Benoît Poelvoorde Movies
- 2009
- PG13
Amélie and The Da Vinci Code star Audrey Tautou stars as legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel in this biopic penned by director Anne Fontaine and screenwriter Camille Fontaine in collaboration with Christopher Hampton. Based on the Chanel biography L'Irrégulière (The Nonconformist) by author Edmonde Charles-Roux, Coco Avant Chanel features dresses from the Chanel collection. House of Chanel art director Karl Lagerfeld also steps onboard to supervise the creation of accessories and costumes. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, (more)
- 2009
On the most fundamental level, the two neighboring French villages of Super-Charmoussey and Charmoussey couldn't possibly be more different: the former is an affluent, thriving ski resort town, the latter a village struggling financially - to such a degree that it seems barely able to stay afloat. For decades, the two villages have engaged in an intense and longstanding rivalry, with a perennial beauty contest between the towns; the lucky young winner, each year, automatically graduates to the Miss Franche-Comtr competition. For 22 years, Super-Charmoussey has won, hands-down, with its endless supply of gorgeous young European women who are primed and coached by outside professionals for maximum success. But this year, Charmoussey's mayor opts for a change in plan; longing to beat Super-Charmoussey at its own game, he summons village expatriate-turned-professional actor Franck (superstar Benoit Poelvoorde) to leave his Parisian home, move back into the community, and uncover the many secrets that Super-Charmoussey's citizens routinely use to give themselves a leg up. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoît Poelvoorde, Olivia Bonamy, (more)
- 2009
This unusual feature (a French-Belgian-Luxembourgian co-production) stylistically recalls the work of Art Clokey (Gumby, Davey and Goliath), with its lead cast consisting entirely of stop motion-animated children's toys. The premise concerns two such toys -- Cowboy (Stéphane Aubier) and Indian (Bruce Ellison) -- who plan to buy a birthday gift for their friend Horse (the voice of Vincent Patar) but accidentally destroy his house. A series of wacky, often hallucinatory adventures ensues that finds the trio journeying to the center of the earth, wandering across icy tundra and discovering a strange aquatic world inhabited by oddball beings with pointed heads. Benoît Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dog) provides one of the voices. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Patar, Stéphane Aubier, (more)
- 2008
Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo's internationally popular cartoon characters Asterix and Obelix take on the world of athletics in this live-action comedy-adventure. It's 50 B.C., and short but wily Asterix (Clovis Cornillac) and his rotund sidekick Obelix (Gerard Depardieu) hit the road for Rome, where they hope to compete in the Olympic Games. Obelix figures he's a sure bet for a weight-lifting medal until he learns his special strength elixir is against the rules, and Asterix is soon distracted by the behind-the-scenes chicanery. Princess Irina (Vanessa Hessler), a beautiful member of the Greek royal family, is being wooed by well-meaning Lovesix (Stephane Rousseau), who is using love poems stolen from Obelix to win her heart, and untrustworthy Brutus (Benoit Poelvoorde), whose father is the Roman emperor Julius Caesar (Alain Delon). Brutus is eager to take over the throne from his father, and keeps trying to kill Caesar off to speed up the process. Asterix Aux Jeux Olympiques (aka Asterix At The Olympic Games) also features cameo appearances from a number of European sports stars, including Zinedine Zidane, Michael Schumacher and Tony Parker. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clovis Cornillac, Gérard Depardieu, (more)
- 2007
Absurdist duo Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern follow-up 2004's Aaltra with this sparse black comedy in which the recently-fired female employees at a children's clothing factory pool their funds to put a hit on their callous boss. Out of work and down on her luck, ex-con Louise (Yolande Moreau) proposes to her jobless sisters that they do something useful by ridding the world of the man who put them all in their current situation. But while security specialist Michel (Bouli Lanners) seems like the perfect candidate to carry out the hit, his ineptitude is so great that he attempts to sub-contract the job to a series of inexperienced - and highly inappropriate - assassins. Notorious Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde cameos as a nut-job 9/11 conspiracy theorist, and actor/director Mathieu Kassovitz turns up as an organic hotelier. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yolande Moreau, Bouli Lanners, (more)
