Cedric Noel Movies
- 1997
In a style evocative of Fellini at his most surreal, this bizarre French Canadian fantasy follows the romance between a young filmmaker and a bearded lady from a local circus during the 1960s. The story begins in a contemporary theater where a projectionist describes, to movie director Rex Prince, the ghostly spirit that seems to be haunting his film. The story then races backward to the 1960s when a half-mad, idealistic Rex was busily making his first film, a Marxist tract depicting poverty in Montreal. Edouard Dore, a well-connected editor works with him and it is he who takes Rex to a carnival late one night to meet the performers in a freakshow. The first person Rex meets is Le Grand Zenon, a hulking one-eyed fellow with the amazing ability to use his eye to project movie images on a screen with neither a projector nor film. Later Rex meets the beautiful but facially hirsute Paula Paul de Nerval. For Rex it is almost love at first sight, so he is therefore upset when, only a few hours after their meeting, she takes off to join a Cajun circus in Louisiana . A few months later, Rex, still obsessed with Paula, races southward in an Edsel to become a human cannonball at the same circus as she. The story jumps back to the present to Rex's latest film "La Comtesse de Baton Rouge," a chronicle of his strange love affair with Paula. Up to this point, the story has been surreal and quite poetic, but as Rex's movie unspools, the film becomes a zany comedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
On her 35th birthday the very single Lucie awakens to hear the ticking of her biological clock. With a little prodding from her meddlesome mother, she decides that she will find a suitable man and father in three months or bust. This fast paced and genuinely funny French Canadian comedy chronicles her quest, one that proves the old adage about kissing many toads (each one with greater faults than the last) before finding the prince who has been under her nose all along. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
Michael (Patrick Dempsey) is a college student invited to spend Christmas vacation in Quebec City with his sweetheart Gabby (Jennifer Connelly) and her family. The wide-eyed Michael sees the city as a fairytale land with the splendid architecture gently dusted by the falling snow. When Michael arrives, Gabby tells him she is breaking up with him, and separate sleeping arrangements are made, and Gabby's mother (Florinda Bolkan) makes sure the visitor adheres to Gabby's wishes. Gabby's eccentric father (Andre Gregory) is an idealistic scholar who likes to work in the nude. Michael isn't lonely for long, as Gabby's two younger sisters show amorous interest in him. Lila Kedrova gives an excellent performance as the slightly daffy grandmother who believes Michael is her late husband. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Patrick Dempsey, Florinda Bolkan, (more)
- 1986
This study of the feminist mystique and its underlying issues centers on Madeline (Monique Mercure), a middle-aged director set on conquests of any kind. Also featured are Madeline's relationship to her daughter Renee (Guylaine Normandine) and a few lovers. Madeline is working as a radio talk show host when her daughter comes home to stay with her for the summer. Madeline seems fired by inner demons that propel her to excel in one way or another, either by doing a good work-out at the gym, by competing with her daughter, or by changing lovers one day to the next. The relationships she has throughout the summer fluctuate and change, yet by the time Renee is ready to go off to school again there is some hope for happiness ahead. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Monique Mercure, Guylaine Normandine, (more)
- 1983
Strict behavior codes and the struggle to eke out a living provide a backdrop to this romantic drama set at the turn of the 20th century in rural, northern Quebec. Maria Chapdelaine (Carole Laure) returns to the home of her parents in a remote village, and during the period of one year, has her heart-strings pulled in three different directions at once -- though only one of those directions is what she really wants. She had been promised in marriage to the shy neighboring farmer (Pierre Curzi), whom she has known since they were children, but a suave man-about-town wants to marry her (Donald Lautrec), and a handsome trapper (Nick Mancuso) has fallen in love with her. Maria fluctuates between the trapper and the urban aristocrat, and as events unfold, her indecision leads to tragic consequences. Also filmed by Julien Duvivier in 1934, this story first became popular when published as a novel (by Louis Hemon) in 1913. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Carole Laure, Nick Mancuso, (more)
