Thirteen years after his first film, Coco, which attracted almost 3 million spectators, Gad Elmaleh is back behind the camera. His new comedy, Reste un peu, hits cinemas on November 16, 2022.
Despite its enormous commercial success, Coco was a critical flop and marked Gad Elmaleh's distancing from the cinema. In this, his second film, there are no absurd characters, no fat humor or grandiloquence, but an intimate subject and sober direction, even if the film remains a comedy.
It's a much more personal film for Gad Elmaleh, who plays the lead role, his own role, as a self-doubting Gad Elmaleh who wants to abandon Judaism for Catholicism. A decision that will anger his family. And who better to play his parents and sister than his real parents and sister? So, to our surprise, we find Judith, Régine and David Elmaleh in the credits.
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Gad Elmaleh, who has been living in the United States for three years, returns to France without daring to admit to his family that he is doing so in order to convert to Catholicism. When Gad's parents, David and Régine, hear the news, it's a nightmare: their son couldn't have done any worse! Determined to bring Gad back to his Jewishness, they turn his conversion into a battlefield. But Gad manages to make them understand that his sincere love for the Virgin Mary does not call into question who he is or the love he has for them.
Our opinion
With Reste un peu, Gad Elmaleh continues his work of autofiction. After the Huge en France series (Netflix), which followed his adventures in the USA, the comedian evokes his return to France and his identity crisis. It's hard to say whether the pitch for this feature-length film is inspired by his own experiences, or whether it's totally fictional, but this second production is a real UFO in the French comedy panorama. Introspective, dramatic, rooted in reality and to be taken deeply at face value, it is nonetheless a fine, successful comedy, in which Gad Elmaleh manages to elicit hilarity with every punchline.
We've never known the comedian to be so deep and sensitive, and this film seems to mark a new turning point in his rich career. It's a call to question oneself, to constantly challenge oneself. Above all, it's a real lesson in humility, and a beautiful declaration of love to his parents, and to the Jewish community. We didn't expect Gad Elmaleh to be a touching character, but the balance between humor and drama is subtle. Above all, it's a film about faith, its origins, how it manifests itself and how we want to live it.
November 2024 cinema releases: Films and times near you
Discover all the films in theaters in November 2024 with showtimes near you. Don't miss a single movie! [Read more]
Dates and Opening Time
Starts November 16, 2022
November 2024 cinema releases: Films and times near you
