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As the 1987 trial of Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie unfolds on television, Victor Bastien (Hippolyte Girardot — Lady Chatterley) reviews old family documents and finds a distressing “Aryan declaration” authored by his late father, a discovery that throws Victor’s conception of his family’s history into darkness. His mother, Rivka (legendary actress Jeanne Moreau — Jules and Jim, Eva), keeps a stubborn silence about the past, while Tania (Dominique Blanc), his sister, defends their father’s declaration. At the same time, Victor’s wife (Emmanuelle Devos — Kings and Queen) and children grow concerned about his increasing distraction. Burning with the need to unearth the truth, Victor takes his family to the tiny village where Rivka’s parents were forced to hide during the war.Read More »
Jeanne Moreau
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Amos Gitai – Plus tard AKA One Day You’ll Understand (2008)
Amos Gitai2001-2010DramaFrance -
Joseph Losey – La truite AKA The Trout (1982)
Joseph Losey1981-1990DramaFranceSynopsis: Frédérique leaves her family’s small-town trout farm to embark on an journey taking her to Japan and into the arms of a man. Irritations concerning her actions and present state of feelings begin to fill her mind, forcing her to come to terms with innermost self.Read More »
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George A. Romero – Season of the Witch AKA Hungry Wives (1972)
1971-1980George A. RomeroHorrorUSAQuote:
George Romero’s name may be synonymous with the living dead subgenre, but his filmography is far richer and more varied than his reputation as “the zombie guy” would suggest. Following the breakout success of his debut feature Night of the Living Dead, the director would embark upon a series of projects which demonstrate a master filmmaker with more than mere gut-munching on his mind.Season of the Witch (released theatrically as Hungry Wives) follows the exploits of Joan Mitchell – a housewife who seeks to escape the confines of her humdrum suburban existence through a flirtation with witchcraft.Read More »
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Luc Béraud – Plein sud AKA Heat of Desire (1981)
1981-1990DramaFranceLuc BéraudQuote:
In France in the near future, revolt and chaos erupt. A right-wing politician, Philippe Muphand, is set to take control when his lady friend Caroline walks out, announcing she will take up with the first fool she sees. The fool is Serge Laine, a professor and author of the prize-winning “Le voyage qui ne finit pas,” headed to the train station for tickets to Barcelona where he and his wife will enjoy a second honeymoon and he will lecture at the university. Caroline seduces Serge, and he soon abandons wife, family, job, and honesty to embrace Caroline, the romanticism of Jack London, and murder.Read More » -
Louis Malle – Ascenseur pour l’échafaud AKA Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
1951-1960DramaFranceLouis MalleThrillerQuote:
Malle’s first feature, a straightforward but classy thriller about an ex-paratrooper’s attempt to dispose of his mistress’ tycoon husband in a perfect murder. It became associated with the early excitements of the nouvelle vague mainly through the performances of Ronet (playing a prototype of the disgruntled Vietnam veteran) and Moreau (who does some moody solo wandering in the streets searching for her missing lover). The ingenious plot, using a malfunctioning lift as its deus-ex-machina, has one carefully plotted murder conjure another as its shadow image. But the cement holding the film together is really the splendid jazz score improvised by Miles Davis.Read More » -
Jeanne Moreau – L’adolescente (1979)
1971-1980DramaFranceJeanne Moreau“The summer of 1939. Marie, at 13, goes with her parents to visit her grandmother in a small town near Avignon. Although rumors of war reach the countryside, it’s an idyllic place. Marie’s parents are constantly making love. Surrounded by sexual frankness, Marie fancies herself a woman and develops a crush on Alexander, the town’s young Jewish doctor. She’s despondent when he treats her as if she were a child. After Marie’s father abruptly leaves for a few weeks to assist with a relative’s harvest, Marie’s mother and the doctor disappear into the woods for hours at a time. Marie tries to spy on them. When dad returns, what will the family and the doctor do?”Read More »
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William A. Fraker – Monte Walsh (1970)
Drama1961-1970USAWesternWilliam A. FrakerSynopsis:
Monte Walsh (Lee Marvin ) and his pal Chet Rollins (Jack Palance) are two over the hill cowboys seeking work in the town of Harmony, Arizona in the final days of the Old West. As barbed wire and railways steadily eliminate the need for the cowboy, Monte and his friends are left with fewer and fewer options. New work opportunities are available to them, but the freedom of the open prairie is what they long for. Eventually, they all must say goodbye to the lives they knew, and try to make a new start.Read More » -
Henri Decoin – Les intrigantes (1954)
1951-1960CrimeFranceHenri DecoinQuote:
In the forties and the fifties,Henry Decoin’s forte was the film noir:”non coupable” which remains ignored today might be his masterpiece,but there are other interesting works such as “la vérité sur Bébé Donge”or “les inconnus dans la maison” .The almost documentary approach of “Razzia sur la chnouff” (about drugs) seems modern even today.And some works which are difficult to see (“Maléfices” “Bonnes à tuer” and “tous peuvent me tuer” probably deserve to be watched).Read More » -
Luis Buñuel – Le journal d’une femme de chambre AKA Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)
1961-1970CrimeDramaFranceLuis BuñuelQuote:
This wicked adaptation of the Octave Mirbeau novel is classic Luis Buñuel. Jeanne Moreau is Celestine, a beautiful Parisian domestic who, upon arrival at her new job at an estate in provincial 1930s France, entrenches herself in sexual hypocrisy and scandal with her philandering employer (Buñuel regular Michel Piccoli). Filmed in luxurious black-and-white Franscope, Diary of a Chambermaid is a raw-edged tangle of fetishism and murder—and a scathing look at the burgeoning French fascism of the era.Read More »