Manuel Blanc Movies

1999 Madeleine is the first step in an ambitious project by the French filmmaker Laurent Bouhnik to make one film per year between 1999-2009, recounting the turn of the century in an interweaving narrative pattern. Episode one is about Madeline, a lonely woman obsessed by religion and cleanliness. Her solitary existence leads her to place an advertisement for a man willing to share his life with a 'single, working 35-year-old.' She is a woman of our times who is caught between the paradoxes of modern life and individual needs for communication. The world offers her opportunities to satisfy material needs but, unfortunately, this is to the detriment of her spiritual needs. Madeleine received the 1st prize of the Young Jury (UBS) at the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival, and Vera Briole was awarded a Bronze Leopard as Best Actress. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

This French film is an old-fashioned melodrama with a love triangle, a talented starlet, and a duel. It is set in 1930 when talking films were just coming into vogue and threatening to overshadow theatrical plays. The film features cameos by famed French actors of that time period. Victor Derval is returning home after a performance when he is hailed by Lisa, a young Hungarian woman. Lisa's motives are mysterious; is she simply a star-struck peasant girl, or an ambitious, manipulative aspiring star? Derval is taken with her, and she soon finds herself Derval's personal secretary and is to move into his home where his son Paul, an aspiring writer/revolutionary, also lives. Both men fall for Lisa, who has already fallen in love with the limelight. She will eventually get her wish, but not without paying a price. Though generally beloved by all Parisians, Victor Derval has one detractor, playwright Coste who hates that Derval freely edits his work on stage. Paul, enraged at his father decides to plot revenge, but cannot decide whether he should kill his father or design something a little more creative. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A French army journalist bears witness to the atrocities of the Algerian war in 1962 in this gripping French war movie. It is based on the 1967 novel by Philippe Labro. The film begins in Paris as Jerome Carier, ready to embark to Algiers, is beaten and questioned about the politically sensitive photographs he has. The photos were sent to him by Francois, a friend stationed in Algiers. Francoise is trying to get the French and the Algerians to reconcile. Jerome arrives in the war-torn country and finds himself faced with unbelievable carnage. The French are behind most of it. Because he took the pictures, Francois life is in jeopardy. He is murdered and Jerome finds himself attracted to his girl friend, a radio station announcer. The film contains graphic pictures of the slaughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Young, naive and innocent, Pierre (Manuel Blanc) has dreams of becoming an actor. He is a good-looking and personable boy, and he has just moved to the city to see if he can't accomplish his dreams. He gets a job as an orderly at a hospital and is further supported by an older woman (Helene Vincent), a nurse he has met there, in return for his sexual favors. However, in his acting class, he quickly discovers that he is not overflowing with talent, and his dream of becoming an actor grows dim. Instead, despite the advice of a knowledgeable and worldly older gay man (Philippe Noiret), he becomes a sex worker. It has long been a staple of the movies that certain hustlers and prostitutes maintain a distinction between their work and their lives by not kissing their clients, hence the title of this film, J'embrasse Pas. He grows to love the seedy, degraded lifestyle, and seems to be adapting well to his new profession until he has the poor judgement to fall in love with a high-class prostitute (Emmanuelle Béart) and earns the antagonism of her pimp. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi