Michèle Bernier Movies

Inspired by director Vittorio De Sica's 1952 neorealist classic Umberto D., Francis Huster's sentimental drama stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as an aged retiree who is forced out onto the street with his dog after his relationship with a wealthy widow falls apart. A cinematic comeback for Belmondo, who previously retired from acting after suffering a major stroke, un homme et son chien tells the story of Charles, an older man who was invited by his lover to stay in the maid's room in her sprawling home. When the woman decides to marry again, however, Charles and his faithful four-legged companion are promptly shown the door. With no place to call home and no means of earning a living, Charles wanders the streets of Paris with his dog as their pair drift towards an uncertain fate. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Véra Belmont's World War II-era, French-language drama Survivre avec les loups dramatizes the incredible true story of a 7-year-old Jewish girl from Brussels named Misha Defonseca (Mathilde Goffart). In the year 1941, Misha's parents are deported by the Nazis; left behind, she protects herself by seeking refuge with another Belgian family, but in time this also proves futile, and to escape detection and capture Misha hearkens off, by herself, into the European wilderness. Thus begins a 3,000 mile, four year journey across Europe, that finds this young girl subsisting on stolen crops and befriended by packs of wild wolves. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Eddie Murphy gets way, way out in this futuristic sci-fi comedy. In the year 2087, the Earth's natural resources have been largely depleted, and an increasingly large number of people have taken up residence on the moon, where the pioneering attitude of the new residents has created a culture not unlike the old west. Pluto Nash (Eddie Murphy) is one such lunar exile who formerly made his living outside the law, but has since gone straight and now runs the hippest nightclub in the moon colony known as "Little America." Pluto is approached by Mogan (Joe Pantoliano), a gangster who wants to buy the nightclub; Pluto has no interest in selling, but it seems Mogan isn't about to take no for an answer. Pluto also discovers Mogan is in cahoots with Max Crater, a crime boss whose goal is to take over the entire moon. The Adventures Of Pluto Nash also features Randy Quaid as Pluto's robot bodyguard, Rosario Dawson as a naive singer who has just arrived on the moon, Peter Boyle as Rowland the pool hustler, Jay Mohr as old-school lounge singer Tony Francis, Illeana Douglas as a cloning technician, and Pam Grier as Pluto's mother. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this black comedy, a criminal discovers a market for murder in the suburbs. After doing time in prison, mobster Jimmy the Tulip (Bruce Willis) moves to a suburban neighborhood. But Jimmy's new neighbors (Rosanna Arquette and Matthew Perry) soon figure out who he is. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this French comedy, a man discovers that he has something unexpected in common with his wife -- they're both involved with another woman. Loli (Victoria Abril) is a woman of Spanish blood married to a French businessman, Laurent (Alain Chabat). Loli is not especially happy as a housewife, though she'd likely be even less happy if she knew that her husband is chronically unfaithful and has had a string of mistresses. Laurent, on the other hand, is convinced that his wife isn't the type who would never have an affair, and what she doesn't know won't hurt her. One day, a truck breaks down in front of Loli's home, and Marijo (Josiane Balasko) asks to use their phone. Marijo is a gruff-looking lesbian who works as a plumber; as it happens, Loli has a stopped-up sink, so in exchange for using the phone, Marijo gets Loli's drain back in working order. Soon Loli and Marijo are getting to know each other a bit better, and Loli discovers that she's powerfully attracted to her new visitor. Marijo becomes Loli's bedmate and a permanent guest at the house, which is more than a bit perplexing to Laurent, but after he accidentally reveals his infidelities to Loli, he's not in much of a position to pass judgement. Josiane Balasko, who plays Marijo, is also the film's director and co-screenwriter. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Following a trend that may have begun with the first Blondie movie in 1938, this is an acted interpretation of a popular comic strip by the acerbic cartoonist Jean-Marc Reiser, who wrote the dialog for Vive Les Femmes but died before shooting was completed. Reiser's comic strip emphasized the lowest common denominator in intimate relationships, where physically flawed examples of both sexes go after each other with unbridled enthusiasm. Roland Giraud plays a womanizer, and Maurice Risch an unhappy loner whose manners will undoubtedly keep him that way, in this disconnected series of uneven skits that play to no unifying theme. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide