Touches You

Too much of everything

Purely Joyful Movie!

Pretty Good

I must say, these kinds of movies which revolve around archeology fascinate me. They are just so indirect and what makes this movie so cool is that it's a culture movie, it's not American; it's French! Egypt is such a fascinating place as they were beliefs about curses and consequences when one disturbs the dead! And now, what will happen when the dead are disturbed present day, how do they re-adapt to express their anger, destruction, hatred and vengeance? This film has really a wicked cover, it was well designed with the Belphegor looking over the louvre with all those hostile spirits spreading their terrifying energy around in the atmosphere! And that costume of the Belphegor is extravagant! I hope i see more movies like these soon!

I liked this film I saw it with English language not in French I'm not sure if it makes a difference but I liked it I enjoyed the characters and the effects were done well enough the story translated well and it was great to see the Louvre used in another film I've never been there but it looks nice although I would hope it isn't that easy to walk into in the middle of the night, I also enjoyed seeing Sophie Marceau she looks just as pretty as I remember her from Braveheart if not a little older but just as beautiful and I also enjoyed the rest of the cast as well. It was better than the usual crap we get here in the U.S. The title is a little tough to remember but the movie is worth watching in any case. I was not aware of any television series attached to this film so in that regard it still works as a stand alone film without the need to have seen the series.

According to me french movies doesn't gets much PR around the world for some reason. However this movie is a proof of that France can make good movies and do. The first time I saw this movie was just a coincidence more or less... One evening I read the Swedish TV guide to see if it was something on worth watching. I didn't think so, however I turned the TV on anyway and zapped around a bit. I finally got to the channel showing this movie and somehow it caught my eye and I start watching, even if I discovered that I unfortunately have missed the first 10 minutes of the movie. I am really glad that I did watch it after all anyway!About the movie: Much of the story (plot summary) is already available to read on IMDb about this movie, so I don't think one can consider this as a spoiler but to make sure you might think twice before continue reading.The story starts 1935 in Egypt when a french expedition led by Egyptologist Pierre Desfontaines (Pierre Aussedat) discovers a tomb with a 3000 years old sarcophagus in it containing a mummy. Amongst other artifacts, they decide to bring back the sarcophagus and the mummy, to the Louvre museum in Paris. During the boat trip to Marseilles however all but one crew member strangely dies including Pierre Desfontaines himself. 65 years later during a restoration of the Louvre museum in Paris the mummy is found in a forgotten storage room. The museum curator Bertrand Faussier (Jean-François Balmer) brings in Egyptologist Glenda Spencer (Julie Christie), to examine the artifacts and trying to establish who the mummy really where and its name.Lisa (Sophie Marceau) is an ordinary girl living across the street from the museum, together with her grandma Geneviève (Patachou). One evening they get an electrical problem and call for electrician Martin (Frédéric Diefenthal) who has helped them before when in trouble. When fixing the problem in the basement, Lisas cat runs off and they have to follow it and end-up in the museum after closing time. Will they be discovered by the guards? Lisa and Martin gets separated and Lisa accidentally discovers the mummy in the basement. Things happen and after that evening neither Lisa nor anybody else understand why Lisa begins to visit the museum every night. At the same time strange things starts to happen at the museum, alarms going off now and then and people gets murdered and rumors amongst the guards begins to spread that there is a phantom called Belphégor on the loose. The chase to get this phantom begins but soon they will be aware of that getting Belphégor will not be as easy as they from the beginning thought. And when they finally do, they don't know what to believe, believe it!Sophie Marceau is a masterpiece when playing the role of Lisa and Frédéric Diefenthal is equally good playing the role of the electrician and later on her boyfriend as well. It's wonderful to see Julie Christie in this french film playing Egyptologist not to mention the french Patachou playing Lisa's grandma.

In opposite to most reviewers, I'm not familiar with the 1965 b/w TV series, but review this movie as a separate piece of art. Admittedly, ‘Belphegor' is not a perfect movie, as there are a couple of logical problems within the story. Nevertheless it's crafted entertainment. The love interest between Lisa (Sophie Marceau, beautiful as ever) and Martin (Frederic Diefenthal), an eccentric old investigator (Michel Serrault), a museum director (J.F. Balmer) who ignores experts as often as he can (I've faced this kind of boss in real life, believe me) and of course a dark phantom on the loose provide 90 minutes of good fun. And if you suffer from arachnophobia like I do, you'll be happy to hear that this is the first movie about archaeologists since ‘Raiders of the Lost (Sp)Ark' that doesn't employ creepy crawling insects for cheap thrills. Instead, it has a few new ideas. I loved the scene where Lisa explains to a bunch of kids what the Egyptian Book of the Dead is about…gets confused because she doesn't know where she got the knowledge from…and then gets angry about one boy who painted the story the wrong way around in his notebook. It's the little human touches that matter. Voted 7/10.