Michel Serrault
Michel Serrault (24 January 1928 – 29 July 2007) was a French stage and film actor who appeared from 1954 until 2007 in more than 130 films. His first professional job was in a touring production in Germany of Molière's Les Fourberies de Scapin. In 1948, he began his career... Read full bio →
Featured Characters
Roles you can spot in Whatthemovie snapshots
Pars vite et reviens tard
In Paris, many citizens go to the precinct after the doors of their apartments have been sprayed with a 4 and the letters "clt". When a dweller is found mysteriously dead in his apartment, Detective Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg and his partner Danglard investigate...
Joyeux Noël
France, 1914, during World War I. On Christmas Eve, an extraordinary event takes place in the bloody no man's land that the French and the Scots dispute with the Germans…
Le papillon
An old man who has one interest in life, collecting butterflies, has his life changed by an eight year old girl.
24 heures de la vie d'une femme
Set in 1913, 1936 and 2001. When he returns to the casino and seaside resort of his early teens, Louis, a 78 year old man encounters Olivia, a 19 year old young woman madly in love with a violent cad.
Belphégor - Le fantôme du Louvre
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.
Les acteurs
Les Acteurs is the absurd story of Jean-Pierre Marielle desperately waiting for a cup of hot water, the story of a conspiracy against actors, the story of aging actors whose careers are slowly less active than they used to be, but a stunning tribute to French actors and their cinema.
Le libertin
The 'philosopher' (modernist intellectual of the French 18th-century Enlightenment) Denis Diderot is part of an aristocratic circle which practices the libertarian principles on the rural castle estate of the baron of Holbach, and prints their forbidden publication, the Encyclopédie, drowning the noise of the presses in Jewish assistant…
Les enfants du Marais
A chronicle of a group of friends in rural France between the wars. Garris and Riton live in the marshlands along the banks of the Loire river. Riton is afflicted with a bad-tempered wife and three unruly children. Garris lives alone with his recollections of World War I trenches.
Rien ne va plus
Betty and Victor are a pair of scam artists. One day Betty brings in Maurice, a treasurer of a multinational company. Maurice is due to transfer 5 millions francs out of Switzerland, and Betty is convinced he plans to steal that money.
Assassin(s)
Old professional killer Wagner seeks someone to teach what he knows as long as he is already dying, and he chooses Max, young and passionless thief to be his successor.
Artemisia
The story of Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653), one of the first well-known female painters, including her youth, when she was guided and protected by her father, the painter Orazio Gentileschi.
Beaumarchais l'insolent
Beaumarchais the Scoundrel is a biopic film based on the life of the French playwright, financier and spy Pierre Beaumarchais depicting his activities during the American War of Independence and his authorship of the Figaro trilogy of plays.
Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud
When Nelly, a woman being just divorced, meets by chance M. Arnaud, a mature salesman just retired, begins a strange and special relationship between the two personalities.
Le bonheur est dans le pré
Francis, the boss of a small plumbing supply company, is harassed by tax collectors, striking employees, and an impossible wife and daughter. His only joy is sharing lunch with his friend Gerard. Then a TV show called "where are you?" shows a woman from Gers who is searching for her husband who disappeared 28 years ago.
Ville à vendre
A man comes to a small town in France and witness the apparent murder of a woman pharmacist. He teams up with the victim's vulgar assistant to try to solve the mystery.
Docteur Petiot
Based on the real life of Dr. Marcel Petiot: During world war II Petiot, an MD living in occupied Paris, promised to help wealthy Jewish people among his patients to flee occupied France for Spain. Instead, he drugged them and burnt their bodies in his home, while stealing their valuables. After the Liberation of France, he was condemned to death.
Ne réveillez pas un flic qui dort
This movie tells the story of a group of right-wing cops have begun carrying out vigilante justice on drug dealers and other crime figures who might otherwise avoid punishment for their misdeeds. Police inspector Grindel (Delon) understands the feelings which motivate these deeds, but does not approve.
En toute innocence
Paul Duchene, owner of a thriving enterprise, works with his son Thomas and his wife Catherine. Drama begins when Paul unexpectedly catch his daughter-in-law sleeping with one of his son's colleagues.
Le miraculé
Faking an injury for insurance money, a peddler seeks out a cure to support his claims while a suspicious investigator tries to expose the scam.
On ne meurt que deux fois
Inspector Staniland investigates a pianist's murder. When Barbara, the victim's mistress, enters and confesses, he doubts her story. A man claiming to be her brother interferes with the case, while Staniland feels drawn to her.
Les rois du gag
Paul Martin and François Leroux are brothers-in-law and comics without fame. One day, the famous television comics, Gaëtan, finds himself in the little theater where Paul and François produce themselves under the name of "Gagsters".
La cage aux folles III: 'Elles' se marient
Third and final version of the La Cage aux Folles series has Renato's drag queen lover Albin learning that he can inherit a vast fortune from a distant relative. But the catch is that Albin must marry (a woman) and produce a heir within a year or the whole inheritance will be forfeited.
À mort l'arbitre!
L'arbitre Maurice Bruno siffle un penalty faisant perdre l'équipe locale. Consternation des supporters du cru. De chantages en traque effrénée, l'embrasement collectif, aveugle et meurtrier déferle sur la ville.
Le bon roi Dagobert
King's Dagobert I intestinal and sexual problems loom large as he survives an attack on his royal caravan then barely makes it to Rome to personally give thanks to the Pope. After he arrives at the Vatican, he becomes involved in the battle between two contenders for the papacy and has to face the machinations of a ruthless Byzantine princess.
Le bon plaisir
Claire's handbag is stolen. It contained a letter written ten years previously by the man who is now the French President. In the letter, he urges his pregnant mistress to have an abortion. Claire immediately alerts the President's men. From that moment, the machinery of state swings into action.
Mortelle randonnée
A P.I. is obsessed with a cute woman, who seduces and kills rich men around W. Europe.
Les fantômes du chapelier
A hatter in a provincial town (Michel Serrault) leads the life of a respectable citizen but is in fact a serial murderer. The only person to suspect this is his neighbour the tailor (Charles Asnavour).
Deux heures moins le quart avant Jésus-Christ
In antique Rome, a simple pepboy for chars becomes involved in a coup against Cesar.
Malevil
In southern France, in a quiet little town, the mayor, who also owns a castle with some cattle, is in the wine cellar with some other people: the pharmacist, the veterinary, and some of his employees. As they are drinking wine, they hear a terrible noise and the heat's getting higher and higher.
Garde à vue
Martinaud, an illustrious notary suspected of being the perpetrator of two horrendous crimes, voluntarily agrees to be questioned by Inspector Gallien on New Year's Eve. What initially is a routine procedure, soon becomes a harsh interrogation that seems to confirm the initial suspicions.
Pile ou face
Since his wife died, Inspector Louis Baroni (Philippe Noiret) has become a virtual recluse, preferring the solitude of his quiet house to the company of others.
La cage aux folles II
The titular gay couple become involved with local cops and foreign spies when one of them unwittingly obtains a roll of stolen microfilm.
La gueule de l'autre
Martial Perrin is the president of a right-wing political party which is gearing itself up for a forthcoming election. When he learns that a notorious criminal named Kraus has escaped from prison, Perrin panics and goes into hiding. His deputy, Constant, hires Perrin’s cousin, Gilbert, an actor who is a perfect double of Perrin, to replace him.
Buffet froid
Alphonse Tram is unwittingly involved in several murders despite having no memory of committing the crimes. His confusion lead him to confess to his neighbour, Inspector Morvandieu. Alphonse and Morvandieu become the axis around which murders occur.
Préparez vos mouchoirs
Solange is seriously depressed, and her kindhearted husband, Raoul, makes it his mission to cure her doldrums. After many failed attempts to cheer her up, Raoul hits upon a possible solution: find his wife a lover. Unfortunately, his choice, Stéphane, proves to be just as ineffectual in restoring her flagging spirits.
La cage aux folles
Two gay men living in St. Tropez have their lives turned upside down when the son of one of the men announces he is getting married. They try to conceal their lifestyle and their ownership of the drag club downstairs when the fiancée and her parents come for dinner.
L'argent des autres
Henri Rainier has everything a man could want. A glamorous wife, two beautiful daughters and a well-paid job with a large bank. Then, one day, his entire world collapses. In the wake of a high-profile financial scandal, he is summoned into his director's office and accused of negligence.
Le roi des bricoleurs
Goumic, an industrialist and his wife Anne lose their big house when their town's mayor coerces them to sell it for a low price.
La situation est grave... mais pas désespérée
Sophie, viscountess of Valrude, believes herself being a widow since her husband disappeared in the Amazon.
L'Ibis rouge
A mentally disturbed man named Jérémie is scouring the area in search of women he can strangle with his scarf, which is embroidered with an ibis.
C'est pas parce qu'on n'a rien à dire qu'il faut fermer sa gueule...
Max and Riton, 2 thieves make plan to steal money in a train station office. They will operate through the wall in the public toilets.
Un linceul n'a pas de poches
In the newspaper he has just founded, journalist Dolannes exposes all the wheeling and dealing and scandals that go on in his town.
Les gaspards
Here we find a group of misfits who've given up on humanity and have decided to dwell below the pavement. The group has its own hierarchy, of course, and soon the conditions that drove them underground begin to manifest themselves without the influences of the Outside World.
Les chinois à Paris
Les Chinois ont envahi la France. Devant leur calme et leur discipline, un seul moyen pour les chasser, faire de la France le pays du plus mauvais exemple. Quelques Français s'attelent à cette tâche...
Moi y'en a vouloir des sous
Dismissed following an unfortunate initiative, financial advisor Benoît Lepape decides to work for his uncle, a union activist. His capitalist methods will surprise at first, but quickly bring in a lot of money.
Le grand bazar
Quatre copains (les charlots) se retrouvent sans travail et décident d'aider un petit commerçant qui ne peut faire face à la concurrence que lui fait une grande surface.
Tout le monde il est beau, tout le monde il est gentil
Selon "Radio plus près de Dieu", rien n'est conçu sans Dieu, surtout pas les shampoings, produits de beauté, la vente des disques... Un animateur dénonce cette escroquerie à l'antenne, ce qui lui vaut d'être licencié. Il réapparaîtra sur de nouvelles ondes avec "Radio plus près de la Vérité".
Le viager
In 1930, Louis Martinet, a peaceful sexagenarian, no longer has a long life to live according to the words of his doctor, Leon Galipeau, who sees to take advantage of the very interesting situation of the "future deceased". This one indeed has a small house in Saint-Tropez. Galipeau sniffs the windfall.
Le cri du cormoran, le soir au-dessus des jonques
Des truands se servent d'Alfred pour passer des diamants en Turquie dans un cercueil...
À tout casser
A gang of young tugs led by Frankie, opens a nightclub just in front of a gangster's hideout. Morelli is his name and he prepares the stealing of the century.
Les compagnons de la marguerite
Jean-Louis Matouzec works for French National Library as an expert looking after the restoration of old manuscripts.He falsifies marriage certificates as his wife refuses divorce.
Du mou dans la gâchette
Nicolas Pappas and Léon Dubois, two particularly calamitous killers, arrive in Paris, where a gangster boss in need of "staff", Jo Laguerre, hires them to cover the escape of the perpetrators of a hold-up. They get away with it as best they can and then find themselves in charge of liquidating a certain "Magnum"...
Le roi de coeur
An ornithologist mistaken for an explosives expert is sent alone into a small French town during WWI to investigate a garbled report from the resistance about a bomb which the departing Germans have set to blow up a weapons cache.
Des pissenlits par la racine
Jockey Jack has a bill open with a gangster just released from jail. He somehow manages to parry the gangster's knife attack backstage at a theatre and the latter ends up dead being put into a double bass case.
Carambolages
The story takes place in a luxury building of about ten floors where the "321" agency has its headquarters. The company watches over the holidays of its customers.
Bébert et l'omnibus
L'espiègle Bébert échappe à la vigilance de son grand frère dans les rues de la capitale. Perdu, Bébert va vivre une nuit mémorable dans un train de banlieue.
Le repos du guerrier
A young girl rescues a man from a suicide attempt. He turns out to be a sociopath, who begins to take over her life, abusing her both verbally and emotionally, yet she can't seem to tear herself away from him.
La belle Américaine
Marcel, a simple-minded factory worker, is tricked into buying a high-priced American convertible by a widow determined not to let it fall into the hands of her late husband's secretary/secret lover.
Candide ou l'optimisme au XXe siècle
The film is a 20th-century adaptation of Voltaire's 1759 social satire novel Candide, ou l’Optimisme.
Vous n'avez rien à déclarer?
Married against her will to the Comte de Trivelin, Paulette Dupont shares her anxieties with her childhood friend Labaule. Warned too late to prevent the ceremony from taking place, Labaule follows the couple on their honeymoon and prevents the consummation of the marriage by repeatedly intruding on the couple's privacy.
Messieurs les ronds de cuir
The gifts and bequests department is particularly eccentric, including Lahrier, a fervent absentee and songwriter in his spare time.
Assassins et voleurs
A man becomes the lover of his former persecutor's wife.
Cette sacrée gamine
Nightclub entertainer Jean Clery discovers too late that the 'baby' he agreed to take care of is a wild, shapely sex kitten.
Les diaboliques
Les Diaboliques is a Horror mystery thriller from French director Henri-Georges Clouzot about a triangle relationship that leads to murder.
Ah! les belles bacchantes
La police enquête sur la moralité d'un spectacle de music-hall. L'inspecteur Leboeuf entre en coulisses, questionne , suspecte et devient acteur du show.