Jeanne Lapoirie Movies

Philippine filmmaker Raya Martin directed this stylish and stylized study of a pivotal moment in his nation's history. In 1898, in the wake of the Spanish-American War, the United States took control of the Philippines, only months after American representatives had declared the islands would maintain their newly won independence. Rather than cooperate with the occupying forces, a woman (Tetchie Agbayani) and her son (Sid Lucero) flee to the mountains, hoping to live in freedom away from civilization. In time, they're joined by a young woman (Alessandra de Rossi) who is running away after an American soldier raped her. As the boy grows to be a man, he falls in love with the woman, and when his mother dies, he becomes the head of the small household in the hills, helping to care for the child that resulted from the rape. Martin has shot and staged this story in a purposefully unrealistic manner, using black and white film stock, painted backdrops and old-fashioned lighting techniques so that this story of life under forced American rule resembles a Hollywood potboiler of the 1930's. Independencia was one of two films from Raya Martin that were screened as official selections at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A man slowly learns his new friend is no friend at all in this psychological thriller from France. Georges Clou (Sergi Lopez) seemingly leads a charmed life; he has a beautiful and loving wife, Helen (Nathalie Richard) and he has a fine home in an exclusive gated community, away from the growing chaos of the cities. There are occasional signs that not all is well, most of which come from their teenage son Tony (Laurent Delbecque), who is withdrawn and often seems to be the victim of some sort of violence. But for the most part Georges is a happy man when Paul Marteau (Jean-Marc Barr) moves into the neighborhood. Paul is a wealthy but jaded man who strikes up a friendship with Georges at a housewarming party, even though he alienates many of his new neighbors. Beneath Paul's friendly surface is a bitter, angry man who loathes the complacent suburbanites around them; he wants to give them a harsh dose of unpleasant reality, and Paul has chosen Georges to receive his first lesson. Adapted from John Cheever's novel Bullet Park, Parc received its North American premiere at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only a short while to live, a successful fashion photographer embarks on one final journey in the second of three films in a trilogy about death and mourning from French director François Ozon (the first entry in the the trilogy was Under the Sand) . After passing out during a particularly grueling photo shoot, high profile shutterbug Romain (Melvil Poupaud) is shocked to discover that his body has been ravaged by a fully metastasized cancer that will soon kill him. Without revealing the cause for his erratic behavior, the shell shocked Romain commences to alienate his entire family and ditch his handsome young boyfriend before connecting with affable waitress Jany (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) at a roadside café while en route to his grandmother's house. Upon arriving at the home of the one family member he knows will be joining him shortly in death, Romain's naked vulnerability is met with a gentle ear and sound advice. Once again meeting with the kindly Jany on his way to his ultimate fate, Romain and the waitress strike up an unusual bargain. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The recently dead return to life in They Came Back, but they are surprisingly uninterested in feasting on the living. Many of them are, naturally enough, elderly, and they seem content merely to go back to their former lives, but their return causes a myriad of complications. Robin Campillo, making his feature directorial debut, co-wrote the script to Laurent Cantet's Time Out, and his "zombie" movie quietly examines the individual and societal impact the dead have on the small French city -- just one of many similarly afflicted throughout the world -- to which they return. Isham (Djemel Barek) and Véronique (Marie Matheron) have their trepidations, but they're generally happy, at first, to see their little boy Sylvain (Saady Delas), and the town's elderly mayor (Victor Garrivier) welcomes home his wife, Martha (Catherine Samie). But Rachel (Géraldine Pailhas of 5x2), a government health official, cannot bring herself to visit her newly returned husband, Mathieu (Jonathan Zaccaï of Seaside), at the ad-hoc shelter where the government houses the "zombies" like refugees. Eventually, she relents, and Mathieu returns home, but the living find that their loved ones are not exactly as they remember them. Studies soon reveal that the dead suffer from a form of aphasia. They cannot create new memories, and they cannot be trusted to perform any but the most menial tasks. Perhaps sensing the discomfort they cause the living, the dead gather together at night, and seem to be formulating some kind of secret plan. They Came Back was selected by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center for inclusion in the 2005 edition of New Directors/New Films. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

French filmmaker Catherine Corsini co-writes and directs the black comedy Mariees Mais pas Trop (The Very Merry Widows). Jane Birkin stars as Renee, a femme fatale with a knack for making herself into a wealthy widow. Just as her latest husband's death is being investigated by insurance agent Thomas (Jeremie Elkaim), her long-lost orphaned granddaughter Laurence (Emilie Dequenne) has come looking for a place to stay. The grandmother is soon teaching the young girl everything she knows about marrying rich men on the verge of death. After Laurence meets a few of the local men, she realizes the inherent romantic possibilities with Thomas. Meanwhile, Renee actually finds herself developing real feelings for a man named Maurice (Pierre Richard). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

