy from director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Amelie (Audrey Tautou) is a young woman who had a decidedly unusual childhood; misdiagnosed with an unusual heart condition, Amelie didn't attend school with other children, but spent most of her time in her room, where she developed a keen imagination and an active fantasy life. Her mother Amandine (Lorella Cravotta) died in a freak accident when Amelie was eight, and her father Raphael (Rufus) had limited contact with her, since his presence seemed to throw her heart into high gear. Despite all this, Amelie has grown into a healthy and beautiful young woman who works in a cafe and has a whimsical, romantic nature. When Princess Diana dies in a car wreck in the summer of 1997, Amelie is reminded that life can be fleeting and she decides it's time for her to intervene in the lives of those around her, hoping to bring a bit of happiness to her neighbors and the regulars at the cafe. Amelie starts by bringing together two lonely people -- Georgette (Isabelle Nanty), a tobacconist with a severe case of hypochondria, and Joseph (Dominique Pinon), an especially ill-tempered customer. When Amelie finds a box of old toys in her apartment, she returns them to their former owner, Mr. Bretodeau (Maurice Benichou), sending him on a reverie of childhood. Amelie befriends Dufayel (Serge Merlin), an elderly artist living nearby whose bones are so brittle, thanks to a rare disease, that everything in his flat must be padded for his protection. And Amelie decides someone has to step into the life of Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz), a lonely adult video store clerk and part-time carnival spook-show ghost who collects pictures left behind at photo booths around Paris. Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amelie Poulain received unusually enthusiastic advance reviews prior to its French premiere in the spring of 2001, and was well received at a special free screening at that year's Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

When the mother of 12-year-old Martin suddenly dies, his schoolmates rally 'round to keep the authorities from finding out lest they send the fatherless youth to the dreaded local orphanage. This off-beat French drama, chronicles their efforts that begin with a midnight burial of the poor woman's body (placed inside a grandfather clock) in a lonely field. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide