Lionel Abelanski’s Typical Vibe
Signature vibe

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Lionel Abelanski has 19 titles in the CriticCrunch catalog across a career spanning the 1990s through the 2020s.
Recurring themes

In 1941, the inhabitants of a small Jewish village in Central Europe organize a fake deportation train so that they can escape the Nazis and flee to Palestine.
Dir. Radu Mihăileanu · With Lionel Abelanski, Rufus, Clément Harari

A former world-famous conductor of the Bolshoï orchestra, known as "The Maëstro", Andreï Filipov had seen his career publicly broken by Leonid Brezhnev for hiring Jewish musicians and now works cleaning the concert hall where he once directed. One day, he intercepts an official invitation from the prestigious Théâtre du Châtelet. Through a series of mad antics, he reunites his old orchestra, now composed of old alcoholic musicians, and flies to perform in Paris and complete the Tchaikovsky concerto interrupted 30 years earlier. For the concerto, he engages a young violin soloist with whom he has an unexpected connection.
Dir. Radu Mihăileanu · With Aleksey Guskov, Mélanie Laurent, Dmitri Nazarov

Between her roles as mayor and teacher in the small village of Kerguen, Alice's days are very full. When an unexpected new student, 60-year-old Emile, finally decides to learn to read and write, her daily life threatens to become unmanageable. Especially since Alice will also have to save her village and her school...
Dir. Mélanie Auffret · With Michel Blanc, Julia Piaton, Lionel Abelanski

Famille : Groupe de personnes réunies par des liens de parenté et un fort sentiment de solidarité morale et matérielle. Quand Alain a épousé Nathalie, il ne savait pas qu'il épouserait aussi sa famille. Ce samedi, comme toutes les semaines, ils sont invités à dîner chez son beau-frère, Jean-Pierre à Créteil. C'est vrai, Alain en a marre de ces dîners familiaux, mais il ne sait pas encore ce qui l'attend véritablement ce soir-là... Ni les jours qui suivent
Dir. Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache · With Vincent Elbaz, Isabelle Carré, François-Xavier Demaison

When she arrived at the Elysée Palace, Bernadette Chirac expected to finally get the place she deserved, she who had always worked in the shadow of her husband to make him president. Put aside because she was considered too old-fashioned, Bernadette decided to take her revenge by becoming a major media figure.
Dir. Léa Domenach · With Catherine Deneuve, Denis Podalydès, Michel Vuillermoz

Jean-Pierre Costa is a football manager upon whom fate appears not to be smiling. First, a friend, Annabelle, dumps a pet Labrador named Didier on him whilst she goes off to make a report in Los Angeles. Next, one of his star players is injured, leaving him one player short for a crucial match. As if things could not get any worse, Costa wakes up one morning to find that that Didier has been transformed into a man...
Dir. Alain Chabat · With Jean-Pierre Bacri, Alain Chabat, Isabelle Gélinas
FBI Agents Bullit and Riper investigate the murder of a young dancer called Pamela Rose, found dead in her motel room in Bornsville, a small american town. Despite their differences, they must team up: the local police is hostile and they can only count on themselves to solve the crime. They meet Ginger, Pamela's best friend, and discover soon enough she knows more than she says.
Dir. Éric Lartigau · With Kad Merad, Olivier Baroux, Gérard Darmon
Gustave Klopp suffers from narcolepsy, he can fall asleep everwhere at anytime whithout warning. Living a simple life with his wife Pam and his best friend Lenny Bar, Gus decides to undergo therapy sessions and finds out that he can make incredible comics from his dreams.
Dir. Gilles Lellouche, Tristan Aurouet · With Guillaume Canet, Zabou Breitman, Guillaume Gallienne

On his 50th birthday, a man who's been watching his weight, health and temper all his life suffers a heart attack. He's been doing everything he was told he should do and it still didn't help. He decides to turn the page and let loose.
Dir. Eric Lavaine · With Lambert Wilson, Franck Dubosc, Florence Foresti
The two friends Claude and Serge are fundamentally different in their temperament. Similarities arise only when they try to have a relationship with a woman, because both fail equally. While Claude is simply too shy to even start a relationship, let alone meet a woman, Serge is too jumpy to have a relationship. Together they go in search of the great love in all sorts of curious situations, from the self-help group on speed dating to wedding celebrations of strangers - in the hunt for the right woman, they are no way too far.
Dir. Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano · With Jean-Paul Rouve, Annie Girardot, Jonathan Lambert

Two mismatched cops team up to investigate the murder of a business mogul's wife.
Dir. David Charhon · With Omar Sy, Laurent Lafitte, Sabrina Ouazani
To celebrate Yves’ 50th birthday, his friends plan to take him to the sunny paradise of Paros in Greece. But due to a cancelled flight, the holiday will take place in a far less glamorous and much rainier destination: Yves’ family home in Brittany. During the vacation, their bonds are challenged by Antoine’s constant complaining, Yves’ pride, Baptiste’s superstition and Laurent’s jealousy of Jean-Mich’s perfect life and family. On top of that, Antoine’s supposedly harmless joke – offering Yves a DNA ancestry test – has unforeseen consequences…
Dir. Eric Lavaine · With Lambert Wilson, Franck Dubosc, Guillaume de Tonquédec
How to live happy and rich without working? To be Gigolo. But after 25 years of living with Denise, Alex the "gigolo" gets fired without notice and finds himself on the street. Forced to move to his sister and his nephew of 10 years, he then has an obsession: find quickly a rich heiress.
Dir. Olivier Baroux · With Kad Merad, Anne Charrier, Léopold Moati
Dir. Francis Ginibre, Éric Carrière · With Éric Carrière, Francis Ginibre, Bruno Lochet
Alphonse Brown, who firmly believes he is the bastard son of James Brown, meets up with his best friend Scotch after Brown gets out of jail. On their way to Paris to begin careers as recording artists, the pair stumbles across a potent type of marijuana that was engineered by the Nazis. Their decision to begin selling the stuff leads to a variety of people chasing after them.
Dir. Thomas Sorriaux, François Desagnat · With Michaël Youn, Vincent Desagnat, Zoé Félix
A pair of bumbling French cops team up to take on the underworld.
Dir. Eric Lavaine · With Kad Merad, Clovis Cornillac, Carole Bouquet
Richard Dacier owns a tour agency specialized on organizing safaris for European tourists eager to confront the African wild life. Actually, he took the job after his father and never went into the savanna by himself. As he owes big money to some mobster, he is compelled to convey a fake tourist, with a suspicious suitcase, toward Mozambic. To avoid suspicion from the authorities, he is supposed to tour a group of tourists as usual. The only problem - he is completely unexperienced as a guide!
Dir. Olivier Baroux · With Kad Merad, Lionel Abelanski, Frédérique Bel
Buddy is an abandoned young cocker spaniel waiting dejectedly in his cage for a kind, new owner to adopt him. Suddenly, Billy, a little boy whose hair is as red as Buddy's, appears. It's love at first sight and the beginning of a great friendship. But for Billy's parents, this is where the trouble begins.
Dir. Alexandre Charlot, Franck Magnier · With Franck Dubosc, Marina Foïs, Charles Crombez
A collection of artifacts from an archeological dig in Egypt are brought to the famous Louvre museum in Paris, and while experts are using a laser scanning device to determine the age of a sarcophagus, a ghostly spirit escapes and makes its way into the museum's electrical system.
Dir. Jean-Paul Salomé · With Sophie Marceau, Michel Serrault, Frédéric Diefenthal
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Directors with 2+ shared titles, ranked by frequency