Ann Zacharias Movies

This somber drama chronicles the writings of Paltiel Kossover (Michel Jonasz), a Rumanian Jew who was incarcerated in a Stalinist prison. Zupanev (Erland Josephson) is a sympathetic court registrar who smuggles the documents and later presents them to the poet's son Grisha (Vincent David). ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Hans Castrop (Christoph Eichhorn) goes to visit a cousin in a Swiss tuberculosis sanatorium, intending to stay for about three weeks, but instead ends up staying for seven years observing the fascinating inhabitants at this supposed haven from the society that has slid downhill to the brink of World War I. The characters he observes range from the politically dueling pair of Lucovico Settembrini (Flavio Bucci), a capitalist "liberal" and Leo Nafta (Charles Aznavour), a Jewish leftist, Claudia Chaochat (Marie-France Pisier), an attractive, passionate Russian woman, and others such as a Dutch businessman with suicidal tendencies, Mynheer Peeperkorn (Rod Steiger). The unfolding exchanges between the protagonists are meant to mirror the larger European world in which they live, and stay close to the Nobel Prize-winning novel (1929) of the same name by Thomas Mann, on which this film is based. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The stories that Charles (Robert Stephens) tells his adoring niece are vivid and full of life, as they should be, for he is a professional writer. They all concern a charming ladies man and his adventures. When the tales mysteriously take on a life of their own in the real world, and Philibert (Gerard Depardieu) and his cronies actually begin to wreak their own special kind of havoc, Charles reluctantly takes responsibility for his creation and attempts to send him back into the netherworld of the imagination. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Chafing under her suppressive parents, Nea begins keeping a secret diary, recording her innermost erotic yearnings. When imagination proves inadequate, she decides to experience first-hand the things she's previously only fantasized about. Nea eases into her sexual adventures out of boredom rather than supposed necessity. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

A free-wheeling young apprentice baker manages to have just a little bit too much fun, and gets fired for being late to work one too many times. The trouble is, his room is included as part of his wages, and he really can't afford to leave. He barricades himself inside with a male friend and also with his two girlfriends, a waitress and a Swedish hippie. Things do not go well between them or with his irate boss. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi