Tarak Ben Ammar Movies

A lovely maiden with three potential suitors finds the competition to take her hand in marriage heating up to a fever pitch in an adventuresome comedy romance starring Hayden Christenson, Mischa Barton, Tim Roth, and Christopher Egan. Based on the novel by author Giovanni Boccaccio, writer/director David Leland's rousing period film offers a unique mix of old world aesthetics and contemporary sensibilities. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Co-adapted by Tom Butterworth and Jez Butterworth from Valerio Massimo Manfredi's best-selling historical adventure novel, Doug Lefler's period epic The Last Legion unfurls in 470 A.D., just prior to the fall of the colossal Roman Empire. As the most recent in a long line of caesars, a young Roman child, Romulus (Thomas Sangster), is poised to inherit the throne -- until Germanic forces invade, lay siege to the city, and brutally murder his parents. At the last second, with his life hanging by a thread, Romulus receives the protection of military commander Aurelius (Colin Firth), who assembles a cadre of rebels, including Romulus, the boy's magician instructor, Ambrosinus (Sir Ben Kingsley), and the Indian female warrior Mira (Aishwarya Rai). After Romulus discovers an enchanted sword once claimed by Julius Caesar, the troupe heads out to the province of Britannia and Hadrian's Wall. There, the men will regroup with the Ninth Legion and plan one final triumphant stand against the barbarian invaders of Rome. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Brian De Palma blends the emotional netherworld of film noir with a stylish portrayal of life among the wealthy and powerful in Paris in this glossy thriller. Laure Ash (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) is a beautiful but mysterious woman who has aligned herself with a small ring of jewel thieves, led by a man known as Black Tie (Eriq Ebouaney), who has planned a major score during the Cannes Film Festival. Sexy model Veronica (Rie Rasmussen) is scheduled to make a spectacular entrance for the screening of director Regis Wargnier's picture, wearing a body-hugging piece of jewelry worth a cool ten million dollars. Laure approaches the sexually adventurous Veronica and is able to seduce her, while at the same time stealing her diamond-studded outfit and replacing it with a carefully constructed counterfeit. Veronica, however, also makes off the loot without giving her partners their cut, and must go into hiding in order to avoid the wrath of Black Tie and his cohorts. Fate allows Laure to make her way to the United States, where in time she marries a powerful politician. Photographer Nicolas Bardo (Antonio Banderas), however, had snapped a picture of Laure while she was on the lam years before, and when he takes an assignment to get a photo of the camera-shy woman, Laure realizes Nicolas is in a position to reveal her new identity to the world -- and put the bloodthirsty Black Tie back on her trail. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A French boy goes to Virginia and finds love with an intelligent black girl in this nostalgic French drama set in 1955, and based on the popular 1986 novel by Philippe Labro. The movie was filmed in both Paris and Virginia. The film contains many references to blues and jazz, Faulkner, Chandler and Salinger. The French student Phillippe Le Clerc meets many interesting characters when he becomes a foreign exchange student in a Virginia college. Of all the people he meets, the one he loves the most is April, a highly educated "Negro girl," who must clean faculty houses when she is not in school. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this fairy tale, Hassan is a young man who occupies himself with the study of ancient manuscripts, the better to improve his calligraphy. One day he runs across a portion of an old text which convinces him that it holds the secrets to love. With the help of an impudent young boy and the boy's monkey (whom the boy thinks is an enchanted prince), Hassan sets out to find the rest of the manuscript. What he finds instead is the beauteous Aziz, and he learns as much as he cares to about love from his love for her. Despite their being separated by war, they are soon reunited. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this romantic melodrama, the rejected but cosseted wife of an important sheik lives in splendid isolation and travels around accompanied by her chauffeur/prison guard. She has become somewhat crazed by her isolation, and perverse and angry schemes are constantly boiling in her mind. She sees the possibility of escape in one of these imaginings. She advertises for a woman librarian to come to her desert palace. When the young Lebanese woman arrives, she is sadly surprised to discover that the residence contains no books in its library. Anything other than the Koran would be dangerous to own. Now at least one other woman is as frustrated as she is, and the sheik's wife can begin to craft more elaborate plans for escape. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Like many uninsightful fathers, Nicola is very ambitious and hardworking and perceives himself to be a failure. He has persuaded himself that the only good thing his thirteen-year-old son can possibly do is to work harder and smarter than he himself did, so that he, at least, can fulfill his father's dreams. This end justifies any number of beatings and scoldings, along with constant admonitions to study hard and work hard. As might be expected, this abuse has no effect whatsoever, as it is not based on the boy's own ambitions, which include becoming a championship runner. Despite his mother's attempts to protect him from his aggressively insensitive and stupid father, he gets shipped off to work with some rope manufacturers, who can be counted on to work him like a dog. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Complex and more cerebral than a wartime action-thriller, this espionage drama focuses on the relationship of two former buddies who were fencing masters before the war and in love with the same woman. Now Delancourt (Bernard Giraudeau) is apparently living a good life managing a gym in a Paris hotel under Nazi control, where he meets his former friend Pierre (Christophe Malavoy), who is on a secret assignment to mislead the Nazis on the date of the Normandie invasion. Pierre, alias Augustin, cannot figure out if Delancourt is a real resistance fighter or if he is a double agent. Circumstances create a larger and larger gap between the former friends while the plot goes through several twists and turns before Pierre's doubts are resolved. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Marie (Marlene Jobert) is a pretty female physician who attracts the strong romantic interest of two brothers during World War I in this uninspired drama by Gérard Vergez. The brothers meet her when she is on duty in Turkey -- one brother is stationed there and the other becomes her ambulance driver. Since Marie has just lost her husband in combat, she is not at first open to another relationship but finally begins an affair with the older brother. Jealousy rears its ugly head, and the younger and older brother start to compete for her favors. She is eventually separated from the two brothers after the oldest -- imprisoned for supposed sympathy with the Russians -- is sprung from jail. Marie is later imprisoned herself, and it will be a long time before she is able to find out the fate of those she knew during the days of combat, including the two brothers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In France Jerry Lewis is hailed the "King of Crazy," and revered as an icon of hilarity rivaled only by Charlie Chaplin. After his career in the states fell to ruin, Lewis crossed the Atlantic to make a few Gallic comedies. This is the second one he made. He plays a private detective who becomes friends with the philandering husband he was hired to investigate. The husband is definitely a reprobate and when he gets caught stealing he and Lewis beat feet to Tunisia. Unfortunately things don't get better for the hapless duo as they find themselves in the midst of a battle between two giant international chains of fast-food restaurants. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The setting for this story is Rahatlcoum, a Roman colony in North Africa, but the "colonists" watch television, have gay bars, trade unions, and traffic problems -- something like the "Flintstones" in an Afro-French incarnation, slipping around on Monty Pythonesque dialogue. A gay Jules César's (Michel Sarrault) expensive vacation causes the population to grumble and gripe, they would rather have mechanic Ben Hur Marcel (Coluche) take Jules' place as their exalted leader. Once she gets out of jail, Cleopatra (Mimi Coutellier) declares that old Ben is actually her long-lost half-brother, and lo and behold, Marcel of the chariot taxis is named the new pharaoh, Aminemphet. French critics loved this film and American critics hated it, leading one to suspect that being French helps considerably in responding to its humor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide