''Eldorado'' is a Belgian

seriocomic Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

road movie in the Belgian surrealist and absurdist tradition, directed by

Bouli Lanners Philippe "Bouli" Lanners (born 20 May 1965) is a Belgian actor, author and film director. His film '' The Giants'' was nominated for twelve Magritte Awards, winning five, including Best Film and Best Director. Biography Lanners was born on 20 ...

and selected for the Directors’ Fortnight (40th anniversary) 61st Cannes Film Festival 2008. The film received the André Cavens Award for Best Film by the Belgian Film Critics Association (UCC). It was the official entry from Belgium for the 81st Academy Awards, but was not chosen as one of the films to be nominated during the ceremony. It was filmed in Wallonia. It had the working title ''California Carwash'' and was based on an incident from Lanners's past.

Plot

Yvan (Bouli Lanners), a used car salesman, comes home late one evening to his house in the Belgian countryside. He discovers that a burglar (Fabrice) has just broken into his house and is hiding under his bed. When the burglar tries to escape, Yvan knocks him over by throwing a metal pipe at him. Upon confronting him, he discovers that the burglar is a young man in need of money to fuel his drug addiction. Yvan decides to help this young man, who says his names is Elie, by not turning him over to the police and by giving him a little money for the road. Finally, out of pity and remembering his own brother who had died of an overdose, Yvan decides to drive Elie, at his request, to the home of his parents in southern Belgium. Thus begins a journey across Wallonia, on which they face unsettling encounters with random people and humorous situations.

Cast

: Yvan * Fabrice Adde : Elie/Didier * Philippe Nahon : The collector *

Françoise Chichéry Françoise () is a French feminine given name (equivalent to the Italian Francesca) and may refer to: * Anne Françoise Elizabeth Lange (1772–1816), French actress * Claudine Françoise Mignot (1624–1711), French adventuress * Françoise Adn ...

: Elie's mother *

Didier Toupy __NOTOC__ Didier is a French masculine given name and surname common throughout the Romance languages. It comes from the Ancient Roman names Didius and Desiderius. During the 5th century AD, with the Christianisation of ancient pagan names, it h ...

: The naturist Alain Delon *

Stefan Liberski Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...

: A mechanic * Baptiste Isaïa : Another mechanic *

Jean-Jacques Rausin Jean-Jacques is a French name, equivalent to "John James" in English. Since the second half of 18th century, Jean Jacques Rousseau was widely known as Jean Jacques. Notable people bearing this name include: Given name * Jean-Jacques Annaud (born 19 ...

: A biker *

Renaud Rutten Renaud Pierre Manuel Séchan (), known as Renaud (), born 11 May 1952, is a French singer, songwriter and actor. His characteristically 'broken' voice makes for a very distinctive vocal style. Several of his songs are popular classics in F ...

: Another biker *

Jean-Luc Meekers Jean-Luc may refer to: In politics: * Jean-Luc Bennahmias (born 1954), a French politician and Member of the European Parliament * Jean-Luc Dehaene (1940–2014), a Flemish politician * Jean-Luc Laurent (born 1957), a French politician * Jean-Luc ...

: The car distributor

Accolades

Won

Belgian Film Critics Association (UCC) *Best Film

Nominated

César Awards *Best Foreign Film (lost to '' Waltz with Bashir'') Best Foreign film in India "Film Fare Awards"

References

External links

* * Belgian comedy films 2008 films 2000s French-language films French road movies 2000s road movies French-language Belgian films Films directed by Bouli Lanners Belgian road movies 2000s French films {{Belgium-film-stub