Frédéric Pierrot Movies

An outsider becomes a witness to the shocking and sometimes chaotic world of a special police force in this drama from writer and director Maiwenn. The Child Protection Unit is a team of police officers who deal in cases that involve minors, and an ordinary workday finds them dealing with child abuse, youthful thieves, molestation, teen prostitutes, and families on the run from the law. The work is emotionally taxing, and the members of the Child Protection Unit count on each other for support, though they often have issues with one another as well. Nadine (Karin Viard) has a close friendship with Iris (Marina Fois), but in the wake of her divorce, Nadine has becomes jealous of her work partner, which sometimes explodes into vicious arguments. Chrys (Karole Rocher) has just discovered she's having a baby, complicating her relationship with Mathieu (Nicolas Duvauchelle), who is secretly in love with her. And Fred (Joeystarr) is going through a messy divorce that has taken him away from his young daughter, making him volatile and high strung, and while the group leader Balloo (Frederic Pierrot) tries to cover for him, his behavior is hard to explain to those outside the unit. This becomes clear when Melissa (Maiwenn), a photojournalist, is assigned to follow the men and women of the CPU for an upcoming magazine piece and becomes part of their dysfunctional family. Poliss (the title comes from a child's misspelling of the French word for "police") received a Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for fourteen Cesar Awards (the French Oscar), winning two.
~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A tragic and shameful moment in French history continues to have consequences in the present day in this screen adaptation of the novel by Tatiana de Rosnay. Julia Jarmond (Kristin Scott Thomas) is an American writer living in Paris with her husband, Bertrand (Frédéric Pierrot), an architect who is restoring a block of apartments in Paris owned by his family. Julia learns that Bertrand's family obtained the building through less than honorable means; the original owners were Jews who were forced to sell in the wake of the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1942, when the Nazi-affiliated Vichy government arrested over 13,000 Parisian Jews. One of the victims was Sarah Starzynski (Mélusine Mayance), a ten-year-old girl who tried to protect her younger brother by locking him in a cupboard in their apartment. Fearing for her brother's safety, Sarah escapes the crowded cycling stadium where the Jews are being held and tries to make her way back home. Julia learns of Sarah's story while doing research on the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, and her investigation teaches her a great deal about an event many in France are reluctant to discuss, as well as the links to Bertrand's family. Elle S'Appelait Sarah (aka Sarah's Key) was, along with La Rafle, one of two films concerning the Vel'd'Hiv Roundup released in France in 2010. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Many regard the satirically inclined writer-director-star Agnès Jaoui (Le Goût des Autres) as a European equivalent of Woody Allen. The cerebral comedy Let It Rain represents Jaoui's third effort in the said capacities, and finds her juggling preoccupations with gender politics and class differences. Here, she plays Agathe Villanova, a feminist author with political plans who heads off to the summer residence of her early years to address some unfinished family business with her sister, Florence (Pascale Arbillot). Once there, her path crisscrosses with two documentarists shooting a film about powerful women -- Karim (Jamel Debbouze) and Michel (Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jaoui's off-camera husband and creative partner, who co-authored the script with her). She agrees to be interviewed for the film, leading to a series of arguments between Karim and Michel about how best to film her; meanwhile, Agnes offers to help Karim out by setting up a job for him, little recognizing the complications that this will yield. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

In this Kafkaesque look at the injustices of modern life, Tres Bien, Merci follows an accountant named Alex who catches the eye of authorities for the minor infraction of lighting up his cigarette just a few feet shy of the smoking area near the subway. Guards force him to pay an exorbitant fine, but Alex's breaking of minor rules earns an even more disproportionately harsh punishment when police throw him in jail overnight simply for loitering to watch an I.D. check being performed on a young couple. As things become maddeningly more absurd, he's later imprisoned in a mental institution simply for rationally pleading his defense. Throughout Tres Bien, Merci, Alex's excruciatingly lucid state of mind contrasts with the increasingly insane reactions of authority figures, illustrating the indignities of society. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

