Emmanuelle Devos Movies
The devastating reverberations of a profound tragedy echo through generations of a long-suffering French family in this emotional family drama from director Arnaud Desplechin. When Abel and his wife, Junon, started a family, it seemed like the seeds of true happiness had been planted. But while their daughter, Elizabeth, was healthy from the day she was born, things quickly turned dark when her brother Joseph was diagnosed with a rare and deadly genetic condition. Joseph's only hope for survival was a bone marrow transplant, but Abel, Junon, and Elizabeth were all incompatible. In one last, desperate chance to save their son's life, Abel and Junon conceived a third child. But not even little Henri could save his ailing brother's life. Joseph died at the age of seven, and neither his siblings nor his parents have ever found the strength to recover. Years later, family relations have deteriorated beyond the point of repair; the tensions between family matriarch Elizabeth and her cynical brother Henri finally culminating in a violent confrontation in which Elizabeth banishes her alcoholic brother and refuses him further contact with his troubled adolescent nephew, Paul. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon, (more)
- 2000
Robert (Andre Dussolier) is a stylish and neurotic 50-year-old with an insatiable appetite for women. One day, he reluctantly accompanies his sister to the hospital where her friend Claire (Emmanuelle Devos) has just given birth. Claire is an old flame of Robert's, and the combined impact of seeing her again and the fact that she has used his name for one of her babies makes Robert realize he is still in love with her. As Claire already has a new partner, the father of her child, Robert is particularly shocked and horrified by this discovery. At a bistro later that same day, he gets a second shock in the form of Marie-Pierre (Helene Fillieres, the sister of the film's director, Sophie Fillieres), a young waitress he's chatting up. In the course of their flirtation, Marie-Pierre makes Robert an offer: she will fall in love with him and conduct a full-blown love affair. This makes Robert feel pretty good, so he accepts, but soon enough he discovers that Marie-Pierre, who is nicknamed Aie (French for "ouch") is a bit of a twisted sister. Prone to vomiting up everything she eats and brushing her teeth compulsively with airline toothbrushes given to her by her pilot father, Marie-Pierre gives Robert's brain pause for thought even as his hormones are stampeding blindly ahead. But before he can break off his involvement with her, Robert decides to pay a visit to Claire's apartment, where he finds Marie-Pierre, and the two end up hiding in a closet together and resuming their affair. On a subsequent visit to her parents' house, Marie-Pierre shares some even more bizarre details about her already off-kilter personal history. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- André Dussollier, Hélène Fillières, (more)
- 1996
This taut psychological chiller tells the twisted story of Anna, a woman living in Paris, whose dreams of her Venetian counterpart, a secretive young woman who lives in a fine palace with her brother and an enigmatic older man, become frighteningly real. Anna's world begins coming apart after she is picked up by the police for witnessing an awful crime she cannot remember seeing. When she realizes that her dream alter-ego is trying to kill her, only her lover Marc's calming and supportive influence can save her from madness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte Gainsbourg, Gérard Lanvin, (more)
This historical drama is based on the true story of Artemisia Gentileschi, the first woman to achieve success as a painter. In 17th century Italy, noted artist Orazio Gentileschi (Michel Serrault) is a portrait artist enjoying a certain degree of success and acclaim. His 17-year-old daughter Artemisia (Valentina Cervi) would like to follow the same path as her father, but women are not allowed to pursue careers in the arts, and the convent where she attends school forbids students to sketch nude models. Eager to learn, Artemisia begins posing for herself by use of a mirror; her father discovers her secret but is enthusiastic about her work, and he takes her out of school so he can tutor her in painting and drawing. Orazio forbids her to draw male nudes, but curious Artemisia persuades local men to serve as her models, and her work steadily improves. In time, Artemisia and her work come to the attention of Agostino Tassi (Miki Manojovic), a friend of her father who is a well-known painter and something of a rake. Tassi is impressed by both the art and the artist, but when he and Artemisia begin a love affair, he finds himself on trial for rape. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Serrault, Valentina Cervi, (more)
- 2009
- PG13
- Add Coco Before Chanel to Queue
Amélie and The Da Vinci Code star Audrey Tautou stars as legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel in this biopic penned by director Anne Fontaine and screenwriter Camille Fontaine in collaboration with Christopher Hampton. Based on the Chanel biography L'Irrégulière (The Nonconformist) by author Edmonde Charles-Roux, Coco Avant Chanel features dresses from the Chanel collection. House of Chanel art director Karl Lagerfeld also steps onboard to supervise the creation of accessories and costumes. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, (more)
- 1994
Is there such a thing as an amicable divorce? This French drama, explores the subject in depth as it examines the post marital relations between Jeanne, Romain, and their ten year old daughter Mado. Jeanne and Romain had been married ten years before they mutually agreed to call it quits. Mado lives with her mother and her father has ample visitation. She has adjusted well to the situation, in part because her parents appear to be cooperative and friendly toward each other. But as time passes, cracks begin appearing in their facade. Romain begins to resent Mado's happiness with her mother. Jeanne must balance between work and single-parenthood; she is doing a good job of it. Romain though very strict and controlling really wants the best for Mado, but his wife's success eats at him. To get revenge, Romain tries to instill doubts as to Jeanne's competence in those she loves and works with, eventually he tries to create self-doubt in Jeanne herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Berry, Anne Brochet, (more)
What do three hitmen, a lost foreskin, and the pope have to do with each other? This wacky French comedy answers this question and many more. Set during the 1997 papal visit to Paris, 23-year old father Jonas (Clemont Sibony) is given his son's foreskin in a wad of tissues after the bris and solemnly told to bury it in three days without fail. Three days later, Jonas suddenly remembers his sacred duties while playing keyboards at a bar mitzvah and tries to leave. Unfortunately, the bar mitzvah boy's father comes to believe that Jonas has been flirting with his drunk and buxom wife Sophie (Emmanuelle Devos) and orders him murdered by three of his crack hitmen. Later, when Jonas tries to comfort Nina (Rona Hartner), a Romanian hell-bent on seeing the pope, he unwittingly gives her the exact wad of tissues that contain the foreskin. Tracking down Nina and finding a suitable place to bury the foreskin in the urban scrawl of Paris proves to be no easy task. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clément Sibony, Rona Hartner, (more)
The English-language debut of French director Arnaud Desplechin, Esther Kahn charts the ascension of a lower-class Jewish girl from a turn-of-the-century London ghetto to one of the stage's leading actresses. Esther (Summer Phoenix) feels set apart from her large, raucous family, who are all employed in the garment business. Her life is changed when she attends a Yiddish theatre performance, and she is suddenly determined to become an actress. After joining a small theatre company, she becomes the protégé of Nathan (Ian Holm), a stage veteran who instructs her in her chosen craft. Esther gradually works her way up in the ranks -- taking a lover, brainy French theatre critic Philippe (Fabrice Desplechin), along the way -- until she is cast in the title role of Hedda Gabler, which she performs to great acclaim. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Summer Phoenix, Ian Holm, (more)
A woman struggles to hold on to the man she loves in this drama set in the 1930s from Belgian filmmaker Frédéric Fonteyne. Elisa (Emmanuelle Devos) is a housewife who is passionately devoted to her husband, Gilles (Clovis Cornillac), who works in a steel mill. Despite taking care of twin daughters and unfailingly seeing to the cooking and cleaning in their home, Elisa is as adoring of Gilles as she was on the day they met, and she eagerly tends to his ravenous sexual appetite. However, while most men would be thrilled to have a wife like Elisa, after years of marriage she begins to suspect that he might be having an affair with her sister Victorine (Laura Smet) while Elisa is pregnant with their third child. Elisa is too much in love with Gilles to leave him, but while she can accept her husband's faults, neither she nor her husband are certain if this is a casual fling or a love affair that will put an end to their relationship. La Femme de Gilles (aka Gilles' Wife) was adapted from a novel by Madeleine Bourdouxhe. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Devos, Clovis Cornillac, (more)
- 2005
"Fontaine Leglou" (Emmanuelle Devos) is a silly name, and so, perhaps, that is why many silly things keep happening. As Gentille opens, Fountaine is walking down a Paris street, and stops to confront a man whom she suspects is following her. She tells him he looks normal, but she's sorry, she doesn't have time to have coffee with him. When he convincingly protests that he was not following her, she apologizes and asks him to have coffee. Fontaine would seem to have a relatively good life. She works as an anesthetist at a fancy mental hospital, and she's got a live-in Nobel Prize-winning arctic scientist boyfriend, Michel (Bruno Todeschini), who seems to love her. But there's clearly something nagging at her. She walks around in a perpetually distracted state, and frequently mistakes other peoples' identities and their intentions. When Michel proposes to her, she needs some time to digest it before she responds. There's a suave patient -- a doctor himself -- at her job, Philippe (Lambert Wilson), who seems attracted to her, and she clearly feels something in return. Meanwhile, Michel is growing impatient with her indecisiveness. Perhaps a visit from destiny will help her make a choice? Writer/director Sophie Fillières's offbeat romantic comedy, which also features Michael Lonsdale, Bulle Ogier, and Julie-Anne Roth, was shown by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 2006 as part of their annual Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Devos, Bruno Todeschini, (more)
- 2008
