Alexandra Van Der Noot Movies

This unusual, French-language period outing unfolds at a boarding school in 1950s Belgium, where 17-year-old student Laurent Matagne (Milan Mauger) still recoils from the pain of his father's disappearance during a 1940 air raid. The memory of the loss has haunted Laurent for years; then, in the midst of boarding school, a mysterious newcomer turns up in the form of Vapeur (French screen veteran Thierry Lhermitte of The Dinner Game), a wondrous professor who enchants all of the students with his enthusiasm, and even inspires Laurent to become a novelist. But the story doesn't end there; something about Vapeur strikes Laurent as distinctly familiar, and he begins to suspect that Vapeur is in fact his father. Matagne teams up with his friend Boulette (Benoit Cauden) to find out definitively; meanwhile, the young man also begins to author his first novel. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Gangsters is the directorial debut of veteran writer and actor Olivier Marchal, who spent ten years as a police detective in France. Frank (Richard Anconina) is captured and interrogated by the police, who want him to reveal the location of a vaulable briefcase. Flashbacks tell the story of the missing briefcase, in which Frank and Little Claude (Jean-Louis Tribes) are present during a violent burglary in a nightclub. Anne Parillaud (from La Femme Nikita) plays the fearless prostitute Nina. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

While there are plenty of stories about gay men who have pretended to be straight for the sake of their careers, this tart comedy from France considers the dilemma of a straight man doing just the opposite. Francois Pignon (Daniel Auteuil) is an accountant whose personality is bland to the point of being nonexistent; he's been down in the dumps ever since his wife left him two years ago, and he becomes even more depressed when he learns that his boss is planning on firing him after 20 years of loyal service. Francois is seriously considering suicide until his next-door neighbor Belone (Michel Aumont) comes up with a plan to save his career. Belone finds some photos snapped at an especially randy gay nightclub, and using his computer, he pastes Francois' face over that of one of the participants. He sends copies of the doctored picture to several of Francois' co-workers, and soon everyone at the office is convinced the quiet little man has a flamboyant secret life. The firm's CEO, Kopel (Jean Rochefort), now has second thoughts about firing Francois, since letting an employee go who is known to be gay could invite a sexual discrimination suit. Meanwhile, the firm's public relations man, Guillaume (Thierry Lhermitte), is dealing with Felix (Gérard Depardieu), an employee relations executive who is well known as a narrow-minded thug. In order to counter charges that he's a rampant homophobe, Guillaume instructs Felix to make friends with Francois, and soon Felix is spending so much time with Francois (while fighting his own internal revulsion) that his wife wonders if he's seeing another woman. Le Placard was writer and director Francis Veber's first film after his international hit Le Diner de Cons -- in which the leading character was also named Francois Pignon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Francis Veber wrote and directed this film adaptation (with animated opening credits) of his own play, Le diner de cons, about a competition among a group of friends to see who can find the stupidest person to bring to dinner (as indicated by the original French title, since "con" means someone who's a total dumbbell). The dinners are held each Wednesday night, and French publisher Pierre Brochant (Thierry Lhermitte) has found a world class nincompoop -- Finance Ministry accountant Francois Pignon (Jacques Villeret) who uses matchsticks to build small-scale replicas of monuments. Things quickly go awry after Pierre wrenches his back at golf. He nevertheless makes an effort to attend the dinner with his prize dunce. Francois arrives at Pierre's luxury apartment, but Pierre is in such pain they never exit the apartment for the dinner. Instead, Pierre is trapped in a situation where Francois' stupidity turns his life into a comic hell. In 1993, Villeret created the role of the dimwit onstage during 600 performances of a 27-month run, and the play also had a 1994 London production. In addition to Veber's Oscar-nominated screenplay adaptation of Jean Poiret's La Cage aux Folles (1978), reworked into The Birdcage (1996), other American comedies originated in French screenplays by Veber -- The Toy (1982), The Man with One Red Shoe- (1985), Three Fugitives (1989), and Fathers' Day (1997). Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Corruption on the boxing circuit at the turn of the century provides the basis of this French drama. The story centers on a talented young fighter, a logger that Abel Ginoux and his Italian partner Zipolino, a crooked doctor, discover during a fight in a woodland town. The logger, Passe Partout, is in a fight with Ginoux's best fighter and ends up accidentally killing the pugilist. Ever the opportunist, Ginoux lures Partout into the ring to replace the late fighter. Partout proves to be the classic provincial innocent with high, rugged ideals and little knowledge about the modern world. Ginoux takes him to town for the first time and the logger is delighted to discover amenities such as electricity and silent films. He soon falls in love with the beauteous Camille who works in her late father's cafe with her mother. Her father made many of the films, most of which are boxing matches, because he believed that the presence of a camera rendered a fight unfixable. Ginoux forces Partout to make a difficult decision when he demands that Partout take a dive in the ring during a filmed match. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this period thriller set near the turn of the century, Jan Thoreau (Gabriel Arcand) is a Canadian trapper who lives with his wife Marie (Alexandra Vandernoot) in a small community in the wilderness not far from Hudson Bay. Blake (Michael Biehn) is a disturbed drifter who has murdered a man and has found a way to frame Jan for his crime. Jan is out tending to his traps when an Indian friend with psychic talents tells him Marie is in grave danger. Jan hurries back, but he has no idea just how serious matters are until he arrives home -- Jan is wanted by the law for a crime he didn't commit, while Blake is hiding out in his home, and has taken Marie hostage. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This large, sprawling comedy directed by Robert Altman concerns a variety of romantic and personal intrigues that intersect against the backdrop of Paris's annual "Pret-a-Porter" fashion extravaganza. With 31 principal characters and a number of cameos from well known models, designers, actors and actresses, there's far too much going on to describe the film in a limited space, but Julia Roberts and Tim Robbins get stuck in a hotel room together, Danny Aiello wears a dress, Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni reignite their old passion (or at least try to), Stephen Rea humiliates a number of female journalists, Kim Basinger often looks dumbfounded, and Lyle Lovett plays a Texan (talk about imaginative casting!). Originally called Pret-a-Porter, this underwent a last-minute title change when the distributor discovered very few Americans understood what the French phrase means, with the English translation taking its place. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This theatrical sci-fi action tale is actually the first in a series of direct-to-video features derived from re-edited episodes of the syndicated television show Highlander (1992-1997). Adrian Paul stars as Duncan "Mac" MacLeod, kin of Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), the main character from three previous Highlander features. The MacLeods are two of a race of Immortals, destined to wander the planet forever, capable of dying only by beheading and battling with swords of those of their ilk that have gone evil. Connor appears to help Mac battle Slan (Richard Moll), a fellow Immortal gone wrong, but Slan gets the best of Connor, hurling him from a bridge, leaving Mac to finish Slan off. Months later, Mac becomes involved with another Immortal, Reinhardt (Christopher Ohrt), and his girlfriend Rebecca (Vanity). Believing Reinhardt dead at Mac's hands, Rebecca seeks vengeance for her lover's death, but Mac discovers that Reinhardt, still alive, is manipulating them both. This revelation leads to a final showdown between Mac and Reinhardt. Highlander: The Gathering (1993) also introduced some of the TV series' regulars, including Mac's best friend Richie (Stan Kirsch) and girlfriend Tessa (Alexandra Van Der Noot). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

