Ingrid Windisch Movies
- 1996
- R
This is a romantic comedy with an analytical edge from noted Belgian director Chantal Akerman. Set in New York, the fun begins when freewheeling French dancer Beatrice and stodgy psychoanalyst Henry Harriston agree to exchange apartments. He will live in her bohemian Paris flat and she in his upscale, neat-as-a-pin Manhattan abode. The two have never met when they change places. Poor frazzled Henry is hoping that some quiet time in Paris will provide him with some badly needed cultural enrichment and relaxation from the demands of his wealthy clients. Unfortunately there is no rest, as he is constantly assailed by Beatrice's numerous suitors. Beatrice also deals with an onslaught of Henry's needy patients. Poor Henry can no longer stand being away and so quietly returns home. He notices a stream of patients coming from his home and they look unusually happy and well-adjusted. Even his dog looks happier. Wanting to learn her secret, Henry masquerades as a one of his own patients. It is not long before romantic sparks begin to fly. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Juliette Binoche, (more)
Based on a novel by French author Michel Tournier, this drama chronicles the redemption of Abel, a French POW responsible for kidnapping dozens of young boys for recruitment by the Nazi SS during WW II. The film opens with black-and-white shots of Abel's childhood in Paris. The year is 1925 and already he has problems getting along with teachers and students. Then he is befriended by the portly young Nestor. Abel loses his only friend during a terrible fire that demolishes the school and leaves him convinced that he has been blessed by fate to survive. Fourteen years quickly pass; the story turns to color, and the now hulking Abel is seen working in a Paris garage. He also spends time with his girlfriend Rachel. It is she who playfully dubs him "ogre" because he is rather rough in bed. Abel has always loved children. He was good friends with little Martine, until she falsely accuses him of rape and he is sent to prison. During the war, he is freed by the German invaders who involve him with the upper echelons of the SS and give him a job as a hunting assistant on Goering's Bavarian estate. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Malkovich, Marianne Sägebrecht, (more)
- 1995
One woman's conflicting emotions and the whims of fate prevent her from being faithful to the man she loves in this drama. In 1939, Jeanne (Emmanuelle Beart) marries Louis (Daniel Auteuil) shortly before he is called to duty during World War II. Jeanne does not deal well with loneliness, and she takes many lovers after Louis is declared Missing In Action. In 1944, Jeanne receives word that Louis is alive, incarcerated in a P.O.W. camp. When Louis is released and returns home, he learns of her scandalous behavior; he forgives her for her infidelities and offers to give her freedom, but Jeanne chooses to remain in the marriage. Several months later, Jeanne gives birth to twins; while Louis is not convinced that he's the father, he loyally accepts them as his own. Louis takes his wife and children to Berlin, where to his disappointment, Jeanne becomes smitten with Mathias (Gabriel Barylli), a successful businessman. Before long, Louis is once again sent into battle, this time in Indochina. Jeanne returns to France, and Mathias opts to go with her; both Louis and Mathias remain faithful to Jeanne, and when Louis is made a military attaché to Damascus, Mathias once again follows her. Une Femme Francaise) reunited Emmanuelle Beart and Daniel Auteuil, who previously co-starred in the acclaimed French drama Un Coeur en Hiver. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Béart, Daniel Auteuil, (more)
- 1994
This deftly made French psychological thriller terrifies with its exploration of an experiment gone horribly wrong. Dr. Marc Lacroix, a psychiatrist specializing in brain functions, is obsessed with the link between mind and spirit. To find his link he studies the criminally insane. He builds a secret machine, known only to his mistress Marianne, in which he hopes to exchange minds between humans. He simultaneously wants to help the mentally ill recover, and he wants to experience their madness. He chooses the psychotic killer, Zyto, a man who stabbed at least three women, for his experiment. The initial experiment is successful and the two exchange minds. But trouble ensues when Zyto refuses to reverse the switch. There is little Marc can do when Zyto takes over Marc's life, and more ominously his wife and child whom are unknowingly in mortal danger. Marc, encased in Zyto's body, is returned to the asylum. Will Marc's wife recognize the danger? Will Zyto kill again? ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Nathalie Baye, (more)
A young man unthinkingly throws himself into a world of political and sexual turmoil in John Schlesinger's adaptation of the novel by Ian McEwan. Leonard Markham (Campbell Scott) is a British communications and surveillance expert who is sent to Germany in the early 1950s, at the height of the Cold War. Leonard is put under the command of Bob Glass (Anthony Hopkins), an American agent who goes out of his way to show him around town. Leonard is woefully naive about most subjects not directly involving his job, and when Bob takes him to a typically decadent Berlin nightclub, he is astonished to discover that Maria (Isabella Rossellini), a beautiful and mysterious woman, announces that she's quite attracted to him. Soon Leonard is no longer a 24-year-old virgin, but (as one might expect) Maria's interest in him is not entirely a matter of physical attraction. Bob's secret project is a hidden tunnel beneath Berlin that allows his forces to tap into Russian telephone transmissions, which is Leonard's responsibility. But the Americans are also obtaining coded information that they aren't passing along to the British; while Leonard helps Bob, he's also finding out what Bob knows and passing it along to the British. However, Maria is also looking for certain information, and she sees the innocent and gullible Leonard as an easy way to get it. The Innocent was originally completed in 1993, but it was not shown in the United States until 1996, when it was given a brief theatrical release before appearing on home video. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Isabella Rossellini, Anthony Hopkins, (more)