A confidence man stumbles into a scam that's not only lucrative but might actually help people in this comedy-drama inspired by a true story. Paul (Francois Cluzet) is a minor league swindler who after getting out of jail finds himself in a small town in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, where the economy has been in the doldrums ever since a major road construction project was abandoned. Paul tries to pull a small scale con on someone while posing as a representative of a large construction firm, and when word gets around that one of the company's men is in town, word spreads that the highway project is on again, and local subcontractors are eager to give Paul cash payments to be part of the job. Soon Paul is managing a big road building operation, even though he doesn't know the first thing about construction, and a number of men who've been out of work for months are on his payroll. Paul also find himself working side by side with the town's mayor, a lovely widow named Stephane (Emmanuelle Devos), and the two drift into a romance, but how long can Paul keep up this game before he's found out? A L'origine (aka In The Beginning) also stars Gerard Depardieu, Vincent Rottiers and Soko. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Soko, François Cluzet, (more)
A wealthy but dysfunctional family teeters on the brink of collapse in this emotional drama leavened with a strong dose of dark comedy. Federica (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) is the daughter of a wealthy Italian business magnate (Roberto Herlitzka) who relocated himself and his family to France in the 1970s, after a wave of kidnappings among the rich and prominent led him to fear for their safety. Years later, Federica and her siblings -- brother Aurelio (Lambert Wilson) and sister Bianca (Chiara Mastroianni) -- still feel lost and disconnected, and with their father on his death bed, they each confront their feelings in their own way. Emotionally distant Aurelio plans a long and expensive vacation, while Bianca is in a sour mood that refuses to lift. Federica, who is attempting to establish herself as a playwright, tries to focus on her work, but she finds herself romantically torn between her current beau, down to earth Pierre (Jean-Hugues Anglade) and her former lover Philippe (Denis Podalydes), who despite his infatuation with her can't tear himself away from his wife and child. Il Est Plus Facile Pour un Chameau... was the first feature film from Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, who wrote and directed the film as well as playing Federica. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Chiara Mastroianni, (more)
The stories of two desperate characters turn out to share an important link in this drama from French filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin. Nora (Emmanuelle Devos) is a woman in her mid-thirties who wants people to believe that her life is going just the way she wants. But a look below the surface shows this isn't quite the case; she's been divorced twice, her latest relationship is on the rocks, her ten-year-old son, Elias (Valentin Lelong), is becoming increasingly withdrawn, and her father (Maurice Garrel) is in poor health. When Nora learns that her father's digestive problems are actually cancer and he may only have a few days left to live, she desperately wants to turn to Ismael (Mathieu Amalric), her second husband. But Ismael is having a crisis of his own after a pattern of increasingly strange behavior has led him to an involuntary stay in a mental hospital. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric, (more)
- 2002
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
- Starring:
- Daniel Auteuil, Géraldine Pailhas, (more)
After spending some time with his diplomat father in Germany, a young French medical student returns by train to Paris to resume his studies. He is puzzled by the harsh treatment he receives from customs at the border but doesn't begin to understand why until he gets home and discovers a mummified head in his luggage. He suspects that someone at customs put it there, but is not sure. Instead of reporting the meandering body part, he decides to investigate it using the tools he has as a medical student. It appears to be the head of a Russian who died somewhere in Asia. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuel Salinger, Thibault de Montalembert, (more)
- 1999
In this bittersweet look back at the trials of growing up in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Emilie (Magali Woch), Ines (Ingrid Molinier), Stella (Julie-Marie Parmentier), and Marion (Camille Rousselet) become friends as they share the humiliations that are a part of adolescent life -- going to school, dealing with your parents, dealing with the emotional abuse of your peer group. La vie ne me fait pas peur spent several years in production; during a layoff in shooting, director Noemie Lvovsky shot a television film with the same characters entitled Petites, and later incorporated footage from the TV project into this film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Magalie Woch, Ingrid Molinier, (more)
- 1997
In this zany French comedy, a writer chooses the day he and his family are to move out into the country to quit his publishing job and take a lucrative position writing for a television sitcom. On this day, everything possible goes haywire, beginning with the early arrival of the four Romanian illegal aliens Alain hired to do the moving. He is at his old job cleaning out his desk when his wife calls with the bad news that the movers have arrived four hours early. Shortly thereafter a fight breaks out amongst the Romanians and they leave Alain high and dry. Alain then beseeches his friends to help him pack and move furniture. Unfortunately, his good buddies don't provide as much assistance as he needs. Alain's day goes from bad to worse when he is called in for an emergency story meeting with his new boss at the network. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danyboon, Emmanuelle Devos, (more)
