Zanzibar

Zanzibar

1989 · 95 min · ★ 5.1 · Drama

In this "inside look" at French filmmaking, Marechal - who is a has-been director - a producer, Vito Catene and Camile Dor, a big-name actress, have agreed to make a film about drugs, but don't have a story, financing, or any of the other elements needed to make it. This doesn't stop them; they cobble together the financing and begin shooting anyway. The producer is very fond of the leading actress, and when she gets hooked on drugs for real in the course of shooting what he feels to be a farcical imitation of a film, he gives up his shares in the film and heads off for the back of beyond (Zanzibar) to lick his wounds. To add insult to injury, the film winds up being a critical and commercial success.

Directed by Christine Pascal · Written by Robert Boner

Your Rating

Cast

Make it a double feature

3h 5m together

Both from Christine Pascal.

More from Christine PascalSee all →

The Lost WayThe Lost Way · 1980
The Lost Way
10.01980
Movie
While the Easter holidays are over, a young woman named Cécile and her brother Pierre return to the family home. There they meet their grandfather Léon, an old communist militant who has shaken Lenin's hand.
Le Sixième DoigtLe Sixième Doigt · 1990
Le Sixième Doigt
10.01990
Movie
Elsa, ElsaElsa, Elsa · 1985
Elsa, Elsa
7.51985
Movie
When he was eight years old, Ferdinand was chosen to play a supporting role along a famous actress. Today, a producer is asking him to write and direct a film about his childhood memories...
The Indians Are Still Far AwayThe Indians Are Still Far Away · 1977
The Indians Are Still Far Away
7.41977
MovieDrama
A 17-year-old high school student, Jenny Kern, is found dead from cold and exhaustion in the suburbs of Lausanne, Switzerland.
The Grand HighwayThe Grand Highway · 1987
The Grand Highway
7.31987
MovieDrama
Louis, a nine-year-old boy from Paris, spends his summer vacation in a small town in Brittany. His mother Claire has lodged him with her girlfriend Marcelle and her husband Pelo while she's having her second baby. There Louis makes friends with Martine, the ten-year- old girl next door, and learns from her about life.
'Round Midnight'Round Midnight · 1986
'Round Midnight
7.11986
MovieDramaMusic
Inside the Blue Note nightclub one night in 1959 Paris, an aged, ailing jazzman coaxes an eloquent wail from his tenor sax. Outside, a young Parisian too broke to buy a glass of wine strains to hear those notes. Soon they will form a friendship that sparks a final burst of genius.
The Watchmaker of St. PaulThe Watchmaker of St. Paul · 1974
The Watchmaker of St. Paul
6.91974
MovieThrillerDrama
Michel Descombes is a watchmaker who lives in Lyon with his teenage son Bernard. When the police visit and inform him that Bernard has killed a man and is on the run with a girl, Michel realises that he knew far less about his son than he thought.
And the Little Prince SaidAnd the Little Prince Said · 1992
And the Little Prince Said
6.81992
MovieDrama
A divorced Swiss couple must come to terms with their daughter's life-threatening illness. He, a scientist, snatches his daughter from the examining table at the clinic and takes her away as if to kidnap her from the disease. His ex-wife, an actress, takes to bed weeping uncontrollably when she learns of her daughter's tumor. The girl's step-mother, an Asian-American physician, is clinical in her response, outlining a treatment regimen of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. It is left to the girl herself, ten-year-old Violette, to be calm, reassuring, philosophical, and even metaphysical as she faces death.
Entre NousEntre Nous · 1983
Entre Nous
6.71983
MovieDramaWar
In 1942 in occupied France, a Jewish refugee marries a soldier to escape deportation to Germany. Meanwhile a wealthy art student loses her first husband to a stray Resistance bullet; at the Liberation she meets an actor, gets pregnant, and marries him. Lena and Madeleine meet at their children's school in Lyon in 1952 and the intensity of their relationship strains both their marriages to the breaking point.
Paco the InfalliblePaco the Infallible · 1979
Paco the Infallible
6.71979
MovieComedy
In Madrid of the 20's, many women were hired as wet nurses for middle class families. Milk is paid very well, so women are turning to the honest services of Paco, glazier by trade, which completes his monthly salary getting pregnant the clients who pay for it.
The PatriotsThe Patriots · 1994
The Patriots
6.71994
MovieDramaCrime
Ariel, a young French Jew, decides to leave his family to go to Israel and secretly become an agent of Mossad, the Israeli secret service. After years of training, his first mission is in Paris to steal secrets from Remy Prieur, a French atomic scientist.
See How They FallSee How They Fall · 1994
See How They Fall
6.51994
MovieDramaCrime
A middle-aged sales rep drops everything to track down the killers of his cop friend. Two years earlier, an older gambler forms an intense bond with a naive young man, who changes his name to please him.
SubterfugeSubterfuge · 1983
Subterfuge
6.51983
MovieDrama
After committing a hit and run, a man insinuates himself into the lives of the victim's family.
Spoiled ChildrenSpoiled Children · 1977
Spoiled Children
6.21977
MovieDramaComedy
Successful writer/director Bernard Rougerie is at a creative dead end and decides to isolate himself from his wife in order to complete the script for his next film. Bernard moves into an apartment building whose tenants are in the midst of a revolt against their abusive landlord. Reluctant at first, he joins their cause and then becomes involved in an affair with young, unemployed resident Anne.
The AccuserThe Accuser · 1977
The Accuser
6.21977
MovieDrama
In this sardonic comedy, after an executive is killed in a mysterious automobile accident, the French offices of his multinational company is inundated with mysteriously threatening be-ribboned anti-capitalist tracts, delivered overnight to everyone's desks. Later, the executive's body is brought to company offices for an official wake -- only no one at the company has ordered that such a thing be done. A mysterious prankster, who is able to imitate the voice of the company's president, has arranged these things. When Americans from the head office get wind of these developments, they institute a search for the perpetrator which leads to mysterious subterranean passages under the company's skyscraper.
Black ThursdayBlack Thursday · 1974
Black Thursday
5.81974
MovieHistoryDrama
In Paris, in 1942, on a Thursday, the Parisian police herded together some 13,000 Jews for deportation to German territory. In this story, Paul (Christian Rist) is a teenager who tries to prevent this from happening. At first he attempts to save two elderly Jews, but they are resigned to their fate and comply with the order to assemble. For a short while, he is able to keep Jeanne (Christine Pascal) from joining them, but, after a long and strenuous day, she finally escapes from him he is too tired to chase after her.

More Like This

Miss MeadowsMiss Meadows · 2014
Miss Meadows
5.92014
MovieDrama
Miss Meadows is a school teacher with impeccable manners and grace. However, underneath the candy-sweet exterior hides a ruthless gun-toting vigilante who takes it upon herself to right the wrongs in the world by whatever means necessary. For Miss Meadows, bad behavior is simply unforgivable.
My Life Without MeMy Life Without Me · 2003
My Life Without Me
6.12003
MovieDramaRomance
A fatally ill mother with only two months to live creates a list of things she wants to do before she dies without telling her family of her illness.
Italian for BeginnersItalian for Beginners · 2000
Italian for Beginners
6.42000
MovieComedyDrama
Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. The film, which unspools the connections and family drama shared between the students, complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95 movement.
FireFire · 1997
Fire
6.81997
MovieDramaRomance
In a barren, arranged marriage to an amateur swami who seeks enlightenment through celibacy, Radha's life takes an irresistible turn when her beautiful young sister-in-law seeks to free herself from the confines of her own loveless marriage.
Monsoon WeddingMonsoon Wedding · 2001
Monsoon Wedding
6.82001
MovieComedyDrama
A stressed father, a bride-to-be with a secret, a smitten event planner, and relatives from around the world create much ado about the preparations for an arranged marriage in India.
Cléo from 5 to 7Cléo from 5 to 7 · 1962
Cléo from 5 to 7
7.71962
MovieDrama
Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.
MonsterMonster · 2003
Monster
7.22003
MovieCrimeDrama
In 1989, prostitute Aileen Wuornos befriends and enters a relationship with a young woman named Selby. Determined to straighten out her life, Aileen's limited education lands her back on the corner. She's raped by a trick, who she kills. A string of murder and robbery follows that ultimately leads Aileen to becoming America's first female serial killer.
WingwomenWingwomen · 2023
Wingwomen
6.12023
MovieActionComedy
Tired of life on the run, a pro thief decides to retire — but not before one easy last job with her partner in crime and a feisty new getaway driver.
The Last MistressThe Last Mistress · 2007
The Last Mistress
5.82007
MovieDramaRomance
Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy.
Anatomy of HellAnatomy of Hell · 2004
Anatomy of Hell
4.82004
MovieDrama
A woman employs a gay man to spend four nights at her house to watch her when she's "unwatchable".
The Mourning ForestThe Mourning Forest · 2007
The Mourning Forest
6.82007
MovieDrama
A young woman working at a retirement home takes an elderly man living there on an excursion into the countryside, but the two wind up stranded in the titular forest.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter