Tag Archives: french

EQUUS (1977) Sidney Lumet, Richard Burton, Peter Firth, Colin Blakely, Drama, Mystery

EQUUS (1977)
Sidney Lumet directed this film version of Peter Shaffer’s dramatic play, transforming theatrical symbolism into cinematic realism. Richard Burton received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance as Martin Dysert, a psychiatrist determined to unravel the disturbed mind of Alan Strang (Peter Firth), a young stableboy. In a fit of rage, Strang has blinded a stable of six horses. The court then assigns Dysert to probe the young man’s mind in order to understand why he committed such a violent act. But the doctor, who is battling demons of his own, wonders if he can save the boy–and whether saving him at all is the right thing to do. Joan Plowright stands out as Dora Strang, the young boy’s mother.
Read More »

CHAOS (2001) Coline Serreau, Vincent Lindon, Catherine Frot, Rachida Brakni, Comedy, Drama, Crime

CHAOS (2001)
Contrary to her husband, Hélène devotes herself to help an French-Algerian prostitute, Malika, who seeks to escape from her abusers. As the film begins, Paul and Hélène, a wealthy Parisian couple, are preparing to go out for the evening. While driving, they see three men chasing a prostitute down the street. She begs them to save her by letting her into the car, but Paul locks the doors and drives away as the three men beat her, leaving her unconscious in the street. He refuses to let Hélène phone an ambulance, afraid of being charged with not helping a person in danger (which is a crime in France). Hélène cannot forget the incident, and the next day she goes to the hospital, where she finds the prostitute, Noémie, in a coma. Moved, Hélène stops work and leaves her family responsibilities to stay with Noémie throughout her recovery, aiding her as she regains mobility and helping her to communicate since she can’t yet speak. When one of the pimps returns to threaten Noémie, Hélène follows him out of the hospital, knocks him unconscious, and leaves him for the police to find.
Read More »

The Fugitive (1993) Andrew Davis, Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward, Action, Adventure, Crime

The Fugitive (1993)
Ford is prison escapee Dr. Richard Kimble, a Chicago surgeon falsely convicted of killing his wife and determined to prove his innocence by leading his pursuers to the one-armed man who actually committed the crime. Jones is Sam Gerard, an unrelenting bloodhound of a U.S. Marshal. They are hunted and hunter. And as directed by Andrew Davis, their nonstop chase has one exhilarating speed: all-out. So catch him if you can. And catch an 11-on-a-scale-of-10 train wreck (yes, the train is real), a plunge down a waterfall, a cat-and-mouse jaunt through a Chicago St. Patrick’s Day parade and much more. Better hurry. Kimble doesn’t stay in one place very long!
Read More »

Novo (2002) Jean-Pierre Limosin, Eduardo Noriega, Anna Mouglalis, Paz Vega, Drama, Comedy, Romance

Novo (2002)
Those who loved Graham yesterday shouldn’t count on today. Those who love him today risk being heartbroken tomorrow… Suffering from recurring memory loss, Graham is restricted to a limited short-term memory. He forgets most things after only a few minutes. He no longer recognizes his wife Isabelle nor his young son Antoine nor his best friend Fred. Since each day is a new day, Graham copes with life by referring to the details of his little notebook, the defining key to his identity. He works as a photocopy clerk under the close watch of his sexy boss Sabine, who uses him to his libido’s advantage. Pretty new temp Irene can’t help falling for Graham’s spontaneous charm. But how can Graham really fall in love with her when he sees each time as the first time? Irene is about to experience all new ways of romance. She’ll just have to remember everything for the both of them. Everyone around Graham has their reasons why he should or shouldn’t fully recover…
Read More »

Congorama (2006) Philippe Falardeau, Olivier Gourmet, Paul Ahmarani, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Comedy, Drama

Congorama (2006)
Michel is a Belgian inventor. He cares for his father, a paralysed writer, is married to a Congolese woman and is the father of an interracial child whom he reassures as to his parentage. He discovers at the age of 41 that he was adopted, actually having been born in Sainte-Cécile, Quebec. In the summer of 2000, he travels to Quebec, supposedly to sell some of his inventions. While on a near-impossible quest to find his birth family in the town where he was born, he crosses paths with Louis Legros, son of another inventor, in a meeting which will change their lives…
Read More »

Les Biches / Bad Girls (1968) Claude Chabrol, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacqueline Sassard, Stéphane Audran, Drama

Les Biches (1968)
Frédérique is a rich and beautiful woman who picks up a female street artist called “Why”. It is December and they go to her villa in Saint Tropez, which is inhabited by a couple of odd gay men. Both women fall for the local architect Paul Thomas. However Why says that she is not interested in him, so Frédérique invites him to move into the villa.
Read More »

Un singe en hiver (1962) Henri Verneuil, Jean Gabin, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Suzanne Flon, Comedy, Drama

Un singe en hiver (1962)
A young man, Gabriel Fouquet, arrives in a coastal town in Normandy to visit his daughter, who is staying in a boarding school. He ends up lodging in a guesthouse run by the aged Albert Quentin and his wife Suzanne. To forget his troubles, Gabriel hits the bottle, not realising that the teetotal Albert was once a heavy drinker. Twenty years ago, the latter pledged never to touch alcohol again if he and his wife survived the war. Through his friendship with Gabriel, Albert becomes nostalgic about his past, recalling his time as a sailor on an expedition to China. To drown their sorrows, the two men embark on a drinking binge which quickly gets out of hand…
Read More »

L’Enfant Sauvage (1970) François Truffaut, Jean-Pierre Cargol, Françoise Seigner, Drama

l'enfant sauvage
France, 1798. In a forest, hunters discover and capture a 12 year old boy who appears to have spent his life living like a wild animal. He is taken to a school for deaf and dumb children in Paris, where is maltreated and used as an object of scientific curiosity. An eminent doctor, Jean Itard, takes an interest in the strange child and resolves to educate him. Little by little, the feral child, whom Itard christens Victor, responds to his benefactor’s patient attempts to civilise him.
Read More »

Pas douce (2007) Jeanne Waltz, Isild Le Besco, Lio, Steven de Almeida, Drama

Pas douce (2007)
A young woman, Frédérique, finds herself alone in a deserted forest. It is the perfect place to commit suicide. But she is disturbed by two teeange boys and instinctively pulls her rifle on them. The bullet intended for herself ends up seriously wounding one of the boys. As she flees the scene of the shooting, Frédérique’s first thought is to give herself up. But then she changes her mind. No one saw her fire the gun. And who would suspect her, a 24-year-old nurse? But fate takes a cruel twist when the boy she shot, Marco, is taken to the hospital where she works. It is she who has to treat him and ensure that he recovers from his near-fatal injuries. How will Marco react when he discovers that she is the one who almost killed him?
Read More »

Meek’s Cutoff / La Dernière Piste (2010) Kelly Reichardt, Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Paul Dano, Drama, Western

Meek's Cutoff
The year is 1845, the earliest days of the Oregon Trail, and a wagon train of three families has hired mountain man Stephen Meek to guide them over the Cascade Mountains. Claiming to know a shortcut, Meek leads the group on an unmarked path across the high plain desert, only to become lost in the dry rock and sage. Over the coming days, the emigrants face the scourges of hunger, thirst and their own lack of faith in one another’s instincts for survival.
Read More »

The Nude Vampire / La vampire nue (1970) Jean Rollin, Caroline Cartier, Olivier Rollin, Maurice Lemaître, Art-house, Horror, Erotic

The Nude Vampire (1970)
French director Jean Rollin’s erotic and surreal vampire yarn stars Olivier Martin as Pierre Radamante, a wealthy hedonist who learns that his scientist father, Georges (Maurice Lemaître), is carrying out experiments to unlock the secret of immortality. And that’s not all: It seems that Georges is in league with a ritualistic society involving vampires and evil alien mutants! Caroline Cartier and Catherine Castel also star.
Read More »

Tarzan and the Lost City (1998) Carl Schenkel, Casper Van Dien, Jane March, Steven Waddington, Action, Adventure, Family

Tarzan and the Lost City (1998)
In 1913, on the night before Jane Porter’s wedding to John Clayton (also known as Tarzan), her bridegroom receives a disturbing vision of his childhood homeland in peril. Much to Jane’s distress, Clayton leaves for Africa to help. The educated explorer Nigel Ravens is seeking the legendary city of Opar, to plunder its ancient treasures. But then Jane decides to follow her fiancé, and he must protect her while trying to stop Ravens and his men.
Read More »