Claude ZidiFilmography

Antilles-Sur-Seine

Crew: Producer

Actors: Med Hondo, Chantal Lauby, Edouard Montoute, Pierre-Olivier Mornas

Synopsis: Corruption threatens to move into a heretofore idyllic village in this comedy-drama. Hector St. Rose (Med Hondo) is the mayor of a seaside community in the Antilles Islands, a French-controlled territory in the West Indies. Hector has long been determined not to sacrifice the well-being of his Read More

Astérix et Obélix contre César

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Christian Clavier, Gérard Depardieu, Roberto Benigni, Laetitia Casta, Arielle Dombasle

Synopsis: Asterix and Obelix, the French comic book heroes created by René Goscinny and Albert Underzo (their adventures have sold 280 million copies to date in Europe), are brought to the big screen in their first live-action adventure. Set in 50 B.C., Asterix (Christian Clavier) and Obelix (Gérard Depardieu Read More

Arlette

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Christopher Lambert, Jean-Marie Bigard

Synopsis: A middle-aged, slightly pudgy and earthy waitress finds herself wooed by a handsome marine animal trainer from a local theme park. Arlette (comedienne Josiane Balasko, France's answer to Roseanne) has no idea that she is the long-lost heir to the vast fortune of a dying business tycoon. Her new Read More

Ma Femme Me Quitte

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Michel Boujenah, Miou-Miou, Thierry Lhermitte, Line Renaud

Synopsis: Misunderstandings create romantic mayhem in this French comedy. Joanna Martin is an investigative television reporter who has lived happily with prominent lawyer Samuel Bosquier for over 15 years. The trouble begins when her station assigns Joanna to investigate the phony marriage/immigration Read More

Profil Bas

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Patrick Bruel, Sandra Speichert, Didier Bezace, Jean Yanne

Synopsis: After one of his superiors tries unsuccessfully to frame him, the formerly by-the-book honest cop Julien Segal (Patrick Bruel) turns to crime as the way to fight them back. Along the way he wins the partnership and love of the lovely Claire (Sandra Speichert), and cleverly makes life very Read More

La Totale!

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Thierry Lhermitte, Miou-Miou, Eddy Mitchell, Michel Boujenah, Jean Benguigui

Synopsis: François (Thierry Lhermitte) has convinced his wife and nearly everyone else that he is a pleasant, downtrodden civil servant who has been immured in a dead-end job. In reality, he is a very competent secret operative for the government. Meanwhile, Helene (Miou-Miou), the mother of his two Read More

Promotion Canape

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Grace de Capitani, Margot Abascal, Thierry Lhermitte

Ripoux Contre Ripoux

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Philippe Noiret, Thierry Lhermitte, Guy Marchand, Line Renaud, Grace de Capitani

Synopsis: A "ripoux" is, in French slang, a policeman who accepts bribes, shakes down "honest" criminals for a cut of their action, at a level which can range from the familiar (U.S.) paradigm of accepting free donuts, to serious criminal activity. This comic police thriller is a sequel to the hugely Read More

Deux

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Gérard Depardieu, Maruschka Detmers, Michelle Goddet, François Cluzet, Philippe Leroy-Beaulieu, Wojciech Pszoniak

Synopsis: The "two" of the title are concert promoter Gerard Depardieu and real estate agent Marushka Detmers. Thrown together by chance and indirection, Depardieu and Detmars begin a romance. Claude Zidi directs Deux with the same breezy aplomb he has applied on his earlier wacky comedies. Zidi also Read More

L'Association des Malfaiteurs

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: François Cluzet, Christophe Malavoy, Jean-Pierre Bisson, Jean-Claude Leguay, Claire Nebout

Synopsis: Christophe Malavoy and Francois Cluzet are business partners who are accused of stealing a safe from a wealthy tycoon in this situation comedy. A practical joke backfires when the two make their colleague (Jean -Claude Leguay) believe he has won the lottery. The owner of the safe calls the police Read More

L'Amour Propre ... Ne Le Reste Jamais Tres Longtemps

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jean-Claude Dauphin, Nathalie Nell, Marianne Basler, Jean-Luc Bideau, Beatrice Houplain

