Dominique Labourier Movies

An ambitious project of Chile-born, Paris-based Raul Ruiz, this psychological drama brings to the screen the famous classic of Marcel Proust with fidelity to its interior monologues and streams of consciousness. Proust (Marcelo Mazzarella), on his deathbed in his small apartment on Rue Hamelin, is looking through old photos and remembering his life, as real characters intermingle with fictional ones from his novels. The period is 1914-18, when WWI is raging. Hidden in Paris, thanks to his asthma, Marcel Proust wanders into the night. He finds an aging courtesan in Café de la Paix, which is deserted by the curfew. Charlus, the seducer of young boys, is at the Palais des Felicites where he meets his lovers. Gilberte returns alone to Tansonville to evade the confiscation of her chateau by the Germans after the death of her husband at the front. Famous violinist Morel is hiding in a decrepit hotel. The demoralizing effects of war affect all the characters, hastening their decadence or transforming them into caricatures. In the whirlpool of the grotesque specter of war, Marcel finds refuge in his childhood memories to escape the atrocities around him. Death and decadence, the evanescence of human existence, and the relations between space and time are some of the main themes explored in this film, which reflects the works of Marcel Proust in every detail. Raul Ruiz has on his side a very good screenwriter, Gilles Taurand, and an impressive cast: Catherine Deneuve and John Malkovich, who have collaborated with Ruiz before, Emanuelle Béart, Vincent Pérez, Pascal Greggory, and the Italian man of theatre, Marcello Mazzarella. Shown in competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

This spy thriller tells the story of the real-life Soviet superspy Leopold Trepper (Claude Brasseur), who set up an espionage ring (L'Orchestre Rouge) right under the noses of the Nazis in occupied Western Europe. The information they gathered gave Stalin advance warning of Hitler's invasion of Russia, and was especially helpful during the Battle of Stalingrad. Trepper was captured by the Nazis and was briefly interrogated before escaping back to Russia, where he was immediately imprisoned, like so many of Stalin's top security operatives. This film is based on the 1967 best-seller by Gilles Perrault which made The Red Orchestra famous. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Ania Francos, this tragi-comedy follows the diagnosis and internment of lawyer Lola Friedlander (Carole Laure) in the cancer ward of a large clinic. There Lola encounters Marie-Aude (Jeanne Moreau) and Cathy (Dominique Labourier), two very different patients from opposite walks of life who each contribute to Lola's adjustment. Given that the doctor at this clinic is a media-star, there is a certain aura of unreality to the story that also permeates some of the episodes involving subsidiary characters like Lola's boyfriend or her archetypal Jewish family. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A man's tragic past leads him to take justice into his own hands in this troubling look at life in Europe after WWII. Max Baumstein (Michel Piccoli) is a well-known human rights activist and avowed pacifist who, to the shock and puzzlement of many, murders a politician from South America. As Baumstein goes to trial, it is revealed that his victim was in fact a Nazi war criminal who ordered the deaths of thousands of people -- including Baumstein's parents. In flashback, Max recalls the horrors of the Nazi occupation of France, and he remembers Elsa Weiner (Romy Schneider), a woman who helped save his life and struggled to free her husband Michel (Helmut Griem) from a concentration camp after he was condemned for publishing anti-fascist literature. La Passante Du Sans-Souci marked the final screen appearance of actress Romy Schneider, who played both Elsa and Baumstein's wife Lina; Schneider died of heart failure shortly after it was released. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Based on the novel by Bernice Rubens, I Sent a Letter to My Love stars Simone Signoret as a woman who has reached middle age without truly learning how to live. Responsible for the constant care of her paraplegic brother Jean Rochefort, Signoret seeks a brief respite from her confinement by inaugurating a pen-pal relationship with a man she has never met. Gradually, Signoret falls in love with her mystery correspondent, a love that is apparently reciprocated. No, we will not divulge the ending. Also featured in I Sent a Letter to My Love is cult favorite Delphine Seyrig. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this dream-sequence film, renowned Italian director Federico Fellini expounds at length on the nature, complexities, attitudes, and hang-ups of women and how this all relates to men "hunting" sexual conquests. Snaporaz (Marcello Mastroianni) is traveling in a compartment on a train when he lapses into sleep and dreams the ensuing story. He follows a woman off the train and through a field and then loses her. Soon, as a representative of the male sex in general he finds himself in a hotel, among myriad women attending a feminist conference. Surreal episodes take him through a villa with his alter-ego Dr. Katzone (Ettore Manni, who died during filming) and references to his sexual exploits. Reunited with his former wife for a moment, he starts another sequence which reviews his past. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

After serving faithfully for over 10 years, the mid-level executive in this film has received notice that he is being fired for vague reasons having something to do with "reorganization" rather than his own job performance. As a protest, he tries attending a company party with his pants off, which seems to have no effect whatsoever. Shortly afterward, he hits on the scheme of barricading himself in his old office and going on a hunger strike. No one has seen anything like this before, and his efforts seem to be having an effect. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Victor (Gerard Desarthe) grew up reading about the Spanish Conquistadors, and has too many dreams of adventure and distant places to be much use to anyone in the present, especially his girlfriend Claire (Dominique Labourier). For a while, she joins him on his motorcycle jaunts around France, but eventually she tires of this. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A story about story-telling, Jacques Rivette's self-referential classic centers on the fanciful world of two women literally lost in the stories they tell each other. Celine (Juliet Berto) and Julie (Dominique Labourier) go from sharing a story about a haunted house to being part of a story about a haunted house -- or is it a real haunted house that has been called up by the story? The film blurs the line between the telling of the story and the story itself, as Celine and Julie, like Alice in Wonderland, become part of a surreal, drug-induced parallel universe; also like Alice, they ultimately become the heroines of the story that first imprisoned them. Rivette celebrates the magic of stories, and more broadly of imagination, adventure, and friendship, as essential elements of life; the themes are familiar from his other movies, but the tone is more playful. This enigmatic and fanciful film is not for all tastes, but, for its many devotees, it is one of the most distinctive and imaginative movies ever made. ~ Leo Charney, Rovi

This drama tells the tale of union woes at a French factory, and of the single mom who gives her all for the union cause. Pierrette (Dominique Labourier) is the young mother, and she somehow has time to have an affair with her handsome co-worker who is nicknamed Beau Masque (Luigi Diberti). All this grows more complicated when the workers go out on strike. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Les Camisards brings events to the screen from the period in French history in which King Louis XIV ordered all Protestants to convert to Catholicism. The film begins just after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1598-1685), a proclamation that had granted official toleration to Protestants. Rather than being a sweeping epic, this film examines the fight of a small group of Protestants for survival in the mountainous Cevennes region. Some of the story is told using excerpts from the diary kept by an actual participant in the conflict. This movie is notable for its period authenticity and historical accuracy; it does not try to make the story into an analogy for modern issues, and the characters' concerns are correct for their time. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A young man who works in the shipyards as a dockworker is invited to stay with a friend in Paris. He decides to make a go of it in the big city and gets a job in an auto manufacturing plant, joining the union when the workers propose a takeover of the company. He begins to date a local girl, and things go well until the tedium of his job and blind allegiance to the worker's union begins to wear down his spirit. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi