The best Patrick Burgel’s movies

The sequel to The Visitors reunites us with those lovable ruffians from the French Medieval ages who - through magic - are transported into the present, with often drastic consequences. Godefroy de Montmirail travels to today to recover the missing family jewels and a sacred relic, guarantor of his wife-to-be's fertility. The confrontation between Godefroy's repellent servant Jack the Crack and his descendent, the effete Jacquart, present-day owner of the chateau, further complicates the matter.

Agnès Dormes, a famous opera singer, saves Julie, a baby girl who was about to be sacrificed during a black mass. Twenty years later, the baby has turned into a beautiful energetic twenty-year-old young lady determined to find out about her origins. In Avignon, Julie manages to meet Agnès and discovers on the occasion she is not her real mother. A series of adventures will ensue and at a time Julie is nearly burned on the stake. But she eventually achieves her end and can marry, a street performer close to her heart.

Simon Eskenazy is a gay Parisian clarinet player who lives his single life to the fullest. One day, he receives a very tempting offer from his homophobic uncle, looking to continue the family legacy – if he gets married and has a child, he will receive ten million francs and inherit his uncle's luxurious mansion. After meeting Rosalie Baumann at his cousin David's wedding, and with some convincing on his mother's part, Simon sees an opportunity to fulfill his uncle's wishes and the pair go ahead and get married, but not before traveling to New York to meet Rosalie's Orthodox Jewish family. As Simon tries to develop real feelings for Rosalie, he struggles with his feelings for his newlywed cousin David.

This bright domestic drama captures a moment in time when, for a large number of idealistic and grateful French men and women, the promise of Russian communism was bright, and everything Russian was a source of joy and amazement. In the story, Irene was rescued from Auschwitz by soldiers from the U.S.S.R., and since that time she has enthusiatically considered Russia to be the source of hope in the world. Her more pragmatic husband has, by 1958, grown somewhat weary of her enthusiasm, which has led her to decorate their apartment with anything Russian she can get her hands on. Matters come to a head when she is befriended by three members of the Red Army Choir during their tour of Paris.