Patrick Braoudé Movies

In this comedy, director Patrick Timsit plays a modern-day Quasimodo accused of 17 murders. The film uses the classic story of The Hunchback of Notre Dame to show the comic side of such everyday things as portable phones, Nintendo games, and the World Cup. The screen is always bigger and funnier than life, but the director tries to make a point that observation of life is enough to come face to face with corporal as well as verbal comedy. Using burlesque, he tries to create a more thought-provoking comedy. The highlight of the film was the discovery of a new Brigitte Bardot, Melanie Thierry, alias Esmeralda. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

Arthur Joffe directed this French comic fantasy, in French and English dialogue, about God (voice of Pierre Arditi), invisible and spinning through Heavenly space on an asteroid, along with his sidekick angel Rene (Ticky Holgado). God observes Earthly events on His television set. After hacking out a screenplay on the Hebrew keyboard of a manual typewriter, the Deity needs a director, lands as a burning bush in back of the Hollywood sign, finds Hollywood hostile, jumps to Paris, and travels from one body to another, eventually settling on tekkie Jeanne (Helene de Fougerolles), an employee at Harper Audiovisual. Faxes in Hebrew begin arriving, and Jeanne hears voices. With God's screenplay translated to French, it finally goes up to the 127th floor for an okay by Mr. Harper himself (Tcheky Karyo). But there's a problem -- God is not very happy about Mr. Harper's alterations, as he explains, "I wrote the Bible, the best-selling book of all time! Where do they get off editing my script?" ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

An ice-cold, ruthless business woman, desperate to have a baby, makes a deal with a small manufacturer, desperate to save his business from being take over by the woman's larger company. This French comedy, filled with open discussions of the reproductive process, chronicles the result of their bargain. In order to keep his family toymaking business in France, Eric Fleury agrees to marry the 36-year-old, tough executive Sandrine Rey. Unfortunately, he believes that conjugal rights are part of the bargain. Sandrine has other plans. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A single man faces the terrifying prospect of seeing his carefree life dashed by a visit from the stork in this comedy. Samuel Falkner (Hugh Grant) is a child psychiatrist who has no kids of his own and doesn't want any, which leaves him a bit shaken when his girlfriend of five years, Rebecca Taylor (Julianne Moore) announces that she's pregnant. Suddenly, Samuel is plagued by paranoid fantasies about how marriage and fatherhood will change his life, which are not at all soothed by frequent visits from Rebecca's chronically-pregnant friend Gail Dwyer (Joan Cusack) and her half-bright lummox of a husband, Marty (Tom Arnold). Too selfish to deal with Rebecca's needs, Samuel parts company with her and takes a last stab at playing the field, but when he sees an ultrasound of his soon-to-be-born son, he decides that it's time to face his responsibilities before it's too late. Nine Months also features Robin Williams in a small role as Dr. Kosevich, an ob-gyn with a weak grasp of the English language. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This French comedy delivers many laughs as it labors to poke fun at pregnancy from the man's viewpoint. Shrink Samuel flips out after he learns that his girlfriend Mathilde, an interpreter is pregnant. He is much older than she. Meanwhile Samuel's artist friend Marc has just split from his wife because he doesn't want children and she does. His sister Dominique is pregnant with her fourth. Dominique and her husband Georges adore pregnancy and the great sex it generates. Samuel begins to have nightmares reflecting his reluctance. Marc dates comely lasses who do not resemble his ample sister. Dominique is supportive of Mathilde. Included in the film are many examples of the trials of pregnancy including bumbling gynecologists, food cravings, and sex. In the end, Samuel reconciles his feelings and welcomes the birth of his child. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Racism and the games people play with it aren't unique to the U.S. by any means. In this French comedy, Rachid, a nice-looking Arab boy, plays with the pervasive fear of non-whites in Paris by having two friends approach pretty girls while looking as sinister as they can, so that he can "rescue" them and strike up an acquaintance. When he and Denis, a black West Indies man, find themselves in pursuit of the same girl, oddly enough, they become best friends. They team up in order to try and persuade the girl's parents that they are respectable enough to rent an apartment from them. However, as any person of color knows, this is far more easily said than done wherever race (and class) are issues. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This is a charming and successful farce from director Thomas Gilou, featuring a witty screenplay co-authored by producer Monique Annaud. When a group of African squatters in Paris are threatened with eviction, they find themselves fighting against a bureaucracy that few French citizens understand, let alone immigrants. In desperation, they turn to their best option to resolve this dilemma: they call for a sorcerer from home. The sorcerer hops on a jet to Paris to cast spells on the entrenched bureaucrat, and while en route he strikes up a conversation with a fellow passenger, mentioning his job pays quite well. The interested passenger could stand to make a few extra francs, so he decides to take the sorcerer's place. Once he arrives, this imposter has to act like he knows what he is doing, and at the same time, he had better solve the eviction problem. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Mo Alexander (Karen Allen) is a young American woman on vacation in France who is stranded in Paris after missing her plane back to the U.S. In the hotel where she is staying to await her next flight, she meets Xavier de la Perouse (Thierry Lhermitte), a wealthy French banker. Xavier is married, but their attraction is overwhelming, and they fall in love. After a little hesitation, they plunge into an affair that seems doomed to fail. British director Richard Marquand had just finished the Star Wars episode Return of the Jedi when he filmed this small romantic comedy. It was Janice Lee Graham's only screenwriting success. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi