French

When faced with life’s challenges, Ste-Adeline’s community has always stuck together. But this time, a scandal sends shockwaves through the quiet little town’s very foundation, testing its inhabitants. At the center of the storm is Magalie, a teenager with a girlish pout; Manuel, the foster child of the beloved mayor; and Isabelle and Chantale, the powerless yet protective mothers. In Ste-Adeline, appearances are deceptive. And the town’s carefully maintained social veneer will come to crack, slowly revealing the true nature of its residents.Read More »

Five years after glasnost, morals in the Soviet Union have become a little lax. The traditional image of the woman as a strong labour force has “cracked” at the same time as the political structure of the country. Three young Soviet women encounter a French filmmaker who is planning the first erotic film since the October Revolution.Read More »

Synopsis
A father-daughter relationship is melded, strained, and deepened by a shared angst: the grandmother in the family left her home by train and never arrived at her destination. The father Pierre (Jean Rochefort) is distraught that the police could basically dismiss the issue as inexplicable, and he decides to retrace on foot the voyage his mother should have made. His daughter Amelie (Camille de Casablanca) goes with him, and the story evolves as the two walk along the train tracks, searching in the nearby terrain and bushes for any evidence that might point to what happened. Along the way, their once antagonistic and distanced relationship (Amelie is a student, her father is a picture-restorer) begins to work itself out…Read More »

from rogerrobert.com
The hero of the film (Yves Montand) is a Spanish citizen who has been engaged ever since the war’s end in a variety of underground anti-Franco movements. He is part of a network that moves people and information in and out of Spain, prepares reports, calls general strikes, prints propaganda newspapers and does everything else that seems to be indicated. But the members of the underground are weary; they subscribe to political dogmas that no longer seem relevant, except to a few of them; they can show few tangible results.Read More »

The fascinating fifth feature by Québécois auteur Denis Côté, Curling is a portrait of Jean-François (Emmanuel Bilodeau), a single father who works nights at a deserted bowling alley and days in a rundown motel, and his daughter, Julyvonne (Philomène Bilodeau, Emmanuel’s real-life daughter), who he isolates from the community in fear that contact with the outside world will scar her. Sensitive, expressive images are crafted to perfection by cinematographer Josée Deshaies while Côté masterfully distorts our perception of time, letting it linger in beguiling stillness as winter slowly seeps away. Côté unfolds his minimalist narrative from the inside out, resulting in an impressively austere film that establishes an immediate emotional connection.Read More »

A young woman, Claire, escapes from a lunatic asylum and falls under the protection of Louis Delage, a loner who rears horses for a living. When the man whom Louis has been sheltering is killed, both Claire and Louis become targets for a pair of unknown assassins. In the adventure that follows, Claire discovers why she was locked away in an asylum – her aunt wanted to prevent her from inheriting her father’s fortune. When the two killers make the same discovery, they kidnap Claire in order to extort a ransom, whilst continuing their pursuit for Louis. The outcome is far from pleasant…Read More »

Synopsis:
In August 1952, a family of British tourists is found by the roadside in Haute Provence, brutally murdered. In the ensuing, very public, investigation a local landowner, 75 year old Gaston Dominici, is arrested for the murders, having been denounced by his sons. Under police interrogation, Dominici confesses to have killed the family and it looks certain that he will be charged, tried and sentenced to death. But then the case begins to collapse. The old man retracts his confession and the lack of evidence against him becomes apparent…
– Films de FranceRead More »

Synopsis:
When his new bride’s face is hideously disfigured in a fire, Frederic Lansac, a famous society painter, is determined to restore her beauty. He seeks out a notorious plastic surgeon who is on the run from the authorities. Using Lansac’s remote castle as a base, the two of them hunt down and imprison a series of young girls. Their skin is to be used in a serious of experiments aimed at restoring the face of Lansac’s wife.Read More »

Synopsis:
Gervaise Macquart, a young lame laundress, is left by her lover Auguste Lantier with two boys… She manages to make it, and a few years later she marries Coupeau, a roofer. After working very hard a few more years, she succeeds in buying her own laundry (her dream)… But Coupeau starts to drink after having fallen from a roof, and Lantier shows up… A faithful adaptation of Emile Zola’s novel “L’Assomoir”, depicting the fatal degeneration of a family of workers, mainly because of alcohol.Read More »