After receiving an ominous warning from a gypsy fortune teller, Tessa (Alexandra Van Der Noot) is kidnapped by Pallin Wolf (Andrew Jackson), a rogue Watcher. It is all part of a scheme to draw Tessa's Immortal sweetheart, Duncan (Adrian Paul), out in the open -- thus leaving him vulnerable to Wolf's deadly final assault. Although a rescue is successfully pulled off, the ending of this episode is numbingly tragic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joel Wyner guest stars as Greg Powers, an Immortal photographer specializing in morbid images. Endeavoring to understand the emotions attending life and death, Powers ends up putting the life of Richie Ryan (Stan Kirsch) in danger. Meanwhile, Richie's Immortal friend Duncan (Adrian Paul), spurred on by one of Greg's photos, is reunited with Linda Plager (Sheila Moore), who had been Duncan's lover 50 years earlier -- and whose life was profoundly altered by the experience. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

France, 1815. After his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon heads for exile. Royalists occupy Paris and attempt to restore the monarchy. However, the battle doesn't seem to be over. On July 6, Talleyrand (Claude Rich), a shrewd politician of flexible convictions, invites chief of police and zealous revolutionary Fouché (Claude Brasseur) to supper and tries to convince him to serve the king. Over the meal they insult each other, accuse each other, and, at first sight, look like mortal enemies. But they definitely have one thing in common: they are both power-hungry. Basically a stage two-hander, the picture looks frustratingly uncinematic and static, despite the vigorous performances by the two leads. It will be enjoyed most by viewers with a good knowledge of the French Revolution and the Restoration who will understand the dialogue's subtle political details. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide