Josiane BalaskoFilmography

Musée Haut, Musée Bas

Actors: Michel Blanc, Simon Abkarian, Victoria Abril, Pierre Arditi, Alfredo Arias, John P. Arnold, Sophie Artur, Helene Babu, Josiane Balasko

Synopsis: With this high-concept, all-star French comedy (it features at least sixteen Gallic marquee names including Michel Blanc and Josiane Balasko), director Jean-Michel Ribes sets out to skewer the pretentiousness of the European art world. It's just a typical, ordinary day at a French art museum, but Read More

Bancs publics

Synopsis: Directed by Bruno Podalydes (who helmed the "Montmartre" segment of the omnibus Paris, I Love You), Bancs publics chronicles three intersecting stories in the city of Versailles: an office worker who hangs a banner reading "Lonely Man" beneath his window, the feuding families and couples in a busy Read More

Cliente

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Eric Caravaca, Nathalie Baye, Josiane Balasko, Isabelle Carré, Catherine Hiegel

Synopsis: Gallic actress-turned-director Josiane Balasko - a Euro cinema mainstay best known for her unconventional romantic lead in Bertrand Blier's 1989 Trop belle pour toi - helms and co-stars in Cliente, a quirky and offbeat look at the bittersweet life of a male prostitute, which Balasko co-adapted Read More

Ruby Blue

Actors: Bob Hoskins, Josiane Balasko, Jody Latham, Josef Altin, Jessica Stewart

Synopsis: An elderly man's friendship with a young girl is viewed with suspicion both those around him in this drama from British filmmaker Jan Dunn. Jack (Bob Hoskins) has never been an especially good natured man, but after the death of his wife he sinks into a deep depression, rarely leaving the house Read More

En terre étrangère

Actors: Emmanuelle Béart, Josiane Balasko, Seydou Togola

L'auberge rouge

Actors: Christian Clavier, Josiane Balasko, Gérard Jugnot, Jean-Baptiste Maunier, Fred Epaud

Synopsis: This French remake of Claude Autant-Lara's black comedy classic details the adventures of a group of travelers who stop for a rest at Auberge du Croûteux, an inn in the Pyrenees. Little do these wayfarers realize that the establishment is run by a group of psychopaths with a penchant for Read More

Ruby Red Chequer

Actors: Bob Hoskins, Josiane Balasko, Jody Latham

Les Bronzes 3: Friends Forever

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Michel Blanc, Marie-Anne Chazel, Christian Clavier, Gérard Jugnot

Synopsis: Six of France's greatest screen comedians reunite in this long-awaited sequel to the classic box-office hits Les Bronzes and Les Bronzes Font du Ski. Skirt-chasing Popeye (Thierry Lhermitte) has settled down and married beautiful Graziella (Ornella Muti), and together they run an upscale resort Read More

The Ex-Love Of My Life

Crew: Director, Play Author, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Thierry Lhermitte, Karin Viard, Josiane Balasko, Nadia Farès, Nicolas Silberg

I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed

Actors: Charles Berling, Simon Abkarian, Josiane Balasko, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Fabienne Babe

Synopsis: The kidnapping and assassination of Moroccan political activist Mehdi Ben Barka, fictionalized in Yves Boisset's L'Attentat in 1972, gets a more historically accurate treatment in Serge Le Péron's noirish docudrama, the tabloid-headline-titled I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed. The film is narrated by Read More

It's Our Life!

Actors: Sylvie Testud, Josiane Balasko, Eric Cantona, Michel Muller, Catherine Hiegel

Synopsis: Two women try to pass along what they've learned about life, love and work to a handful of kids with unexpected results in this French comedy. For years, Blanche (Josiane Balasko) and her husband ran a diner in a small village in France, with their daughter Louise (Sylvie Testud) coming aboard to Read More

Cette Femme-La

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Eric Caravaca, Ange Rodot, Aurélien Recoing, Frederic Pierrot

Synopsis: Directed by Guillaume Nicloux, Cette Femme-La (That Woman) follows divorced police captain Michele Varin (Josiane Balasko), whose grief comes to a head with the swiftly approaching anniversary of her young son's death. Alone except for her late son's sick rabbit, Michele is dealing with crippling Read More

Un crime au Paradis

Actors: Jacques Villeret, Josiane Balasko, André Dussollier, Suzanne Flon, Gerard Hernandez

Synopsis: When a man kills his wife -- who happened to be the most hated woman in the village -- no one is sure if he should be punished or congratulated in this darkly farcical comedy. Jojo (Jacques Villeret) runs a small farm in rural France, and asks for little from life; all he wants to do is finish his Read More

Absolument Fabuleux

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Nathalie Baye, Marie Gillain, Vincent Elbaz, Claude Gensac

Synopsis: The wildly popular British television show Absolutely Fabulous gets a Francophonic makeover with this film version directed by Gabriel Aghion. In this go around, Josiane Balasko and Nathalie Baye play the incorrigible Eddie and Patsy, who leave no impulse unenacted and no lust unsated -- be it Read More

Les Acteurs

Actors: André Dussollier, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Jacques Villeret, Claude Rich

Synopsis: The son of actor Bernard Blier, director Bertrand Blier is known throughout France for his documentaries and dark depictions of sex and its impact on society. Though his influences and personal opinions clearly shine through, Les Acteurs is a satirical take on the ups, downs, and numerous Read More

Le Libertin

Actors: Fanny Ardant, Josiane Balasko, Christian Charmettant, Arielle Dombasle

Synopsis: Gabriel Aghion directs this bawdy period romp about a day in the life of 18th century philosopher and sensualist Denis Diderot (Vincent Perez), who produced the first ever encyclopedia while living a life of delicious decadence. Though the Church immediately banned Diderot's opus, which they Read More

Le Fils du francais

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Fanny Ardant, Thierry Frémont, Luca Barbareschi

Synopsis: A young boy and his two grandmothers flee from headhunters and other villainous types in the Brazilian rain forest in this wacky family adventure. Benjamin (David-Alexandre Parquier), whose mom is dead and whose dad is off in the jungle searching for gold, is more cool-headed than his two Read More

Un Grand Cri d'Amour

Crew: Director, Play Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Daniel Ceccaldi, Daniel Prévost, Richard Berry

Synopsis: In this saga of the love affair between an actor (Richard Berry) and an actress (Josiane Balasko, also the director) the two have gone from being lovers and working together, to being separated, and now are faced with an additional challenge to their relationship: they are both working in the same Read More

Arlette

Crew: Cinematographer

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

Didier

Actors: Alain Chabat, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Isabelle Gélinas, Caroline Cellier, Michel Hazanavicius

Synopsis: In this French fantasy-comedy, a magical moonbeam turns a dog into a man's best friend. Annabelle (Caroline Cellier) is a reporter who is sent on an overseas assignment and doesn't think it would be such a great idea to bring Didier, her Golden Retriever, along, so she leaves the pooch in the care Read More

French Twist

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Victoria Abril, Josiane Balasko, Alain Chabat, Ticky Holgado

Synopsis: In this French comedy, a man discovers that he has something unexpected in common with his wife -- they're both involved with another woman. Loli (Victoria Abril) is a woman of Spanish blood married to a French businessman, Laurent (Alain Chabat). Loli is not especially happy as a housewife Read More

Dead Tired

Actors: Michel Blanc, Carole Bouquet, Philippe Noiret, Josiane Balasko, Charlotte Gainsbourg

Synopsis: A burned out actor begins to question his sanity in this French comedy that stars the writer/director Michel Blanc in a dual role. In the first role Blanc plays himself as an exhausted actor. He has been doing too much TV and too many movies. Odd things begin to happen and Blanc becomes convinced Read More

Tout le Monde n' a pas eu la Chance d'Avoir des Parents Communistes

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Maurice Bénichou, Catherine Hiegel, Jean-Francois Derec

Synopsis: 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 (Josiane Balasko) was rescued from Auschwitz by Read More

L'Ombre du Doute

Actors: Mireille Perrier, Alain Bashung, Sandrine Blancke, Josiane Balasko, Emmanuelle Riva, Luis Issermann

Synopsis: Eleven-year old Alexandrine (Sandrine Blancke) may be making something more out of what is happening in her family than is really there, but she appears to be afraid to be touched by her father (Alain Bashung), and gets really edgy when her mother (a nurse) has to work late. When one of her Read More

Ma Vie Est un Enfer

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Daniel Auteuil, Josiane Balasko, Richard Berry, Michel Lonsdale, Catherine Samie

Synopsis: Léah (Josiane Balasko) has been longing to be beautiful for years, but the best she's been able to accomplish on her own is dowdy but neat. When she inadvertently conjures up Abar (Daniel Auteuil), one of the devil's own representatives, she's more than willing to sell her soul for a Read More

Too Beautiful for You

Actors: Gérard Depardieu, Josiane Balasko, Carole Bouquet, Roland Blanche, François Cluzet

Synopsis: Bertrand Blier's films have explored the sometimes misogynistic sexuality of younger men, but here he offers an absorbing, funny, and moving take on a middle-aged man's adulterous affair. Gerard Depardieu stars as Bernard, an affluent car dealer who finds himself in the grip of a violent passion Read More

Une Nuit a L'Assemblee Nationale

Actors: Michel Blanc, Jacqueline Maillan, Jean Poiret, Roland Blanche, Darry Cowl, Sophie Moyse

