Moi César, 10 ans 1/2, 1m39 (2003) User Reviews

Charming

[Jackstone54 · 22 January 2006]

"Moi Cesar" is a charming movie about the growing pains of a plump, insecure boy, wonderfully embodied by Jules Sitruk. He and his two best pals form a strong friendship that reaches its apex when they run off to London to look for Cesar's friend's British father. They are aided by Anna Karina in a rare role as an Auntie Mame-like character, a punk pub owner with a Tina Turner hairdo. It's a great cameo by the iconic actress. It's a pity that "Moi Cesar" hasn't been released commercially in the US. The movie can be as popular as "Amelie". Richard Berry, the French actor, directed this comedy and Luc Besson was among its producers. Josephine Berry, Richard's beautiful daughter, plays Cesar's love interest.

rubbish

[rgsmlt · 1/10 · 16 December 2006]

This movie's a crack. Obviously, Richard Berry is a poor actor. We discover with this movie, quite logically, that he is a poor author too. Well, actually, he is not an author at all. This 'Amelie Poulain' lookalike product is very boring, unimaginative, full of clichés on childhood (and music ad hoc), and the adults around the main character are just clowns. No direction, no action, just the narrative of this Cesar, very thought actually for an immature adult audience. This is very sad to see how french cinema is getting worst and worst, financing such indigent projects when many young authors are starving. Thank you TF1, Canal + and so on.

a terrific fun time

[film_ophile · 9/10 · 22 July 2004]

I have just seen this film as part of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts French Film Festival. The last film that I saw as part of the festival, Red Lights, was resented by me for being that worst of things, a thriller with an implausible plot, full of holes, and not worth seeing. "Moi, cesar", however, has thoroughly healed those wounds!

This is a delightful, entertaining,fun ride through the world of a disaffected 10 year old Parisian boy whose sole passions are for pastries and a lovely girl classmate. In tone, cinematography and pacing, this film feels a lot like Amelie, and I really enjoyed all the pleasurable laughs it provided. I bought the whole story; the screenplay is very well written and all the actors do an excellent job. The film kicks up a notch when Cesar and his girl and his best friend all hatch a clever ruse, and manage to get themselves to London to help the best friend find his birth father. Just when they need help the most, an older punk fairy godmother, Gloria( in a nod to Tina Turner and Gina Rowlands) appears and things improve. Al is pulled together in a great fun finale. An easy 9 out of 10. Enjoy!

lovely french movie

[Ine_pearl · 8/10 · 12 April 2005]

Moi, César is a lovely french movie. But it's partly American styled. I liked the music very much. It made me think of Yann Tiersen, the composer of the music of Amélie Poulain and Délicatessen. The music gives you an alternative American feel-good movie-feeling. The film is about the serious worries of a 10 year old boy, not really satisfied with his life and his looks, and in love with Sarah. Together with Gloria (she made me think of a punk-version of Whoopi Goldberg) they're looking for Morgan's father in London. The story is not very complicated, it's just an ideal film for a cost evening. Nice film shooting, brilliant music,good actors... very nice!

Jules Cesar?

[writers_reign · 8/10 · 3 February 2013]

Richard Berry is something of a throwback to the kind of all-round writer-director-actor that used to be the norm, flitting between drama, comedy, rom-com at will, a Gallic Michael Curtiz if you will. This delightful bildungsroman gives no hint of 22 Bullets, also written and directed by Berry, for example. Jules Sitruk appears to be graduating successfully from juvenile roles and is still working at 23. I for one thoroughly enjoyed his performances in Monsieur Batignole (the work of another fine writer-director-actor Gerard Jugnot) and especially Vipere au poing with an unforgettable Catherine Frot as the mother from hell. I, Cesar, as it has been anglicized is a total delight and shows that Berry - sixty-three years old when he shot this - is completely in touch and in tune with the world of childhood and adept at off-the-wall casting; Jean-Paul Rouve, for example, who played the despicable critic in Monsieur Batignole, turns in a great wacky performance as the gym teacher while Charlie Boorman and his sister also weigh in with solid cameos to say nothing of Anna Karina, who grabs the role of the kind of whack-job that used to go to Carloyn Jones and Shirley MacLaine, with both hands and sinks her teeth in, possibly relishing the chance to get as far away as possible from the merde that Godard inflicted on her. All in all this is a rewarding evening in the salles and stands repeated viewings on DVD.

The best movie about childhood (dvd)

[leplatypus · 10/10 · 10 September 2011]

This new work of Berry is exceptional and as it's only his second, you can be sure it's a director to follow. Maybe it's because he seems to have a excellent memory or the fact that he's super-kind to cast his daughter in all his movies, but he knows exactly what is-it to be a child: a world that is high, that is not totally clear, sometimes painful and frightening but always the best time to share with your friends.

Thus, watching this movie makes you remember your old past as well because we all shared the same experiences: the love of the mother, the authority of the father, the big situation of school (mine was to keep silent the trip to Germany from my parents), the dangerous expedition (mine was to explore a vacant hospital with dead cat), the alienating vacations and family (same farm with grandparents, nothing around and silly cousins), the lessons of biology and the first beats of our heart (unfortunately, my "sarah" dumped me before our date could even exist when I just give my homework with her name on it! I have always been absent-minded if I'm troubled.).

So, Berry manages to bottle all those moments in a fresh and funny story and find an admirable cast and production to tell it: the adults and kids are really top, the sets are full of colors or have amazing light for the locations in Paris, London. The music is perfect and sounds very nostalgic.

If "Home alone" is the best about being kid and family, "Moi, César" is best about friendship among kids! Please, Josephine & Richard, go on with more movies like this !

Remember this. It hits hard.

[[e-mail] · 10/10 · 7 May 2016]

I just watched 'Moi, Cesar, 10ans 1/2, 1m 39. Elle magazine (French edition) touts it as "The 400 Blows for the Noughties". It really isn't fair to make such a comparison, as for many, that would make this new film fail to deliver, when it is a great, powerful, film in its own right. Yes, both films set out to tell the truth of childhood in their time, but where The 400 Hundred Blows tells you about what could happen and does happen to one child, Moi, Cesar depicts a broader range of the variables of childhood, and is less claustrophobic for doing so. It also has lighter moments that make you remember your own childhood with a wry grin. The central trio of actors are first rate, and Jules Sitruk captures perfectly the awkwardness of growing up the fat kid in school.