Alessandra Martines Movies

By the Pricking of My Thumbs director Pascal Thomas returns to the written word of Agatha Christie for inspiration, and the result is a lively whodunit centering on a deadly family gathering and the exquisite sleuthing skills of hyper-perceptive crime-fighter Superintendent Bataille. For the past twenty-odd years, elderly dowager Camilla Tresillian (Danielle Darrieux) has maintained a quiet existence in her sprawling mansion, where her every need is attended to by professional caretaker Marie-Adeline (Alessandra Martines) and stern-eyed personal maid Barrette (Carmen Durand). The familiar silence of Camilla's world is suddenly interrupted, however, when a series of relatives including her spendthrift nephew Guillaume (Melvil Poupaud) and his second wife Caroline (Laura Smet) are summoned to her mansion for a long overdue family gathering. Much to the Guillaume's dismay, his first wife Aude (Chiara Mastroianni) is also on the guest list, as is worldly adventurer Thomas Rondeau (Clement Thomas), who has always carried a torch for the pretty divorcée. Likewise, notorious ladies man Fred Latimer (Xavier Thiam) turns up casting a longing gaze at Caroline, and as the rest of the guests begin to arrive it becomes increasingly apparent that they all anticipate a hearty inheritance from their increasingly frail host. When Judge Trevoz (Jacques Sereys), a special guest of Camilla's, becomes the first victim in a painstakingly planned double homicide, it begins to appear as if Guillaume's greed has finally gotten the best of him. As with most well executed crimes, however, the truth is a far cry from initial appearances and fortunately Superintendent Bataille just so happens to be vacationing in the region. Now, as the clue-sniffing sleuth and his policeman nephew interrupt Camilla's party in hopes of ferreting out a killer, it quickly becomes apparent that everyone in the mansion has a motive for murder. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Directed by Gabriele Salvatores, Amnesia takes place in the Spanish island of Ibiza, where an odd mix of commercialism, ex-hippies, fisherman, and artists co-exist. Town locals Sandro (Diego Abatantunono), a pornographic film director, and Angelino (Sergio Rubini), the manager of a beachside watering hole, find their very different lives overlapping. Meanwhile, the island police chief (Juanjo Puigcorbe), who is currently at odds with his rebellious son Jorge (Ruben Ochandiano), is investigating the death of a drug dealer (which was accidentally brought on by Angelino). Jorge's plans to move to America have so far been thwarted by his father, but when he finds out about the affair his dad had been having with a male nightclub dancer, he uses it as blackmail fodder.

~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Noted French filmmaker Claude Leloud directs this romantic comedy about a trio of femme fatale musketeers. In order to repay a stack of debts after a disastrous self-financed production of Chekhov's "Three Sisters," Olga (Anne Parillaud), Macha (Alice Evans), and Irina (Marianne Denicourt) hatch a mercenary scheme aimed at lonely Concorde passengers. Armed with exotic false identities and intelligence gathered by Irina's sister and airline employee Olivia (Olivia Bonamy), the three plot to seduce a lonely millionaire, maintain a chaste relationship long enough to exact expensive gifts, and then find an excuse to breakup. Olga's first mark, Oscar, immediately drops his wife when he learns that Olga is a direct descendant of Johannes Sebastian Bach, his favorite composer. Irina's mark, a fabulously wealthy nightclub owner who obsesses over buying a chateaux, dumps his wife, too, when he learns that she is related to Marie Antoinette. Macha has similar success with the president of an unnamed African nation when she reveals that she is descended from renowned humanitarian Albert Schweitzer. Things get dicey when Bayard, (Jean-Pierre Marielle) a suave, seasoned police commissioner gets involved in their dubious scheme. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

A feather-light and funny musing on the nature of love, fate and starting over, Claude Lelouch's comedy begins with the meeting of Fabio Lini, an actor turned undercover Paris cop and the notorious lawyer-cum-businessman Benoit Blanc . Both have come to the same clinic to have their ulcers checked, and as they chit-chat, they realize that they have much in common. Relations with women have played big parts in their ulcers. Both freely acknowledge that male/female relations are always problematic, and yet, despite the hindrances the unions present, neither Claude nor Benoit is able to live without them. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

After being driven over the edge by a collective series of romantic reverses, three working-class friends abandoned their ordinary jobs as a waiter, taxi-driver and hairdresser to milk money from tourists in a series of clever scams. They have been apprehended by the authorities and are awaiting trial before a judge who has been having an affair with their lawyer. Before this comedy is over, the judge, who previously had entertained a rather exalted view of his own good sense, will have a more sympathetic understanding of how ordinarily good men can go a little crazy and do some bad things - especially in response to crazy romantic situations. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Mitzi (Hanna Schygulla) turns to Sandor (Marcello Mastroianni) for help when her husband is murdered by right-wing extremists looking for a cache of diamonds. She and her young son escape with Sandor to Italy. By the 1930s, they return to Budapest to run the successful Arizona Club, a posh watering hole for the social elite. Mitzi falls for an American journalist, her son falls for a woman with ties to high-ranking Nazis, and Sandor is questioned about his Jewish heritage. The son learns he is half Jewish as the Nazi round-up and deportation begin. Uneven editing in places suggests that a lot of film ended up on the cutting-room floor. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi