André Téchiné Movies
One of France's most important Post-New Wave directors, André Téchiné has distinguished himself with elegant films that often delve into the complexities of human emotion and relationships. Known particularly for his ability to draw strong performances out of his female performers, Téchiné has collaborated with some of his country's most respected actresses, including Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Jeanne Moreau, and Isabelle Adjani.Originally a critic for the legendary Cahiers du Cinéma, Téchiné made his feature directorial debut in 1969 with Pauline S'En Va, which was shown at that year's Venice Film Festival. The film was not actually released until 1975; in the meantime, Téchiné experimented with references to different genres and auteurs in his work. Souvenirs d'en France (1974), which starred Jeanne Moreau as a laundress who works her way up through the social hierarchy, had a distinctly Brechtian imprint, while Barocco (1976), a crime drama starring Isabelle Adjani and Gérard Depardieu, was rooted in expressionist surrealism. Three years later, Téchiné earned acclaim for his attempt at biography, Les Soeurs Bronte. A profile of the famous Bronte sisters, it starred Isabelle Huppert and Adjani, and was screened in competition at Cannes.
Téchiné subsequently continued to make moody, dysfunctional romantic dramas that were often tinged with an element of intrigue or violence. Some of the best examples of his work were his collaborations with Catherine Deneuve: Hotel des Amériques (1981), Le Lieu du Crime (1986), and Ma Saison Préférée (1993), the last of which cast Deneuve and Daniel Auteuil as unhappy siblings and earned great acclaim when it was screened in competition at that year's Cannes Festival.
The following year, Téchiné had his greatest success to date with Les Roseaux Sauvages (Wild Reeds), a coming-of-age drama set in 1962. He won a Best Director César for the film, which also won Best Film and Best Original Screenplay Césars. Further acclaim greeted the director in 1996 for his second collaboration with both Deneuve and Auteuil, Les Voleurs. A crime drama told in flashbacks, it earned Téchiné nominations for the César and Golden Palme at Cannes, as well as a host of other honors. He followed this success with Alice et Martin (1998), a romantic drama starring Juliette Binoche, whom Téchiné had previously directed in Rendez-Vous (1985). ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
- 2011
- NR
A 60-year-old crime writer named Francis (Andre Dussolier) arrives in Venice to pen his latest novel, but he struggles to overcome a creative block after he becomes obsessed with former model Judith (Carole Bouquet). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
In 2004, a grotesque and unseemly incident took the European press by storm: a young French woman came forward and claimed to have been attacked by black and Arab thugs who mistook her for a Jew. But after her story broke, no witnesses came forward to support her, and security cameras at the train station revealed no such attack; the woman later admitted that she had ripped her own clothes, drawn swastikas on her own stomach, and fabricated the entire story. With the drama Fille du RER, acclaimed French writer-director André Téchiné presents a thinly veiled fictionalization of the same events. Émilie Dequenne stars as Jeanne, an unemployed girl who lives with her mother (Catherine Deneuve) in a Parisian suburb and spends the majority of her free time rollerblading. She has little knowledge of -- or interest in -- history or politics, and remains withdrawn, insular, and sullen, keeping the majority of her thoughts and observations to herself. Circumstances change just a bit when Jeanne enters a live-in relationship with a beefy, thuggish wrestler boyfriend, Franck (Nicolas Duvauchelle), living in a dingy warehouse, but violence soon erupts between the two. Jeanne also becomes acquainted with an attorney-cum-ex-boyfriend of her mother's (Michel Blanc), whose involvement in Judaic causes and his politically committed family prompt even greater feelings of alienation and isolation in Jeanne. When Franck's involvement in criminal activities comes to light and the police intervene, Jeanne perversely reasons that she can only become tied to history by inventing a role for herself, and decides to fabricate said story about the train -- little realizing the calamitous consequences that it will engender. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Émilie Dequenne, Catherine Deneuve, (more)
- 2008
Director Olivier Jahan offers an glimpse into The Director's Fortnight, a sidebar of the Cannes Film Festival conceived by a group of filmmakers known as the Société des Réalisateurs de Films who sought to counter the academism of the main part of the world-renowned festival. Pierre-Henri Deleau, the one-time artistic director of the Société des Réalisateurs de Films, and as his successor Olivier Père take movie lovers behind the scenes as the dedicated group of filmmakers prepare for the 2007 Director's Fortnight. Archive footage, film clips, and interviews with over two-dozen directors offer a comprehensive look at forty years of cinematic rebellion. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
