During the early 1960s, Paris, like the much of Europe, was an explosion of life. As the old gave way to the new, everything was in flux and the city was filled with a energy that promised cultural shifts and social change. Against this background, in a working class neighbourhood, two unlikely characters - a young Jew and an elderly Muslim - begin a friendship.
When we meet Moses Schmitt (Pierre Boulanger), he is in effect an orphan even though he lives with his father, a man slowly retreating into a crippling depression. His only friends are the street whores who treat him with genuine affection. Momo buys his groceries at the neighbourhood shop, a crowded dark space owned and run by Ibrahim (Omar Sharif), a silent exotic looking man who sees and knows more than he lets on. After Momo is abandoned by his father, Ibrahim becomes the one grown-up in Momo's life. Together they begin a journey that will change their lives forever.
Special Agent Matti
Monsieur Ibrahim is a wonderfully warm film about the man you wish was your grandfather and the boy you wish was your son.
Omar Sharif is a delightfully eccentric grocer full of love and wisdom, tempered by the realities of life (like sex, poverty, adolescence, death and lying to the gendarmes). Pierre Boulanger is a sweetly sexy adolescent full of love and the need to love, untempered by the harshness of life. Monsieur Ibrahim is a delightful coming-of-age film in the Romantic mode. Enjoy.
M (Medium level sex scene, adult themes)
95 minutes (1:35 hours)
Film: 20 May 2004
