Christian Clavier Movies
- 1986
A look at Communism behind the Iron Curtain, this comedy is set in a posh Moscow hotel run by the hypocritical Igor (Philippe Noiret). Igor is busy making money off his black market dealings when Party officials and the KGB land at his hotel. They are looking for Jewish dissidents and just the kind of activity that is keeping Igor in good caviar. Unless he wants to shovel snow in Siberia, Igor has to find a way to safely get the Jewish dissidents out of his hotel and cover up his black market tracks. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Noiret, Christian Clavier, (more)
- 1986
In this action thriller, Richard Anconina is Willie, a young and lonesome cop who loves lonesome cowboy music. While on a drug case Willie comes across a mulatta named Jo (model Ambre of Senegalese extraction), who is trapped in a dismal life of prostitution by two abusive Lebanese brothers, who also work in the illegal weapons business. Risking his own life, Willie frees Jo from their fierce imprisonment, but the battered woman runs right back again. Understanding her dilemma, Willie keeps at it until she comes around and stays with him -- but by now the two arms dealers have long decided to use their merchandise to wipe Willie off the Parisian streets. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Anconina, Ambre, (more)
- 1985
There are exactly 11 different slices of life in this comedic look primarily at the French and their mores. The series of 11 vignettes vary in length, in hilarity, in quality, and in content. In the segment on the changing culture of Paris, a French housewife has adapted to her neighborhood, dressing like an African and renaming her son Mohammed, she insists on the liberality of the neighborhood because the French (assuming erroneously that ethnic minorities are not also French) are accepted there. In another vignette, an average (gay) couple is interviewed on television about the social climate in their region. Other segments have varying success in their attempt to parody the world at large, making Tranches de Vie a somewhat uneven effort in the end. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anémone, Josiane Balasko, (more)
- 1983
With comedy sequences that wobble between parody and sentiment, director Marc-Andre Grynbaum has attempted to present the story of a young Jewish man who starts a rock group ("Rock and Torah") and achieves success. That is because he is actually an incarnation of a Biblical patriarch who was once enthused by music more than by the sculpting of holy icons, and for some reason, deserves musical success in modern Paris. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Clavier, Charles Denner, (more)
- 1983
In this uneven take-off on some reluctant resistance fighters in World War II, a family of musicians find themselves the unwilling hosts of a segment of the German High Command when their Paris mansion is taken over by the occupying forces. What happens next is a series of individual skits, cameo appearances, and zany interludes that are not necessarily as strung together as they are strung out. Characters include: Adolph Hitler's melodious half-brother whose singing style is hilariously close to that of Julio Iglesias, a "good" German officer, stereotypical of any of those found in post-World War II movies, and a woman who provides the comedy in a 1970s television talk show when she expounds on what really happened in the Paris villa back when. It is the acting which carries the day for this film, more than the actual script or cinematic development. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Clavier, Michel Galabru, (more)
- 1983
Essentially a performance video, this is made at the French "Cafe Theatre Show," where fairy tales are updated and revised to fit modern themes. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thierry Lhermitte, Philippe Bruneau, (more)
- 1982
Three workers in a social services office on Christmas Eve find themselves the center of a vortex of rag-tag humanity that all need their professional help, and more. Their visit from Santa Claus does not involve a trip down a chimney, but a walk-in by a somewhat derelict, irascible St. Nick hunting for the unfortunate Mrs. Nick, whose girth is wider than her husband's because she's carrying the future little Nick or Nicola -- she also has a sack, given that she is a bag lady, and she herself is in need of an orthodontist. This unusual couple is complemented by other characters in need of assistance, including a woefully abject transvestite and one character who no longer needs assistance because corpses are pretty much beyond help. Events conspire to bring everyone to the zoo, a fitting place for the cast of eccentrics, social workers not excluded. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Josiane Balasko, Anémone, (more)
- 1980
The thin plot that ties the story of Clara (Isabelle Adjani) and Bertrand (Thierry Lhermitte), the man pursuing her, to a newly-formed rock band is fleshed out by the young actors, several of them cafe-theater players making a transition to the "big screen." The actors play six young "twenty-somethings" in Grenoble who decide to make a go of otherwise routine lives by forming a rock band called the "Why Notes." The story opens with their trip to Paris for the weekend and closes with their coming home. In between, Bertrand is after Clara who has just abandoned her husband of a few hours. In the end, what happens "in between" may not be as relevant as the way in which the characters live, speak, and act. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Auteuil, Josiane Balasko, (more)
- 1980
The caustic cartoons of Gerard Lauzier on the condition of the French middle classes are brought to life in this story about a man who longs for the attractions of a bohemian existence. Christian Clavier is Jerome, a married man who romanticizes and envies his actor-friend's lifestyle. When Jerome loses his job he sees a chance to pose as a wayward author and chase after women. To that end, he forgets about his wife and children and launches into the pursuit of parties, fun, and an elusive young woman. Jerome's posturing gets him nowhere, as people take advantage of him right and left, and his situation gets worse as a woman he wants to ditch keeps popping up again like a bad penny. Whatever crude, brash, and brassy intensity Lauzier limns into his drawings is somewhat diluted in this look at his world by director Francois Leterrier. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Clavier, Nathalie Baye, (more)
- 1978
- R
Six vacationers from France find themselves on the sunny shores of Africa in a vacation village where organized fun is the order of the day. Spoofing such faddish getaways as "Club Med," the story focuses on the trials of a married couple who can't quite live up to their ideals of an "open" marriage, an overweight man who insists on trying to ski, a bore who cannot be gotten rid of, and a variety of small-time womanizers. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Josiane Balasko, Michel Blanc, (more)
- 1977
French filmmaker Claude Miller's This Sweet Sickness is based on a suspense novel by Patricia Highsmith, of Strangers on a Train fame. In the original, the murder-protagonist was a psychotic, pure and simple (if such words are appropriate here!) In Miller's version, the "hero," David, is a pathetic creature, motivated by humiliation and sexual inadequacy; thus the emphasis is not on his heinous crimes but on his warped personality. The director's noirish decision to stage much of the action in the dark, or the rain, or both, is a function of David's deep depression. As in his other films, Miller uses water as an omen of evil; you've seldom seen a more foreboding swimming pool than the one in This Sweet Sickness. The film was originally released as Dites-lui que je l'aime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Christian Clavier, (more)
The humanistic actions of Philippe D'Orleans, the cultured gentle regent to young Louis the XV in pre-revolutionary France (1719) are chronicled in this French costumer. Though the regent endeavors to keep his subjects cultured and happy to stop the peasants from rising up, he knows he has no real royal authority. To assist, D'Orleans enlisted the aid of a priest, who unfortunately cared nothing for his God, nor anyone but himself. The regent becomes distraught after his daughter, with whom he has been accused of committing incest, dies. His natural idealism is also shaken when he must execute a band of revolutionaries. True joy will only be found when the peasants successfully overthrow the aristocrats who held them down so long. The film's soundtrack features the music of the real Phillippe D'Orleans. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Noiret, Jean Rochefort, (more)