The early days of the AIDS crisis in France provides the backdrop for this powerful, life-affirming drama from writer and director André Téchiné. It's 1984, and Mehdi (Sami Bouajila) is a police detective who, unbeknownst to his wife Sarah (Emmanuelle Béart), is a bisexual who has occasional trysts with men. Mehdi and Sarah are proud parents of a new baby, but to Mehdi's chagrin, Sarah doesn't seem the least bit concerned about her responsibilities as a mom. Manu (Johan Libereau) is a handsome young man who shares a flat with his sister Julie (Julie Depardieu), who is struggling to make a career as an opera singer. And Adrien (Michel Blanc) is a middle-aged doctor and close friend of Sarah who occasionally picks up younger men in the park, and nearly seduces Manu one evening. Adrien joins Sarah and Mehdi for an idyllic weekend at the beach, where Manu once again crosses his path; however, Manu also meets Mehdi when he saves the detective from drowning, and the two soon become lovers. Several months later, Manu has discovered he's contracted a strange and deadly new disease doctors are calling AIDS, which has a dramatic impact on many of the people he knows. Mehdi has confessed his infidelity to Sarah, and they wait to find out if they also have AIDS, while Adrien is devoting most of his days to treating Manu and other young men who are wasting away under the effects of the illness, and Julie helps to care for her dying brother. The Witnesses (aka Les Témoins) received its premiere at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michel Blanc, Emmanuelle Béart, (more)
A worldly construction supervisor travels to Tangier to ensure that a complicated job is completed by the projected date, only to find the torch he carries for a long-lost love rekindled with melancholy passion in director Andre Techine's pensive romantic drama. It's been thirty-years since Antoine (Gerard Depardieu) and Ceclile (Catherine Denuve) called it quits, but time has only seemed to amplify Antoine's longings for the woman that stole his heart so many years ago. Though Antoine has never married, Cecile is now the host of a successful radio show whose extended marriage to Moroccan doctor Nathan (Gilbert Melki) has yielded a now-grown son named Sami (Malik Zidi). When Antoine arrives in Northern Morocco to watch over his latest project, his attention soon diverts to Cecile - who has always been close in Antoine's mind despite the physical and emotional distance between them. Cecil isn't as willing to let go of her blissfully predictable routine, however, and as Antoine dejectedly ponders a means of making her change her mind, the appearance of Cecil's closeted son - who has recently arrived home with his troubled Moroccan girlfriend (Lubna Azabal) in tow - begins to cause complications of its own. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, (more)
A woman struggles to trust a man who has become her protector and benefactor in this French drama set during World War II. In 1940, as German troops invade France, Odile (Emmanuelle Béart), a woman who has recently lost her husband, is desperate to get her two children, Philippe (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet) and Cathy (Clémence Meyer), away from the fighting by heading south, though the roads are choked with others eager to do the same. When the road Odile is traveling is strafed by German bombs, she and her children abandon their car and take to the woods, where they are soon joined by Yvan (Gaspard Ulliel), a headstrong teenager who is also fleeing the advancing Nazi forces. Odile isn't certain the hot-headed young man is such a good traveling companion, but Philippe wants him around to help protect the family from the Germans, and he gives him his late father's watch as an inducement to stick around. Late one night, in need of rest, Yvan finds a huge abandoned house, and he and Odile quickly take it over. The house seems to be a safe haven, and the four travelers decide to stay for a while. Philippe finds a role model in Yvan, and lonely Odile finds herself drawn to him, though, with the passage of time, she becomes eager to learn more about his past, which he hesitates to discuss. Strayed (aka Les Égarés) was adapted from the novel The Boy With Grey Eyes by Gilles Perrault. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Béart, Gaspard Ulliel, (more)
- 2001
Veteran filmmaker Andre Techine takes DV camera in hand and directs this gritty romantic drama about a Moroccan truck driver and the girl he loves. Serge hauls goods -- both legal and illegal -- from North Africa to Spain. Spent mostly on the road, on ferries, or in customs offices, his life is highly structured, having to hand the right forms and bribes to customs officials and deliver goods to the proper locations. His personal life is less ordered. He is fatally attracted to Sarah, a beautiful Moroccan Jew who is dealing with the recent death of her mother and the arrival of her brother who wants her to return to Canada with him. Desperate to see her once again, Serge strikes a deal with a young lad named Said. If Said arranges a meeting between him and Sarah, then Serge will smuggle Said across the border into Europe. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephane Rideau, Lubna Azabal, (more)
