Tag Archives: France

The Cement Garden (1993) Andrew Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Andrew Robertson, Alice Coulthard, Drama

The Cement Garden (1993)
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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Femmes de Paris (1953) Jean Boyer, Michel Simon, Brigitte Auber, Henri Génès, Comedy, Drama

Femmes de Paris (1953)
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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Syngué sabour, pierre de patience / The Patience Stone (2012) Atiq Rahimi, Golshifteh Farahani, Hamid Djavadan, Hassina Burgan, Drama, War

La Pierre de Patience
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

La Facture (1975)
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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Double Messieurs (1986) Yves Afonso, Carole Bouquet, Jean-François Stévenin, Drama, Comedy

Double Messieurs (1986)
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

Serie noire (1979)
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

The Tenant (1976)
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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The Stranger / Lo straniero (1967) Luchino Visconti, Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Karina, Bernard Blier, Drama

The Stranger (1967)
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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