- 2007
Director Daniel Cohen's French-language sci-fi adventure comedy Les Deux mondes stars rubber-faced European screen comic Benoit Poelvoorde as Rémy Bassano, a French family man who experiences a cosmic crisis. From time to time, Rémy slips through time and space and undergoes a journey to an alternate world, before returning temporarily to his present-day existence. After a series of nutty adventures in this strange new land, Rémy seeks to liberate an enslaved tribe of warriors who live there. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoît Poelvoorde
- 2007
A former leftwing activist sets in motion a chain of events that spin far outside of his control - and finds himself branded a hijacker - in this political comedy starring rubber-faced European funnyman Benoit Poelvoorde. For many years, Daniel Piron (Poelvoorde) has regretted taking the path that reduced him from a socially-conscious, muckraking journalist to an ineffectual television weather man. Through it all, he idolized a gentleman known as Sacchi - a revolutionary who staged a protest by hijacking a school bus, but failed to achieve the goal associated with that act by landing on television and protesting perceived social injustices. Now, years later, Daniel and Sacchi's paths cross, and Daniel cooks up the wild scheme of making a film on the social change that has unfurled over the preceding decades, starring Sacchi and the other school bus hostages. Unfortunately, Sacchi himself is now reactionary and unremarkable, and Daniel must manipulate the events of the film to achieve his desired result. Little can he foresee the tumult that will erupt when the tables are turned and he is tagged as a terrorist. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoît Poelvoorde, Gilbert Melki, (more)
- 2006
French director Philippe Le Guay's comedy One Fine Day observes the behavior that may erupt when fate deals a new set of cards to a perpetual loser. Seemingly for years on end, French banker François Berthier (Benoit Pooleverde) has endured a lackluster, burdensome existence, with no perceivable light at the end of the tunnel. Each day carries a new set of hidden frustrations for him. On one particularly dour Monday, Murphy's Law is in full force: the espresso machine explodes, showering François with coffee; he endures a jam-packed, claustrophobic train ride to work; his boss terrorizes him relentlessly; his soon to be ex-wife Caroline (Anne Consigny) indicates that she's almost done with their divorce papers; François bombs at tennis. But just as circumstances seem incapable of growing worse, Fortuna spins upward once again and, mystically, turns everything around on Tuesday: François wakes up to a perfect cup of coffee, receives a much-sought-after apology from his boss, meets a beautiful young woman in a cafeteria who flirts with him, and even draws renewed interest from Caroline. At a loss to account for this change of fate, François nonetheless revels in it, and - bolstered by a renewed sense of confidence - tries to see how far he can push his success - with the most riotous and unpredictable of consequences. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoît Poelvoorde, Anne Consigny, (more)
- 2006
Like the American pictures Magnolia and Happy Endings, French helmer Nicole Garcia's ensemble drama Charlie Says interweaves a tapestry of mordant and miserable existences. Garcia zeroes in on six vice-ridden Gallic men, all generally average and unremarkable individuals, and several at the midpoints of their sorry lives. The characters include: Mathieu (Patrick Pineau), an artic researcher returning to the town where he grew up to host an important conference; Adrien (Arnaud Valois), a national celebrity notorious for losing a tennis match, who must now resume formal court training; small-town mayor Jean-Louis Bertagnat (Jean-Pierre Bacri) , who prepares to honor Mathieu at a town ceremony and bides his off time in a stormy extramarital affair with landscape gardener Severine (Sophie Cattani); ex-con Joss (Benoit Pooleverde), a man attempting to survive parole without drifting back into crime; pool worker Serge Torres (Vincent Lindon) , a husband and father who flirts dangerously with married Finnish co-worker Nora (Minna Haapkyla); and Serge's son, the Charlie of the title (Ferdinand Martin) who has Nora's husband as a teacher but consents to ably assisting his father in the execution of an affair with Nora by falsely indicating his father's whereabouts to his mother. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Bacri, Vincent Lindon, (more)
- 2004