Their relationship fractured when older sister Juliette is sentenced to 15 years in prison, two siblings wage an emotional battle to rebuild their relationship, overcome the secrets that keep them apart, and finally express the thoughts that have lain dormant for well over a decade. The moment Juliette was convicted, her parents declared that they wanted nothing to do with her. Now, after 15 years behind bars, Juliette is a free woman and in desperate need of a human connection. When Juliette's younger sister, Léa, is approached by a prison social worker and asked if she would be willing to provide her recently paroled sibling with a place to live, she doesn't hesitate to open her doors and share her home. But Léa is happily married with two adopted daughters, and her husband, Luc, is uneasy with the arrangement. Still, the house is large, the couple is used to having company, and the two young girls are thrilled to have a new aunt. As Juliette gets settled, Léa does her best to make her feel welcome. Likewise, Léa's colleague Michel and emigrant couple Samir and Kaïsha also offer to help Juliette readjust to life on the outside. Along the way, Juliette slowly begins to emerge from her shell and Léa realizes just how much she missed her sister. Perhaps if she can put aside her feelings of guilt long enough to truly understand her sister's plight, these two strangers can finally remember what it means to be family. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Arnaud Viard's 2003 French-language feature Clara et Moi chronicles the eccentric romance between the 33-year-old struggling actor Antoine (Julien Boisselier of Le Convoyeur) and Clara (Julie Gayet Les Menteurs), a girl he happens to meet on the subway. Clara happens along at exactly the right time for Antoine, who - worn out from celibacy - has just avowed to his analyst that he'll find a wife within a set period. All is heaven at first, almost farcically so (and Viard, well aware of this, even defies the audience's formic expectations by playfully interjecting a musical number into the middle of the movie, in which the lovers "sing" their feelings to one another, ala Demy). But suddenly, a dark and unexpected twist emerges in the relationship, that strips bare Antoine's emotional immaturity and thus threatens to bring everything crashing down. Michel Aumont co-stars. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Bruno (Grégoire Colin of Beau Travail) is a troubled art student fascinated with pristine white walls and empty space. A squalid, unhappy childhood has left him angry, reclusive, and obsessive. When his brutish uncle (Etienne Chicot), fed up with Bruno's eccentricities, threatens to kick him out, Bruno calmly murders him. Elise (Julie Ordon) is several years younger than Bruno, just entering adulthood. Her mother was murdered when Elise was a little girl, and Anne (Brigitte Catillon), the psychiatrist who used hypnosis to try to draw out her memory of the event, is now married to Elise's father, Richard (Laurent Grévill). Anne still worries that the mysterious man who murdered Elise's mother will return to harm Elise. She's overprotective to the point of paranoia, and Elise grows increasingly weary of her stepmother's constant meddling. When Bruno gets an interior design job at the upscale shoe store where Elise works, they are immediately drawn to each other. While Elise is quietly determined to draw out the odd, shy young man, Bruno seems to see Elise as some kind of ideal objet d'art. Anne, ever suspicious, suspects that Bruno is up to no good, and tries to keep Elise from seeing him. As Bruno plots to make Elise his, the twisted truth about her mother's murder is revealed. Inquiétudes, based on the novel A Sight for Sore Eyes by Ruth Rendell, was written and directed by Gilles Bourdos. It was shown at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Rendezvous With French Cinema in 2004. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