Synopsis: In a routine sex farce, Gautier (Jean-Claude Dauphin) is a man determined to figure out how to give a woman an orgasm -- which of course requires a lot of practice and experimentation. His buddy Roussel (Jean-Luc Bideau) also chases after women but does not share Gautier's unique quest. Rose (Nathalie Nell Read More

Les Rois Du Gag

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Michel Serrault, Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte, Macha Meril, Mathilda May

Synopsis: Gaetan (Michel Serrault) is a television comic whose jokes have kept his program alive, but in more recent times, his senior gag writers have not had their hand on the pulse of his changing audience. A series of circumstances bring two young cafe-theater comedy writers to the rescue (Thierry Lhermitte Read More

Les Ripoux

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Philippe Noiret, Thierry Lhermitte, Regine, Grace de Capitani, Julien Guiomar

Synopsis: This run-of-the-mill police comedy drama focuses on two policemen, René (Philippe Noiret), a somewhat grubby plainclothes policeman who has lived on bribes and minor racketeering for the last 20 years, and his new partner François (Thierry Lhermitte), especially honest and certainly naive. René is Read More

Banzai

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Coluche, Valérie Mairesse, Didier Kaminka, Marthe Villalonga, Francois Perrot, Jean-Marie Proslier

Synopsis: Lacking the bite to be really funny, this wilted farce stars French comedian Coluche as Michel Bernardin, a white-collar trouble-shooter for tourists caught in a bind, or in bandages, depending on the problem. His business "Planet Assistance" sends people all over to help travelers in need, and as Read More

Les Sous Doues En Vacances

Crew: Director

Actors: Daniel Auteuil, Guy Marchand, Grace de Capitani, Charlotte de Turckheim

Inspecteur la Bavure

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Coluche, Gérard Depardieu, Dominique Lavanant, Julien Guiomar

Synopsis: In one of Coluche's earlier films, the late French comedian stars in this standard comedy by Claude Zidi as the inept police inspector, Michel Clement. The senior Clement was a spectacular policeman, and Michel finds it particularly difficult to try and walk in his father's footsteps without Read More

Les Sous-Doués

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Maria Pacome, Hubert Deschamps, Tonie Marshall, Michel Galabru, Raymond Bussières, Daniel Auteuil

Synopsis: A few bumps in modern education provide an underlying, tongue-in-cheek theme for this enjoyable comedy by Claude Zidi. The story centers around a graduating class of "less-gifted" students in a private Versailles high school. Only a miracle has brought the students this far along, and after a Read More

Bete Mais Discipline

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Jacques Villeret, Kelvine Dumour, Celeste Bollack, Michel Aumont

Synopsis: Jacques (Jacques Villeret) is a soldier who is called away from his military leave in order to take part in a secret mission. It couldn't have come at a worse time, as he was just about to propose to his girlfriend. With considerable cunning and guile, this dull-seeming super-soldier gets the Read More

La Zizanie

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Louis de Funès, Annie Girardot, Maurice Risch, Julien Guiomar, Jean-Jacques Moreau

Synopsis: An inventor and a small-time industrialist, Guillaume (Louis De Funes) has come up with something which will take advantage of air pollution and manages to confuse a delegation of Japanese into placing an order for 3,000 of the things. Just a few obstacles stand in the way of his delivering on the Read More

L'Animal

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Raquel Welch, Charles Gerard, Dany Saval, Julien Guiomar

Synopsis: Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Michel Gauché, a stunt double and trickster who is crazy in love with his former fiancee, work-mate, and fellow stunt performer Jane (Raquel Welch). She, however, is so angry with him for landing her in the hospital due to a badly performed stunt that she breaks off the Read More

L'Aile Ou la Cuisse

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Louis de Funès, Coluche, Ann Zacharias, Julien Guiomar, Claude Gensac

Synopsis: In this comedy, Louis de Funes is a top restaurant critic, the head of an important French culinary guide. At the beginning of the film, he and his son (Coluche) are at odds, as the son prefers working as a circus clown to studying the fine arts of gastronomy. The two join forces, however, to Read More