Three no-budget semi-professional filmmakers finally get their due in this witty but respectful documentary. Director Frederic Sojcher visits three fellow Belgian auteurs whose ambitions outstrip their budgets, or their recognition. Max Naveaux is a projectionist who decided to take a stab at making movies himself, putting together small-scale war films whose realism was heightened by the fact that the Belgian Ministry of Defense gave him permission to use real bullets for one of his movies. Schoolteacher Jacques Hardy has dabbled in creating film noir, costume horror, and comic-book adventures, most starring his friend Christian Vranken, who makes his living as a church caretaker and insists on casting approval for his female co-stars. And Jean-Jacques Rousseau is a self-styled surrealist whose commitment to obscurity is great enough that he insists on being interviewed while wearing a ski mask, and insists that while he could make better films if he had the budget of a Steven Spielberg, Spielberg couldn't make a film at all for the money Rousseau has at his disposal. Produced for Belgian television, Cinéastes à Tout Prix features plenty of clips from the works of the film's subjects, ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Naveaux, Jacques Hardy, (more)
Two irascible farmers find their bitter rivalry taking on epic tones in this pitch black comedy starring, written, and directed by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern. They may spend their days toiling the land, but these two tillers of the soil are far from humble. When their ongoing feud escalates into all out war and both men wind up paralyzed by a tractor, they soon opt to focus their rage not on each other, but on the manufacturer of the machine. Now, as the former enemies make their way to Helsinki in order to exact their revenge, the stage is set for a hilarious confrontation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoit Delepine, Gustave Kervern, (more)
- 2004
True love, motorcycle daredevils, and alien visitation all find their way into this wildly imaginative fantasy, written and directed by Didier Poiraud and his brother Thierry Poiraud, a pair of comic artists who adapted the story from their own work. James Bataille (Jason Flemyng) is in love with Concia (Vanessa Paradis), a chanteuse whose father, Bosco (Jean-Pierre Marielle), runs the only nightspot in the tiny town where they live. The mechanically inclined Bataille attempts to stage an elaborate motorcycle stunt to impress Concia, but when it goes sour, he ends up in prison with a 133-year sentence. Desperate to help Concia and raise some money, Bataille escapes from behind bars to make an appointment to fix the car of music biz tycoon Allan Chiasse (Benoît Poelvoorde). Chiasse's timing may be fortuitous, as Concita is soon to take part in the town's annual talent show, though he's expected to face tough competition from a very unusual dog act. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2003
French director Isabelle Doval directs her husband, popular comedic actor José Garcia, in the comedy Rire et Chatiment (Laughter and Punishment). Vincent (Garcia) is a popular physician whose aggressive need to be funny and get people's attention annoys his girlfriend, Camille (Doval), to the point that she leaves him. He begins to suspect she might have been onto something when his behavior begins causing people to die. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Garcia, Isabelle Doval, (more)
- 2002
French filmmakers Alain Berberian and Frédéric Forestier direct the buddy action comedy Le Boulet (Dead Weight). Tough criminal Moltes (Gérard Lanvin) lands in jail after killing the brother of the Turk (José Garcia). Prison guard Reggio (Benoît Poelvoorde) lets Moltes have a weekly lottery ticket in exchange for his suave relationship advice. When Moltes learns that he has a winning lottery ticket, he breaks out of jail to claim his money. However, Reggio's girlfriend, Pauline (Rossy de Palma), has the ticket with her in Africa. The action involves the odd couple teaming up to find the ticket while being chased by Det. Youssouf (Djimon Hounsou), along with the vengeful Turk and the Giant (Gary Tiplady). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Lanvin, Benoît Poelvoorde, (more)
- 2001