Synopsis: Walter (Michel Blanc), the leader of a nudist colony, enlists the help of left-wing militant Henriette (Jacqueline Maillan) in this political satire. He feels he has been snubbed by the government when he mistakenly believes he should receive the Legion of Honor. The release of the film coincided Read More

Les Keufs

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Isaach de Bankolé, Ticky Holgado, Jean-Marie Marion, Patrick Olivier, Jean-Pierre Léaud

Synopsis: Mireille (Joisane Balasko) is a female cop who leads a crusade against the neighborhood pimp in this comedy drama. She falls for the black detective who is sent to investigate charges of corruption. Their relationship is adversarial before it becomes congenial. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide Read More

Sans Peur et Sans Reproche

Actors: Gérard Jugnot, Remi Martin, Victoria Abril, Gérard Darmon, Martin Lamotte, Gerard Klein, Ann-Gisele Glass, Ticky Holgado

Synopsis: Bayard (Remi Martin) is a lowly squire who joins the army of King Charles (Patrick Timsit) after he is rejected by the noblewoman Blanche de Savoie (Anne-Gisel Glass). Bellabre (Gerard Jugnot) is the army captain who trains Bayard for the proposed invasion of Naples. Bayard returns a conquering Read More

Les Freres Petard

Actors: Gérard Lanvin, Jacques Villeret, Josiane Balasko, Michel Galabru, Valérie Mairesse

Synopsis: In this comedy-drama, Manu (Gerard Lanvin) and Momo (Jacques Villeret) are two men who are at first unwittingly involved in a drug deal, but then get quite wittingly involved when they realize that there may be some money to be had in the sale of illegal substances. Once they decide to launch into Read More

Nuit D'Ivresse

Crew: Play Author, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Thierry Lhermitte, France Roche, Marc Dudicourt

Synopsis: Although the plot in this funny, well-acted romantic comedy is written by the numbers, the story entertains because of the talent of the two leads. Thierry Lhermitte plays Jacques Belin, a dashing television star who is on a bender after receiving an award for his courteous demeanor. Josiane Balasko Read More

Niut D'ivresse

Tranches de Vie

Actors: Anémone, Josiane Balasko, Michel Boujenah, Marie-Anne Chazel, Christian Clavier

Synopsis: There are exactly 11 different slices of life in this comedic look primarily at the French and their mores. The series of 11 vignettes vary in length, in hilarity, in quality, and in content. In the segment on the changing culture of Paris, a French housewife has adapted to her neighborhood Read More

Sac de noeuds

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Isabelle Huppert, Farid Chopel, Daniel Russo, Jean Carmet, Coluche

Synopsis: Josiane Balasko ("the housewife's heroine") has been writing and directing good roles for herself since first entering the acting profession, and this film about a woman on the run is one of her early efforts. Anita (Balasko) has just about had it with life -- she is ready to kill herself when a Read More

La Vengeance du Serpent a Plumes

Actors: Maruschka Detmers, Coluche, Luis Rego, Philippe Khorsand, Farid Chopel

Synopsis: Some young international terrorists are holed up in the apartment Loulou Dupin (Coluche) inherited from his recently deceased grandmother, a premise that quickly leads to unlikely entanglements in this low-brow political farce. When Loulou opens the closets and finds dynamite, nitroglycerine, and Read More

P'tit Con

Actors: Bernard Brieux, Guy Marchand, Caroline Cellier, Eric Carlos, Philippe Khorsand

Synopsis: Director Gérard Lauzier shoots diatribes at "liberals" from his own conservative perspective in this movie about a rebellious teenager leaving his bourgeois parents. Humor lightens the theme more than once, as when the besieged father -- after listening to a garbled harangue on Marx from his Read More

La Smala

Actors: Victor Lanoux, Josiane Balasko, Dominique Lavanant, Maurice Risch

Synopsis: In a satire on family values that tends to pass off human cruelty as amusing, this story about an odd family of five children, a father, grandmother, and neighbor is not particularly laugh-provoking. When the mother of this "tribe" of five children leaves for good, their inept father is not sure Read More

Signes Exterieurs de Richesse

Actors: Claude Brasseur, Josiane Balasko, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Charlotte de Turckheim, Roland Giraud

Synopsis: In this routine romantic comedy, a veterinarian who mingles with humans of a higher pedigree gets an unwelcome visit from a female tax inspector -- and tries to seduce her as a way out of his dilemma. His screwball accountant's version of keeping books is no help, and so in desperation, the Read More

Papy Fait de la Resistance

Actors: Christian Clavier, Michel Galabru, Gérard Jugnot, Martin Lamotte, Dominique Lavanant

Synopsis: In this uneven take-off on some reluctant resistance fighters in World War II, a family of musicians find themselves the unwilling hosts of a segment of the German High Command when their Paris mansion is taken over by the occupying forces. What happens next is a series of individual skits, cameo Read More