A lawyer finds himself playing on so many sides at once that he has trouble keeping score in this offbeat comedy. Alain (Pascal Greggory) is a bisexual attorney stuck in a deep well of sexual and professional confusion. Alain has become involved with Laurence (Nathalie Richard), another lawyer who shares his office; after they sleep together for the first time, Laurence finds herself pregnant, then wants Alain to marry her, even though she knows he doesn't love her. Meanwhile, Alain is obsessed with one of his clients, Marc (Vincent Martinez), who has just been handed a life sentence for murder but is still the man of his dreams, despite the fact that Christophe (Cyrille Thouvenin), Laurence's brother, is in love with Alain and willing to do anything to satisfy his sexual appetite. In order to get closer to Marc, Alain warily agrees to become an intermediary between Marc and his girlfriend Babette (Julie Gayet). But as he begins passing messages between the two, Alain finds himself falling into an affair with Babette. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Noted French filmmaker François Ozon directs this drama about personal loss and resilience. Marie (Charlotte Rampling) is deeply in love with her husband, Jean (Bruno Cremer). One day while vacationing at the seashore, Jean disappears into the ocean. A distraught Marie notifies the authorities, but sadly, they find no trace of her beloved husband. Later, back in Paris, Marie attends a dinner party hosted by her friend Amanda (Alexandra Stewart); over the course of dinner, it emerges that Marie and Jean had been married for 25 years. Marie speaks of Jean as if he were still alive, something that disturbs Amanda's fellow dinner guests, and after she is driven home by Vincent (Jacques Nolot), another guest, Marie sees Jean in her apartment and at breakfast the next morning. It quickly becomes apparent that Marie's imagination enables her to go along in life as if nothing happened to Jean, but as she slowly becomes involved with Vincent, she begins to cope with the fact that she is in fact living on her own. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Swiss born Léa Pool, who settled in Montreal, Quebec in 1975, set her sixth feature film, Emporte-Moi, in Mile's End, Montreal's working class district, in the year 1963. Hanna is a thirteen-year-old girl who is mesmerized by Anna Karina's portrayal of Nana S. in Jean-Luc Godard's film Vivre sa Vie. She thinks Nana S. looks like her teacher, with whom she hopes to establish a special bond. Hanna has her share of problems at home. Her father (Miki Manojiovic) is a stateless Jew and an unrecognized poet with a tormented soul. Her mother (Pascale Bussiéres) is a fragile and overworked young Catholic from Quebec, and their marriage is not ideal. Fortunately, she has her older brother (Alexandre Mérineau) to share her experiences and her close friend Laura Charlotte Christeler who attracts Hanna because she is so different and so sensual. Growing up in her limited circumstances, Hanna gradually realizes that like the character in Godard's film, she, too, is free to determine her future ... and with freedom comes responsibility. Miki Manojlovic, who plays the father, is a Belgrade born actor who is particularly known for his roles in the films of Emir Kusturica; he is quite convincing in the role of the affectionate but impulsive father. The young actress Karine Vanasse, who plays Hanna, carries the responsibility of her role very well and writer Nancy Huston, who collaborated on the screenplay, fits her role as the teacher in her screen debut. Emporte-Moi is definitely a woman's film, not only because the director, producer, screenwriter and even the director of photography are all women, but also in the way these women have collaborated in creating a work that specifically reflects a woman's point of view. The film competed at the 49th International Berlin Film Festival in 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

André Téchiné's complex and ambitious crime drama starts with a prologue in which a little boy is awakened in the middle of the night by two strangers bringing home his father's body. The story of the deceased, Ivan (Didier Bezace), and his involvement with car thieves unfolds in flashbacks as told by different people: Ivan's policeman brother Alex (Daniel Auteuil); Juliette (Laurence Côte), a young woman involved with the both brothers; and Marie (Catherine Deneuve), an unhappy philosophy professor in love with Juliette. Auteuil and Deneuve played siblings three years earlier in Téchiné's similarly rueful family drama Ma Saison Préferée. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

This is a nostalgic French coming-of-age drama from director Andre Techine set in a Provence deeply divided over the war for independence being waged against French colonialism in Algeria. In 1962, Francois (Gael Morel) and Maite (Elodie Bouchez) are best friends and students at a boarding school in southwestern France, where Maite's mother Madame Alvarez (Michele Moretti) is an instructor. Francois is realizing he's gay because of his attraction to his working class roommate Serge (Stephane Rideau). Although Serge seduces Francois one night, he is not gay and is actually attracted to Maite. So is Henri (Frederic Gorny), a radically-politicized Algerian-born Frenchman who supports France in the war, an unpopular position, particularly with Madame Alvarez, a communist. The classroom sparring between Henri and Alvarez galvanizes the school, but then word comes that Serge's older brother has been killed in the war. Madame Alvarez, who loved him but refused to help him desert the military, becomes so unhinged that she must be sent away for treatment. Wild Reeds (1994) won four Cesars (France's equivalent of the Oscar), including the award for that year's Best Picture, beating such other notable films as Red (1994) and Queen Margot (1994). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi