Best movies like La dilettante

The life of a great city (Paris) from dawn until dusk, including the beautiful and the ragged, the rich and the poor.

In the working-class Paris suburb of Montreuil, Jimmy's restaurant, the Bombay Bar, is on the verge of being closed down by creditors. Jimmy is despondent -- the fact that his wife is about to have a baby isn't helping matters -- when he and his business partner Fifi find unlikely inspiration in the form of "Riches et Sympas," a TV show dedicated to the lives of the rich and famous. Figuring that getting the "right" people to frequent their business will ensure its reputation, Jimmy and Fifi persuade Jimmy's friend, the laid-back, unemployed Mike, to pose as a nobleman and lure his moneyed associates to the Bombay Bar. Mike agrees, and after crashing a posh charity ball, he finds himself being taken in by the likes of society fixture Arthus de Poulignac and Evrard, the latter of whom ensconces Mike in his private mansion. Unfortunately, Mike soon becomes a little too fond of his newly-acquired lifestyle, leaving Jimmy to wonder what to do with the monster he unwittingly created.

Join Barbie in a colourful, modern-day fairytale filled with fashion, friends and fun! Barbie and her dog Sequin jet off to visit her Aunt's amazing fashion house in Paris, and much to her surprise it's about to be shut down forever. After she discovers three enchanting Flairies with sparkle-magic powers, Barbie comes up with a brilliant idea to save the business. She even inspires Alice, a shy fashion designer, and together they create a dazzling runway fashion show. Barbie shows that magic happens when you believe in yourself.

Bintou wants to make sure that her daughter goes to school, but her husband Abel doesn’t think it’s worth it and claims there is only enough money to educate their sons. But Bintou won’t give up and starts her own business to make the extra money. Abel, wary of losing control and scared that Bintou’s newfound financial freedom will lead her to adultery, tries to sabotage her efforts. Bintou tackles sexuality, gender relations, and the fraught relationship between tradition and modernity with joyful satire.

John Hall is a drifter who wanders into a small town in Maine. He needs a job and decides to seek employment at the community's top business: a large textile mill. He is hired to work the "graveyard shift" -- from around midnight to dawn -- and, along with a few others, he is charged with cleaning out the basement. This task strikes the workers as simple enough, but then, as they proceed deeper underground, they encounter an unspeakable monstrosity intent on devouring them all.

The complicated travails of several generations of Italian women provide the basis for this drama that is based on a novel by Susanna Tamaro. It begins with the peaceful death of Olga, the elderly family matriarch. Marta, her granddaughter returns from the US to attend the funeral and once in Olga's villa in Trieste, begins reading her grandmother's diary. Olga's story unfolds via flashback. As a young woman, Oldga had to marry Antonio a man she didn't love. Later she became passionately involved with a handsome doctor at the local spa. He impregnates her and shortly thereafter dies in a terrible car wreck. The result of their love is Illaria, who grows up to be terribly neurotic. She bears Marta and then she too dies in an automobile accident, leaving Marta to be raised by Olga.

At 40, Stephanie loses her job and is forced to move back in with her mother. She is welcomed with open arms to the joys of overheated apartment, Francis Cabrel playing on loop, Scrabble games and precious motherly advice on how to behave at the table and live her life.

A young Parisian advertising executive becomes so captivated by the unsettling charm of his mysterious new employer that he eventually abandons his family and friends, viewing it a privilege to let the ubiquitous employer take over his home, his life, his desire. Only his wife remains suspicious, recognizing both the pathos and the evil in the man’s soul-stealing power.

Roger Closset is a man who obviously loves his family, though that doesn't always make them feel better. Dad is an obsessive type with a short fuse and a long list of curious ideas, and his wife and children must often bear the brunt of his eccentricities. Roger works as a reporter, a job he doesn't like which doesn't pay especially well, either. One day, Roger learns an area business association is sponsoring a contest for a family that can break a world record, with the grand prize being a new car. Suddenly, Roger gets a brainstorm -- if his son can open and shut a door 40,000 times in 24 hours, the car will be theirs. 15-year-old Michel, however, is not at all happy to have been drafted into this new responsibility, especially when dad builds a practice door in the backyard and finds a trainer to teach Michel how to open and close it with greatest efficiency.

Four friends Sean, Vincent, Lenny and Jody find themselves at something of a deadend. Trapped in a twilight world of permanent night shift work, they hang out together in the local cafe, drinking coffee and entertaining themselves by observing Vincent's unwavering success in pulling women. There seems to be little prospect of change...until Vincent accidently sleeps with Sean's girlfriend.

A man goes off to Paris to start his new job at a bank. When he falls in love with a beautiful woman, he decides to work as her maid -- until he discovers she not only is his boss, but his colleague at the bank.

