Maurice Bénichou

Comment je me suis réveillé (2011)

Au cas où je n'aurais pas la palme d'or (2011)

Simon, a forty-year-old filmmaker, is more prone to shooting himself in the foot than he is to shooting films. After losing a bet, he shaves off his hair and discovers a strange bump on top of his scull. Believing he's got a terminal illness, he gathers hi ...

Omar Killed Me (2011)

In the summer of 1991 an elderly woman Ghislaine Marchal is found murdered in the basement of her home with the message "Omar M'a Tuer" (Omar has kill me) written beside in her own blood. Despite a lack of forensic or DNA evidence, her Moroccan gardener Om ...

The Rabbi's Cat (2011)

The story of a rabbi and his talking cat, a sharp-tongued feline philosopher brimming with scathing humor and a less than pure love for the rabbi's teenage daughter. ...

If You Die, I'll Kill You (2011)

In Paris' cosmopolitan and colorful 10th arrondissement, Philippe, who's fresh out of prison, crosses paths with Avdal, a Kurd who is trying to track down an Iraqi war criminal. Avdal, who dreams of staying in France, plans to bring his fiancee Siba to Par ...

La Tueuse (2010)

Mathilde, despite her nurse's diploma, is a thirty year old struggling when it comes to work. She discovers poker when she becomes pregnant. Her nickname, La Tueuse (The Killer), is due to the pitiless way she destroys her opponents at the gaming table. Bu ...

Great life (2009)

Philosophy teacher in the provincial city of Saint-Etienne, Gregoire is a discreet man of integrity. He strives to instill the fundamentals of wisdom in his lethargic high-school students. Circumstances lead him to Paris where he encounters a new student i ...

Every Jack Has a Jill (2009)

Jack is encouraged to take the romantic Paris vacation he won, despite just being dumped by his girlfriend. His trip soon devolves into chaos and adventure, when his luggage is swapped for a French businesswoman's belongings who soon takes a liking to his ...

Inju: The Beast in the Shadow (2008)

The writer and college professor, Alexandre Fayard, researches and gives lectures about the gruesome literary work of the mysterious Japanese writer Shundei Oe, considered by him to be the master of manipulation. ...

The Great Alibi (2008)

Like every weekend senator Henri Pagès and his wife entertain guests at their beautiful mansion in a peaceful village near Paris. But this time around, things go awry: Pierre Collier, a psychoanalyst and consummate womanizer, is brutally murdered. Claire, ...

Off and Running (2008)

A missed highway exit leads Darry Marzouki, an unemployed magician, to cross paths with Irène Montier Duval, a wealthy woman carrying a Hermès bag full of cash. Out of love, she acted as an intermediary in an arms deal between a French minister and Korea ...

Paris (2008)

Pierre, a professional dancer, suffers from a serious heart disease. While he is waiting for a transplant which may (or may not) save his life, he has nothing better to do than look at the people around him, from the balcony of his Paris apartment. ...

Beneath the Rooftops of Paris (2007)

An old man living in an attic in a rundown part of Paris, becomes increasingly lonely and prey to ill-health. ...

Boxes (2007)

Anna, 50 years old, moves into her new house. Rooms are full of boxes which contain a lot of things and plenty of memories. Anna has lived many lives and her past comes out of these boxes. Her parents surely, but also her children and their fathers, the li ...

The Candidate (2007)

Shortly before the presidential election in a European state, Michel Dedieu stepped in at the last minute to replace his party's candidate, who was forced to withdraw due to a rapidly spreading cancer. The day after the first round, he has very little time ...

The Passenger (2005)

When he learns of the death of his older brother Richard, Thomas sets out for Marseilles to identify the body. Having collected his brother's possessions, he returns to their home town, hoping to recall their earlier life together. Here, Thomas insinuates ...

Caché (2005)

George, host of a television show focusing on literature, receives videos shot on the sly that feature his family, along with disturbing drawings that are difficult to interpret. He has no idea who has made and sent him the videos. Progressively, the conte ...

Loser Takes All! (2004)

Serge Vaudier, a mathematics teacher, wins the lotto twice and claims he can do it again, thanks to an infallible system he has designed. Is a he genius or a con man? Angèle, the head of the the government's bureau, is determined to entrap him. She asks h ...

Time of the Wolf (2003)

A middle-class family flees an unspecified disaster that has struck the city and takes refuge in their country home. They think this will allow them to escape the chaos, but they soon realize that getting away won't be so easy. ...

Special Delivery (2002)

An unexpected phone call from a certain Kirsch sets off a crisis between Catherine and Raphaël that will affect all those around them, be they close friends or casual acquaintances. ...

Candidature (2001)

Jean, a young Parisian philosopher, travels to Angoulême to take part in a recruitment competition for the National Education. On the bus, he meets two other candidates, Pauline, an unscrupulous young woman, and Luc Dunoyer, a brilliant specialist of Desc ...

Amélie (2001)

At a tiny Parisian café, the adorable yet painfully shy Amélie accidentally discovers a gift for helping others. Soon Amelie is spending her days as a matchmaker, guardian angel, and all-around do-gooder. But when she bumps into a handsome stranger, will ...

Code Unknown (2000)

A series of events unfold like a chain reaction, all stemming from a minor event that brings the film's five characters together. Set in Paris, France, Anne is an actress whose boyfriend Georges photographs the war in Kosovo. Georges' brother, Jean, is loo ...

Quand on sera grand (2000)

At thirty, Simon is juggling with life and it's problems. He is torn between his job as a journalist at "Tobacco Monthly", his girlfreind Christine with whom he can't seem to have a child and his friends Fabrice, Léa and Roché. On the family side, he sho ...

