User Reviews

"Coexister" is a new French 90-minute movie by writer and director Fabrice Eboué, who also plays the central character of the story and while he is a more experienced actor in general, this is far from his first effort in both other fields behind the camera and on the writing table. Here we have a man who is in charge of getting new acts famous and creating profit for his company and things get critical when his new boss (played by Emmanuelle Seigner's sister) demands that he gets a huge breakthrough for a new project or otherwise he will lose his job. After some unsuccessful ideas, he ends up with a plan to get a rabbi, priest and imam together to form a band and fit that fits in nicely with the currently heated political climate in terms of religion, in France as much as here in Germany. I enjoyed the comedy in this film for sure on some occasions, especially when it was so politically incorrect in a way that you basically never see in films these days, especially not in German comedies dealing with the subject of religion and integration, so France is very much more than just a few steps ahead of us in that field. Some really funny moments were the one from the trailer when they talk about building a new church etc. and everybody applauds and then when they say "mosque", everybody stays quiet, the Yellow Star part that was really edgy, but I loved it, or also the radio show caller, the old woman who says she joined an anti-gay march and it was hilarious how the religions somewhat agreed in this very critical area, it was definitely bold to include this part and it's not all just about tolerance, but also about intolerance in some fields. So yeah I definitely enjoyed Eboué's writing here most of the time. The dramatic moments are kinda mediocre, like the moment the protagonost just wants to quit everything or the relationship with his wife, but that is okay as the film really almost never takes itself seriously in that area. And even if there is something close to drama, the self-importance is quickly removed by some jokes. The trailer is very telling in terms of what to expect here and if you like it, then go for this film. It's not a huge laugh-out-loud comedy by any means, but it has its moments and makes it worth seeing and the comedy genre, especially when it comes to socially relevant subjects is so so much better than most of the garbage we are confronted with here in Germany. Don't know if I should say "luckily" or "unfortunately". Anyway, I did not know any of the actors, even if the one playing the priest (loved his singing in his first scene) had a face that somehow felt familiar, but I can't recall him in anything, but not knowing any of these folks did not have a remotely negative impact in how I liked the movie overall. It's also not too long for its own good. Probably not a film that will attract a great deal of awards recognition or one that will make many "top of the year" lists (mine neither), but a fairly fine 90 minutes of distraction that are actually really smart and spot-on on an important subject these days. Go see it, especially if you love French film as much as I do.

First, I must say I saw the french original version of this movie ; I have no idea if the jokes are good too after foreign translations.

The plot is simple : to avoid to be fired from his job, a producer needs to find a great idea, because his CEO gave him 6 months to have an artist playing at the Olympia (famous french scene in Paris).

So, he starts like everybody will do : listening some singers. But that fails. Until, after a drunken night, he got the idea to have a singing band : a priest, a rabbi and an imam ! From there, I got lots of laughs, as (of course) the rabbi and the imam are not looking friendly. This causes several good jokes, one famous is related to the Dead Sea. The plot is good, lines are well made, and the actors plays like a charm. Guess they had fun while they were filming. The band is named "Coexister", and in english, it can be translated as "get along with". Yup, you got the main idea behind the script !

I have to add one thing : at first sight, I thought "meh another french bad movie". But I watched it until the end, and I am delighted to have been wrong : very good movie, I voted a 8. But remember, I'm a french guy.