
Directing
Robert Guédiguian
Born 1953-12-03 · Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
Robert Jules Guédiguian (born 3 December 1953) is a French filmmaker, producer and actor. Most known for Marius and Jeannette (1997) and Gloria Mundi (2019), his films usually star his wife Ariane Ascaride or Jean-Pierre Darroussin. Guédiguian is the son of a German mother and an Armenian father, whose family immigrated to France in the early 20th century after the Armenian genocide. He evokes his paternal roots in his 2006 film Le Voyage en Armenie. He has a working-class background, as his father is a worker on the Marseille docks. Guédiguian became concerned with political questions and for a while was involved with the French Communist Party. In 2008 he joined the Left Party in France. He has been married to actress Ariane Ascaride since 1975 and they have two daughters, Valentine and Madeleine. Like Marcel Pagnol and René Allio before him, he anchors his films in social reality. His films are strongly marked by the local and regional environment of the city of Marseille, and in particular L'Estaque (north-west Marseille), for example in Marius et Jeannette. His 2011 film The Snows of Kilimanjaro premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Guédiguian signed an open letter published in Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages. Source: Article "Robert Guédiguian" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Acting credits
6.8Jeannette is a single mother living in a working-class community in Marseilles; she tries to support herself and her two kids on her salary as a check-out girl at a supermarket and lives in an apartment complex where everyone is thrown into close proximity with everyone else. Marius is working as a security guard at a cement factory that has gone out of business; he's also squatting in the building, since the plant is soon to be demolished and he'll be needing his money later on. One day, Jeannette happens by the factory, and spotting several cans of paint, tries to take two of them home with her. Marius spots her and tries to chase her away, while she rails at him with curses against the capitalist system. The next day, an apologetic Marius appears at her doorstep, cans of paint in hand; the two soon become friendly, and a romance begins to bloom, though it quickly becomes obvious that Jeannette's romance novel fantasies are a bit off the mark from what Marius has in mind.
Marius and Jeannette
1997
For over twenty years, Robert Guédiguian has been making films that occupy an essential place in French cinema. In film after film, he evokes the social chronicle of his working-class childhood. We witness an adventure rich in reflections on the film director’s profession, political commitment, the intimate relation between real and fictional characters, and a shared desire to create.
Robert Guédiguian, cinéaste
2004
It is the story of a love affair between a musical score and a screenplay! Chief editor Bernard Sasia observes and interviews the key figures of this journey. Centered on the collaboration between composer Michel Petrossian and director Robert Guédiguian, Sasia uses his editing tools to capture the sudden emergence of a musical creation for the cinema.
In the Musical Intimacy of a Film Score
2025
8.8The heroine of this film is immortal. She is over 2600 years old. This is the self-portrait of the oldest city in France. A city whose landscapes bear the scars of a destiny that has spared it no trials. Gateway to the Orient, crossroads of trade and immigration, Marseille is a mosaic with 111 districts and 200 nationalities. Rebellious, chaotic, in turn desired, torn apart, transformed, it is reborn each time from its ashes. Marseille tells us more about the history of France and sheds light on what France is today.
Il était une fois Marseille
2022
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Il était une fois... « Marius et Jeannette »
2014
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Une histoire extraordinaire
2021
Behind the camera
7.3A world-famous orchestra conductor discovers the brother he never knew he had — a school cafeteria worker who plays trombone in a local marching band. Detecting his brother's exceptional musical talent, he takes it upon himself to rectify the injustice of fate.
The Marching Band
2024
7.0Etienne, an often out of work but endearing actor, runs a theater workshop in a prison, where he brings together an unlikely troupe of prisoners to stage Samuel Beckett’s famous play Waiting for Godot. When he is allowed to take the colorful band of convicts on a tour outside of prison, Etienne finally has the chance to thrive.
The Big Hit
2020
6.826 year-old Karl Marx embarks with his wife, Jenny, on the road to exile. In 1844 in Paris, he meets Friedrich Engels, an industrialist’s son, who has been investigating the sordid birth of the British working class. Engels, the dandy, provides the last piece of the puzzle to the young Karl Marx’s new vision of the world. Together, between censorship and the police’s repression, riots and political upheavals, they will lead the labor movement during its development into a modern era.