Espionage, personal integrity, and political commitment are the main themes running through this French thriller that chronicles a young man's journey from idealism to disillusionment and maturity. The story is set in the 1980's in Tel Aviv and follows the exploits and moral conflicts of Attal, a Jew who left his family in France on his eighteenth birthday to pursue a career as an agent in Israels' Institute for Intelligence, the Mossad. At first, his missions do not bother his conscience; he performs them for the good of Israel. But, as time passes, Attal must face more moral dilemmas as the work becomes more subversive and dishonest. He must ultimately decide whether to follow the his personal ideals, or be part of a system which promote immoral acts in the name of idealism. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yvan Attal, Dan Toren, (more)
- 1996
In this satiric comedy-drama from France, Paul (Mathieu Amalric) is an assistant professor of philosophy disenchanted with teaching and distracted enough that he can't (or won't) finish the dissertation that would allow him to become a full professor. Esther (Emmanuelle Devos) has been his girlfriend for nearly a decade; while he's no longer happy with the relationship, he has trouble working up the courage to break it off. He's smitten with Sylvia (Marianne Denicourt), the lover of his best friend Nathan (Emmanuel Salinger); Paul and Sylvia had a brief fling two years ago, and he can't get her out of his mind. However, once Paul gives Esther her walking papers, he starts chasing after Valerie (Jeanne Balibar), while also keeping his eye on Patricia (Chiara Mastroianni), the girlfriend of his cousin (and roommate) Bob (Thibault de Montalembert). It's hard to imagine Paul having much time to think about anything else amidst all this romantic tumult, but when Rabier (Michel Vuillermoz), a former friend, gets a top spot in Paul's department, it leads to an ongoing argument that both adds to and reflects the turmoil of his romantic life. Amalric's performance earned him a 1997 César Award as Most Promising Young Actor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos, (more)
A middle-aged Frenchwoman is either experiencing delusions of grandeur or the full force of destiny in director Tonie Marshall's 2002 romantic drama Nearest to Heaven (Au Plus Pres Du Paradis). When single non-fiction book author Fanette (Catherine Deneuve) accidentally bumps into former schoolmate Bernard (Bernard Le Coq) -- who was smitten with Fanette in school but whose affection remained unrequited -- she is reminded of another man whom she loved intensely. This other man, Philippe, left a huge impression on Fanette as she begins to lose herself in reminiscences over the brief, intense relationship the two experienced. After catching a number of screenings for the 1957 film An Affair to Remember -- which was also Fanette and Philippe's favorite film during their fling -- Fanette gets the notion from what may or may not be a figment of her imagination to go to New York and visit the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Setting out under the pretense of putting the finishing touches on her latest book, she arrives in the States and discovers her usual photographer has been replaced by the single and somewhat attractive male photographer Matt (William Hurt) -- which further confuses Fanette when she eventually develops feelings for him. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, William Hurt, (more)
- 1986
Students of film history will appreciate the many tributes to famous films of yore which appear in this first-time feature directed and written by former drama teacher Francis Huster. In the story, a mild-mannered bank clerk has heroic dreams of being a real he-man. Given his diffident, shy nature, it comes as a bit of a surprise that not only does he actually have a girlfriend, but he has managed to get her pregnant. However, she doesn't fit his image of himself, and he can't bring himself to marry her. When the bank he works in is robbed by a daring group which includes a magnetically attractive woman, the clerk throws his lot in with them and becomes an outlaw. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Huster, Béatrice Dalle, (more)
- 2007
A middle-aged man studying the Mur des Noms in modern-day France recalls the time 20 years prior when he and his mother were viewing the trial of Klaus Barbie with rapt attention in this introspective drama from director Amos Gitai. The year was 1987, and Rivka lived with her son, Victor, in a disheveled apartment littered with antiques and memorabilia. The opening session in the trial against the so-called "butcher of Lyon" is being televised, and Rivka is struggling to keep her emotions under control as she prepares dinner. Meanwhile, Victor sits in his office attempting to assemble his family tree. But he too is watching the trials, and doesn't seem to hear a word spoken to him by his secretary. As mother and son sit down for dinner together, the mere mention of Barbie's trial is enough to cause Rivka to excuse herself from the table. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Moreau, Hippolyte Girardot, (more)
- 1994
This film follows the exploits of a young middle-class girl obsessed with love. The viewer will either love or hate the protagonist as she struggles through her confusion to find true love. Neurotic Nathalie wants love, but cannot make up her mind. She throws her nice boyfriend Antoine out while simultaneously stalking Eric, the hospital orderly who rejected her. Nathalie then tries to sleep with her best friend Christine's boyfriend Fabrice. Fabrice almost gives in, but suddenly rejects Nat. Nathalie is broken hearted and subsequently becomes more depressed and morally bankrupt. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Emmanuelle Devos, (more)
