Philippe LeDem Movies
A closeted Swiss professor's closely guarded sexuality threatens to become front page news when he is appointed guardian to a recalcitrant teen in this light and lively comedy starring Jean-Calude Brialy and Sabine Haudepin. Swiss law states that any citizen can be appointed guardian to a child and must assume that responsibility if so named. When outwardly straight, happily married professor and author Jean-Pierre learns that he has been named guardian of an orphaned teenage boy, his attempts to discourage the judge from placing him in charge of the boy prompt the magistrate to launch an investigation into his suitability for the task. Realizing that his livelihood is on the line, Jean-Pierre attempts to repair his relationship with Alice, the woman and friend who once married him as a favor. As the teen he has been placed in charge of takes the initiative to move in with him, Jean-Pierre's secret threatens to become the talk of the town and his life begins to unravel at the seams. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
The Lover is director Jean-Jacques Annaud's adaptation of Marguerite Duras' minimalist 1984 novel. Set in French Indochina in 1929, the film explores the erotic charge of forbidden love. Jane March plays a French teenager sent to a Saigon boarding school, while Tony Leung is a 32-year Chinese aristocrat. They look at each and they both see a blinding white flash; it's kismet. He offers her a ride in his limousine and soon they meet in his "bachelor room" where they revel in a wide variety of creative sexual encounters. However, they both realize their love is doomed. She comes from a troubled family that includes a mentally-disturbed mother (Frederique Meininger) and drug-addicted brother (Arnaud Giovaninetti). It also appears that her family would not approve of an interracial tryst. But then neither would his family, since in order to inherit his father's wealth, he must not break from a traditional Chinese arranged marriage. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jane March, Tony Leung Kar-Fai, (more)
