Ruby & Quentin
Ruby & Quentin (French: Tais-toi ! (French pronunciation: [tɛ twa], Shut up!) is a 2003 French comedy-crime caper film, directed by Francis Veber. The film became popular in China after being dubbed in Northeastern Mandarin.
| Ruby & Quentin | |
|---|---|
 Film Poster | |
| Directed by | Francis Veber |
| Produced by | Saïd Ben Saïd Gérard Gaultier (executive) |
| Written by | Francis Veber (scenario, adaptation & dialogue) Serge Frydman (idea) |
| Starring | Jean Reno Gérard Depardieu |
| Music by | Marco Prince |
| Cinematography | Luciano Tovoli |
| Edited by | Georges Klotz |
Production company | UGC Images DD Productions EFVE Films TF1 Films Production FILMAURO |
| Distributed by | UFD (UGC Fox Distribution) |
Release date | 22 October 2003 |
Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | France-Italy |
| Language | French |
| Budget | $27.4 million |
| Box office | $22.3 million[1] |
Cast
- Jean Reno as Ruby
- Gérard Depardieu as Quentin
- Richard Berry as Vernet
- André Dussollier as The psychiatrist
- Jean-Pierre Malo as Vogel
- Jean-Michel Noirey as Lambert
- Laurent Gamelon as Mauricet
- Aurélien Recoing as Rocco
- Vincent Moscato as Raffi
- Ticky Holgado as Martineau
- Michel Aumont as Nosberg
- Léonor Varela as Katia/Sandra
- Loïc Brabant as Jambier
- Arnaud Cassand as Bourgoin
- Edgar Givry as Vavinet
- Guy Delamarch as Lefevre
- Rebecca Potok as Madame Lefevre
- Jean Dell as The radiologist
- Guillaume de Tonquédec as The hospital's intern
- Adrien Saint-Joré & Johan Libéreau as Teenagers
Plot summary
Quentin, a dim-witted small-time thief, holds up a foreign exchange booth. Unable to get the money he wants, he asks for directions to the nearest bank. When the police are given this tip-off, Quentin runs into a cinema where Ice Age is showing. He is caught when instead of continuing to run, he sits down and enjoys the film.
Ruby, a henchman of the crime lord Vogel, who has been having an affair with his boss' wife, is thrown into a jail after getting caught hiding the loot that he stole from his boss in revenge for the death of his lover. In jail Ruby refuses to eat or speak, which concerns the jail's psychiatrist but fails to impress the detective in charge of the investigation, who sees through Ruby's ruse.
At the suggestion of the detective, the two criminals meet after Quentin, an intolerable extrovert who has driven mad two other inmates, is put in with him. Quentin thinks that he has struck up a one-sided friendship with Ruby after conducting an uninteresting monologue, however they are parted again after Ruby fakes suicide to get out. Quentin does the same and ends up in the bed next to Ruby in the infirmary.
Ruby manages to bribe the psychiatrist (who also works for Vogel) into helping him escape the prison. Quentin, however, thwarts the escape and makes his own botched attempt at escape with help from a drunken long-time friend driving a crane. Over the period of the film Vogel's bodyguards tried to catch Ruby three times. After that they stole two cars of Vogel and his bodyguards returned them back. Once outside Ruby is unable to get rid of Quentin, and they both go through many adventures, including robbing a diminutive horse trainer's house, dressing up in Chanel, exchanging clothing with two impertinent youths, stealing a series of police and civilian cars and fixing Ruby's shoulder with a breaking chair, in pursuit of his former partners in crime. And when Quentin tried to steal a car, two policemen noticed them and Ruby was serious wounded.
Sheltering in an abandoned shop, where Quentin plans to make a café business, they meet another homeless woman, who looks like Vogel's former wife. Ruby gives her some money and drops her off at a hotel to stay.
After an exciting car chase where the antagonists are trapped in a traffic jam, they enter the estate of Vogel and in a shoot-out results in an incapacitated Vogel, and Quentin supposedly mortally wounded. Ruby, much to his own surprise as anyone else's, expresses his grief for Quentin, who tricks him into actually opening a café after he recovers.