Ruth Waldburger Movies

An elderly couple and their grown-up children must deal with the consequences of advancing age in this comedy-drama from France. Sarah (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) and her husband Francois (Arie Elmaleh) are a happy couple in their early forties who are facing with a dilemma not uncommon to folks their age -- what to do about Sarah's parents. While her mother Genevieve (Bulle Ogier) and father Solomon (Jean-Pierre Marielle) divorced when she was a teenager, they remain friends and see one another on a regular basis, while also staying close to their children. However, Genevieve has grown increasingly eccentric, and she's developed a bad habit of giving all her money to strangers, leaving her unable to pay her faithful servant Mr. Mootoosamy (Bakary Sangare). Holocaust survivor Solomon, meanwhile, is in sound body and mind beyond his fondness for tap dancing along with old movie musicals, but he can't understand why he can no longer get insurance just because he's eighty years old, though a new romance with college professor Violette (Sabine Azema) brightens his mood considerably. Faut Que Ca Danse! (aka Gotta Dance!) also stars Daniel Emilfork, Judith Chemla and Nicholas Maura; jazz great Artie Shepp provided the musical score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A self-absorbed adolescent girl forms an unhealthy fixation on a handsome volunteer fireman in director Claire Simon's emotional teen drama. Livia (Camille Varene) is a fifteen year-old girl who lives in the south of France with her divorced mother. As the summer heat begins to radiate Livia spends most of her days trotting around the small Provençal town atop a horse from her father's farm. A frequent target of ridicule amongst her peers, Livia's horse emboldens her with a sense of superiority that she just can't seem to achieve in the classroom. When her father comes to claim the horse and Livia is forced to face her tormentors eye to eye, she begins to turn her attentions increasingly towards happily married husband and father Jean. A kind volunteer fireman who treats Livia with a respect rarely afforded to the girl by her peers, Jean may be old enough to be Livia's father though a strange attraction begins to develop between the pair. Later, as the young girl's infatuation with the firefighter begins to grow and she casts aside her inhibitions to pursue him romantically at any cost, the relationship shared between Livia and Jean threatens to take a tragic turn. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Legendary French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard once again poses a number of provocative questions about art, politics, and the nexus point between them in this drama in three acts, "Hell," "Purgatory," and "Paradise." After a collage of film clips illustrate a meditation on the nature of war and conflict in society, Godard introduces his central set piece, in which a group of authors, artists, and noted thinkers gather for a symposium taking place in the battle-scarred city of Sarajevo. Olga Brodsky (Nade Dieu) is a young journalist who is French and Jewish by birth and Israeli by choice; she has come to discuss the conflict between her adopted nation and Palestine with some of the many notables in attendance, in particular a celebrated Palestinian author. As Olga wrestles with issues of conflict, identity, and culture along with others at the conference, one of the participants, Jean-Luc Godard, points out the frustrating similarities between the grammar of cinema and human nature, and posits the notion that it's the essential differences of the peoples of the world, rather than their similarities, which are at the root of our culture. Notre Musique was a prizewinner at the 2004 San Sebastián International Film Festival, where it was named Film of the Year. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

