Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran (2003)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

François Dupeyron

Writers:

François Dupeyron (writer)
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt (novel)
(more)

Release Date:

17 September 2003 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

First Love | Film Production | Jew | Prostitution | Nouvelle Vogue

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Omar Sharif	...	Monsieur Ibrahim
Pierre Boulanger	...	Momo
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
Claude Merlin	...	Le notaire
Pascal Vincent	...	Le bouquiniste
Tessa Volkine	...	Myriam's Mother
Marie-Sophie Ahmadi	...	Nadia
Maryse Deol	...	L'employer administrative #1
Gérard Bôle du Chaumont	...	L'employer administrative #2
François Toumarkine	...	L'employer administrative #3
Sylvie Debrun	...	L'employer administrative #4
Önder K. Açikbas	...	Motocycliste
Jérémy Sitbon	...	Momo 8 ans
Eric Caravaca	...	Momo 30 ans

Directed by
François Dupeyron

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
François Dupeyron		writer
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt		novel "Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran"
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt		screenplay "Coran"

Produced by
Laurent Pétin	....	producer
Michèle Pétin	....	producer

Cinematography by
Rémy Chevrin

Film Editing by
Dominique Faysse

Casting by
Brigitte Moidon

Production Design by
Katia Wyszkop

Set Decoration by
Sandrine Mauvezin

Costume Design by
Catherine Bouchard

Makeup Department
Fabienne Bressan	....	key hair stylist
Cédric Chami	....	hair stylist: Ms. Adjani
Christophe Giraud	....	assistant makeup artist
Marie-Pierre Hattabi	....	hair stylist
Thierry Lécuyer	....	makeup artist
Muriel Martin	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Philippe Baisadouli	....	unit manager
Francis Barrois	....	production manager
Loïc Jouanjan	....	trainee unit manager
Pierre Jouille	....	assistant unit manager
Annie France Kaempf	....	post-production supervisor
Damien Lutringer	....	trainee unit manager
Pierre Vaysse	....	assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Inès de la Bévière	....	second assistant director
Patrick Delabrière	....	first assistant director
Marie-Pierre Vau	....	trainee assistant director

Art Department
Didier Beauland	....	carpenter
Tristan Bivaud	....	carpenter
Thierry Champenois	....	carpenter
Marc Fivel	....	carpenter
Tristan Girault	....	property master
Alexandra Lassen	....	assistant art director
Guillaume Legrand	....	painter
Michel Masson	....	painter
Sandrine Mauvezin	....	set dresser (as Alexandrine Mauvezin)
Frank Morel	....	painter
Christine Rey	....	plasterer
Patricia Robin	....	painter
Marie Rossignol	....	key painter
Marc Rovere	....	assistant set dresser
Jean-François Sega	....	key carpenter
Didier Touvais	....	carpenter
Rimsky Vidal	....	painter

Sound Department
Katia Boutin	....	assistant sound re-recording mixer
Jean Dubreuil	....	sound editor
Judith Guittier	....	assistant foley artist
Gérard Lamps	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jean-Louis Lebras	....	boom operator (as Jean-Louis Le Bras)
Alain Lévy	....	post-synchronisation
Laurent Lévy	....	foley artist
Françoise Maulny	....	assistant post-synchronization
François Maurel	....	sound
Fred Messa	....	boom operator
François de Morant	....	sound
Francis Perrard	....	stereo sound consultant: Dolby
Isabelle Tat	....	assistant post-synchronization

Visual Effects by
Fabien Coupez	....	digital compositor

Camera and Electrical Department
Roger Arpajou	....	still photographer
Franck Barrault	....	gaffer
Pierre Chevrin	....	second assistant camera
Antonin Gendre	....	key grip
Frederic Halbutier	....	electrician (as Frédéric Halbutier)
Julien Humeau	....	additional grip
Elin Kirschfink	....	first assistant camera
Stéphane Martin	....	electrician
Renaud Monziers	....	grip trainee (as Renaud Monzies)
Laurent Pauty	....	second assistant camera
Christian Petrucelli	....	additional grip
Yvan Quehec	....	electrician
Carlos Ribeiro	....	additional grip
Mathieu Ungaro	....	grip
François-Xavier Walter	....	grip

Casting Department
Marie-Sylvie Caillierez	....	extras casting
Yvan-Scott Ducourau	....	casting assistant
Lofti Mokdad	....	extras casting
Yann Le Boucher	....	extras casting assistant (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Anne-Sophie Daniel	....	wardrobe assistant
Isabelle Ledit	....	wardrobe assistant
Virginie Le Metayer	....	costumer
Bernard Minne	....	wardrobe assistant
Laurence Royer	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Elise Fievet	....	assistant editor
Hervé Gouband	....	color timer
Fabienne Morel	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Valérie Lindon	....	music producer

Other crew
Christèle Bonnard	....	production administrator
Nicole Cobac	....	production administrator
Geneviève Dufour	....	script supervisor
Nana Otte	....	production secretary
Robert Polonia	....	groupman
Joëlle Rignault	....	assistant production administrator
Harmel Sbraire	....	coach: actors
Christian Thurot	....	groupman

Production Companies

• ARP Sélection
• France 3 Cinéma

Distributors

• Cinema Mondo (2005) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Falcom Media (2004) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Filmhouse (2004) (Mexico) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• GAGA (2004) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Gateno Films (2006) (Peru) (theatrical)
• Mongrel Media (Canada) (theatrical)
• Monopole-Pathé (2003-2004) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Prooptiki (2004) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2003) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• ARP Sélection
• Columbia TriStar Films de Argentina (2005) (Argentina) (all media)
• Impuls Home Entertainment (2004) (Switzerland) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (2005) (Argentina) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (2005) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Lucky Red
• SPI International (Czech Republic)
• Universum Film (UFA) (2004) (Germany) (video)
• Wanda Visión S.A. (Spain)
• With Cinema (Korea)

Other Companies

• Cinésyl  grip equipment
• Dovidis  sound editing
• Key Grip Systems  grip equipment
• Tapages  sound equipment
• Transpalux  electrical equipment

Also Known As:

Momo (France) (working title)
Monsieur Ibrahim (USA)
Monsieur Ibrahim und die Blumen des Koran (Austria) (Germany) (Switzerland: German title) [de]
Monsieur Ibrahim e i fiori del corano (Italy) (Switzerland: Italian title) [it]
El Sr. Ibrahim y las flores del Corán (Argentina) (video title) [es]
El señor Ibrahim y las flores del Corán (Spain) [es]
Herra Ibrahim ja Koraanin kukkaset (Finland) [fi]
Ibrahim Bey ve Kuran'in çiçekleri (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Monsieur Ibrahim och Koranens blommor (Sweden) [sv]
Monsieur Ibrahim og koranens blomster (Denmark) [da]
Monsieur Ibrahim und die Blumen des Korans (Austria) [de]
O kyrios Ibrahim kai ta louloudia tou Koraniou (Greece) [el]
Pan Ibrahim i kwiaty Koranu (Poland) [pl]
Uma Amizade sem Fronteiras (Brazil) [pt]

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexual content.

Runtime:

Canada:94 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:95 min | Argentina:96 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Turkish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Taiwan:R-12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | Hungary:14 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Finland:K-11 | Germany:6 | USA:R | Singapore:M18

Company:

ARP Sélection

Quotes:

Monsieur Ibrahim: They spin around their hearts because God is there.

Movie Connections:

References Le mépris (1963)

Soundtrack:

Wooly Bully

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.