The one joy in the lives of a mother and daughter comes from the regular letters sent to them from Paris from the family's adored son, Otar. When the daughter finds out that Otar has died suddenly, she tries to conceal the truth from her mother, changing the course of their lives forever.

Lola, a young, energetic and cheerful student lives in Paris. She’s preparing to sit her law thesis, and works part-time at Chloroville, “Our green fingers look after your interior plants”. She has split up with Simon, a lawyer in his thirties who is always busy defending “the trial of his life”. Their stormy relationship held Lola back, and although they’ll love each other forever, it won’t be on an everyday basis.

Grace is excited for the summer so she can start a business with her friends, but things take an unexpected turn when her mom announces a trip to Paris. There, Grace must learn to get along with her French cousin, Sylvie, and she finds unexpected inspiration for her business. Then, Grace finds out her grandparents bakery, that inspired her to start a business, is closing. Can she and her friends find a way to save it?

Sandra, a young woman forced to leave the south of France to flee a violent husband. Without attachment, she returned to Boulogne-sur-Mer, the city of her childhood which she left almost 15 years ago. She finds her mother there and a world she left behind. Without money, she is hired in a fish cannery where she befriends two workers. But one day, one of her colleagues tackles her insistently, she defends herself and kills him accidentally.

16 years later, Tanguy, now 44, returns to his parents' house with his daughter Zhu under his arm because Meï Lin left him. Disappointed to see their "little one" in this state, Paul and Edith do everything to give him a taste for life, without realizing that by doing so, they braid the rope to hang themselves. Because Tanguy is starting to feel good with his parents.

We follow how four ordinary little girls learn about life, love and all that sort of things.

Anne and Bob, a well-to-do American couple, have just moved to a beautiful manor house in romantic Paris. To impress their sophisticated friends, they decide to host a lavish dinner party, but must disguise their maid as a noblewoman to even out the number of guests. When the maid runs off with a wealthy guest, Anne must chase her around Paris to thwart the joyous and unexpected love affair.

France, a factory worker, lives with her three daughters in Dunkirk. The factory where she worked has been closed, leaving France and all of her workmates without a job. She decides to go to Paris to look for work. There she finds a cleaning job at the home of a rich man, Steve, whose world is radically different from her own. As their paths keep crossing, she discovers that her employer played a part in closing the factory in Dunkirk...

Nicholas is the eldest son of a wealthy suburban family, whose businesswoman mother makes deals from a helicopter and has an affair with her business partner. His cheerful, alcoholic father, on the other hand, is reduced to a prisoner in his room with his devoted dog and electric train set. Unbeknownst to his parents, Nicholas works as a window cleaner and dish washer in a Parisian cafe. He is also in love with the daughter of another cafe's owner, who, however, has an abusive boyfriend. One night, Nicholas sneaks a few drunken drifters into his family wine cellar and his father unexpectedly takes a liking to the stranger.

Sandrine, a woman in her thirties gets tired of life in Paris and decides to leave her work in computers and become a farmer. She takes the required practice for two years, and after that she buys an isolated farm from Adrien, an old farmer who decides it's time to retire. However, Adrien wants to stay a few more months before moving away from the farm, and the rough winter finds them together...

Interim school superintendent Eve Morgan finds herself in a tough spot when she is assigned to shut down a school's failing music program and must come to terms with her musical past.

Meredith Rossman has made Rossman's Department store her entire life, not leaving any time for Christmas or romance. But when she is roped into donning the store's antique Mrs. Claus outfit to play Mrs. Claus at Rossman's famous Santaville, her life takes some unexpected turns. Through the help of the suit and the charming store Santa, Nick, Meredith rekindles her love of Christmas, the store, their employees and possibly even begins a new love with Nick.

When her biological clock starts ticking, Lucie tells her lesbian lover, Marion, that she wants a baby. Marion agrees, and the couple embarks on the delicate process of finding a suitable father -- eventually settling on Marion's old pal Hugo. Lucie and Marion's unconventional path to pregnancy elicits a full range of reactions from their friends and family in this charming French comedy.

Before Nicholas had a family and children, he was a doctor. It was 10 years ago when he left them to create a new life. Now Nicholas is Lea. When a business trip brings Lea to Paris the urge to see her children again is too great to resist, Lea pretends to be a musical journalist and interviews her daughter Emma, a pianist. Through gradual revelation the children learn the truth. Lea’s unwavering determination and spirit lead her to find reconciliation with her family no matter what the price.