With Laurent Cantet's Time Out (L'Emploi du Temps) as an inspiration, actress-turned-director Nicole Garcia's fourth feature film, L'Adversaire, is a fictionalized account of what may have gone through the mind of real-life serial killer Jean-Claude Romand. Daniel Auteuil portrays Jean-Marc Faure, who, like Romand, had fooled his friends, family, and the bank for 18 years. Though those who knew Faure believed he was a physician employed by the World Health Organization in Geneva, he actually had no qualifications for the position, and had never held a real job. As part of the façade, Faure commuted to Switzerland daily, and obviously knew his way around the WHO. However, he had no job to perform there. Though he acquired an enormous overdraft at the bank, they believed he was a well-known doctor, and incorrectly assumed he would repay them shortly. Nearly two decades after his original untruth, Faure is nearly found out. Rather than enduring the shame of his long-time fraud, Faure opts to murder his wife, children, and parents. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Four people discuss love and life, learning (and revealing) more about each other than they ever imagined in this intimate drama from director Anne-Marie Mieville. A middle-aged woman (Mieville) and her younger, attractive friend Cathos (Claude Perron) return home from an evening out with elderly Robert (Jean-Luc Godard). After Cathos makes a vain attempt to seduce Robert, the older woman steps out to buy cigarettes. She soon returns, and has brought an attractive young man named Arthur (Jacques Spiesser) along with her. Soon the four are discussing philosophy, literature, and their own intertwined relationships, as Robert and the older woman open up about the failings of their own romance. Some of the realism of Apres La Reconciliation can be attributed to the fact that Mieville and Godard are a long-time couple in real life; this also marks the fourth time they've acted together, though the first time was in a film directed solely by Mieville (Godard was a collaborator on the other three films in which they both appeared). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A black comedy set at a retirement home, Comedian was a big hit at the 2000 Locarno Film Festival. Roni Beck (Beat Schlatter) is an aspiring comic whose inability to make even his mother laugh poses a major career stumbling block. His mother lives in a retirement home, and after the home's director, Serge (Patrick Frey), discovers Beck sleeping in her room, he puts him to work as an orderly and also tries to promote the hapless young man's entertainment career. Unfortunately, Beck's stand-up routine proves to be a huge disaster, and catalyzes a series of funerals among the home's residents. To top it all off, a triangle develops between Beck, Serge, and Serge's neglected girlfriend (Brigitte Beyeler) that mirrors the rivalry of two geriatric lotharios for Beck's mother. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Eight years after Les Amants du Pont Neuf (1991), which failed at the box office, Léos Carax returned with Pola X, a French/German/Swiss co-production with Catherine Deneuve and the young Guillaume Dépardieu in a story of love, incest, and descent into hell. Pierre (Dépardieu) lives with his mother in Normandy, not far from the banks of the Seine River where Victor Hugo's daughter drowned with her lover. The good-looking mother and son are happy, healthy, and wealthy, and they love each other deeply. Pierre is romantically attached to the beautiful and delicate Lucie (Delphine Chuillot) and visits her every morning with the motorcycle he has inherited from his father. One summer night, his mother tells him that she has chosen a date for his wedding. Overexcited, Pierre rushes through the night to break the news to Lucie. As he is speeding down the road, a strange creature with a familiar face suddenly leaps from the dark. She tells him in broken French that she is his sister. Pierre is shocked, but he decides to believe her and make up for the mistake of his father.

The film took its inspiration from Herman Melville's Pierre, or, the Ambiguities, which Carax read when he was 18, the same age as the hero of the story. The first part of the film sets an idyllic tone with a fairy tale atmosphere of life among the rich and beautiful. This is in sharp contrast to the world Pierre plunges into when he meets Isabelle (Katerina Golubeva), who claims to be his half-sister. Carax, who has been against nudity in his films, shows the two literally engaging in mutual oral sex onscreen, although this was not included in the original script. (One may insert here that Golubeva, who is known from Sarunas Bartas and Claire Denis films, was the girlfriend of Depardieu in real life.) The fusion of the two leads to the creation of Pierre's book. This is a highly stylized film that is at times reminiscent of German expressionism. It is constructed in opposites: black and white, high and low, good and bad. Elements of fantasy are mixed with reality. Carax tries to introduce a new film language, often at the expense of the emotional quality of the film. Despite its weak points, it is still a work that exhibits the exceptional talent of its director. Golubeva exudes a certain magic in depicting the half-real, half-imaginary character of a vulnerable and somewhat lost Madonna. The title is an acronym of the French title of Melville's book, Pierre, ou, les Ambiguites. The film screened in competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