The Young Karl Marx
2017
7.7Once upon a time, a poor woodcutter and his wife lived in a great forest. Cold, hunger, poverty, and a war raging all around them meant their lives were very hard. One day, the woodcutter's wife rescues a baby. A baby girl thrown from one of the many trains that constantly pass through the forest. This baby, this "most precious of cargoes", will transform the lives of the poor woodcutter's wife and her husband, as well as those whose paths the child will cross—including the man who threw her from the train. And some will try to protect her, whatever the cost. Their story will reveal the worst and the best in the hearts of men.
The Most Precious of Cargoes
2024
4.0Ziné and Avdal are madly in love in spite of their families’ ancestral feud. When both parties finally set aside their differences and agree to their children getting married, Avdal is injured at the front and his inability to perform sexually casts a shadow over the wedding night. As this revives the family tensions, the newlyweds start exploring new forms of pleasure. Will their love overcome decades of conflict and tradition?
Goodnight, Soldier
2022
6.7A union pensioner and his wife are robbed, but find that merely getting the assailants brought to justice is not enough for their consciences.
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
2011
6.7A union pensioner and his wife are robbed, but find that merely getting the assailants brought to justice is not enough for their consciences.
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
2011
6.4This gripping historical drama recounts the story of Armenian-born Missak Manouchian, a woodworker and political activist who led an immigrant laborer division of the Parisian Resistance on 30 operations against the Nazis in 1943. The Nazis branded the group an Army of Crime, an anti-immigrant propaganda stunt that backfired as the team's members became martyrs for the Resistance.
Army of Crime
2009
6.8Gilbert, his brother Boule and some friends live in Estaque. Between carelessness, petty theft and social gloom, they feel like the outcasts of a society where Gilbert has no future. This is the "last summer" that he intends to spend there, dragging his idleness, nevertheless beginning a romance with Josiane, a nice worker.
Last Summer
1981
6.8Gilbert, his brother Boule and some friends live in Estaque. Between carelessness, petty theft and social gloom, they feel like the outcasts of a society where Gilbert has no future. This is the "last summer" that he intends to spend there, dragging his idleness, nevertheless beginning a romance with Josiane, a nice worker.
Last Summer
1981
6.5By a little bay near Marseille lies a picturesque villa owned by an old man. His three children have gathered by his side for his last days. It’s time for them to weigh up what they have inherited of their father’s ideals and the community spirit he created in this magical place. The arrival, at a nearby cove, of a group of boat people will throw these moments of reflection into turmoil.
The House by the Sea
2017
6.5By a little bay near Marseille lies a picturesque villa owned by an old man. His three children have gathered by his side for his last days. It’s time for them to weigh up what they have inherited of their father’s ideals and the community spirit he created in this magical place. The arrival, at a nearby cove, of a group of boat people will throw these moments of reflection into turmoil.
The House by the Sea
2017
6.5By a little bay near Marseille lies a picturesque villa owned by an old man. His three children have gathered by his side for his last days. It’s time for them to weigh up what they have inherited of their father’s ideals and the community spirit he created in this magical place. The arrival, at a nearby cove, of a group of boat people will throw these moments of reflection into turmoil.
The House by the Sea
2017
6.0Crustacés et coquillages is a fresh French comedy film with numerous surprise turnarounds and about the tolerance of a family of four. The family spend an idealistic summer vacation together where each of the family members gets involved in a new or old relationship.
Cockles and Muscles
2005
6.8Jeannette is a single mother living in a working-class community in Marseilles; she tries to support herself and her two kids on her salary as a check-out girl at a supermarket and lives in an apartment complex where everyone is thrown into close proximity with everyone else. Marius is working as a security guard at a cement factory that has gone out of business; he's also squatting in the building, since the plant is soon to be demolished and he'll be needing his money later on. One day, Jeannette happens by the factory, and spotting several cans of paint, tries to take two of them home with her. Marius spots her and tries to chase her away, while she rails at him with curses against the capitalist system. The next day, an apologetic Marius appears at her doorstep, cans of paint in hand; the two soon become friendly, and a romance begins to bloom, though it quickly becomes obvious that Jeannette's romance novel fantasies are a bit off the mark from what Marius has in mind.
Marius and Jeannette
1997
6.8Jeannette is a single mother living in a working-class community in Marseilles; she tries to support herself and her two kids on her salary as a check-out girl at a supermarket and lives in an apartment complex where everyone is thrown into close proximity with everyone else. Marius is working as a security guard at a cement factory that has gone out of business; he's also squatting in the building, since the plant is soon to be demolished and he'll be needing his money later on. One day, Jeannette happens by the factory, and spotting several cans of paint, tries to take two of them home with her. Marius spots her and tries to chase her away, while she rails at him with curses against the capitalist system. The next day, an apologetic Marius appears at her doorstep, cans of paint in hand; the two soon become friendly, and a romance begins to bloom, though it quickly becomes obvious that Jeannette's romance novel fantasies are a bit off the mark from what Marius has in mind.
Marius and Jeannette
1997
6.8Jeannette is a single mother living in a working-class community in Marseilles; she tries to support herself and her two kids on her salary as a check-out girl at a supermarket and lives in an apartment complex where everyone is thrown into close proximity with everyone else. Marius is working as a security guard at a cement factory that has gone out of business; he's also squatting in the building, since the plant is soon to be demolished and he'll be needing his money later on. One day, Jeannette happens by the factory, and spotting several cans of paint, tries to take two of them home with her. Marius spots her and tries to chase her away, while she rails at him with curses against the capitalist system. The next day, an apologetic Marius appears at her doorstep, cans of paint in hand; the two soon become friendly, and a romance begins to bloom, though it quickly becomes obvious that Jeannette's romance novel fantasies are a bit off the mark from what Marius has in mind.
Marius and Jeannette
1997
6.3Daniel leaves prison. He returns to Marseilles where Mathilda, his daughter, has just given birth. Nicolas, her spouse, a self-employed driver, is exhausted while Mathilda is a sales assistant on a trial basis. But, one night, Nicolas is assaulted by taxi drivers determined to reduce unfair competition.
Gloria Mundi
2019
6.3Daniel leaves prison. He returns to Marseilles where Mathilda, his daughter, has just given birth. Nicolas, her spouse, a self-employed driver, is exhausted while Mathilda is a sales assistant on a trial basis. But, one night, Nicolas is assaulted by taxi drivers determined to reduce unfair competition.
Gloria Mundi
2019
7.2Isabelle is an astronomer of French origin who lives in Italy in a large house surrounded by vineyards in the hills near Trieste. The sun shines on the countryside, the sea breaks on the rocky coast a few kilometers away, the landscape is paradise, and like every summer, her son Jérome will spend some time with her. Isabelle loves him very much and is ready to do anything for him, but her encounter with Davide, a young man going through a very difficult time, will turn their lives upside down. Isabelle will then have to make a choice that will inevitably lead to a painful outcome.
Isabelle
2018
6.4Mali, 1960. The youth of Bamako dance the twist to rock and roll music newly imported from the West and dream of political renewal. Samba, a young socialist, falls for spirited Lara during one of his missions to the bush. To escape her forced marriage, she secretly flees with him to the city. But Lara’s husband won’t let them be and the Revolution soon brings painful disillusions as they dream of a future together.
Mali Twist
2022
6.4Mali, 1960. The youth of Bamako dance the twist to rock and roll music newly imported from the West and dream of political renewal. Samba, a young socialist, falls for spirited Lara during one of his missions to the bush. To escape her forced marriage, she secretly flees with him to the city. But Lara’s husband won’t let them be and the Revolution soon brings painful disillusions as they dream of a future together.
Mali Twist
2022
6.4Mali, 1960. The youth of Bamako dance the twist to rock and roll music newly imported from the West and dream of political renewal. Samba, a young socialist, falls for spirited Lara during one of his missions to the bush. To escape her forced marriage, she secretly flees with him to the city. But Lara’s husband won’t let them be and the Revolution soon brings painful disillusions as they dream of a future together.
Mali Twist
2022
4.9Gilbert and Simone live a restless retreat in a village in the South of France. The departure of Étienne, her neighbor and lover, the lack of money, but especially the constant bitterness of her husband, push Simone to flee the home. Gilbert then realizes that he is ready to do anything to find his wife, his love.
Just the Three of Us
2019