Serge Avedikian Movies
- 2010
The year is 1910: When stray dogs start to overrun the streets of Constantinople, the newly established government decides to take action by rounding them up, and ship them off to a deserted island. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2006
A crisis forces a family to mend old wounds in this drama from French filmmaker Robert Guediguian. Anna (Ariane Ascaride) is a heart surgeon who lives and works in Marseilles; her late mother was Italian, and her curmudgeonly father Barsam (Marcel Bluwal) was born and raised in Armenia. Anna has issues with Barsam, believing he was pitilessly cruel to her mother, but she still looks after him, and when she diagnoses him with a serious cardiac condition, Anna schedules him for surgery. However, Barsam does not want to have the operation, and without warning he leaves Marseilles to pay a visit to the small town of his birth. Desperate to find Barsam, Anna turns to his old friend Yervanth (Gerard Meylan), who offers only the most grudging assistance as she flies to Armenia in search of her dad. The Journey To Armenia (aka Le Voyage en Armenie) was screened as part of the Masters Program at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ariane Ascaride, Gérard Meylan, (more)
- 1999
Sex, avant-garde art, and Communist ideology are at the heart of this compelling historical drama. The film opens just as the Soviet Empire crumbles in 1989. As Louise (Brigitte Catillon) mourns the death of her lover, she discovers the journal of Alfred Katz (Gregoire Colin), an earnest Jewish radical and erstwhile poet who disappeared in 1938. With the aid of a history professor, Louise unravels what happened to Katz. In the feverish climate of pre-WWII Paris, Katz reveals himself as both a fervent Trotskyite and an unabashed romantic. At a party thrown by the noted surrealist Andre Breton, he meets Mila (Anouk Grinberg), a beautiful part-time model, part-time whore. As soon as he falls for her, he learns of her other lover Felix (Xavier Beauvois), a fervent Stalinist. Bored with politics, Mila eventually marries Katz. Soon betrayal and politics catch up with the poet. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Grégoire Colin, Anouk Grinberg, (more)
- 1999
Music video director Michael Shamberg debuts with this experimental drama about a woman who comes to terms with painful childhood memories. Orlando (Stanton D. Miranda) is an expatriate American sports journalist living in Paris. She is also slowly recovering from childhood sexual abuse from her father and an incestuous relationship with her late brother. As she wanders the streets on a rainy evening, she sullenly ruminates over her memories. Both Kristin Scott Thomas and Christina Ricci play small parts in this film, while legendary filmmaker Chris Marker provides computer graphics. Souvenir was screened at the 1999 Mill Valley Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stanton D. Miranda, Manon Blanc, (more)
- 1992
- R
Virginie is the daughter of the local bar owner and has ambitions to become a writer. She is an upbeat and inquisitive girl. In her mountain town just after World War II, the two local children at the top of the economic ladder are the grown, orphaned siblings Anne and Jacques, both of whom are in love with the vivacious Virginie. However, Anne gets to her first, and the two of them share a deep romantic bond which Virginie writes about in her diary. Jacques can tell that his beloved is in love with someone else, and he is deeply jealous. One day he steals her diary and finds many entries in it about a mysterious person named "Paul." To Virginie's dismay, her enraged male suitor reads intimate passages from her diary to the villagers passing through the town square after church. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Élodie Bouchez, Benoît Magimel, (more)
- 1986
In a drama in which even God has a role (Philippe Leotard) as well as Michael York, it is certain that serious issues are at stake. Set during the time before the state of Israel was created and established, a British officer has been captured by a band of Jewish resistance fighters with the intent of killing him at dawn. One of the Jews was sentenced to die after being captured by the English, and this death will be in retaliation. The trouble is that a young and ambivalent fighter is left holding the officer captive with orders to shoot him at the pre-arranged time. It is a long night of soul-searching before the Jewish soldier comes up with a solution to his quandary. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Philippe Léotard, Redjep Mitrovitsa, (more)
Michel Piccoli plays Akiva Liebskind, a Russian chess genius in the Swiss-filmed Dangerous Moves. He is pitted against Soviet exile Pavius Fromm (Alexandre Arbatt), who, since childhood, has dreamed of nothing but defeating Liebskind. Both men soon become obsessed with winning. Already suffering from a weak heart, Liebskind courts a coronary, while the increasingly paranoid Fromm is convinced that his opponent is spying on him from every corner. The KGB enters into the game by attempting to sabotage Fromm, hoping that by doing so they will discredit everyone who's ever publicly opposed the Soviet government. Dangerous Moves was the 1984 recipient of the Best Foreign-Language Picture Academy Award. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Alexandre Arbatt, (more)
- 1983
In this surreal, overstated, black-and-white film by Marcel Schuepbach, a young woman is slowly driven to near insanity by an inner desire for a passionate existence, while she lives a dull life at her grandmother's country home. The grandmother recalls how her own daughter lost hold of sanity and died on her lover's grave -- and she begins to see similarities in her granddaughter's behavior. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anne Caudry, Anne Marie Blanc, (more)
- 1980
The French We Were One Man is a most unusual wartime love story. In rural France, a male farmer comes across a wounded German officer. Allowing his pacifist nature to supersede his patriotism, the farmer hides the German in his barn. The two men become friends....and then, lovers. Handled with taste (if not always discretion), We Were One Man offers a fascinating variation on the standard "opposites attract" theme. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Serge Avedikian, Piotr Stanislas, (more)
- 1979
A good argument against capital punishment, this polemical as well as compelling docudrama tells the story of the arrest, conviction, and execution of a man who may have been innocent. In 1974 a young girl was kidnapped and murdered near Marseilles. The public was outraged at the crime, so when traveling salesman Christian Ranucci (Serge Avedikian) was arrested, the prevailing mood was to convict him. As this story unfolds, it is revealed that the court did not allow certain exonerating evidence to be presented nor contradictory witnesses to take the stand. Among the facets of the case that raised doubt was a red sweater found at the crime scene. It belonged to the killer but was several sizes too big for Ranucci. In brief, there is enough evidence to suggest that the real killer and kidnapper got away with it. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Serge Avedikian, Michele Marquais, (more)
Rating Systems
Blockbuster
BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster L.L.C.
2013 Blockbuster L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Portions of Content Provided by Rovi Corporation. 2013 Rovi Corporation.