Monsieur Ibrahim (2003)

In Paris, a Turkish shop owner befriends a Jewish boy in his mid-teens.

Director:

François Dupeyron

Writers:

François Dupeyron, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt (novel)

Stars:

Omar Sharif, Pierre Boulanger, Gilbert Melki

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 5 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Omar Sharif	...	Monsieur Ibrahim Deneji
Pierre Boulanger	...	Moses 'Momo' Schmitt
Gilbert Melki	...	Le père de 'Momo'
Isabelle Renauld	...	La mère de 'Momo'
Lola Naymark	...	Myriam
Anne Suarez	...	Sylvie
Mata Gabin	...	Fatou
Céline Samie	...	Eva
Isabelle Adjani	...	La star
Guillaume Gallienne	...	Le vendeur voiture
Guillaume Rannou	...	Le realisateur
Manuel Le Lièvre	...	Le moniteur auto-école (as Manuel Lelièvre)
Daniel Znyk	...	Le gendarme
Françoise Armelle	...	La maitresse d'école
Sylvie Herbert	...	L'eximinateur

Storyline

In a street called Blue in a very poor neighborhood in Paris, Monsieur Ibrahim is an old Muslim Turkish owner of a small market. He becomes friend of the teenager Jewish Moises, tenderly nicknamed Momo, who lives with his father in a small apartment on the other side of the street. Monsieur Ibrahim gives paternal love and teaches the knowledge of the Qur'an to the boy, receiving in return love and respect.

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Plot Keywords:

turkish | love | jewish | boy | friend | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Germany] Official site [Italy]

Country:

France

Language:

French Turkish

Release Date:

9 April 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Monsieur Ibrahim

Filming Locations:

Turkey

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$531,320 (France), 19 September 2003

Opening Weekend USA:

$65,696, 16 February 2004, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,823,837, 1 August 2004

Company Credits

Production Co:

ARP Sélection,France 3 Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital EX

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Having appeared in too many less than mediocre films, actor Omar Sharif had decided no longer to appear in films, because he didn't believe that he would be offered another meaningful role. He did, however, still read any scripts that were sent to him. And when he read the script for Monsieur Ibrahim, he immediately knew that he wanted to make the film.

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Quotes

Momo: When are you going to adopt me?
Monsieur Ibrahim: Tomorrow if you like.

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Connections

Featured in The 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards (2004)

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Soundtracks

Waltz
from "Coppélia"
Written by Léo Delibes

User Reviews

religion of love and patience - explaining the plot to the evil-minded

This is a reply to a couple of rather rash and inconsiderate comments above, done by people who apparently not only live in a world of hatred and mistrust but cannot even assess the obvious messages in an easy-going, unambiguous and outspoken story.

This movie has nothing to do with RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA! Mr Ibrahim does NOT at any point try to proselytize Moise. Moise does NOT change his name, does NOT change religion and does NOT deny his roots. He was adopted for personal, and not confessional reasons.

The author of the novel upon which the movie is based is a French Jew by the same name as the main character. This quite easily explains why the boy had to be Jewish and not, let's say, Christian, for that matter. To see propaganda here is a proof of bad taste.

Momo was poor and an obviously bad student - he had no bright future which to sacrifice, that is why he settled himself with the grocery store, not because he was proselytized to adopt Arab ways.

Mr Ibrahim made it quite clear that his wisdom does not come from the Koran, but from life, he was a half-literate man, he led a secluded life, he attended no prayers, he did not speak of the Prophet or whoever. He quoted the Koran only on matters of love because this is what interested him. What Mr Ibrahim knew "was in his Koran", which apparently escaped the attention of the paranoic Muslim-haters above, were the two flowers (hey, they are part of the title of the movie!), a remembrance of his long-dead wife and love of his life.

This was a movie about how religious messages may be perceived in a spirit of love and harmony with the world and not in terms of self-seclusion, mutual suspicion and hatred. Yes, the visits to the churches and mosques were a little too naively funny to be convincing, but the message was easy to grasp - there is A LEVEL OF PERSONAL RECEPTION of religious messages, the "inner religion" about which young Moise was wondering what it meant, which is equally easy to approach by all adepts to all confessions.

I actually did not like the movie that much - the plot was partly lame and too fairy-tale-like for such a "show-life-as-it-is" kind of movie. But I felt obliged to write this comment in order to defend it against undeserved xenophobic slanders.