Dominique Abel

Belgian writer, actor, and director Dominique Abel is known for his French-language feature comedies, which he crafts with his significant other, Fiona Gordon. Abel and Gordon's first cinematic outing was the 1994 short "Merci cupidon," and the duo eventually followed that up with 2000's "Rosita," about a hapless travelling fortuneteller (Gordon) and her devoted assistant (Abel). The same year, the pair unveiled "Walking on the Wild Side," yet another brief, comical film, and they finally released their first full-length feature "L'iceberg" in 2005. Made in collaboration with Bruno Romy, the whimsically comedic movie follows a woman who leaves her family after a work-related crisis. Abel and Gordon, again working with Romy, reunited for the 2008 outing "Rumba," starring the real-life couple as characters aptly named Dom and Fiona, who bond over their shared love of Latin dance. Three years later, Abel, Gordon, and Romy released "The Fairy," a fantastical tale about a French hotel clerk in the city of Le Havre who falls in love with the magical title character. Abel's films are frequently compared to the works of Buster Keaton and Jacques Tati, with a strong sense of physical comedy that tends to carry the stories, which are usually conceived with both Gordon and Romy.