Marisa Berenson Movies

A family embraces the positive and negative sides of new freedoms fate has brought their way in this drama from filmmaker Luca Guadagnino. Edoardo Recchi Sr. (Gabriele Ferzetti) is the patriarch of a wealthy Italian family who've amassed a significant fortune over the years through shrewd investments in manufacturing. Edoardo has a beautiful wife, Allegra (Marisa Berenson), and they have four grown children -- Tancredi (Pippo Delbono), Edoardo Jr. (Flavio Parenti), Gianluca (Mattia Zaccaro) and Elisabetta (Alba Rohrwacher). The family gathers for a reunion at Edoardo and Allegra's villa in Milan, with Tancredi's wife Emma (Tilda Swinton) and Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini), a chef planning on going into business with Edoardo, also in attendance. But the happy gathering takes a somber turn when Edoardo suddenly dies while having lunch with the family. The death takes the family by surprise, and causes nearly everyone to reassess themselves and their lives. In the months that follow, Allegra discovers that Elisabetta is a lesbian, and deals with new desires of her own when she falls in love with Antonio. Tancredi finds that his relationship with Emma is not as stable as it once was as he struggles to keep up the elegant image of the Recchi name. And Edoardo Jr., now controlling much of the family business, is disappointed with how changing styles of business have eroded the company's dignity and good name. Io Sono L'amore (aka I Am Love) was an official selection at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Follow along as filmmaker Rob Fruchtman travels to historic locations across the globe to discuss and debate the role that Mary Magdalene played in early Christianity in this documentary companion piece to Dan Burstein and Arne de Kaijzer's book Secrets of Mary Magdalene: The Untold Story of History's Most Misunderstood Woman. Leading experts in religion and history all come together to investigate the woman who would become Jesus Christ's foremost apostle, as well address accusations that her image has been tarnished and her significance to early Christianity deliberately underplayed in order to better cohere to the constantly evolving agenda of organized religion. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Jet Set writer/director Fabien Onteniente returns to craft this sequel set against the backdrop of hedonistic Ibiza, and starring Rupert Everett as a Parisian party planner whose career has been sabotaged by a jealous rival. If you want your party to pop, you call on Charles (Everett). Charles has a knack for throwing the wildest parties in around, and his reputation is legendary. But Charles also has his fair share of enemies, and when a dastardly competitor schemes to turn Europe's hottest party planner into a hopeless has been he makes way for Ibiza in search of local club king John John (Jose Garcia). Perhaps with a little help from the flamboyant entertainer who helped put Ibiza on the map, Charles can restore his reputation and finally get back to doing what he does best - keep the crowds dancing till the break of dawn! ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A young man's interest in film history leads to a revelation about his own past in this drama. Sam (Benoit Magimel) is a student and film fan who is fascinated by Sylvain Marceau (Sagamore Stevenin), an actor who had a brief career in the 1930s but seems to have vanished while working on "Princess Marushka," a historical epic that was never completed. Sam decides to make a documentary about Marceau's life and disappearance, and attempts to arrange an interview with Lisa Morain (Jeanne Moreau), a veteran actress who worked with Marceau on "Princess Marushka." Despite her initial reluctance, Sam is able to persuade Lisa to discuss her memories of Marceau, which turn out to be deeper and more personal than he imagined: when she was 22, Lisa met the young Sylvain when both were patients at a tuberculosis sanitarium in the French Alps. Lisa and Sylvain became quite close, and she learned that Sylvain was a Jew, which in Europe in the 1930s was hardly the ticket to a long and uneventful life. As Sam learns more about the story of Lisa and Sylvain, he finds himself increasingly curious about his own past, a subject his parents (Denise Chalem and Michel Jonasz) are not inclined to discuss. Lisa also features Marion Cotillard as the youthful Lisa. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Shot in Lisbon, this drama examines the issue of aging as seen from the viewpoints of five women facing middle age -- self-destructive actress-singer Branca (Guesch Patti), losing the respect of her daughter; single literature professor Eva (Miou-Miou), attracted to the son of her friend Barbara (Marthe Keller), who's in the middle of a divorce; top TV journalist Linda (Carmen Maura), who has a lover but can't commit; and beauty-salon owner Chloe (Marisa Berenson). Shown at the 1998 Palm Springs Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Best known for their historical epics that examine class and social issues in British life through a thick lens of tasteful production design and good manners, director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant set their sights on an American protagonist for a change with Jefferson in Paris. As the title suggests, Jefferson in Paris deals with the five years that Thomas Jefferson (Nick Nolte) spent as U.S. ambassador to France prior to the French Revolution; while Jefferson is sympathetic to the revolutionary forces in France, he's become well enough acquainted with the ruling aristocracy that he finds himself torn between the two sides of the issue. Jefferson, a recent widower, also becomes friends with Maria Cosway (Greta Scacchi), who is married to a foppish British artist; while it's obvious the two are in love, neither is in a position to do anything about their infatuation. And while Jefferson's daughter Patsy (Gwyneth Paltrow) loves her father, she's very upset with him when he sends her to a convent school. In this midst of this personal turmoil, Jefferson's younger daughter Polly (Estelle Eonnet) arrives in Paris, with her slave Sally Hemmings (Thandie Newton) in tow. Attractive and bright (if uneducated), Sally catches Jefferson's eye, and a friendship develops that grows into something deeper; in time, Sally becomes pregnant, and her family claims that Jefferson is the father. At the time Jefferson In Paris was released, the question of Sally Hemmings' relationship with Thomas Jefferson was a matter of lively historical debate; since then, genetic evidence has shown that, while Jefferson's paternity can't be proved beyond a doubt, it is likely that he did father children with Hemmings. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

