Francis Vanverberghe, aka “Francis le Belge”, was shot to death in September 2000 in a bar on the Champs Elysées. An old relic of the French Connection, his death sealed the faith of the french organized crime. He was a pimp, a drug smuggler and a multifaceted man risking his life and those of others every day, until the last day. Through his daugther’s eyes, this film reveals the man behind the myth. A female look into a world where women don’t belong…Read More »
The film centres on Clara, who is happily married to a promising lawyer and lives in Paris. After their mother’s sudden death, Clara has to assume responsibility for her younger sister, Lily, whose extreme sensitivity makes her vulnerable to the outside world and prevents her from being autonomous. Living in the family home in the countryside, in the provinces, Lily has created her own unique world, which she finds difficult to leave as she has found a certain sense of balance there. But she needs protection. Clara, whose life has taken shape away from her sister, has to make some choices and learns that normality is a very subjective idea.Read More »
The story takes place in Germany at the beginning of the last century. Edouard, the wealthy baron and Charlotte, who had loved each other since their youth, could only marry after both became widowed. Edouard invites his childhood friend, Captain Otto to manage the reconstruction work of the castle.Read More »
A film about the early part of the French Revolution, shown from the eyes of the citizens of Marseille, counts in German exile and, of course, the king Louis XVI, each showing their own small problems.Read More »
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On a movie set, in a factory, and at a hotel, Godard explores the nature of work, love and film making. While Solidarity takes on the Polish government, a Polish film director, Jerzy, is stuck in France making a film for TV. He’s over budget and uninspired; the film, called “Passion,” seems static and bloodless. Hanna owns the hotel where the film crew stays. She lives with Michel, who runs a factory where he’s fired Isabelle, a floor worker. Hanna and Isabelle are drawn to Jerzy, hotel maids quit to be movie extras, people ask Jerzy where the story is in his film, women disrobe, extras grope each other off camera, and Jerzy wonders why there must always be a story.Read More »
Lucas has invented a new computer language but at the same time he has been informed about his strange terminal illness during which he has been gradually losing his memory. Shortly after that he meets Blanche who acts as a medium in a bizarre traveling show. Dying Lucas follows her to the sea resort where they spend together several days and nights.Read More »
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The story of a mistreated donkey and the people around him. A study on saintliness and a sister piece to Bresson’s Mouchette.
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In the French countryside near the Pyrenees, a baby donkey is adopted by young children – Jacques and his sisters, who live on a farm. They baptize the donkey (and christen it Balthazar) along with Marie, Jacques’ childhood sweetheart, whose father is the teacher at the small school next-door. When one of Jacques’ sisters dies, his family vacates the farm, and Marie’s family take it over in a loose arrangement. The donkey is given away to local farmhands who work it very hard. Years pass until Balthazar is involved in an accident and runs off, finding its way back to Marie, who is now a teenager. But her father gets involved in legal wrangles over the farm and the donkey is given away to a local bakery for delivery work.Read More »
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Malle’s first feature, a straightforward but classy thriller about an ex-paratrooper’s attempt to dispose of his mistress’ tycoon husband in a perfect murder. It became associated with the early excitements of the nouvelle vague mainly through the performances of Ronet (playing a prototype of the disgruntled Vietnam veteran) and Moreau (who does some moody solo wandering in the streets searching for her missing lover). The ingenious plot, using a malfunctioning lift as its deus-ex-machina, has one carefully plotted murder conjure another as its shadow image. But the cement holding the film together is really the splendid jazz score improvised by Miles Davis.Read More »
Two actresses, Béatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg, are on a film set telling stories about witches – but that’s not all. ‘Lux Æterna’ is also an essay on cinema, the love of film, and on-set hysterics.
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I think this film is admirable in many ways although not devoid of flaws, the main one being that for the nth time, Noé pulls the same expectable tricks with colorful lighting, flickering images and references to his classics (even just the title, “Lux Aeterna” is the György Ligeti eerie choir piece used in “2001: A Space Odyssey”), etc. So that does get a little unimaginative, especially since the atmosphere and development are very close to his latest long feature, “Climax”.Read More »