Tombés du ciel

Lioret directed his best picture, that won the Silver Seashell and OCIC award in Donostia (San Sebastian). Jean ROCHEFORT is excellent, Ticky HOLGADO is great! Laura del Sol is just correct. The role played by Sotiqui KOUYATÉ is also great! Marisa PAREDES is the only one I don't like. The story of people that live stuck-ed in an airport is really interesting. Spielberg took it and made a stupid picture with Tom HANKS named "The Terminal"; he tried to copy LIORET but failed instantly! This movie is one of my favorites. Fine cast, very good script and an excellent directing. But what happened to that movie? I can't find it in shops, either in internet. It looks like it's been erased from the earth! that's terrible! I think that the only way of getting it is going to France, for buying it. If somebody knows how to purchase it, please, let me know.

Instant classic; 8 out of 10.

I like this film and watched it several times.

In this story, Arturo, the main character(a wealthy Canadian French living in Italy, played by Jean Rochefort) is thrown into a situation where he has only the minimal procession, no money, but only some space to lie down in a room with a kitchen, surrounded by strangers (two men and a woman and a child).

He was on his way back to Italy from Canada, and, having lost his passport, was restricted to the transit zone at the Paris international airport. There, as long as one manage to go out within the facility, you have all the resources (say, wild rabbits for trade with an airport restaurant to earn some cash to go by).

Totally unexpectedly, he experienced true friendships through interactions with these strangers living there for one reason or another, in a span of few days into the New Year's Day.

The story is beautifully crafted (but not overdoing it - beauty of the French film). A brief and adventurous excursion to the city of Paris on the New Year's Eve is very touching thanks to beautiful images and music.

This film is great for the kids as episodes are funny. It is also great for the grownups as it shows What really matters in life is relationships with others.

Sadly this movie is not yet available on video, but it is delightful comedy in the traditional French style. Full of wacky characters and hostile officials that any tourist can 'remember' from airport experiences. Strongly recommended.

I really loved this film which was charming and intriguing. It was a shame it did not achieve wider distribution, and that that terrible Tom Hanks vehicle took the same (English) title. It provided a wonderful insight into the way that people could lose their freedom to determine their own lives, as well as sending up the vagaries of French bureaucracy. Jean Rochefort is a wonderful actor; I would be happy to see him in almost anything but this was an especial joy. It even gave me a perverse yearning to stay in one of those automated French hotels that are guyed at some point. It is several years since I saw this film but a number of vignettes remain clearly in my mind.

This is a story of a man, Arturo who lives in Canada. He must spend the Christmas and New Year holidays with his wife, Suzana who lives in Paris. For this, he must catch the flight Montréal-Paris. Unfortunately, his identity papers are stolen and the customs officer refuses to let him go out of the airport. As a consequence, Arturo is put in transit. There, he'll discover a world of the airport that he didn't know at all and will strike a relationship with others persons that have been waiting for days, weeks, months...

This is precisely Philippe Lioret's goal in this movie. He wants to show us the other world of the airport, a world that the traveler doesn't know. Lioret reached his goal and he made a pleasant movie that contains nice moments. It's only a pity that the comic situations are often unfinished.

But "Tombés du ciel" is a movie that is worth seeing just for Jean Rochefort's subtle (although sometimes inexpressive) performance. In a way, the movie is very similar to another French movie released the same year: "la joie de vivre" (1993). The quoted movie was saved thanks to Michel Bouquet. Both are minor movies saved by two terrific actors.