Noémie and Priscilla, two teenagers from a modest background, nurture the same violence, the same revolt. They seriously worry their families, who feel that these girls are capable of anything.
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Tag Archives: France
The Cement Garden (1993) Andrew Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Andrew Robertson, Alice Coulthard, Drama
After the death of her husband, the mother of Julie, Jack, Sue and Tom begins to suffer from a mysterious illness. Aware that she is going to have to go into hospital she opens a bank account for the children, so that they can be financially self-sufficient and will be able to avoid being taken into care by the authorities. Unfortunately she also dies and Julie and Jack (the older, teenage children) decide to hide her body in the basement so that they can have free reign of their household. Soon Tom has taken to dressing as a girl whilst Sue has become increasingly reticent, confiding only to her diary, meanwhile Jack and Julie sense an attraction developing for each other. However Julie’s new beau, Derek, threatens to unearth the many dark secrets within this family as he becomes increasingly suspicious of Jack.
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The Destructors / The Marseille Contract (1974) Robert Parrish, Michael Caine, Anthony Quinn, James Mason
When a US intelligence agent is unable to bring a ruthless drug baron to justice, he resorts to hiring a contract killer. But the man he is put in contact with turns out to be an old friend.
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Femmes de Paris (1953) Jean Boyer, Michel Simon, Brigitte Auber, Henri Génès, Comedy, Drama
Le professeur Charles Buisson, Astronome et prix Nobel, vient de découvrir une nova. Il en informe par téléphone les autres observatoires. Alors qu’il croit que l’un d’eux le rappelle, il se retrouve à l’appareil avec une jeune femme menaçant de se suicider au cabaret Le Ruban Bleu, si son amoureux ne l’a pas rejoint à minuit. Intrigué, le professeur décide d’aller empêcher la malheureuse de passer à l’acte. Une de ses étudiantes, qui gagne sa vie comme doublure dans un numéro de couteaux, l’aide dans son enquête, tandis que le directeur de l’établissement et un policier le soupçonnent d’être un farceur ou même, de vendre de la drogue. Ce sera pour le savant l’occasion de découvrir un univers de music-hall qu’il ignorait jusqu’alors : « Je croyais connaître la carte du ciel par cœur mais il est une planète qui m’était totalement inconnue : la terre. J’y reviendrai ! »
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Le doux amour des hommes (2002) Jean-Paul Civeyrac, Renaud Bécard, Claire Pérot, Marie-Joséphine Crenn, Drama
It’s a story about Raoul, a young man living at the beginning of the 21st century, who is part of the most fragile, unnecessary and appealing fragment of society. He goes from woman to woman, looking for love that seems unobtainable. But then he meets Jeanne, destined for freedom and tragedy…
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L’étrange Madame X / Strange Madame X (1951) Jean Grémillon, Michèle Morgan, Henri Vidal, Arlette Thomas, Drama
Can a person really lead a double life? It looks as though Irène can. On the one hand, she is the wife of Jacques Voisin-Larive, a big name in the publishing world. On the other hand she pretends to be a simple chambermaid when she is with Etienne, a handsome young cabinetmaker. But what will happen when Irène gets pregnant?
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Virgem Margarida / Virgin Margarida (2012) Licinio Azevedo, Iva Mugalela, Hermelinda Cimela, Sumeia Maculuva, Drama
1975, Mozambique’s rebirth. The young revolution sweeps the streets of Maputo from prostitutes and bad habits. Sent to re-education camps deep in the countryside, they will become «new women». Margarida, a sixteen year-old girl, was mistakenly taken. This is their story. Women bounded by adversity.
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Syngué sabour, pierre de patience / The Patience Stone (2012) Atiq Rahimi, Golshifteh Farahani, Hamid Djavadan, Hassina Burgan, Drama, War
Author Atiq Rahimi’s adapts his own bestselling novel about a Muslim woman whose paralyzed husband unconsciously assumes the role of syngué sabour, which shields her from the sorrows of life in her war-torn village. Her unnamed Middle Eastern country caught up in the insurrection, the loyal, thirty-something wife faithfully sits watch over her vegetative husband, who has been all-but forgotten by his brothers and fellow Jihadists. Over time, she gathers the courage to tell her husband all of the things she had remained silent about during their 10 years of marriage. Throughout the course of their conversations, she speaks frankly of the disappointments, sorrows, and sacrifices that have made her life so difficult throughout the previous decade.
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La Facture (1975) Pierre Sabbagh, Viviane Gosset, Jean Barney, Jacqueline Maillan, Comedy
Noëlle Alban est une femme à qui tout, depuis sa naissance, sourit. C’est une “chanceuse”, c’est une veinarde ; mais c’est une veinarde qui s’inquiète. Elle s’inquiète parce que, selon la “Théorie des Compensations” d’Azaïs, elle devra ensuite payer et supporter une égale période de malchance. Impressionnée par cette idée, Noëlle, pour se débarrasser de cette dette morale envers le destin, décide de se provoquer, à elle même, des ennuis. Mais elle échouera dans toutes ses tentatives et elle finira par se résigner au bonheur en pensant qu’elle le paiera, désormais, à chaque minute par peur de le perdre.
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Paul Cézanne im Gespräch mit Joachim Gasquet / Cézanne: Conversation with Joachim Gasquet (1989) Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub, Documentary
In 1989 Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet realized a film project that was commissioned by Virginie Herbin, director of the audiovisual department of the Musée d’Orsay. The film is based on Joachim Gasquet’s recollected and imagined dialogs with Cézanne, Ce qui m’a dit…(1921).
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Double Messieurs (1986) Yves Afonso, Carole Bouquet, Jean-François Stévenin, Drama, Comedy
After 25 years, François, a modest businessman, is reunited with his childhood friend Léo, a film double. It’s a reunion which affects both men profoundly, and immediately they discover their adolescent sense of fun. François proposes that they meet up with the third member of their childhood band, Kuntchinski. But when they break into the latter’s house, they are surprised by his wife, Hélène. Unsure what to do, François and Léo make a snap decision to fake an abduction. Hélène hasn’t any other plans, so she plays along with the kidnap…
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Série noire (1979) Alain Corneau, Patrick Dewaere, Myriam Boyer, Marie Trintignant, Bernard Blier, Crime, Drama
Franck Poupart is a slightly neurotic door-to-door salesman in a sinister part of Paris’ suburbs. He meets Mona, a teenager, who’s been made a prostitute by her own aunt. Franck would like to change his life and also save Mona from her aunt. Murder is the only solution he finds to achieve his goal… A very gloomy movie, exuding dispair and uneasiness, with pathetic characters.
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The Tenant / Le locataire (1976) Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Thriller, Drama
In Paris, the shy bureaucrat Trelkovsky rents an old apartment without bathroom where the previous tenant, the Egyptologist Simone Choule, committed suicide. The unfriendly concierge (Shelley Winters) and the tough landlord Mr. Zy establish stringent rules of behavior and Trelkovsky feels ridden by his neighbors. Meanwhile he visits Simone in the hospital and befriends her girlfriend Stella. After the death of Simone, Trelkovsky feels obsessed for her and believes his landlord and neighbors are plotting a scheme to force him to also commit suicide.
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Dom Juan ou le Festin de Pierre (1965) Marcel Bluwal, Michel Piccoli, Claude Brasseur, Anouk Ferjac, Drama
Don Juan seduced Elvira then, sated, abandoned to fall upon new adventures…
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The Stranger / Lo straniero (1967) Luchino Visconti, Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Karina, Bernard Blier, Drama
In an atmosphere of political tension when the French still control Algiers, an Algerian is killed on the beach and a French man who has lived in Algiers all his life is arrested for the murder. A trial takes place. One of the witnesses was at the funeral of Arthur Meursault’s mother. It bothers other mourners and Mersault himself that he showed no emotion when his mother died. His eventful day at the beach takes place a short time after the funeral when he is examining what his life has been and what path should he take in the future.
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