Released Date:
2004-03-17
Languages:
French
Countries:
France, Switzerland, Germany
Runtime:
97 min
Rated:
PG-13
IMDB Ratings:
7.9 (40678 Reviews)
Director:
Christophe BarratierGeorges Chaperot
Renè Wheeler
Renè Wheeler
Noèl-Noèl
Christophe Barratier (screen story)
Christophe Barratier (screenplay)
Philippe Lopes-Curval (screenplay)
Fond de l'Etang is a boarding school for troubled boys located in the French countryside. In the mid-twentieth century, it is run by the principal M. Rachin, an egotistical disciplinarian whose official unofficial mantra for the school is "action - reaction", meaning that there will be severe consequences for any boy out of line. This approach does not seem to be working as the boys as a collective are an unruly bunch. In turn, the teachers don't teach, but are always watching out for the next subversive act from the boys. January 15, 1949 marks the arrival to the school of the new supervisor, M. Clèment Mathieu, a middle-aged man who is grasping at finding his place in life after a series of failed endeavors. Although he does find the boys an unruly lot, Mathieu does not believe in the "action - reaction" policy, and as such, butts heads with Rachin while secretly undermining the policy. Slowly, Mathieu's approach of trying to match the discipline to the crime does have a positive effect on a handful of students. With the reluctant approval of Rachin, Mathieu begins a grander experiment of trying to transform the overall atmosphere within the school, core within the experiment being to start a choir among his students. This move is a difficult one for him as a failed musician, as well as for the initially reluctant students. During this process, Mathieu focuses on two different students for two different reasons. Pèpinot, a younger boy, seems to lack guidance and focus, and who always says he is waiting for Saturday when his father will pick him up, he who never does. And Pierre Morhange, an older student, is the anachronism: introverted, but prone to outbursts of individual subversiveness - the devil with the face of an angel as the other teachers describe him. Behind the reason for his subversiveness, which Mathieu slowly learns, Morhange hides a love of music and a true talent in it. Beyond overcoming the obvious obstacles of Rachin and the students' skepticism and Rachin's egotism, Mathieu has another challenge in newly arrived Pascal Mondain, a truly troubled older boy with pathological tendencies whose presence alone may wreak havoc throughout the school, and not just with Mathieu's project. Over fifty years later, Morhange and Pèpinot, who have not seen each other since that time and who did not spend that much time together while at school, are reading through Mathieu's memoirs from his time at the school, which unmasks the reason why the two are privy to the memoir and the effect he had on their lives.
Released Date:
2006-03-15
Languages:
French
Countries:
France
Runtime:
90 min
IMDB Ratings:
6.1 (470 Reviews)
Director:
Pierre-Franèois Martin-LavalJean-Paul Bathany
Pierre-Franèois Martin-Laval
Isabelle Nanty
Frèdèric Proust
Released Date:
2006-09-06
Languages:
French
Countries:
France
Runtime:
92 min
IMDB Ratings:
7.5 (7359 Reviews)
Director:
Philippe LioretGenres:
DramaPhilippe Lioret
Olivier Adam
Back from a holiday in Spain, Lili, 19, finds that Loèc, her twin brother, has left the house following a row with their father. She disapproves of her parents' apparently light attitude and is particularly shocked by her father's reluctance to even talk about the event. Lili desperately waits for a phone call from Loèc but her brother shows no sign of life. It is not long before Lili falls into depression and her condition quickly deteriorates. She won't eat anymore and is about to die when, at long last, a postcard written and sent by Loèc brings her back to life...
Released Date:
2008-09-24
Languages:
French
Countries:
France, Germany, Czech Republic
Runtime:
120 min
Rated:
PG-13
IMDB Ratings:
6.6 (2237 Reviews)
Director:
Christophe BarratierChristophe Barratier
Christophe Barratier (adaptation)
Julien Rappeneau (adaptation)
Christophe Barratier (dialogue)
Julien Rappeneau (dialogue)
Pierre Philippe (dialogue)
Frank Thomas (original idea)
Reinhardt Wagner (original idea)
Jean-Michel Derenne (original idea)
A man is charged with murder. He is Pigoil, the aging stage manager at Chansonia, a music hall in a Paris faubourg. His confession is a long flashback to New Year's Eve, 1935, when he discovers his wife is unfaithful and Galapiat, the local mobster, closes the music hall. Over the next few months, Pigoil loses custody of his beloved son, Jo-Jo, and must find work. Pigoil and his pals take over the Chansonia as a co-op; Galapiat is momentarily benign. Their star is the young Douce, a girl from near Lille for whom Galapiat lusts. She in turn falls in love with Milou, a local Red. There are ups and downs, but mostly ups - but what about Jo-Jo and what about the murder?
Released Date:
2008-02-27
Languages:
French
Countries:
France
Runtime:
106 min
IMDB Ratings:
7.1 (27712 Reviews)
Director:
Dany BoonDany Boon
Alexandre Charlot
Franck Magnier
Although living a comfortable life in Salon-de-Provence, a charming town in the South of France, Julie has been feeling depressed for a while. To please her, Philippe Abrams, a post office administrator, her husband, tries to obtain a transfer to a seaside town, on the French Riviera, at any cost. The trouble is that he is caught red-handed while trying to scam an inspector. Philippe is immediately banished to the distant unheard of town of Bergues, in the Far North of France. Leaving his child and wife behind, the crucified man leaves for his frightening destination, a dreadfully cold place inhabited by hard-drinking, unemployed rednecks, speaking an incomprehensible dialect called Ch'ti. Philippe soon realizes that all these ideas were nothing but prejudices and that Bergues is not synonymous with hell...
Released Date:
2009-09-30
Languages:
French
Countries:
France, Belgium
Runtime:
91 min
IMDB Ratings:
7.2 (8309 Reviews)
Director:
Laurent TirardLaurent Tirard (screenplay)
Grègoire Vigneron (screenplay)
Laurent Tirard (dialogue)
Grègoire Vigneron (dialogue)
Alain Chabat (dialogue)
Renè Goscinny (characters)
Jean-Jacques Sempè (characters)
Nicolas has a happy existence, parents who love him, a great group of friends with whom he has great fun, and all he wants is that nothing changes. However, one day, he overhears a conversation that leads him to believe that his life might change forever, his mother is pregnant! He panics and envisions the worst.
Released Date:
2011-04-20
Languages:
French
Countries:
France
Runtime:
107 min
Rated:
NOT RATED
IMDB Ratings:
(2716 Reviews)
Director:
Daniel AuteuilMarcel Pagnol (early screenplay)
Daniel Auteuil (adaptation)
Provence, the days before World War II. Rustic well-digger Pascal Amoretti, a widower, encourages fellow laborer Fèlipe Rambert to date his virgin eldest daughter Patricia, the only of his five who attended a Parish finishing school. Getting drunk, Felipe unwittingly helps her date wealthy general store owner Mazel's handsome, womanizing son, dashing air force pilot Jacques, who gives her a motorbike ride home, make love and get her pregnant. Shortly after, both men are called for military service. On leave, Felipe finds out the truth and still proposes. Jacques is reported missing in action, his family refuses to recognize the baby, so Pascal sends Patricia with it to his outcast sister.
Released Date:
2012-08-29
Languages:
French
Countries:
France, Belgium
Runtime:
112 min
IMDB Ratings:
5.3 (606 Reviews)
Director:
Xavier GiannoliXavier Giannoli
Serge Joncour (novel)
Marcia Romano (collaboration)
An average guy who works in a recycling plant wakes up one morning to discover that he's become inexplicably famous.
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