Etienne Chicot

A young sound engineer whose mother has recently been murdered uses her expertise in audio to launch her own investigation into the case, only to find that the sounds of the past could prove key to solving a mystery of the present in director Alanté Kavaïté's poetic thriller. Charlotte's mother has been mysteriously murdered, but the grieving daughter isn't about to let the investigations stall due to the simple incompetence of the local police force. When Charlotte travels back to the house that her mother lived in at the time of the murder and makes an audio recording that seems to be of supernatural origins, the surreal events that follow lead the once-skeptical girl down a darkened path that threatens to consume her own soul with each new terrifying revelation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

When the wife of a high-ranking government official begins experiencing chilling visions that are somehow tied to a series of murders around Paris, her fate becomes intricately tied with that of the two police officers investigating the gruesome crimes in this horror-flavored thriller from the producer of The Professional and starring Jean Reno. Anna Heymes' (Arly Jover) memory is failing, and her dreams are plagued by unspeakable images of murder. Meanwhile, in the Turkish district of Paris, upstanding police officer Nerteaux (Jocelyn Quivrin) and his questionably motivated partner, Schiffer (Reno), investigate the savage murder of three clandestine Turkish laborers. As the investigating officers uncover an important clue implicating the Turkish mafia in the crimes, Anna awakens to discover that her appearance has been drastically altered by a mysterious plastic surgeon. As the link between Anna and the Turkish murder victims slowly comes into focus, the truth about her nightmarish past sets into motion a terrifying sequence of events. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Bruno (Grégoire Colin of Beau Travail) is a troubled art student fascinated with pristine white walls and empty space. A squalid, unhappy childhood has left him angry, reclusive, and obsessive. When his brutish uncle (Etienne Chicot), fed up with Bruno's eccentricities, threatens to kick him out, Bruno calmly murders him. Elise (Julie Ordon) is several years younger than Bruno, just entering adulthood. Her mother was murdered when Elise was a little girl, and Anne (Brigitte Catillon), the psychiatrist who used hypnosis to try to draw out her memory of the event, is now married to Elise's father, Richard (Laurent Grévill). Anne still worries that the mysterious man who murdered Elise's mother will return to harm Elise. She's overprotective to the point of paranoia, and Elise grows increasingly weary of her stepmother's constant meddling. When Bruno gets an interior design job at the upscale shoe store where Elise works, they are immediately drawn to each other. While Elise is quietly determined to draw out the odd, shy young man, Bruno seems to see Elise as some kind of ideal objet d'art. Anne, ever suspicious, suspects that Bruno is up to no good, and tries to keep Elise from seeing him. As Bruno plots to make Elise his, the twisted truth about her mother's murder is revealed. Inquiétudes, based on the novel A Sight for Sore Eyes by Ruth Rendell, was written and directed by Gilles Bourdos. It was shown at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Rendezvous With French Cinema in 2004. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Four salesmen hit the open road, searching for adventure and hoping to unload some encyclopedias in this eccentric comedy from France. Jerome (Julien Boisselier) is a timid man who lands a job that doesn't seem immediately appropriate for his temperament -- he's become a door-to-door salesman hawking a five-volume encyclopedia. Jerome hits the road along with three other salesmen -- crafty Patrick (Etienne Chicot), polished Michel (Yvon Back), and good-natured long-timer Jacques (Michel Duchaussoy) -- as well as their supervisor, Regis (Benoit Poelvoorde), who appears to have adopted Alec Guinness' character in The Bridge on the River Kwai as his role model. With time, Jerome gets the hang of his job, and even grows to enjoy convincing people that they need his books. But life on the road poses more than its share of challenges, especially as Regis begins to veer farther and farther away from reality. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A working mother deals with the people involved in her life in this French comedy. Anne is a TV series editor. She is mother to a teenage boy by her ex-husband Daniel, and to twin 8-year old daughters by a mysterious other man. The girls' father, Arthur an irresponsible musician, shows up suddenly and must face the wrath of Anne, especially since he insists on resuming the relationship. She is confused because she is already involved with Regis, a selfish and married man. She is also interested in Jacques who is almost divorced. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In the Dancing Machine, Alain Delon is Alan Wolf, a former great name in the world of dance, who has been forced by injuries to retire and become an instructor. He trains talented young people who hope for a career as dancers. In particular, despite an incredibly harsh and demanding demeanor, he wins the fanatical adoration of his female students. Indeed, so ardent is their worship of him that when they are dismissed from his studio for artistic shortcomings, many of them become suicidally despondent. One of them actually dances herself to death outside the window to his home. As deaths among his students begin to accumulate, Inspector Eparvier (Claude Brasseur) begins an investigation. Is Wolf simply a cold-blooded and apparently misogynistic manipulator, or is he deliberately bringing about these deaths? ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, a woman whose husband has begun seeing a wholly unsuitable woman runs away and attempts to support her son and herself by doing construction work. Many years later, after the death of his mother, the boy makes his father's acquaintance once again. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

When Jenny Quester (Catherine Deneuve) is harassed over the phone by a mysterious caller, she enlists the help of her policeman brother Frank (Andre Dussolier) in this suspenseful crime drama. She fears the calls may be from a murderer who recently was discharged from an insane asylum. Later Jenny finds evidence that someone has been in her apartment. Last-minute plot twists provide anxiety and thrills in this directorial debut for Elisabeth Rappeneau. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A short and strange storyline emboldens this thriller with sci-fi overtones by Didier Grousset. Albert (Michel Galabru) is an electronics genius who gets the ax from his company and then goes over the edge. At first he packs off to his attic, turns on the television, and opts for vegetating. But he gets a little irritated by what he sees on TV and is especially miffed at some inept announcers. So his solution is to invent a "ray gun" that can travel through the TV screen and the camera in the studios and kill the idiots, one at a time. A detective (Richard Bohringer) starts to figure out how the murders are happening and develops a scheme to eliminate the unknown, attic assassin. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Joan Aiken, this is a routine story of a psycho looking for revenge. "Cappy" Bronsky (Jean-Pierre Bisson) is a paraplegic because of an accident at a construction site that was partly due to the head architect, David Briand (Jean-Pierre Bacri). Many years after the accident, Bronsky shows up at Briand's residence with his family and his trailer looking for assistance. He and his wife insinuate themselves into the household without revealing their true identity. They start to work for Briand and his wife Elaine (Nicole Garcia) as a gardener and a babysitter with the sole objective of wreaking havoc on their lives and avenging Bronsky's disabilities. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this suspense thriller inspired by the novel Eye of the Beholder by Marc Behm, Catherine (Isabelle Adjani), a serial killer, seduces men and then murders them just before moving on to the next victim. She spreads her mayhem through various countries in Europe, only slightly ahead of the mentally anguished detective (Michel Serrault) who tracks her -- he fantasizes she is his long-lost daughter and disposes of her trail of corpses to foil the police. Catherine pauses for a real love affair with a blind architect (Sami Frey) but the detective is overcome by jealousy and causes the man's death. This drives Catherine into despair -- and a return to her psychotic killing. As the police dragnet closes in, both Catherine and the detective are brought closer to a final confrontation with their internal demons. The version released in the U.S. runs only 96 min. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide