Benjamin Legrand Movies
- 2003
French filmmaker Stephane Clavier directs the comedy Lovely Rita: Patron Saint of Lost Causes, based on the novel by Benjamin Legrand. The director's brother, French TV star Christian Clavier, is the comedic star. He plays accountant Edgar Lamarck, who gets unwittingly involved in criminal situations. After getting messed up in a financial scam with Thierry (Eddy Mitchell), he ends up disposing of a body with prostitute Rita (Julie Gayet). She also happens to be an art thief who has just stolen a priceless Botticelli from an art dealer (Jean-Claude Dreyfus). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Clavier, Julie Gayet, (more)
- 2001
The foibles of a group of genial eccentrics scattered through the city of Nantes set the stage for this comedy-drama, taking place during one particular Wednesday. Martin Socoa (Vincent Lindon) is a well-meaning loser juggling more than his share of problems when, after a marathon card game, he remembers it's his day to look after Victoria (Victoria Lafaurie), his daughter from his first failed marriage. It's an especially bad day for Martin to play babysitter; he needs to close an important deal at work, he has a court date involving unpaid alimony, and his girlfriend (Catherine Frot) thinks its time she gave him the boot. Meanwhile, a group of kids discover a three-year-old who has managed to wander away from his parents, and they watch after him for the rest of the day, preferring not to get any grownups involved. Elsewhere, as Chief of Police Pelloutier (Olivier Gourmet) has to deal with unrepentant shoplifter Marie Therese (Armelle), his wife Marie (Anne Le Ny) prepares for a trip out of town related to her position in the Navy, even though she's in the last month of pregnancy. And two pairs of love-struck teenagers each figure out their own ways to slip away from their parents as they set out for a romantic trip on the Loire River. The film's French title, Mercredi, Folle Journee!, roughly translates into English as Wednesday -- Crazy Day!; one unstated plot point that may be lost on audiences outside Europe is that many French schools are traditionally closed on Wednesdays. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Lindon, Olivier Gourmet, (more)
- 1988
In this reportedly autobiographical piece, Michel Legrand makes his directorial debut. He is much better known for his orchestral scores for other movies. In this story, he is fourteen and living in Paris under the German occupation. It is June of 1944, and he and his mother, along with a young woman (who despite her youth is nearly twice his age), steal some bicycles at the train station and cycle their way to a town on the seaside at Normandy just as the invasion is getting underway. Curiously, the woman finds time to initiate the boy into sexual life in an unlikely location: under a bush in a field littered with corpses of the newly dead. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Girardot, Sabine Azéma, (more)
- 1986
Impressive in its cultural setting and for the fact that it is the first feature-length film from a Guinea-Bissau director, Umban U'Kset, this drama about a young village boy has a lot of local color. Guinea-Bissau (the former Portuguese Guinea) is on the coast of west Africa just below Senegal, and it shares a tradition of masked dances found in many cultures across the continent. So when little N'Bedjo (Joao Bento) runs away to watch the masked dancers in the big Carnival in the capital of Bissau, the meaning of the masks and the dancing has several overlays. N'Bedjo's brother Mario (Mario Acqlino) and a friend take off to look for the runaway, and since it is 30 miles to Bissau, their journey is punctuated by a series of unexpected events. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Acqlino, Joao Bento, (more)
- 1982
- PG
This dismal sci-fi comedy is based on a novel by Kurt Vonnegut and features Jerry Lewis and Madeline Kahn in dual roles as wealthy, respected parents who give birth to two gigantic, and ugly twins. The appalled parents try to keep them hidden away for they do not know that their "children" are really alien ambassadors who have come to help make the Earth a better place. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Lewis, Madeline Kahn, (more)