10-year-old Sebastien reluctantly spends his vacation in the mountains with his grandmother and aunt. Helping them with the sheep is hardly an exciting prospect for a city boy like him - but that is without considering his encounter with Belle, a huge dog mistreated by her owner. Ready to do anything to fight injustice and to protect his new-found friend, Sebastien will spend the craziest summer of his life.

William Reardon, a steel magnate, dies and leaves a strange will. When his spineless and dandified heir and son returns home from living in Paris, he finds "Tons' Walker, a strong and burly steel worker running the company, per his late-father's will request. He also finds that his father's will specifies the Junior will change his name to Bill Hall and work in the family steel mill for a year under the fake name. Walker's job is to make a man out of the son. The son is not overjoyed by this prospect. Neither is Walker.

Erin Cavendish goes undercover at her family's chocolate plant to see why sales are down when she meets head chocolatier, Bryan, who has new ideas on how to update the Easter product line.

When Lisa Holt returns to her hometown to seek inspiration for her new fashion line, she has enough on her plate between that and helping her best friend prepare for her first baby. So when she meets Colin, a handsome writer tasked with fixing her yet unpublished biography, love is the last thing on her mind. Lisa must design a way to make everything work according to plan, but will she find time for an unexpected romance?

François, a young thirty-year-old Asian, has not been back in his family for 10 years after a violent dispute with his father Meng. Since then, he has always tried to avoid questions about his origins, until he lies to believe that he has been adopted. But when he learns that he is going to be a father, he realizes that he will have to reconnect with his past and his origins. Pushed by his companion Sophie, he decides to reconnect with his family and returns to his XIIIth native district to announce the good news, accompanied by his best friend Bruno. François is welcomed with open arms by his family, with the exception of his father and his younger brother. The return to his community is not going to be so simple .

Vansan is 30 years old, but he never learned to make decisions. Whatever it is. Should he marry his girlfriend, should he start a business with his friend, what color should he buy shoes for? Life for him is an eternal dilemma. But one day, fate made a choice for him. Vansan crashes into an advertising post by car and makes a leap in time for 16 years in advance. Now at about forty, he heads a large corporation, is married to a woman with whom he is barely familiar, has a teenage son who is constantly bold to him, and an early-ripened daughter. And he has absolutely no idea what to do with all this. Realizing that he has become everything that he always despised, Vansan is desperate to go back and make the right choice. But can he turn back the clock? ..

Joy Holbrook, is a corporate market researcher, gunning for a promotion within her firm. Just as her company's CEO is taking notice, Joy finds out her Aunt Ruby has broken her ankle and will be undergoing surgery. Despite the less than opportune timing, Joy makes her way back home to Crystal Falls, NC to be with her Aunt. Stars seem to be aligned as Joy sees her former crush, Ben Andrews, while at the hospital. At first, Joy is focused solely on helping her Aunt heal; even taking over her position as chair of the local Cookie Crawl competition. Eventually, she begins to let Ben in and remembers there's no place like home for the holidays. The pair work together on the Cookie Crawl to make the event a success.

Darcy has always worked hard to prove herself and be successful on her own terms, even choosing to start her own company, rather than work with her father. Returning to her hometown for Christmas, Darcy reconnects with an old rival, restaurant owner Luke, and they are forced to plan a charity event together. As Darcy spends time with her family and Luke, she starts to realize what matters most in life and sets out to mend her relationship with her father, and possibly fall in love.

Jean-Louis is an naive, amiable orphan who spent his life with his elderly and very strict grandfather. Jean-Louis was a 25-year old virgin when a free-spirited young Parisian woman was temporarily stranded in his village after a bus broke down. She left him a changed man, and she also left a match book from a fast food restaurant called Fast Burger. Soon after his grandfather passes away, the innocent rube Jean-Louis hops on his bike and embarks upon a quest to Paris to find this enigmatic woman. But he is not prepared for the size of Paris, and instead ends up working at a Fast Burger outlet himself. Jean-Louis is a simple soul and freely expresses himself without guile. For some reason this endears him to the staff and management; soon he has been promoted into the upper echelons of the company. One day he meets a rather ditzy Metro security guard, Henriette, who is also at sea in the big city. The kindred spirits click and a sweet romance ensues.

Having pulled off a robbery with his friend Maurice, Olivier leaves his mistress Lola and hides out in a small village in the country. He finds work, thanks to a young man named Gilbert, who introduces him to his sister, Monique. Once the robbery has been all but forgotten, Olivier intends to head back to Paris, but before he goes, he steals money from his employer. In Paris, Olivier wants to say a proper goodbye to Lola, but she is being blackmailed by Jérôme, an antique dealer who has recognized a necklace stolen by Olivier. Before returning to Monique, Olivier calls on Jérôme to recover the necklace.