La Course a l'Echalote

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Pierre Richard, Jane Birkin, Michel Aumont, Henri Deus, Claude Dauphin, Amadeus August

Synopsis: Pierre Richard and Jane Birkin star in this madcap slapstick comedy. The director of the bank he works at has induced Pierre (Richard) to impersonate him for a brief time. During that time, some tough, muscular transvestites come in and steal some important papers under his care. In order to save Read More

La Moutarde Me Monte Au Nez

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Pierre Richard, Jane Birkin, Claude Piéplu, Danielle Minazzoli

Synopsis: Pierre (Pierre Richard) is a rumpled-looking fellow, consistently overlooked by the nubile girls at the college where he teaches mathematics. However, when he wins the affection of a movie star (Jane Birkin), he wins more attention than he bargained on: his stuffy father disapproves of the affair Read More

Les Bidasses S'en Vont En Guerre

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Les Charlots, Jacques Seiler, Paolo Stoppa, Marisa Merlini

Synopsis: Les Charlots romp onto the screen again in this French comedy, which has the comic musicians serving as soldiers who actively support a peasant family who are resisting forced eviction by the army. Among other conflicts they have with their long-suffering sergeant is that he thinks their hair is Read More

Le Grand Bazar

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Les Charlots, Roger Carel, Michel Serrault, Michel Galabru

Synopsis: This is one of the seemingly innumerable French comedies made in the early '70s featuring the musicians-turned-comedians, Les Charlots. They play a group of inept but good-hearted fellows who help a small market owner compete with a large supermarket across the street by shoplifting enough from Read More

Les Fous du Stade

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Les Charlots, Paul Preboist, Martine Kelly, Gerard Croce

Synopsis: This madcap film follows the exploits of the popular French jazz and rock group "Les Charlots," as they move with style and charm from one amusing situation after another, somewhat after the manner of the Beatles in Hard Day's Night. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide Read More

Les Bidasses en Folie

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Les Charlots, Marion Game, Jacques Dufilho

Synopsis: This broad French comedy emulates the much-better film A Hard Days Night in casting the Charlots, a French popular music group, to carry the story about a zany group of cut-ups who are drafted into military service. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide Read More

The Butcher

Crew: Camera Operator

Actors: Stéphane Audran, Jean Yanne, Pasquale Ferone, Mario Beccaria

Synopsis: Sexual frustration is the focus of this Hitchcockian thriller from French director Claude Chabrol. Schoolteacher Hélène (Stéphane Audran) comes to a small Périgord village to begin a new job. She is soon romanced by the local butcher, Popaul (Jean Yanne), but is distracted by her job and memories Read More

Elise ou la Vraie Vie

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Marie-José Nat, Mohamed Chouikh, Bernadette Lafont, Jean-Pierre Bisson, Catherine Allegret

Synopsis: Elise (Marie-Josee Nat) is a young provincial woman working in a factory in Paris. Her revolutionary brother secured the position for her, and she falls in love with an Algerian native who works with her. She becomes painfully aware of the prejudice he experiences from the police and his Read More

Que la Bête Meure

Crew: Camera Operator

Actors: Michel Duchaussoy, Caroline Cellier, Jean Yanne, Anouk Ferjac, Marc di Napoli

Synopsis: Claude Chabrol directs the tense psychological thriller Que la Bête Meure (This Man Must Die). When his young son is the victim of a hit-and-run car accident, writer Charles Thenier (Michel Duchaussoy) is determined to find the killer. Obsessed with avenging his son's death, he carefully records Read More

Quarante-huit Heures D'Amour

Crew: Cinematographer

Actors: Bulle Ogier, Thelma Ramstrom, Sven-Bertil Taube, Jean-Pierre Marielle

Synopsis: This confusing film deals with the guilt, morality and near suicide of several people in the wake of the sexual revolution. A girl from Sweden arrives with two friends to meet an old French lover who is now married. The man's wife has an affair with a professor and tearfully confesses her sins to Read More