Metacritic Film

Henri Langlois: The Phantom of the Cinematheque

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Leisure Time Features
Documentary
128 minutes | B/W
France
Released In Theaters October 12, 2005

This documentary chronicles the life, times, and passions of the legendary film archivist.

WRITTEN BY
Jacques Richard

DIRECTED BY
Jacques Richard

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

78 / 100

Critic Reviews

88 New York Post
Includes insightful and often hilarious archival interviews with Langlois and dozens of associates, as well as wonderful footage of Langlois.
88 TV Guide
At a little over two hours, there's a lot of Langlois to digest. But cinephiles won't mind a bit: Richard includes tons of great anecdotes and clips from classic films that wouldn't exist if Langlois hadn't saved them.
80 The New Republic
Jacques Richard has fashioned an adoring tribute to this wonderfully maniacal man.
80 Variety
A labor of love made over the course of seven years that crucially matches the energy and passion Langlois himself embodied, this deep-dish account of the life and times of the longtime head of the Cinematheque Francaise will enthrall buffs.
80 The New York Times
Mr. Richard's film makes a persuasive case for Langlois as one of the most important figures in the history of film and therefore in the history of 20th-century art.
80 Village Voice
While the astonishing street footage of "l'affaire Langlois"--perhaps more familiar to the French than to us--is where this exhaustive talking-heads portrait becomes beautifully, bafflingly surreal, the whole project, however conventional, has the allure of a communal embrace, a home movie of a motherland left irrevocably in the past.
75 San Francisco Chronicle
A treat for anyone who's passionate about films or who's ever wanted to learn more about them.
75 Boston Globe
A sound piece of profiling that has miles of archival footage of the affable, pop-eyed Langlois enthusing.
70 The Hollywood Reporter
An inspirational film for cinephiles everywhere.
70 The Onion (A.V. Club)
Though Phantom Of The Cinematheque is fascinating throughout, Richard squanders a chance to recreate one of those long Parisian nights where Langlois held court for his fellow movie buffs.

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