Four salesmen hit the open road, searching for adventure and hoping to unload some encyclopedias in this eccentric comedy from France. Jerome (Julien Boisselier) is a timid man who lands a job that doesn't seem immediately appropriate for his temperament -- he's become a door-to-door salesman hawking a five-volume encyclopedia. Jerome hits the road along with three other salesmen -- crafty Patrick (Etienne Chicot), polished Michel (Yvon Back), and good-natured long-timer Jacques (Michel Duchaussoy) -- as well as their supervisor, Regis (Benoit Poelvoorde), who appears to have adopted Alec Guinness' character in The Bridge on the River Kwai as his role model. With time, Jerome gets the hang of his job, and even grows to enjoy convincing people that they need his books. But life on the road poses more than its share of challenges, especially as Regis begins to veer farther and farther away from reality. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoît Poelvoorde, Julien Boisselier, (more)
- 2001
One man's slow climb up the ladder to modest success is thwarted at every rung in this lightly downbeat comedy-drama. Ghislain Lambert (Benoit Poelvoorde) is a amateur bicycle racer who lives on a small farm in Belgium with his brother, Claude (Jose Garcia), and a hired hand who cannot speak, Denis (Sacha Bourdo). Lambert dreams of someday going pro, and a local coach, Focodel (Daniel Ceccaldi), agrees to help him train. With Focodel's help, Lambert is asked to join a team of pro cyclists and finds himself sharing a room on the road with Riccardo (Emmanuel Quatra), an outgoing Italian racer who urges him into a romance with cycling enthusiast Babette (Christelle Cornil) and introduces him to performance-enhancing drugs. Lambert soon butts heads with Fabrice (Jean-Baptiste Iera), the team's star rider, and while Lambert tries to show up the self-centered racer, his plan backfires when he's kicked off the team for drug use. With Claude's less-than-cordial assistance, Lambert gets back into the game and lands a lowly position with another racing team, essentially putting him back where he started. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoît Poelvoorde, Antoine de Caunes, (more)
- 1999
- NR
In Les Convoyeurs Attendent/The Carriers Are Waiting, Roger Closset (Benoit Poelvoorde) is a man who obviously loves his family, though that doesn't always make them feel better. Dad is an obsessive type with a short fuse and a long list of curious ideas, and his wife and children must often bear the brunt of his eccentricities. Roger works as a reporter, a job he doesn't like which doesn't pay especially well, either. One day, Roger learns an area business association is sponsoring a contest for a family that can break a world record, with the grand prize being a new car. Suddenly, Roger gets a brainstorm -- if his son can open and shut a door 40,000 times in 24 hours, the car will be theirs. 15-year-old Michel (Jean-Francois Devigne), however, is not at all happy to have been drafted into this new responsibility, especially when dad builds a practice door in the backyard and finds a trainer to teach Michel how to open and close it with greatest efficiency. Les Convoyeurs Attendent/The Carriers Are Waiting was screened as part of the Director's Fortnight at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoît Poelvoorde, Morgane Simon, (more)
- 1997
A quartet of Parisians embark upon a guided hike in Corsica and end up working through the sometimes comical chaos of their individual lives while becoming lost and contending with such obstacles as bad weather and aching bodies. Both of the female hikers are seeking love, though one of them is involved with their married guide and tries to push him into getting a divorce. The other, a former actress, simply wants the perfect mate. Neither of the two male hikers, one who is involved with an Australian and the other is in love with making money, qualify for her affections. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Harel, Benoît Poelvoorde, (more)
Man Bites Dog is a Belgian faux-documentary and high-concept satire of media violence which follows the lethal exploits of Benoit Benoit Poelvoorde, an affable, and very talkative, serial killer. He kills for money, and he kills for pleasure, and he talks all the while about philosophy and the proper technique for weighing a corpse down underwater. He is followed through his slaughter-fest by the filmmakers, Rémy and André (the actual filmmakers, Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel), and the line between reporter and subject becomes blurred pretty quickly. The filmmakers become more and more involved in Benoit's actions, starting with the relatively innocent act of holding a flashlight for him. Eventually, when their funding runs out, Benoit hires them to continue making the film, and soon they are accomplices in a gang rape. While this film has the subtlety of a sledgehammer, its message rings true: the media tend to become part of the stories they report upon as surely as a physicist changes a wave by looking at it. ~ John Voorhees, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoît Poelvoorde, Remy Belvaux, (more)
