France

Synopsis:
Farce, spy spoof, and adventure. Swarthy thieves ignore jewels to steal an Amazon figurine from the Museum of Man in Paris’ Trocadero Palace and kidnap the world’s authority on the lost Maltec civilization. Cut to Agnes, the daughter of a murdered man who possessed one of two other such figurines. Moments after her sweetheart, Adrien, an Army private with a week’s leave, arrives in Paris to see her, Agnes too is kidnapped, drugged, and loaded on a plane to Rio. Adrien is in hot pursuit, and before he can rescue her (with the help of a shoeshine boy), foil the murderous thieves, and solve the riddle of the Maltecs, he must traverse Rio, Brasília, and the Amazon heartland… all before the end of his week’s leave.Read More »

Quote:
A very unusual, quietly intense experience, the film’s beating heart is Myriam Mézières, who co-wrote the script and is in every scene. Never afraid to appear ridiculous, she gives her all to the role, whilst Tanner (with whom she had a relationship) coolly observes from a distance through the soft, hazy grain of 16mm. The film unfolds in a dreamlike manner as the protagonist Mercedes slides from passionate, sensitive actress towards an increasingly fragile and needy state, suffering from a hunger that can only be satiated by pure, ceaseless love.Read More »

Quote:
An ageing writer Paul is determined to make a film but he cannot decide on the subject or location. Instead, he chooses to concentrate his efforts on finding the actress who will star in the film, believing that she will define the lead character and content of the film. He recruits a young man, Jean, to try to find an Italian actress, Dara, whom he has lost sight of. Jean finds Dara in a small Italian town, serving in a modest restaurant, but she refuses to return to acting…Read More »

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Claude Sautet’s romantic drama Cesar et Rosalie (Cesar and Rosalie) stars Romy Schneider as Rosalie, a beautiful young woman involved with successful businessman Cesar (Yves Montand). One day, Rosalie’s former flame David (Sami Frey) appears and attempts to win her back. Cesar reacts with a jealous intensity never before seen by Rosalie, and because of that, she returns to David. She remains conflicted regarding her choice of partner, but eventually, one of the men does something which resolves the situation. Cesar et Rosalie contains one of the first screen appearances of French actress Isabelle Huppert.Read More »

Al and Elsa have been a couple for some time, but the chances that their relationship will be long-lived are few. For one thing, Al is appallingly dependent on Elsa for his every emotional need. For another, Elsa is an incredibly elusive person, extremely difficult to pin down about anything – especially whatever is bothering her. How they have managed to survive this long is a cause for wonder. When Al gets an opportunity to be cast in a movie role, complete with no-cost occupancy in the casting agent’s ugly but fashionable apartment, he jumps at the chance to provide a little material satisfaction for his beloved Elsa. But what exactly does she want?Read More »

Quote:
We are on the continent of Robert Kramer’s essay-films. What country is this, what year, what time? There are no establishing shots, no introductions to ease us in. Everything is in medias res. Kramer never gives us a superimposed title telling us we are watching ‘Vietnam’ or ‘Paris’ or ‘USA’; he never includes the identifying names of people, typewritten on screen, the first time we see them (and indeed, if we ever do learn this, it is often indirectly, by accident); he rarely introduces a radically different piece of footage into the montage with a reassuring title saying ‘ten years ago’, or a voice-off saying ‘I remember …’.Read More »

Until the beginning of the 20th century in France, the game of hide and seek was called “cligne-musette”. In a winter landscape, the film follows five kids and a young man who wanders alone between the desolate buildings of the Valibout neighbourhood, located in the province town of Plaisir. They will not cross paths but seem destined to meet the same fate, that of being abandoned to themselves; to hide and not to be found.Read More »

With breathless pace, Hélène Chatelain (“the woman” in “La jetée”) reconstructs the life of Nestor Makhno from his writings, Soviet propaganda films, reactions of workers today and the memory he has left in the hearts & minds of his people in Gouliaïpolié, in the east of the Ukraine.Read More »

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In France in the near future, revolt and chaos erupt. A right-wing politician, Philippe Muphand, is set to take control when his lady friend Caroline walks out, announcing she will take up with the first fool she sees. The fool is Serge Laine, a professor and author of the prize-winning “Le voyage qui ne finit pas,” headed to the train station for tickets to Barcelona where he and his wife will enjoy a second honeymoon and he will lecture at the university. Caroline seduces Serge, and he soon abandons wife, family, job, and honesty to embrace Caroline, the romanticism of Jack London, and murder.Read More »