Tag Archives: France

Le grand Meaulnes / The Wanderer (1967) Jean-Gabriel Albicocco, Brigitte Fossey, Jean Blaise, Alain Libolt, Drama, Romance

Le grand Meaulnes (1967)
Rural France, the 1890s. Always in motion, Augustin wanders three times. First, as a youth, while a boarder near Bourges, he’s lost in the woods and finds a chateau where an engagement party’s in progress: there he falls eternally in love with Yvonne and she with him. Back at school, he hears she is in Paris, so he follows in a vain search and meets a woman, jilted by her lover. In the countryside a few year’s later, Augustin’s friend François finds Yvonne and brings Augustin to her. They marry, but the next day, Augustin leaves to fulfill a youthful promise he made to Yvonne’s brother. François comforts the pregnant Yvonne as they await Augustin’s return.
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La bûche / Season’s Beatings (1999) Danièle Thompson, Sabine Azéma, Emmanuelle Béart, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Comedy, Drama

La buche (1999)
Christmas, family, and infidelity. Yvette’s husband has died, and her grown daughters join her at the grave: Sonia, wealthy, bourgeois, and generous; Louba, living with their dad Stanislas, singing at a Russian restaurant, penniless, the mistress for the past 12 years of a man who will never leave his wife; Milla, the youngest, acerbic, lonesome. Christmas was when they learned their parents were divorcing 25 years ago. Over the next few days, yuletide depression, Louba’s pregnancy, Sonia’s crumbling marriage, Stanislas’s overtures to Yvette, and Milla’s attraction to the man who’s her father’s rent-free lodger lead each one to re-examine self, family, and hopes. Is renewal possible?
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The End of Violence (1997) Wim Wenders, Traci Lind, Rosalind Chao, Bill Pullman, Drama, Thriller

The End of Violence (Wim Wenders, 1997)
Mike Max is a Hollywood producer who became powerful and rich thanks to brutal and bloody action films. His ignored wife Paige is close to leaving him. Suddenly Mike is kidnapped by two bandits, but escapes and hides out with his Mexican gardener’s family for a while. At the same time, surveillance expert Ray Bering is looking for what happens in the city, but it is not clear what he wants. The police investigation for Max’s disappearance is led by detective Doc Block, who falls in love with actress Cat who is playing in ongoing Max’s production.
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The Spy I Love / Coplan prend des risques (1964) Maurice Labro, Dominique Paturel, Virna Lisi, Jacques Balutin, Action, Drama

The Spy I Love (1964)
This is a low-to-the-ground espionage story shot in the style before James Bond made the splash heard ’round the world in Dr. No, even though it was made two years later. The simple story, about a stolen nuclear rocket propellant called the SR 712, is told in a nuts-and-bolts manner and the low key hero will barely register on those brought up on the larger than life Bond.
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