Le Père Noël Est une Ordure

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Anémone, Thierry Lhermitte, Marie-Anne Chazel, Christian Clavier

Synopsis: Three workers in a social services office on Christmas Eve find themselves the center of a vortex of rag-tag humanity that all need their professional help, and more. Their visit from Santa Claus does not involve a trip down a chimney, but a walk-in by a somewhat derelict, irascible St. Nick Read More

L'Année Prochaine ... Si Tout Va Bien

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Isabelle Adjani, Thierry Lhermitte, Michel Dussarat, Marie-Anne Chazel, Bernard Crombey

Synopsis: Set in Paris, this romance centers on a pair of lovers who wrangle over whether or not they want to marry and have children. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Hotel des Amériques

Actors: Catherine Deneuve, Patrick Dewaere, Etienne Chicot, Josiane Balasko, Sabine Haudepin

Synopsis: The beautiful Helene (Catherine Deneuve) works in a hospital as an anesthesiologist and so when she accidentally hits Gilles (Patrick Dewaere) while driving her car, she can jump out and know exactly what to do to make sure he is not seriously hurt. The two start off a relationship based on this Read More

Les Hommes Preferent les Grosses

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Ariane Larteguy, Luis Rego, Dominique Lavanant, Daniel Auteuil

Synopsis: This comedy features large French woman, Balasko, who, when dumped by her fiance, moves in with a silly model. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Le Maitre d'Ecole

Actors: Coluche, Josiane Balasko, Jacques Debary, Roland Giraud, Charlotte de Turckheim

Synopsis: Gerard Barbier (Michel Coluche) has taken on a temporary job at a small elementary school and soon finds himself involved in sticky situations that challenge his inventiveness. In one such instance, a suicidal fellow-teacher has to be rushed to the hospital and the only available vehicle is an Read More

Clara et les Chics Types

Actors: Daniel Auteuil, Josiane Balasko, Christophe Bourseiller, Thierry Lhermitte, Christian Clavier

Synopsis: The thin plot that ties the story of Clara (Isabelle Adjani) and Bertrand (Thierry Lhermitte), the man pursuing her, to a newly-formed rock band is fleshed out by the young actors, several of them cafe-theater players making a transition to the "big screen." The actors play six young Read More

Retour En Force

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Victor Lanoux, Bernadette Lafont, Pierre Mondy, Gérard Jugnot

Synopsis: The tendency for a life of crime to continue unabated is a part of this conventional crime comedy by director Jean-Marie Poire. When Adrien (Victor Lanoux) gets out of the slammer and heads home to his wife and kids, everything goes wrong. First, his wife is living with a deadbeat bus driver Read More

Les Bronzés Font du Ski

Actors: Marie-Anne Chazel, Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko

Les Petits Calins

Actors: Dominique Laffin, Caroline Cartier, Josiane Balasko, Roger Mirmont, Jacques Frantz

Les Bronzés

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Michel Blanc, Gérard Jugnot, Christian Clavier

Synopsis: Six vacationers from France find themselves on the sunny shores of Africa in a vacation village where organized fun is the order of the day. Spoofing such faddish getaways as "Club Med," the story focuses on the trials of a married couple who can't quite live up to their ideals of an "open" Read More

L'Animal

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

Nous Irons Tous au Paradis

Actors: Jean Rochefort, Claude Brasseur, Guy Bedos, Victor Lanoux, Danièle Delorme

Synopsis: This French comedy is the sequel to the well-regarded Pardon Mon Affaire. This version centers on the sexual fantasies of a quartet of four married, middle-class men attempting to deal with the onset of middle-age. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Dites-Lui Que Je L'Aime

Actors: Gérard Depardieu, Christian Clavier, Jacques Denis, Dominique Laffin, Miou-Miou

Synopsis: French filmmaker Claude Miller's This Sweet Sickness is based on a suspense novel by Patricia Highsmith, of Strangers on a Train fame. In the original, the murder-protagonist was a psychotic, pure and simple (if such words are appropriate here!) In Miller's version, the "hero," David, is a Read More

Une Fille Unique

Actors: Sophie Chemineau, Bruno La Brasca, Philippe Nahoun, Josiane Balasko

Synopsis: While chaos and the impending doom of World War II are just over the horizon, the members of an impoverished French family are occupied with their own concerns. Most notable among them are the romance of the teenaged girl with a young socialist and the boy's friendship with a German boy. ~ Clarke Read More

The Tenant

Actors: Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Jo Van Fleet, Bernard Fresson, Shelley Winters

Synopsis: Director Roman Polanski casts himself in the lead of the psychological thriller The Tenant. Trelkovsky (Polanski) rents an apartment in a spooky old residential building, where his neighbors -- mostly old recluses -- eye him with suspicious contempt. Upon discovering that the apartment's previous Read More