Catherine Deneuve

  • Manoel de Oliveira – Je rentre à la maison AKA I’m Going Home (2001)

    Manoel de Oliveira2001-2010DramaFrance
    Je rentre à la maison (2001)
    Je rentre à la maison (2001)

    Quote:
    I’m Going Home (French: Je rentre à la maison, Portuguese: Vou Para Casa) is a 2001 French-Portuguese film written and directed by Manoel de Oliveira.

    Gilbert Valence (Michel Piccoli) is a grand old theatre actor who receives the shocking news that his wife, daughter, and son-in-law have been killed in a car accident. As time passes, Valence busies himself with his daily life in Paris, turning down unsuitable roles in low-brow television productions and looking after his 9-year-old grandson. When an American filmmaker (John Malkovich) miscasts him in an ill-conceived adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses, Valence finds himself compelled to make a decision about his life.Read More »

  • André Téchiné – Les voleurs AKA Thieves (1996)

    André Téchiné1991-2000CrimeFranceQueer Cinema(s)Romance
    Les voleurs (1996)
    Les voleurs (1996)

    Quote:
    Catherine Deneuve, Daniel Auteuil, and director André Téchiné collaborate for the second time (following their outstanding My Favorite Season) in a powerful story about a Paris cop (Auteuil) who comes from a criminal family. When his father and brother are murdered, suspicion shifts to his lover (actress Laurence Côté), who then disappears. Auteuil’s character reluctantly teams up with her lesbian girlfriend (Catherine Deneuve) both to find her and clear her name. The gripping story is told in a nonlinear series of overlapping chapters taking place before, during, and after the killing. Time bends and shifts, forcing the action to ripple through an ever-widening pool of neuroses and tragedy. The best part of the film, however, is the always- mesmerizing cold-fusion chemistry between Deneuve and Auteuil, two great actors who never wear their hearts on their sleeves.Read More »

  • Joël Santoni – Ils sont grands ces petits AKA These Kids Are Grown-Ups (1979)

    1971-1980ComedyFranceJoël Santoni

    When a real-estate promoter attempts to take over the homes of two electronics whizzes and boot them out, they contrive ingenious ways to inconvenience and harass him. By pooling their knowledge, they are able to pull off a crucial robbery using a very special box of chocolates.Read More »

  • André Téchiné – Ma saison préférée AKA My Favorite Season (1993)

    1991-2000André TéchinéDramaFranceRomance

    Berthe, an elderly widow, is forced by her declining health to close the French farmhouse where she has spent much of her life. She moves in with her daughter Émilie and son-in-law Bruno, who share a legal practice and have two grown children: Anne, a law student, and Lucien, who was adopted. In spite of Émilie’s efforts, Berthe is not happy in her daughter’s bourgeois home in Blagnac. She sits by the swimming pool in the middle of the night talking to herself and finds the house pretentious. Worried about her mother’s physical and mental health, Émilie pays a visit to her unmarried younger brother, Antoine, a neurosurgeon. They have not seen each other for three years, since they quarreled at their father’s funeral. Émilie informs Antoine of their mother’s condition and invites him to Christmas dinner with the family.Read More »

  • Claude Berri – Je vous aime AKA I Love You All (1980)

    1971-1980Claude BerriComedyFranceRomance

    Quote:
    A woman invites all four men she loved in her life for the dinner of New Year’s Eve at the same time and unites them all in her house. In sentimental flashbacks they recall the former times.Read More »

  • Hirokazu Koreeda – La vérité AKA The Truth (2019)

    Hirokazu Koreeda2011-2020DramaFrance

    Legends of French cinema Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche join masterful filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda (Shoplifters, Still Walking) to paint a moving portrait of family dynamics in THE TRUTH. Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve) is an aging French movie star who, despite her momentary lapses in memory, remains a venerable force to be reckoned with. Upon the publication of her memoirs, her daughter Lumir (Juliette Binoche) returns to Paris from New York with her husband (Ethan Hawke) and their young daughter to commemorate its release. A sharp and funny battle of wits ensues between the mother-daughter duo, as Lumir takes issue with Fabienne’s rose-colored version of the past.Read More »

  • Leos Carax – Pierre ou, Les Ambiguïtés [Pola X TV Cut] (1999)

    1991-2000ArthouseDramaFranceLeos Carax

    Synopsis:
    Pierre, a young man of privilege, whose anonymously-published novel is a hit and who’s about to marry his blond cousin, Lucie, abandons all when a dark-haired vagrant tells him her secret late one night in the woods: that she is Isabelle, his sister, abandoned by their father. Pierre breaks off with Lucie and his doting mother, heading for Paris with Isabelle, intent on knowing the dark side of human nature. He begins a novel, sending chapters under a pseudonym to his publisher; his relationship with Isabelle moves beyond the fraternal; and, in winter, the frail Lucie comes to live with them. Family jealousies mount, and Pierre may have discovered despair instead of the truth.Read More »

  • Roman Polanski – Repulsion (1965)

    1961-1970DramaHorrorRoman PolanskiUnited Kingdom

    Quote:
    The first in Roman Polanski’s “Apartment Trilogy” (preceding Rosemary’s Baby and The Tenant), Repulsion is a landmark psychological horror film, whose influence can be seen from Fat Girl to Black Swan.

    Carol (Catherine Deneuve) is a meek young woman working in a London beauty salon and living with her sister Helen (Yvonne Furneaux). Carol is classically beautiful, nearly mute, seemingly terrified of men, and progressively suffering from some sort of internal trauma. When Helen and her married lover Michael (Ian Hendry) leave for a holiday, Carol’s issues become violently externalized.Read More »

  • Manoel de Oliveira – O Convento AKA The Convent (1995)

    Manoel de Oliveira1991-2000ArthouseDramaPortugal

    Quote:
    The story centers on the unconventional American professor, Michael Padovic, and his stunningly beautiful wife, Helene, who journey to an eerie Portuguese convent to prove that Shakespeare was, in reality, a Jewish Spaniard. They journey to the spooky old convent of Arrabida where they are housed by the sophisticated, but rather creepy guardian of the monastery, Baltar, who immediately seems attracted to Helene. In order to spend more time with her, Baltar arranges for Michael to spend all his time in the convent’s great library; he is assisted by a beautiful young librarian. It is the wicked Baltar who tries to tempt Michael (in the way that Mephistopheles tempted Faust) into becoming immortal through his research and writing.Read More »

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