- 1989
- R
Noted French director Claude Chabrol helmed this oddity, a remake of German director Fritz Lang's 1922 classic Dr. Mabuse. The film features an all-star international cast as it tells the futuristic horror story of a bizarre epidemic which has swept West Berlin leaving a grim trail of grisly suicides. Meanwhile, the media broadcasts weird, highly suggestive propaganda. The authorities are appalled by all the bloodshed, but only one lone cop suspects that the "suicides" are really the work of a demented criminal mastermind. The film is also known as Dr. M. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alan Bates, Jennifer Beals, (more)
In 1978, an East German waiter used a toy gun to hijack a Polish airliner heading for East Berlin and forced the pilot to land at an American Air Force base in West Germany. The best-selling book about the ensuing trial of the hijacker -- written by the presiding judge, Herbert J. Stern -- is given film treatment by director Leo Penn. The back story involves a West German contractor working both sides of Germany, who has fallen in love with a woman from East Berlin. The contractor arranges for the woman, her daughter and another man (Heinz Hoenig), who has children living in West Germany, to meet him in Gdansk, Poland, where he will give them false documents allowing them to get into West Germany. When the contractor is arrested, they must make other plans. Sneaking a toy gun on an airplane bound for East Germany, the man compels the pilot to steer the plane to West Germany, where he hopes to seek asylum and see his children. But this is the first time a hijacker has sought asylum in the west and it sets off a political firestorm. The American and West Germany governments have signed an international accord to prevent skyjackings and the Soviet government is pressuring them to prosecute the hijackers to the fullest extent of the law. The United States Justice Department wants a quick trial and hires a tough judge (Martin Sheen), who, they think, will prosecute the case swiftly and be done with it. However, the judge is more than the authorities have bargained for -- he wants the defendants to be given a fair trial and all of the rights guaranteed to them under the Constitution. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Sam Wanamaker, (more)
Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander) are angels who watch over the city of Berlin. They don't have harps or wings (well, they usually don't have wings) and they prefer overcoats to gossamer gowns. But they can travel unseen through the city, listening to people's thoughts, watching their actions and studying their lives. While they can make their presence felt in small ways, only children and other angels can see them. They spend their days serenely observing, unable to interact with people, and they feel neither pain nor joy. One day, Damiel finds his way into a circus and sees Marion (Solveig Dommartin), a high-wire artist, practicing her act; he is immediately smitten. After the owners of the circus tell the company that the show is out of money and must disband, Marion sinks into a funk, shuffling back to her trailer to ponder what to do next. As he watches her, Damiel makes a decision: he wants to be human, and he wants to be with Marion, to lift her spirits and, if need be, to share her pain. Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire is a remarkable modern fairy tale about the nature of being alive. The angels witness the gamut of human emotions, and they experience the luxury of simple pleasures (even a cup of coffee and a cigarette) as ones who've never known them. From the angels' viewpoint, Berlin is seen in gorgeous black-and-white -- strikingly beautiful but unreal; when they join the humans, the image shifts to rough but natural-looking color, and the waltz-like grace of the angels' drift through the city changes to a harsher rhythm. Peter Falk appears as himself, revealing a secret that we may not have known about the man who played Columbo, and there's also a brief but powerful appearance by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. Wings of Desire hinges on the intangible and elusive, and it builds something beautiful from those qualities. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, (more)
- 1986
A drama about personal conflicts and the political biases of the East and West German governments in the mid-'80s, this story focuses on the defection of a talented singer. Klaus (Gerulf Pannach) is finally granted permission to leave East Germany where he is no longer allowed to perform. But after arriving in the West he decides that he does not like being treated as the latest hot commodity; he appears to be no more comfortable in his new environment than in his previous one. While being hyped and promoted, he goes looking for his father, who had left nearly 30 years before to pursue his career as a musician in Cambridge. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gerulf Pannach, Fabienne Babe, (more)
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