Amelie Gonin Movies

Edmond Rostand's classic drama of inner and outer beauty is given a lavish treatment in this acclaimed French production. Gérard Depardieu portrays the title character, a brilliant, charismatic swordsman with a generous spirit and a genius for poetry. It would seem that such a man would have no trouble attracting women, but Cyrano considers himself doomed to loneliness by an unattractive face featuring an oversized nose. His feelings of inadequacy are emphasized when Roxane, the beautiful woman he adores, attracts the attention of Christian, a young cadet in Cyrano's service. Christian lacks the poetic gift, however, and he ironically turns to Cyrano for help in winning Roxane's love. What follows is a tale of deception, with Roxane falling in love with the ineloquent Christian thanks to Cyrano's words of love. The underlying narrative has become quite familiar to modern audiences through retellings and variations from the 1950 adaptation starring José Ferrer to Steve Martin's Roxanne. Director Jean-Paul Rappeneau's interpretation stresses the tragic majesty of the original, setting a vigorous performance by Depardieu against a beautifully designed reproduction of the period and an emphasis on the sound and poetry of Rostand's original language; the subtitles for the film's English release were penned by renowned British author Anthony Burgess. This attention to detail creates a particularly faithful cinematic rendering of the original work that met with positive critical responses. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

This French historical drama is a retelling of the story of St. Bernadette, the young 19th-century girl who was ostracized and persecuted after she saw a vision of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes. Though she became a popular folk figure, the local politicians attempt to commit her to an asylum. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Yves Montand is Victor Valance, a long-lost father who has come home to his brood of daughters and his mother in order to weazel some money out of them to front a gambling casino. Unable to tell them the real reason he wants the money, he just says it is for a country house for them - though his oldest daughter Pauline (Isabelle Adjani) is immediately suspicious of these surprising good intentions. It does not take her long to find out why he needed the cash, and she sets out to sabotage his project and get the money back, with a vengeance. Her attitude changes just as fast when she realizes that gangsters are out to take over her father's casino project - which would equally cost her the family's money. The mob adversaries cause the father and daughter to team up in self-defense, leading to a climactic chase through the mountains. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide