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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0014381042122
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: Image Entertainment
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Image Entertainment
Region Code: 1
Release Date: August 09, 2005
Running Time: 92 minutes
Sales Rank: 64438
Studio: Image Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: 2002
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Editorial Review:
Description:
An opera diva, hustlers, and murder collide in this rollicking Parisian farce from Merchant Ivory.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Very off beat, very campy, very funny
Before reading someone else's critique of a film, book, food, etc., I think it's a good idea to see if you're taste is similar. Once you find someone you connect with, then follow them with confidence.
I thought "Merci Docteur Rey!" was a lot of fun. It's a mix of French and English speaking. Lots of characters and crazy situations, but holding together and easy to follow. I thought the mixture of characters was great. Even a quick cameo by Vanessa Redgrave & Jerry Hall.
Dianne Wiest hams it up and is a sheer delight. I especially liked Jane Birkin as the neurotic patient. Stanislas Merhar does well as the handsome closeted son. Everyone seems to be having fun and so should the viewers.
Try it...you might like it!
Rating:  - "I'm an actress," Can't you see?"
My how the mighty have fallen. Well, that's what I was thinking while watching this Merchant Ivory production, Merci Docteur Rey. Gone are the glory days of beautifully wrought period pieces, and in place we have the team producing films like this - second rate, laboured, Paris-set farces that are more annoying than funny.
In fact, Merci Docteur Rey would have to be one of the most aggravating films to be released in recent years. Written and directed by Andrew Litvack, it's a convoluted tale of operatic divas, neurotic actresses, rent boys, dead bodies, bumbling cops, family secrets, and hash brownies.
The efforts of an experienced cast - including Dianne Wiest, Jane Birkin, and even Simon Callow - can't invigorate the tedious screenplay or distract from the stilted direction. Is the film a comedy or drama? I think it's trying to be a bit of both, but the problem is that the comedic elements distract from the drama, and the drama just isn't given enough screen time.
Merci Docteur Rey starts off quite well, telling the story of a young Parisian Thomas (Stanislas Merhar) who is obsessed with meeting rent boys. His secret search for sex has oddly led him to a stranger's closet, where he witnesses a brutal murder. Bewildered and anguished, Thomas attempts to see Dr Rey, a psychoanalyst.
Except it's not really Dr. Rey to whom he speaks, Dr. Rey is dead of a heart attack under her desk, but a longtime patient, Penelope (Jane Birkin). Penelope believes ... Read More
Rating:  - Two stars for Jerry Hall
In spite of a highly original and promising beginning, the French/American comedy film, "Merci Docteur Rey" quickly fizzles and sinks into mediocrity. Opera Diva Elisabeth Beaumont (Dianne Wiest) is in Paris for a performance of Turandot. Son, Thomas (Stanislas Merhar) has a secret habit of surfing the personal ads for action, and when he responds to an offer made by a mysterious stranger over the telephone, he becomes involved in murder.
"Merci Docteur Rey" attempts to blend 2 genres--the comedy and the mystery--and create a madcap farce. Genre blending is problematic--it has to be done well in order to succeed. "Manhattan Murder Mystery" & "Bon Voyage" are both good examples of films with genre blending that succeed.
"Merci Docteur Rey" is fraught with problems. Most of the characters are quirky, larger than life types, but they're also extremely annoying. There's Diva Elisabeth Beaumont whose face is perpetually smothered by a variety of facial concoctions. She is doting, overbearing, and possessive. Her son, Thomas, is the most normal person in the film. Thomas meets actress Penelope (Jane Birkin) under the most ridiculous circumstances. Penelope, who makes her living by providing voices for dubbed films, is played as a sort of breathless, clueless ingenue. Think Meg Ryan. Jane Birkin just doesn't fit the role, and it's played as badly overacted (and VERY annoying). One senses that the filmmakers are just trying too hard. Unfortunately a handful of eccentric characters ... Read More
Rating: - A Delightful French Farce
Though promoted as a 'Merchant Ivory Film', MERCI DOCTEUR REY is related to the team in production only. The film is written and directed by Andrew Litvack and is a well-made bit of fluff in the tried and true tradition of French Farce - mistaken identities, misconceptions that backfire then produce good things, and characters that are as off the wall as they come.
Elisabeth Beaumont (Dianne Wiest) is an aging American Opera Diva who moves to Paris to perform with an opera director of note Claude Sabrié (Bulle Ogier) for an edgy performance of 'Turandot': she also wants to be near her Parisian son Thomas (Stanislas Merhar) who just happens to be struggling with his gender identity and spends his time in the sex personals and phone ads. Thomas decides to see a psychiatrist Doctor Rey, but upon arriving at her office he mistakes one Penelope (Jane Birkin) to be the psychiatrist, not knowing that not only is Penelope wildly nutty (she thinks she is Vanessa Redgrave, having a job as the actress who provides the French dubbing for Redgrave's movies), she thinks she is responsible for Doctor Rey's dropping dead. Thomas and the newly discovered real Penelope bond and begin a 'crazy romance'.
While Elisabeth primps and prepares her Turandot she is told that Thomas is seeing a girlfriend (Linda), which in ways surprises her, as she believes Thomas to be gay. Thomas becomes involved in a response to a phone ad, goes to a 'john's' (Simon Callow) apartment where he observes voyeuristic ... Read More
Rating: - Merci Messieurs Merchant and Ivory...
I saw "Merci Docteur Rey" at the Cleveland International Film Festival, and it blew me away. My stomache ached from laughing so hard. If it's not a cult classic yet, I predict it will become one.
The movie follows Elizabeth Beaumont, an aging and overbearing American Opera diva who moves to Paris to reunite with her estranged son Thomas. Elizabeth has a flair for wearing garish caftans and floating around her house warbling out her sons name. Thomas is just coming to terms with his own burgeoning homosexuality, and develops a taste for personal ads and phone sex. In his efforts to see a psychiatrist (The Dr. Rey of the title), instead he meets the neurotic and definitely insane Penelope, who does the French language dubbing for Vanessa Redgrave films, and has now begun to think she IS Vanessa Redgrave. Of course, mistaken identities and plot twists ensue, and all of the crazy characters entangle and intertwine.
The two powerhouses of the film are Dianne Wiest and Jane Birkin, who each manage to steal the scene every time they walk on screen. When you see them both together towards the end of the film, it feels like your head might explode from too much funny. The role of attention-whoring older diva is certainly new to Dianne Wiest, who previously always seemed to play nice mom types, and she rises beautifully to the occasion. Jane Birkin is absolutely fabulous as Penelope, and her obsession with Vanessa Redgrave is such a brilliant metatheatrical gag (The beauty is that since this ... Read More
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