Adapted from a work by Paul Bowles and co-written by Andre Techine, this film -- directed by Benoit Graffin) -- is about the complicated relationship between a young up-and-comer and a silver-haired lothario. Driss is a jack-of-all trades type who sells fish from his car and moves furniture from one end of his hometown Tangiers to the other. His girlfriend is a free-spirited and wealthy European lass who runs an antique shop. One day, Driss becomes fascinated with Fouad, an old man who runs a rundown café by the beach. Fouad disdains his fellow Moroccans, calling them lazy, preferring the company of Europeans -- particularly, as Driss later learns -- young European women. Always on the make, Driss offers Fouad a business proposition -- to revamp his establishment and turn it into a proper restaurant with Driss as his business partner. He is later shocked and hurt to learn that Fouad starts to remodel his business but without Driss. Sending out his friends as spies, Driss learns a number of unsettling things about his would-be associate. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jacques Nolot, Ouassini Embarek, (more)
- 1998
In this romantic French drama, auteur Andre Techine offers an intense, intimate look inside the complex relationship between two emotionally dysfunctional people. Neither Alice (Juliette Binoche) nor Martin (Alexis Loret) seem emotionally healthy enough to sustain a relationship, but somehow they manage to stay together amidst their many personal problems. The two met in Paris, where Martin fled after escaping the oppression of his recently deceased tyrannical father. Once in the City of Light, the depressed Martin attempts suicide and later accepts an offer to stay with his half-brother Benjamin (Mathieu Amalric) and his roommate Alice, a violinist, in their ramshackle garret. Shortly thereafter, Martin is spotted by a modeling agent and finds steady work on the city's catwalks. At first, Martin and Alice do not get along. He is brutish and incapable of expressing emotion. He pursues her, but Alice is not terribly interested, until her sexual frustration and need to be loved gets the better of her, and she succumbs to his advances. She then decides to leave Benjamin and travel with Martin to a modelling assignment in Granada, Spain. There the two are briefly happy, but as time passes, Martin's self-absorption increases. Alice's announcement that she is pregnant precipitates a crisis in which Martin reveals that he caused his father's death. Unable to bear the guilt and pain any longer, he commits himself to a mental institution and then requests he be given his day in court. Alice is convinced that Martin is innocent of the crime with which he has charged himself. When he insists on going to court, she goes there to save him from himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Juliette Binoche, Alexis Loret, (more)
- 1997
In this French-Portuguese film -- directed by Jacques Rivette's screenplay collaborator Christine Laurent -- French vocalist Laure Constant (Laurence Cote) goes to Montevideo, Uruguay, to see her old lover Colossus (Jose Olivera), but when he's a no-show, she becomes involved with several other men, while listening to advice from some older French women who are costume designers. Shown at the 1997 Locarno Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Laurence Côte, Joaquim Olarreaga, (more)
- 1996
- R
André Téchiné's complex and ambitious crime drama starts with a prologue in which a little boy is awakened in the middle of the night by two strangers bringing home his father's body. The story of the deceased, Ivan (Didier Bezace), and his involvement with car thieves unfolds in flashbacks as told by different people: Ivan's policeman brother Alex (Daniel Auteuil); Juliette (Laurence Côte), a young woman involved with the both brothers; and Marie (Catherine Deneuve), an unhappy philosophy professor in love with Juliette. Auteuil and Deneuve played siblings three years earlier in Téchiné's similarly rueful family drama Ma Saison Préferée. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Daniel Auteuil, Catherine Deneuve, (more)
- 1994
- NR
This is a nostalgic French coming-of-age drama from director Andre Techine set in a Provence deeply divided over the war for independence being waged against French colonialism in Algeria. In 1962, Francois (Gael Morel) and Maite (Elodie Bouchez) are best friends and students at a boarding school in southwestern France, where Maite's mother Madame Alvarez (Michele Moretti) is an instructor. Francois is realizing he's gay because of his attraction to his working class roommate Serge (Stephane Rideau). Although Serge seduces Francois one night, he is not gay and is actually attracted to Maite. So is Henri (Frederic Gorny), a radically-politicized Algerian-born Frenchman who supports France in the war, an unpopular position, particularly with Madame Alvarez, a communist. The classroom sparring between Henri and Alvarez galvanizes the school, but then word comes that Serge's older brother has been killed in the war. Madame Alvarez, who loved him but refused to help him desert the military, becomes so unhinged that she must be sent away for treatment. Wild Reeds (1994) won four Cesars (France's equivalent of the Oscar), including the award for that year's Best Picture, beating such other notable films as Red (1994) and Queen Margot (1994). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Élodie Bouchez, Gael Morel, (more)
- 1993
French critic and filmmaker André Téchiné directs the intense family drama Ma Saison Préférée (My Favorite Season), which he co-wrote with screenwriter Pascal Bonitzer. Family matriarch Berthe (Marthe Villalonga) is advancing in years and developing health problems, so she goes to live with her daughter Emilie (Catherine Deneuve). Emilie is a cold, fiftysomething professional who lives in a large upper-class home in Toulouse. She also lives with her husband Bruno (Jean-Pierre Bouvier), her daughter Anne (Deneuve's real-life daughter Chiara Mastroianni), and her adopted son Lucien (Anthony Prada). When Christmas arrives, Emilie's troubled brother Antoine (Daniel Auteuil) arrives at the house for a visit. He and Emilie have not spoken since their father's funeral three years ago. Despite his attempts to maintain control, Antoine quickly comes into conflict with Bruno. Painful emotional realities from the past return and cause violent conclusions. My Favorite Season was shown in competition at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Daniel Auteuil, (more)
- 1991
Young, naive and innocent, Pierre (Manuel Blanc) has dreams of becoming an actor. He is a good-looking and personable boy, and he has just moved to the city to see if he can't accomplish his dreams. He gets a job as an orderly at a hospital and is further supported by an older woman (Helene Vincent), a nurse he has met there, in return for his sexual favors. However, in his acting class, he quickly discovers that he is not overflowing with talent, and his dream of becoming an actor grows dim. Instead, despite the advice of a knowledgeable and worldly older gay man (Philippe Noiret), he becomes a sex worker. It has long been a staple of the movies that certain hustlers and prostitutes maintain a distinction between their work and their lives by not kissing their clients, hence the title of this film, J'embrasse Pas. He grows to love the seedy, degraded lifestyle, and seems to be adapting well to his new profession until he has the poor judgement to fall in love with a high-class prostitute (Emmanuelle Béart) and earns the antagonism of her pimp. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Manuel Blanc, Hélène Vincent, (more)
- 1987
The lines between love, sex, and politics become hopelessly blurred in this French drama from director Andre Techine. Jeanne (Sandrine Bonnaire), born and raised in Northern France, is visiting the Mediterranean for the first time, prompted by two events: the wedding of her sister, and the disappearance of her brother. Jeanne's brother is a deaf-mute who supports himself as a pickpocket under the tutelage of Said (Abdel Kechiche), and one of his only friends is Klotz (Jean-Claude Brialy), an older married man with bisexual leanings who has a weakness for young Arab boys. Jeanne meets Klotz and finds herself attracted to his son Stephane (Simon de la Brosse), who like his father is interested in both women and men. However, Jeanne also meets Said, and she finds herself infatuated with him as well, and she's soon torn between the two in a romantic and sexual dilemma that mirrors France's political turmoil regarding the nation's growing Arab population. Jean-Claude Brialy's performance in this film earned him a Best Supporting Actor award from the French Academy of Cinema. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sandrine Bonnaire, Simon de la Brosse, (more)
Scene of the Crime (Le Lieu du Crime) begins with a quote from Great Expectations. Thirteen-year-old Nicolas Giraudi, picking flowers in a cemetery, is surprised by escaped criminal Wadeck Stanczak, who orders the boy to bring him some money. Displaying no signs of fear, Giraudi does what he is told, and as a "reward" his life is spared by the convict. Later on, Stanczak gets stinking drunk at a road house managed by Giraudi's mother, Catherine Deneuve. Fascinated by Stanczak, Deneuve arranges for the fugitive to take a room at a local hotel. On the day that Giraudi is to receive his first communion, his mother plans to run off with Stanczak. The climactic set-to between criminals and police has the negatory effect of separating Giraudi from his mother; on a more positive note, however, the boy has been drawn closer to his father Victor Lanoux, whom Deneuve despised. The dreamlike, new wave-ish Scene of the Crime is a lot more complex than this skeletal synopsis would suggest. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Wadeck Stanczak, (more)
Juliette Binoche teams with Lambert Wilson in this erotic drama. Binoche plays Nina, the young lady friend of timid Paulot (Wadeck Stanczak). Though she intends to be true to Paulot, Nina falls hard for his roommate, Quentin (Wilson), a thoroughly self-centered actor who performs in live sex shows. After a torrid affair with Nina, Quentin dies under questionable circumstances. Nina's search for answers to Quentin's sudden death leads her to Scrutzler (Jean-Louis Trintignant), the theater director who'd once cast Quentin in Romeo and Juliet. Scrutzler has likewise suffered a terrible loss in his life: his Juliet was also his wife, who also died unexpectedly. Apparently, it was the wife's death that led to Quentin's demise. On impulse, Scrutzler casts the inexperienced Nina as Juliet -- and before long, both unhappy souls find a common emotional ground. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Juliette Binoche, Lambert Wilson, (more)
- 1981
The beautiful Helene (Catherine Deneuve) works in a hospital as an anesthesiologist and so when she accidentally hits Gilles (Patrick Dewaere) while driving her car, she can jump out and know exactly what to do to make sure he is not seriously hurt. The two start off a relationship based on this "chance" meeting, though the inauspicious beginning should have served as a warning. Gilles does not do very much except live in a room in his family's hotel and hang out. His lethargic approach to life is an anesthetic in itself, and since Helene is still mourning the death of her former lover a few years before, she is not overly anxious to start a new romance. The two of them go back and forth in a cat-and-mouse game until Helene tires of going nowhere and decides to leave for Paris. Considering how difficult it is for Gilles to rise to any action, it seems that Helene may remain alone unless she runs into someone else. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Patrick Dewaere, (more)
- 1979
- R
The Bronte sisters are profiled in this biography. The film dramatizes the repressed Victorian lives of the three famed authors who all died young. Their writing, so full of life, was a total contrast to the reality of their existence, focused mostly upon arguing with their father and taking care of their younger brother. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Isabelle Adjani, Marie-France Pisier, (more)
Former film critic André Téchiné directed and co-wrote this offbeat crime drama. Samson (Gérard Depardieu) is a down-on-his-luck boxer who manages to win a fortune thanks to a fixed fight. However, while Samson and his girlfriend Laure (Isabelle Adjani) are trying to get away with the money, he is killed by a gunman who looks just like Samson (and is also played by Depardieu). Laure is crushed, but in time she finds herself attracted to Samson's murderous double; he is also drawn to her, and they eventually become lovers. The supporting cast includes Marie-France Pisier and Jean-Claude Brialy. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu, (more)
- 1974
Director André Téchiné brings his usual obsessions -- including a preoccupation with the fortunes of the bourgeoisie -- to this episodic drama, which serves as a thinly-veiled portrait of France's economic peaks and valleys from the 1930s through the 1970s. Jeanne Moreau stars as Berthe Pedret, a simple laundry woman who marries Hector (Michael Auclair), son of a wealthy, upper class, Spanish immigrant family that owns a successful farm machinery factory. Through a series of vignettes, Techine depicts the passage of years, during which the ambitious working class woman blooms through several bold moves, such as negotiating a workers' strike settlement and using her alliance with the war-time French Resistance movement to increase the enterprise's prestige. Eventually, Berthe comes to control the family's fortunes, but economic challenges in the 1950s force her to turn to an unlikely source for financial help: her obnoxious sister-in-law Regina (Marie-France Pisier). Regina, who ran off with a wealthy American after the war, may now be willing to aid Berthe in exchange for her freedom. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeanne Moreau, Michel Auclair, (more)
- 1974
The painful life of a mentally unstable but highly gifted woman is unveiled in this film, based on episodes from the life of an actual person. Aloise (Delphine Seyrig) creates a series of haunting drawings while she is incarcerated in an institution for the insane in turn-of-the-century Switzerland. She endures torments as a musically gifted girl and later as a young woman; her developing madness and the barbaric treatments of the time are shown. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Delphine Seyrig, (more)
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