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Monsieur Ibrahim
EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 14 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Foreign
Written by:
François Dupeyron
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt (novel Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran)
Directed by: François Dupeyron
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 5, 2003
DVD: July 6, 2004
Running Time: 94 minutes, Color
Origin: France
Language(s): French (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: R for some sexual content
Starring Omar Sharif, Pierre Boulanger, Gilbert Melki, Isabelle Renauld, Lola Naymark, Anne Suarez, Mata Gabin, and Isabelle Adjani
In a working class Paris neighborhood in the early 60's, two unlikely characters -- a young Jew and an elderly Muslim -- begin a friendship. (Sony Pictures Classics)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Surely there is room in the movies for a small film with an unabashed, even old-fashioned but timeless humanist spirit -- and a triumphant portrayal by a veteran star that is likely to be regarded as one of the year's best.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Most movingly, Monsieur Ibrahim takes a provocative subject -- friendship and love between a Jew and a Muslim -- and makes it seem natural and wondrous.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Tender but never sappy, Monsieur Ibrahim brings two people of vastly different age and background together in ways that are touching, and telling. It's a small, glowing gem.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Monsieur Ibrahim is about people interacting as people, not symbols (one reason, Sharif has said, he took the role was to help his grandchildren's generation understand that idea).
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
A gracefully subtle, sweet-spirited French parable of the brotherhood of man that was nominated for a Golden Globe, won Omar Sharif a César Award for best actor and has been a surprise hit in Europe.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Contrary to expectation, it's neither a movie about religion nor the coming together of enemies. What it is, at heart, is a movie about love.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
A movie suffused with a warm glow of nostalgia for times and music and movies gone by.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Its best scenes come as the characters are established and get to know one another. Sharif at 71 still has the fire in his eyes that we remember from "Lawrence of Arabia," and is still a handsome presence.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
Adapted from a French play but never seems stage- bound.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
The movie has a couple of surprises, including a major plot turn at the end that leads to a memorable resolution somewhere between happy and wistful.
Read Full Review >Premiere Peter Debruge
With the careful timing and nuance of a master actor, Sharif turns a two-dimensional sketch into the film's most absorbing character.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Omar Sharif certainly doesn't disappoint in Monsieur Ibrahim. The casting alone promises something extraordinary.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
The script falters at the end, as the two reach the Turkish village where Ibrahim was raised. But the winning performances -- and killer '60s soundtrack -- save the day.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The movie is sometimes profound in its simple, optimistic message of friendship -- and sometimes it's plain simple.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
The two central performances help the lesson go down easily, and Mr. Duperyon's unassuming, slightly ragged realism gives the movie a sweet, lived-in charm. Mr. Sharif, grizzled and white-haired at 71, has lost none of the charisma that made him an international movie star in the 1960's, and Mr. Boulanger, in his first feature film, shows impressive self-assurance.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Leslie Camhi
Unusual in its ambition to pose deep spiritual questions, but its enticing surfaces -- including the beautiful working girls and Isabelle Adjani's surprise cameo as a Bardot-esque starlet -- are the best thing about it.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Duane Byrge
Both an appealing coming-of-age yarn and, as Monsieur Ibrahim embraces his own mortality, a heartfelt coming-of-aging saga.
Read Full Review >Variety Deborah Young
Unshaven and twinkling-eyed, Sharif is professionally light and entertaining in the title role.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Boulanger is completely captivating as the kind of kid Truffaut would have adored, but it's Sharif's show. Next to his portrayal of Yuri in "Dr. Zhivago", this may be role for which he'll be best remembered.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Adapting a novel by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, François Dupeyron uses handheld cameras and some jarring edits, but, prostitutes and all, this is storybook material: heartfelt, pleasant, cuddly, and a little too insubstantial to stick in the mind for long.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Steve Davis
The titular role of Monsieur Ibrahim is not a terribly taxing one, but Sharif effortlessly demonstrates that he still has the stuff that made him a star so many years ago – he exudes a charismatic appeal that is apparently timeless.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Among the lessons that Monsieur Ibrahim conveys to Moses, and the most appealing aspect of the film, is to delight in sensual pleasure.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
When Shirley MacLaine made this same movie, more or less, as "Madame Sousatzka," there was a whole lot of acting going on. Sharif brings us to Ibrahim with a modesty that oddly reminds you of why the actor is a legend.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Marta Barber
It is a treat to see Sharif back on the screen and Boulanger is a pleasure to watch. They make Monsieur Ibrahim better than it is.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Agreeable enough motion picture, but not one that leaves any sort of lasting impression.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Melissa Levine
By the end, Monsieur Ibrahim's determination to be lighthearted in the face of tragedy is a little wearying.
Read Full Review >The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
At least we have the chance to see Sharif again, with our memory of the sun behind him, even though this film is not much more than a sweetmeat--Turkish delight.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
While the story is sentimental, heartfelt acting makes its impact less manipulative.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Excusez-moi, but I'd rather see Omar Sharif punching out croupiers in a casino than dispensing comfort and joy in this sugared-up tale.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Phil Hall
Maybe someday an enterprising filmmaker will make a film about this forgotten chapter in Muslim-Jewish relations. It would be a lot more compelling and memorable than the nonsense in Monsieur Ibrahim.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.5 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Kat gave it a10:
I wanted to use words like "graceful" and "wistful" and while they were true, they didn't seem to be strong enough for this powerful movie. The man and boy are brought to life by two amazing actors. It is a combination of a sort of coming-of-age movie, and a sort of understanding-religious-tolerance movie, and a bit of educational movie on the Mid-East, but you never feel you are being "informed." You are in it for the unraveling of a marvelous story, mainly about the growth of a friendship. This unlikely mutually beneficial friendship was one of those "coincidences" that changed lives for the better.
Babu gave it a10:
I loved it! I wish the film shared a bit more of the Sufi way. It reminds me a bit of my boyhood in the Middle East. Sorry Phil Hall I disagree with you. I thought it was a great story!
Diane gave it a 9:
I loved this movie. The music as awesome. Why didn't they put out the soundtrack for sale?
Guner A. gave it a 10:
I liked this movie alot, maybe just because i am Turkish. I was excited to hear Omar Sharif speaking a few words of Turkish. (not perfectly pronounced, but good enough ) I would love to see more movies about middle eastern people and muslims.
Maureen B. gave it a 9:
This is an example of the small films that the French and Brits do so much better than Americans. Very down to earth and no feeling that anyone was "acting" in this treasure.
Cyril gave it a 10:
I have been asking myself recently: In this Hollywood/Bollywood movie world filled with shallow stereotypes and money making divas, is it possible to make a truly spiritual movie that will introduce some very quiet and smiling vibration into the heart, a movie that will be a success both spiritually and commercially? François Dupeyron succeeds admirably in this task. Like any major work of art the movie is multi-faceted and can be interpreted on many levels: material as a coming-of-age story of waking sexuality and finding your place in the world, emotional as a tragedy of a family and a vivid description of psychological troubles we deal with in life or, finally, spirutual, with life being a mystic experience and the "adventure of consciousness and joy" as Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo put it. The subtlety of the movie is that it is all based on nuances - we don't see openly raging emotions and all the psychological "play" is presented by some almost imperceptible but very powerful symbols of what is happening in the consciousness of the character -like the hat- the symbol of his old life - that Momo is helplessly kneading in his hands after he received bad news. The movie is about what we are all trying to do in life, sometimes without even realizing it: psychological liberation. The process of it does not end with teenage years even though some people lose the ability or desire to analyze and work on their conditioning. Monsieur Ibrahim as he says himself "knows his Koran", he shows the boy inner truth and inner path of freedom from our own inhibitions, mastery over one's nature and also shows by his very daily acts that in the world and life there are no sacred figures to be adored blindly or just because everyone does it, that the true religion lies where all religions in the world converge into some shining truth and all difference between Islam, Christianity or Hinduism disappers and the world becomes one, an "inner religion". One can call this approach Sufi, but it is only one of the names. Too bad in the United States the second part of the movie title (the Flowers of Koran) was missed out, but ...well...no comment... Excellent acting and casting. Mr. Sharif is superb in every respect. Mr. Boulanger deserves a special mention: very self confident at the same time not showy without teenage lust for fame and stardom one can expect at that age. The movie can be called one of the "inner" movies that shows more the inner life than outer and through the eyes of the characters - during the journey to Turkey we see the country through the eyes of someone who lived there and there is a very comfortable feeling that we - just like Momo himself - found ourselves in the country we never were before but that still is very comfortable and looks and sounds strangely familiar. One of the most amazing episodes if the "whirling dervishes" scene but one has to see it and hear the voice over. The very end of the movie showing the "circle of life" seems to be a bit too rationalistic and more like a mechanical repetition, instead of living and developing process of life and spiritual thruth. Some things are better left untold or shown indirectly. Besides, Momo because of his age and apparent lack of spiritual wisdom seems unnatural and "wearing someone else's clothes" in the final scene. Overall, the movie is the kind that is able to tell a lot, only if you can see and listen. It is very real and sincere both in terms of emotional, psychological problems people deal with in life and their solutions. At the same time the movie avoids religious moralizing and has great, very subtle sense of humor. Unfortunately I don't know enough about mystical side of Sufism to be able to enjoy and appreciate Sufi or Islam imagery even more.
Kathy P. gave it a 9:
Really liked this movie. Omar Sharif was gentle, wise, compasionate and loving and the young boy was vulnerable, bright, sensitive and accepting. The film may not have been completely "real" but it was a feel good movie for the fact that its main characters were role models of loving, caring people.
