Belphégor - Le fantôme du Louvre

I saw this movie only because Sophie Marceau. However, her acting abilities it's no enough to salve this movie. Almost all cast don't play their character well, exception for Sophie and Frederic. The plot could give a rise a better movie if the right pieces was in the right places. I saw several good french movies but this one i don't like.

Kind of like our version of the mummy it is about a phantom who haunts the Louvre. The writing is not that great, nor is most of the writing in films like this one in terms of hooking you into the story. It was very predictable in terms of what was to happen next. So that definitely knocks a few points from a higher vote, I personally like to wonder what happens and have a guess at what could unfold. Sophie Marceau plays Lisa a really dull nervous/anxious commonly seen before type of character, who of course gets caught up in some drama as the movie drags on to the predictable finish. This is nothing like a french cinema movie, much more like a Hollywood film. I am a big fan of foreign cinema, and Sophie Marceau and felt this film was a very average, done before kind of deal. The fact it had lots of action is one plus, because I liked that the action was the only thing that kept me going in this completely ordinary done before film. I give it an ordinary 5 out of 10, if you are going to rent foreign, rent "La Fidelite" also starring Sophie Marceau

It´s all my fault. They all told me I should avoid seeing this movie because I´m a huge fan of the old TV-series. They were right. While production values are good and the actors themselves (including "don´t look now") Julie Christie aren´t that bad, the whole film displays a cheekiness and self-conciousness that clearly is without any justification. A comparison between the Karloff "Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns 2000" comes to my mind. In fact Belphegore 2000 owes much more to the new Mummy films than to the old series. But then, scripting is terrible, speed there is none and sometimes the film is full of unintentional jokes (The first scene in the tomb looks plain stupid), with cats clearly being thrown when they´re supposed to jump (landing with their backfeet first). Belphegore moves around like a statue on wheels neither impressive nor scary and the psychological drama that unfolded in the old tv series when the heroine had to learn that she´s a villain is completely neglected. This movie is so WASTED (wasted money, wasted actors, wasted blueprint) that it hurts. It´s a below-par Mummy-rip off that´s only good for some laughs but has nothing at all to do with the Greco classic (She has a small role in this movie too - on the graveyard).

A confusing, senseless script with plot holes the size of the Eiffell Tower. Terrible acting by all involved - no exception! Laughable and cheesy dialogue. Lame attempts at humor and romance. Extremely cheap special effects. All this makes for a giant mess of a film, you'd best avoid.

This is a complete disaster !The cock-and-bull story defies any explanation.The cast is wasted to a fault:I hadn't even recognized Julie Christie until the final cast and credits.Michel Serrault overplays as hell and is almost unbearable.Sophie Marceau is beautiful ,the director does not ask her for more.Jean-François Balmer, a very talented actor is unable to do anything with his empty character.One good line in the whole dialogue:the museum attendant to an old lady :"Mona Lisa?I dunno".One magic moment in a 90 minutes film the screenplay of which could have been written by a ten-year-old: in the graveyard,Marceau bumps into Juliette Gréco who strangely smiles at her:Greco was the first heroine of the miniseries in 1965.This made-for-TV work was first-rate and has worn superbly well today:if you get the chance to see it,please do!Its obsolete charm is inestimable.

NB:both the movie and the series were remakes of a silent movie by Henri Desfontaines.(1926)