"Danse Diabolique" is the title of a "cursed" ballet, which has been performed only three times. On the first two occasions, the prima ballerina has died under mysterious circumstances--and the same thing happens to the unfortunate young lady who stars in the third performance. Suspecting that murder rather than superstition is the cause of these three deaths, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) investigates, at one point posing as a scatterbrained Southern matron in order to weed out some vital information about some significant roses. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Those looking for an intelligible filmed rendition of Anton Checkhov's famous play, The Cherry Orchard might be well advised to look elsewhere. This version had the curious distinction of receiving the universal and enthusiastic condemnation of critics attending its 1992 San Sebastian Film Festival screening. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this thriller a Chicago policeman grows suspicious after his daughter does not return from a modeling assignment on a Caribbean island. He flies out to find her and finds himself in some rather strange situations. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Ernest Hemingway (Stacy Keach) begins his family and career in Europe, survives combat and marriages, struggles with a ragingly out of control lifestyle, and returns to Idaho where, at age 61 and with his best writing behind him, takes his life. He leaves behind a legacy of great literature and a great legend. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

Jon Rothstein stars in this ABC Afterschool Special as a wimpy but artistically gifted teenager. Tired of being persecuted by school bullies, our hero creates a comic book about a master scientist who feels he is "doing mankind a favor" by eliminating the boy's real-life nemeses. In the process, the youthful artist learns that there are other ways besides brute strength to overcome one's problems. In the film's fantasy sequences, the scientist is played by Adolph Caesar of A Soldier's Story fame. ~ All Movie Guide

In this drama, a woman struggles to rise to the top of the fashion industry, but as she does, her past business sins come back to haunt her. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

A misanthropic comedy by Gérard Lauzier, Tête Dans Le Sac satirizes the arrogance of a 50-year-old owner of a prosperous ad agency as he tries to join a swinging, twentysomething clique of fast-living friends. Romain (Guy Marchand) drives a Jaguar, lives in an opulent bachelor pad, and has a gorgeous mistress (Marisa Berenson) -- yet he is trying to seduce the 22-year-old Eva (Fanny Bastien). She, in turn, is really interested in Dany (Patrick Bruel), a young man whom Romain hires to work in his agency. While Romain is played for a fool by Eva and her friends among the cocaine crowd, Dany has his own plans for the future and they do not involve his foolish boss. Aside from a few stereotypical portrayals of the denizens of a wild nightlife, Lauzier succeeds at revving his cynicism into high gear as the young sharks swim around an unsuspecting Romain. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide