Frédéric Gorny Movies

Set in the 1930s, Premier de Cordee begins as Zian (Frederic Gorny), a young man who has traveled from his birthplace in the Alps to Paris, returns to his family home just as his father, a mountain guide, dies after being struck by lightning. Zian has chosen to carry on in his father's work, although he's very much aware of the dangers involved. Along with the death of his father, he's also been confronted with the sad fate of his best friend, who went into the mountains to rescue Ruspoli (Giuliano Gemma), the rich client stranded by the death of Zian's father. When the young man returned, it was discovered he had lost his toes to frostbite. However, Zian is determined to become a guide, and he soon wins the attentions of Ruspoli's daughter, Bianca (Silvia de Santis), even though her socially prominent family is not happy that she's become involved with a poverty-stricken mountaineer. A climbing accident leaves Zian with a chronic case of vertigo that threatens his new career, but with Bianca's help he sets his sights on conquering Mount Blanc. Based on a series of three novels by Roger Frison-Roche (which were previously adapted for the screen in 1943), Premier de Cordee was originally shot on videotape for broadcast by French, Italian, and Swiss television networks, though it was later transferred to film for theatrical screenings. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Mirroring the style of French graphic novels and dramatic comic strips, this adventure is set in a rundown lunar city and chronicles an evil, rapidly aging dictator's desperate search for the man who unwillingly donated his brain cells to him 20 years before. The dictator Mac Bee begins his mad hunt after an assassin kills his heirs. Without more of Tykho Moon's brain cells, Mac Bee will lose control of the moon and so sends out his best storm troopers to find Tykho. But Tykho lost his memory after the first operation and has become Anikst, a sculptor. He has a feeling that something is wrong and that for some reason he may be the object of the intense searching. While wandering the city streets, he encounters and falls in love with Lena, a beautiful prostitute who also turns out to be more than she seems. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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