Yilmaz Arslan directed this Turkish-German-Swiss drama which begins in a German city where a woman arrives at an apartment building to visit her friend Hulya (Yelda Reynaud), only to learn that Hulya has returned to Turkey with her aunt and uncle because of an unspecified illness. There are indications Hulya was kidnapped by her family. Back in Turkey, the unhappy Hulya refuses to speak or eat. At the first chance, she escapes, heading back to Germany without money or identity papers. Beginning the arduous journey, she collapses on the road, is taken care of by peasants, locates her estranged mother, has a run-in with police, and is thrown into a women's mental institution. Dream sequences are intercut throughout. Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

For Ever Mozart is an episodic film that follows a theater troupe from France attempting to put on a play in Sarajevo. Along their journey they are captured and held in a POW camp, and they call for help from their friends and relations in France. Director Jean-Luc Godard presents stories about this troop to ask how one can make art while slaughters like the one in Bosnia are taking place, and he throws in a strong critique of the European Union. For Ever Mozart is one of Godard's most disjointed and difficult films. Its stories sometimes seem to form a whole and at other times the links among them are unclear. One gets the impression that in each episode Godard attempts to start a film only to come to the conclusion that it is impossible to continue. It features some of the most beautiful shots of tanks in the cinema. ~ Louis Schwartz, All Movie Guide

This French drama uses two plots that occasionally come together. The stories are set within the multiethnic neighborhoods of Paris. In the first, Daiga (Yekaterina Golubeva), a spunky Lithuanian actress, drives into to town to collect on the promise of a director she slept with. He lied to her and now she, who speaks no French, must accept help from friends and relatives who set her up in a small hotel. She gets a job as a chambermaid. The second examines the lives of a large expatriate Caribbean family. Theo ( Alex Descas), a musician, takes small carpentry jobs for wealthy Parisians to support his young daughter. He really wants to go home to Martinique, but his daughter's mother doesn't want to. Theo's brother Camille (Richard Courcet) has real problems. He is the wild one. Dressed in his fishnet stockings and garish makeup, Camille sings at the local gay club. He sleeps with his lover (also his doctor) in the same hotel as Daiga. Camille seems nice enough until it is discovered that he is not only a drug addict and HIV-positive, he also strangles old women to death while a partner robs their homes. Camille seems oddly distant from his actions, which he calmly describes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This European epic is seven hours long. It is adapted from a novel by Laszlo Karsznahorkai and reflects the obsession of director Bela Tarr who began the film seven years ago. It took two full years to film this opus. The story is presented through a series of chapters of varying lengths with titles like "The News That They are Coming," "We, the Resurrected," "The Freeze," "Only Problems and Work." and finally "The Circle Is Completed." The enormously complex saga is centered in an abandoned farm machinery plant upon a Hungarian plain. There live a small band of hobos including three couples, a doctor with a drinking problem. All of them want to leave and they will do anything they can to do it. A set series of events occurs, but the story presents those events from each of the different character's viewpoints. The film ends on an ironic note. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Tom DiCillo directed this surrealistic black comedy starring Brad Pitt as Johnny Suede, a young man with an attitude and an immense pompadour, who wants to be a rock n' roll star like his idol Ricky Nelson. He has all the stylistic accouterments, except a pair of black suede shoes. And one night, after leaving a nightclub, like manna from heaven, a pair of black suede shoes falls at his feet. Soon afterwards, the recently completed Johnny meets Darlette (Alison Moir), a sultry bohemian whom he beds down for the night. In spite of Darlette's abusive boyfriend with a gun, Johnny begins to see Darlette everyday. But when Johnny is forced to pawn his guitar for rent money, Darlette mysteriously leaves him. Johnny's pal Deke (Calvin Levels) fronts him the money to get his guitar out of hock, and the two form a band. Depressed about Darlette's desertion, he wanders aimlessly, and he meets Yvonne (Catherine Keener), a woman much wiser than Johnny who teaches him that there are things in life much more important than a pair of black suede shoes. DiCillo based his independent comedy Living in Oblivion upon his experiences working with Brad Pitt on this film. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide