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One Can Always Dream

Original title: On peut toujours rêver
  • 1991
  • 1h 33m
IMDb RATING
5.1/10
435
YOUR RATING
Pierre Richard and Smaïn in One Can Always Dream (1991)
Watch Bande-annonce [OV]
Play trailer1:41
1 Video
5 Photos
Comedy

Charles de Boylesve, known as "The Emperor", is an extremely rich but unhappy entrepreneur.Charles de Boylesve, known as "The Emperor", is an extremely rich but unhappy entrepreneur.Charles de Boylesve, known as "The Emperor", is an extremely rich but unhappy entrepreneur.

  • Director
    • Pierre Richard
  • Writers
    • Olivier Dazat
    • Pierre Richard
  • Stars
    • Pierre Richard
    • Smaïn
    • Edith Scob
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.1/10
    435
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Pierre Richard
    • Writers
      • Olivier Dazat
      • Pierre Richard
    • Stars
      • Pierre Richard
      • Smaïn
      • Edith Scob
    • 1User review
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Bande-annonce [OV]
    Trailer 1:41
    Bande-annonce [OV]

    Photos4

    View Poster
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    Top cast72

    Edit
    Pierre Richard
    Pierre Richard
    • Charles de Boisleve, dit 'L'Empereur'
    Smaïn
    • Rachid Merzahoui
    Edith Scob
    Edith Scob
    • Solange de Boilesve
    Pierre Palmade
    • Frédéric de Boilesve
    Jacques Nolot
    Jacques Nolot
    • Bertrand, le chauffeur de Charles
    Bernard Freyd
    • L'associé de Charles
    Marc Betton
    • Falcon
    Laurent Spielvogel
    • Le docteur de Solange
    Nathalie Auffret
    Bertrand Bautheac
    Anthéa Cintract
    Jacques Ramade
    • L'homme dans l'ascenseur
    Patrick Messe
    • Fresson
    Véronique Genest
    Véronique Genest
    • La prostituée mélomane
    Jacques Seiler
    • Verlinden
    Mustapha El Anka
    • M. Merzahoui
    Géraldine Bourgue
    • Gaëlle de Boilesve
    Jean-Marie Galey
    • Directeur du supermarché
    • Director
      • Pierre Richard
    • Writers
      • Olivier Dazat
      • Pierre Richard
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

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    • Soundtracks
      La Bohème
      Music by Charles Aznavour

      Lyrics by Jacques Plante

      Performed by Pierre Richard

    User reviews1

    Featured review
    7/10

    a dream that can last?

    Charles de Boylesve, a rich aristocrat nicknamed the "emperor" despite an enviable situation is deeply bored in his life and is feared by his family and associates. His sole pleasure is to steal items in supermarkets. One day, during one of his thefts, he makes the acquaintance of a young, immigrated hairdresser called Rachid. Between the two of them, a surprising friendship settles down and is the opportunity for Cahles to escape himself from his sultry background.

    Of course, I won't tell the story in detail but it's a well-known pattern that's been countlessly used in the history of cinema that Pierre Richard has recourse to and as a filmmaker: the clash between two worlds and at the same time, the strong bond that links two men. In 2011, a French comedy entilted Intouchables with Omar Sy and François Cluzet broke high at the French box-office, depicting the complicity between a high upper-class man and a ruffian in the shoes of a false male nurse. Comical sequences were created from a shift between their respective ways of living. 20 years earlier, On Peut Toujours Rêver shelters very similar elements but it didn't do very well from a commercial standpoint and that's a shame for this Pierre Richard effort is earmarked from a real author and it would be unwelcome to disown it.

    In the seventies, Pierre Richard created a very special kind of neptunian character that secured his popularity: a very distracted man who seemed to come from another planet and who was unware of the events surrounding him. Just remember le Distrait (1970) or le Grand Blond avec une Chaussure Noire (1972) in which his comical skills worked wonders. With On Peut Toujours Rêver, the actor takes back his peculiar recipe with irresistible effects. Comic visual distances, eccentric camera angles and somewhat frozen postures from actors all walk hand in hand in a convincing way and the whole thing is wrapped with a certain tenderness and daydream. Hence the title of the film that is readable on several levels. And perhaps that's why this piece of work was quite rejected when it was shown in the cinemas. In the seventies, the aforementionned comic processes epitomized the persona of Pierre Richard and constituted his zeitgeist but twenty years later, cinematographic trends had moved again and Pierre Richard's kind of atypical character found himself out of place and out of time. I personally wonder if the title contains an ironic connotation from the author both with the story and his current artistic situation at the dawn of the nineties.

    Nevertheless, On Peut Toujours Rêver is a delight to watch and it is several notches above hundred of French comedies where vulgarity has free recourse as a comical supply. In 1991, times changed but not Pierre Richard and it was better that way. Alas! Not for very long because six years later, he signed a disappointing epitaph called Droit Dans le Mur (1997) whose title bore weight. And thus, he lost the favors of public. Definitely? Maybe not because in parallel, his absence in French landscape cinema only made him warmer in the hearts of many French viewers.
    • wire154
    • Apr 5, 2025
    • Permalink

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • February 16, 1991 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • France
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Витание в облаках
    • Production companies
      • Canal+
      • Fideline Films
      • Film Par Film
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 33 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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