Adventures of Félix (2000)

A charming comedy about going on a rather long walk. Félix is a laid-back guy living in the bleak northern coastal town of Dieppe. He lives happily with his lover Daniel and is a soap opera enthusiast and HIV-positive. After losing his job, Félix decides ...

Man Is a Woman (1998)

Simon Eskenazy is a gay Parisian clarinet player who lives his single life to the fullest. One day, he receives a very tempting offer from his homophobic uncle, looking to continue the family legacy – if he gets married and has a child, he will receive t ...

Mordbüro (1997)

The neologistic title of this film translates as "Death Bureau," a secret vigilante organization used by ordinary working folk to rid the city of criminals through secret executions. Woodworker Leo Stoychev goes to the organization for help because his bos ...

The Patriots (1994)

Ariel, a young French Jew, decides to leave his family to go to Israel and secretly become an agent of Mossad, the Israeli secret service. After years of training, his first mission is in Paris to steal secrets from Remy Prieur, a French atomic scientist. ...

Not Everybody's Lucky Enough to Have Communist Parents (1993)

This bright domestic drama captures a moment in time when, for a large number of idealistic and grateful French men and women, the promise of Russian communism was bright, and everything Russian was a source of joy and amazement. In the story, Irene was re ...

À la Mode (1993)

Fausto enters an orphanage and is initially bullied, but then makes friends with a new bunkmate, Raymond. He is apprenticed to Mietek, a tailor in the Jewish quarter, who teaches him the trade. Fausto charms everyone in the quarter, and falls in love with ...

The Little Apocalypse (1993)

An unknown Polish writer can't publish his novels, so his ex-wife decides to help him and get some of the profit for herself. She finally finds a publisher, but there's a strange single condition that could cost the writer his life. ...

Cross My Heart (1991)

Young Martin has been acting strange. At his school, his teacher and classmates notice that he is less talkative and more withdrawn. When those around him begin to prod, they discover that Martin's single mother has died. Fearful that he will be sent away ...

Qu'est-ce qui fait courir David ? (1982)

David, a Jewish filmmaker in his thirties, is working on a screenplay with autobiographical overtones. His girlfriend, Anna, with whom he lives, finds his story very narcissistic. ...

La Cerisaie (1982)

The last vestiges of a family that has gone from cherry season to sorrow... Madame Ranevskaya is a spoiled, aging aristocrat who, upon returning from a trip to Paris, must face the loss of her magnificent Cherry Orchard estate after defaulting on her mortg ...

Instinct de femme (1981)

Young - beautiful - married, fulfilled, Martha is bored. Passive in an active society, she took a first step by serving as a "guinea pig" to her brother researcher who undertook a comparative study on animal behavior and human behavior. ...

Le jardinier (1981)

This is a surreal comedy is about a factory set in a barren landscape that dispenses a minute portion of water to stragglers carrying pans as receptacles. Inside, the workers seem to be doing nothing that makes any sense, and they are watched over by a per ...

I... for Icarus (1979)

Following the assassination of President Marc Jarry, a member of the investigation committee refuses to sign off on the committee's final findings. ...

Roads to the South (1978)

France, 1975. Jean, an exiled Spanish Communist, is a successful screenwriter who, after a tragic event, struggles with his political commitment, his love for his country, under the boot of General Franco, whose death he and his comrades have waited for ye ...

Sale rêveur (1978)

A young man struggling with reality and dreams finds himself caught between his fantasies and the harshness of everyday life. As he drifts through surreal encounters and romantic aspirations, he must confront the limits of his imagination and the disappoin ...

Animal (1977)

Mike (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a stuntman who works with his girlfriend Jane (Raquel Welch). On their wedding day Mike and Jane are forced by producers to do a stunt for a film they are working on. Mike, annoyed doesn't look on the road and crashes the car c ...

The Question (1977)

1957. For several months, Henri Charlègue, the ex-director of the newspaper "Alger democratic", banned, has been living in hiding. Suspected of belonging to the FLN, he is actively sought by paratroopers. ...

Pardon Mon Affaire (1976)

On an otherwise normal day, Étienne, a happily married man and a good father, sees something that stops him dead in his tracks: a gorgeous woman in a billowing red dress. Long after she has left his vision, her memory continues to haunt his mind. He falls ...

Little Marcel (1976)

A homeless young man, living in his delivery truck, is simultaneously adopted by a pranksome group of youngsters and made into a police informer. Believing that he is doing something good both for the other kids and for himself, he has no qualms. ...

Travail du comédien (1974)

We follow the rehearsals and the staging work of Bertold Brecht's play 'Dans la jungle des villes' in 1972 by the company Théâtre de l'Espérance. The three directors: Jean-Pierre Vincent, Jean Jourdheuil and André Engel discuss their joint work of stag ...

Marriage a la Mode (1973)

The main character is a woman trapped in the long stifling marriage in a boring province. She has an affair with a traveling photographer, follows him to Paris, and then has a series of unsatisfactory but interesting relationships, one of which is with a w ...

The French Calvinists (1972)

A few years after the revocation of theEdict of Nantes, the Camisards, Protestants from the Cévennes region, mostly peasants and silk workers, formed groups following Gédéon Laporte and fought Louis XIV's dragoons. ...

Reportage sur un squelette ou Masques et bergamasques (1970)

Paris Does Not Exist (1969)

In this film, an artist attending a party smokes some dope and develops the ability to see into the future and the past. He returns to his apartment where he sees the vision of a woman who had lived there 30 years ago. His psychedelic hallucinations increa ...

Knock, ou le triomphe de la médecine (2004)

La Cerisaie (1982)

The last vestiges of a family that has gone from cherry season to sorrow... Madame Ranevskaya is a spoiled, aging aristocrat who, upon returning from a trip to Paris, must face the loss of her magnificent Cherry Orchard estate after defaulting on her mortg ...