Francis Renaud Movies

A middle-aged maid with few prospects before her finds a new lease on life via the game of chess, in this unusual tale that marked the first directorial go-round of acclaimed scriptwriter Caroline Bottaro (Les Aveux de l'innocent). French screen siren Sandrine Bonnaire (À Nos Amours) stars as Hélène, a Frenchwoman employed as a housekeeper in a posh Corsican hotel. Though devoted and diligent as a wife and mother, she lacks any real passion in her life. That changes in a single, defining instant when Helene espies a mysterious couple (the female played by Jennifer Beals) exchanging erotic glances and seductive gestures over a chessboard, on a nearby balcony. Feeling sexual arousal, Hélène misguidedly tries to parlay this into her own personal life by giving her boatworker husband an electronic chessboard, but the connection between this and a need for greater intimacy eludes him. Hélène's curiosity about chess nonetheless endures, and when she fails to teach herself to play sans assistance, she turns to an eccentric, reclusive American whose house she cleans, Dr. Kroger (Kevin Kline) and asks him to mentor her in the game. In time, her expertise outstrips Kroger's and she begins to live and breathe chess, but this very passion also threatens to alienate the woman's family, who perceive a form of infidelity in this new obsession. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

A cop on the edge of an emotional collapse is on the trail of a violent madman in this edgy crime thriller from French writer and director Olivier Marchal. Charles Subra (Philippe Nahon) is a habitual criminal who, after serving twenty-five years in prison on a sentence for rape and murder, is up for parole. While Charles insists he's seen the error of his ways and wants to repay society for his crimes, Justine (Olivia Bonamy) isn't buying it -- Charles murdered her mother and father while she watched, and she writes him a long letter explaining in detail why she wants him to stay behind bars. Charles is granted parole anyway, but it soon becomes clear that the clever criminal fooled the prison authorities -- he still has a taste for murder and wants to kill again, starting with Justine. Louis Schneider (Daniel Auteuil) is a police detective who meets with Justine and helps protect her from the madman on the loose, but he's not the best man for the job these days -- shattered by the sudden death of his wife and child and haunted by a serious of brutal murders he's been investigating, Louis's psyche is in tatters and he's only marginally more stable than the criminal he's trying to catch. Director and screenwriter Olivier Marchal was inspired to make MR 73 by his own experiences as a police officer in the early '80s; the title is police slang for the Manurhin 73, a standard handgun for French beat cops in the '70s and '80s. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

French filmmaker Olivier Dahan directs the crime thriller sequel The Crimson Rivers II: The Angels of the Apocalypse, with a script by Luc Besson inspired by the novel Les Rivières Pourpres by Jean-Christophe Grange. Jean Reno returns as veteran police detective Pierre Niemans. He is sent to the Lorraine region of France to investigate a creepy monastery, where his team discovers a dead body hidden in the walls. Meanwhile, police captain Reda (Benoît Magimel) accidentally hits Jésus (Augustin Legrand) with his car, leading to another encounter with a killer monk. Niemans and Reda get together with religious expert Marie (Camille Natta) for the supernatural investigation. Christopher Lee appears in a cameo role. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

An unexpected tragedy drives a wedge between an idyllic young husband and wife in this impressionistic Belgian drama. Des Plumes Dans la Tete concerns the relationship between the amorous Jean-Pierre (Francis Renaud) and Blanche (Sophie Museur), leading a life of pastoral bliss in the small town of Genappe with their precocious son Arthur (Ulysse de Swaef). Mother and child spend their days interacting with the townspeople or going on nature walks; the latter endeavor proves tragic when Arthur wanders off on his own one afternoon, and is never seen from again. Both parents are devastated in different ways: Jean-Pierre grows cynical and reticent, while Blanche retreats into a naïve state, pretending that her son is still very much alive. As the couple grows further and further apart, Blanche devolves into madness, spending days on end exploring the fields and trails surrounding Genappe; it's there that she meets a reclusive, curious teenager (Alexis Den Doncker) who helps her escape her fantasy existence. Des Plumes dans la Tete premiered in the Director's Fortnight section of the 2003 Cannes Film Festival before screenings at the Toronto and Tokyo festivals. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi