[#InEnglish] Eric Judor gives you an infernal tour of Paris

La Tour Montparnasse infernale, 2001

Cast: Eric Judor, Ramzy Bedia and Marina Foïs

Director: Charles Nemes

Synopsis: Eric (Eric Judor) and Ramzy (Ramzy Bedia) are working as window-washers at the Montparnasse skyscraper in Paris. Thinking that he has a date set up with beautiful executive Marie-Joëlle (Marina Foïs), Eric stays at work late while Ramzy hangs around with him. As a result, the pair witnesses a gang of terrorists seize the tower and take its late-night occupants, including Marie- Joëlle, hostage. Knowing that only they can save the day, Eric and Ramzy swing into action.

Review: La Tour Montparnasse infernale is a French comedy parodying many movies of all kinds, up to the title which is a reference to La Tour infernale (1974). Furthermore, when the movie came out in cinemas in Canada, the title was translated into Don’t Die Too Hard, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the American action film Die Hard (1988).

If you like the absurd and off-the-wall humor of the duo Eric and Ramzy, you will love the film. And even if, like me, you’re not a fan of this kind of humor, you will be pleasantly surprised because it works just fine in this film.

Moreover, the film directing is simple but efficient. As for the scenario, it’s looney and surprising from the first to the very last minute of the film. Add to this the duo of happy-go-lucky window-washers Eric and Ramzy who seem disconnected from reality and you won’t see time go by, let alone get bored. Kudos to Marina Fois who plays Stéphanie Lanceval (a.k.a. Marie-Joëlle) to perfection!

In addition, the film takes the liberty to inject various humorous movie references, parodying in turns The Game of Death, Speed, Matrix, Dumb and Dumber, but especially Die Hard. As a bonus, there is plenty of memorable quotes that, for most of them, have become cult, such as « That’s of all beauty! », « What of a coincidence!”, but also « I don’t like it too very much”.

La tour Montparnasse infernale is a really good comedy written and played by Eric and Ramzy that met success when released in 2000 (more than two million tickets). So if you have one hour or two in your hands and you want to discover the real Paris, skip Emily in Paris and go watch La tour Montparnasse infernale.

Alison Pégand