The recently dead return to life in They Came Back, but they are surprisingly uninterested in feasting on the living. Many of them are, naturally enough, elderly, and they seem content merely to go back to their former lives, but their return causes a myriad of complications. Robin Campillo, making his feature directorial debut, co-wrote the script to Laurent Cantet's Time Out, and his "zombie" movie quietly examines the individual and societal impact the dead have on the small French city -- just one of many similarly afflicted throughout the world -- to which they return. Isham (Djemel Barek) and Véronique (Marie Matheron) have their trepidations, but they're generally happy, at first, to see their little boy Sylvain (Saady Delas), and the town's elderly mayor (Victor Garrivier) welcomes home his wife, Martha (Catherine Samie). But Rachel (Géraldine Pailhas of 5x2), a government health official, cannot bring herself to visit her newly returned husband, Mathieu (Jonathan Zaccaï of Seaside), at the ad-hoc shelter where the government houses the "zombies" like refugees. Eventually, she relents, and Mathieu returns home, but the living find that their loved ones are not exactly as they remember them. Studies soon reveal that the dead suffer from a form of aphasia. They cannot create new memories, and they cannot be trusted to perform any but the most menial tasks. Perhaps sensing the discomfort they cause the living, the dead gather together at night, and seem to be formulating some kind of secret plan. They Came Back was selected by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center for inclusion in the 2005 edition of New Directors/New Films. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Antoine de Caunes' second feature, Monsieur N. is a historical mystery thriller about Napoleon. Sir Hudson Lowe (Richard E. Grant) is assigned to guard Napoleon (Philippe Torreton) while the latter is in exile in Saint Helena. A local girl, Betsy (Siobhan Hewlett), has a crush on the exiled leader. This, along with the fact that keeping Napoleon on the island is costing the British a great sum of money, leads Lowe to consider drastic action. Monsieur N. was screened at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Noted French filmmaker Laurence Ferreira Barbosa directs this loosely-structured triptych about a trio of unconnected people who struggle through the loneliness of their lives. Impetuous 17-year-old Marguerite (Lolita Chammah), who feels cut off from both her family and classmates, passes the time by talking to God. Eventually, she decides to enter a convent. Meanwhile, housewife Claire (Isabelle Hubbert) is frustrated after ten years of childless marriage. While going to visit a fertility expert in Paris, she happens upon an old lover, gets picked up by some guy at a bar and has a bizarre encounter with an America singer (Robert Kramer). Meantime, Jacques (Frederic Pierrot) is divorced, unemployed, and loathed by his daughter. Just as his life looks one long exercise in desperate futility, he meets comely Eva (Juliette Andrea). Suddenly, he transforms himself into a private dick, trying to track down a missing associate. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

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

This historical drama is based on the true story of Artemisia Gentileschi, the first woman to achieve success as a painter. In 17th century Italy, noted artist Orazio Gentileschi (Michel Serrault) is a portrait artist enjoying a certain degree of success and acclaim. His 17-year-old daughter Artemisia (Valentina Cervi) would like to follow the same path as her father, but women are not allowed to pursue careers in the arts, and the convent where she attends school forbids students to sketch nude models. Eager to learn, Artemisia begins posing for herself by use of a mirror; her father discovers her secret but is enthusiastic about her work, and he takes her out of school so he can tutor her in painting and drawing. Orazio forbids her to draw male nudes, but curious Artemisia persuades local men to serve as her models, and her work steadily improves. In time, Artemisia and her work come to the attention of Agostino Tassi (Miki Manojovic), a friend of her father who is a well-known painter and something of a rake. Tassi is impressed by both the art and the artist, but when he and Artemisia begin a love affair, he finds himself on trial for rape. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

One of eight medium-length films sponsored by France's Channel 7 television network designed to commemorate or comment upon the upcoming millennium, Laurent Cantet's Les Sanguinaires represents France. It is set in December, 1999 and centers upon Francois, a Parisian travel agent who decides to travel to the title island (located off the coast of Corsica) to get away from the celebratory chaos in Paris. Traveling with a few friends and their many children, Francois arrives upon the island on Christmas day and must wait five hours for Stephane the caretaker to show up. His lateness puts the fussy Francois in a bad mood that does not improve when he discovers that the house has no heat and that his bedding is damp. The others decide to make the best of things and enjoy themselves. They find Stephane charming, which only makes Francois even madder. As New Year's approaches, Francois gets more and more tense. The story's underlying message remarks upon the protagonist's inability to escape the trappings of humanity he supposedly loathes. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi