Belfagor - Il fantasma del Louvre

O.k Belphégor has its weakness, but this movie has good special F.x...at least for a French movie.

Also, I truly love Fredéric Diefenthal in this movie because he was the romantic lead ( a first time after having play the buddy in taxi ) and was funny and touching ( and cute , very handsome). Sophie Marceau was good and was scary as a woman possessed by a ghost. O.k For me the acting was the best thing. Michel Serrault and Julie Christie were excellent. I didn't know that she could speak French.

The last good thing about Belphégor: The fact that they shot in the Louvre that cost me 5,00$ to go see the Louvre...in Paris

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)

After putting a mummy in a local museum goes through the cat-scan, a metal object in it's brain reacts adversely to the procedure, thus freeing the spirit,or phantom if you will, of the mummy, Belphegor. Due to convenient circumstances, Lisa, who lives close to the museum finds herself possessed by the evil spirit. Soon enough she's stealing the museum's Egyptian treasures out from under their nose. Detective Verlac comes out of retirement to catch the supernatural thief.

This is a serviceable enough, if you haven't seen any other incarnations of "Belphégor" before. If you have, I recommend skipping this particular version as it can't help but pale in comparison to the others despite the nice locals and scenery.It plays out like a (slightly) higher budgeted Sci-Fi Original film, and I don't really mean that as a compliment.

Eye Candy: Sophie Marceau shows ass & side boob

My Grade: C-

DVD Extras: none

I was very interested to see this movie & i wasnt disappointed. It is better than any other french film & is better than the Mummy in some aspects( at least the mummy looks like a mummy not terminator 2 in his underpants in some scenes). this movie wouldve been better if they gave more info bout the mummy( it had some loose ends). the movies good check it out if you have the chance

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