A young Parisian advertising executive becomes so captivated by the unsettling charm of his mysterious new employer that he eventually abandons his family and friends, viewing it a privilege to let the ubiquitous employer take over his home, his life, his desire. Only his wife remains suspicious, recognizing both the pathos and the evil in the man’s soul-stealing power.Read More »
The film is an archival self-portrait of Jean-Luc Godard. Through his words, gaze and work, the film tells the story of a life of cinema; that of a man who will always demand a lot of himself and his art, to the point of merging with it.Read More »
When Catherine (Nathalie Baye) is caught with her illicit lover by her father-in-law Paul (Michel Serrault), the concerned father leaves to tell his son Thomas (Francois Dunoyer) about the incident. Paul is injured in an auto accident and returns home in a wheelchair unable to speak. Catherine’s guilt weighs heavily on her as she hopes to never let Thomas know she was unfaithful. She panics and seeks a way to eliminate Paul in this psychological thriller.Read More »
Synopsis April, 1937. Anton, a Communist Party member living in France, is involved with trafficking arms to left-wing activists in Spain. He is captured by the Gestapo but is subsequently released when is friend, Léo, head of a Communist network in Europe, arranges an exchange. Anton is recruited in the struggle against fascism but ends up being a victim of the Stalinist purge…Read More »
Quote: Jean-Luc Godard is cinema, its quintessence. Just turned 91, he has made more than 140 films. We hate him as much as we worship him. Where does his aura come from? From legendary films of course, but also from Godard himself. He is a public figure as much as a man shrouded in mystery. Everything and its opposite, he has taken all possible paths. It is not easy to seize such a legendary, enigmatic giant. Godard’s itinerary follows one direction only: a constant renewal of his art. He sees the creative act as a necessary act of criticism and deconstruction.” I always start from the negative. I am a positive man who starts from the negative”. The artist reinvents himself tirelessly, and inevitably destroys himself. This portrait wants to take us beyond the clichés of a myth that has sometimes become caricatural, to meet a man more sentimental than it seems, a man inhabited, sometimes surpassed, by his art. Because yes, Godard is human. Not just a machine who thinks and creates images.Read More »
Synopsis SK1 is French police jargon for “Serial Killer 1,” the codename given in the 1990s to a rapist and murderer who preyed on young women in eastern Paris. Nicknamed “The Beast of Bastille,” the culprit, later identified as Guy Georges…Read More »
Draughtswoman Nathalie Baye moves to Paris. This is the tale of her sad encounters and experiences, and the dignity she retains. Aside from the subdued and true-to-life quality that Claude Goretta’s movies share – in my opinion – with his fellow Swiss Alain Tanner, this is a deeply emotional and depressing film. Nathalie Baye is – as usual – incredibly beautiful, moving and convincing.Read More »
Heavily pregnant Helene (Nathalie Baye) is on a train, on the run from her abusive boyfriend (Richard Bohringer), when she meets the also-pregnant Patricia. When a train-crash kills Patricia and her intended husband, Helene is mistaken for her and adopted by her new in-laws. Helene assumes this new identity, trying to secure a future for her baby, and finds a charmed life on a Bordeaux vineyard. However, the specter of the past threatens her newfound happiness.Read More »
A rookie policeman from provincial Le Havre volunteers for the high pressure Parisian homicide bureau and is assigned to a middle-aged woman detective.Read More »