Anouk Grinberg Movies
- 1986
In a murder mystery cum love story, Tommy (Scott Renderer) is looking for the reason why his brother Billy, a rock musician, is suddenly dead in Paris -- and discovers more than he ever wanted to know about his sibling. After Tommy arrives in the City of Light he talks with Billy's sleazy widow, who bad-mouths the deceased without regret. Next he finds out his brother's friends were anything but Boy Scouts; he eventually discovers Billy had a transvestite lover who is also dead. In the meantime, Tommy finds that drugs were also involved and it becomes clear Billy was murdered. After running into Billy's old girlfriend Julie (Gabrielle Lazure), Tom starts a torrid affair with her, though that will probably not derail his investigation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gabrielle Lazure, Scott Renderer, (more)
- 1987
This uneven drama concerns the efforts of an aspiring filmmaker to include an unwilling female in his production. Paul (Jean-Louis Trintignant) finds difficulty deciding on a location for his film and angrily throws out his script. Jean (Jacob Berger) is the film student who is sent by Paul to track down Dara (Laura Morante) and recruit her for the feature. All three end up in Brooklyn, where Dara's father believes Paul and Jean are only interested in having sex with his daughter. A must for fans of director Alain Tanner. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Louis Trintignant, Laura Morante, (more)
- 1989
In this French romantic drama, Stephane (Michel Feller) wants to form a romantic bond with Sabine (Clotilde de Bayser), and to do this has left his pregnant girlfriend behind. Sabine would rather be with Bruno (Jean-Philippe Ecoffey) her former boyfriend, a stage actor. Bruno in turn is much more interested in his current girlfriend. Each person is, in his or her own way, attempting to deal with issues of maturity and responsibility and repeatedly fails to find happiness or even a decently tranquil compromise between their desires and the realities of their situations. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clotilde de Bayser, Marie Matheron, (more)
- 1991
A group of teens leave their comfortable homes on a trip south to the Pyrennes Mountains in order to find a treasure that they have read about. Simultaneously, a fourteen-year-old boy has grown so fixated on Clo (Andréa Ferreol), a mature woman, that he has run away to be with her. After treating him appropriately for his age, she follows her own curiosity and they briefly engage in a sexual relationship, after which she resumes her role as an adult and sees to it that he returns to his family, which has been suspicious of their relationship all along. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andréa Ferréol, Juliette Brac, (more)
- 1991
As a young man, Gerard was in a relationship with Marianne, a woman he called the love of his life, someone he would love even beyond the veils of death. However, somehow he drifted out of his relationship with her, though they were occasionally in touch with one another. Many relationships later, he is now married and has children by a wonderfully solid and nurturing woman (whom he is not faithful to). When he hears of the death of his first love, it causes him to reevaluate his relationships, and he realizes that Marianne was indeed the one great love of his life. Only his own lack of a real center caused him to lose that precious relationship. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoit Regent, Johanna ter Steege, (more)
- 1991
In this frequently surrealistic romp, a satire on sex, politics, and the business of filmmaking, two young women get together after discovering sufficient provocations in their lives to deliberately set out to wreak havoc in the world around them. Joelle (Anouk Grinberg) has just been thrown out of a moving car by her abusive man-friend, when Camille (Charlotte Gainsbourg) encounters her. Joelle's bitter exclamation Merci la Vie, or "thank you, life" echoes something of Camille's feelings, and the two decide to go on a rampage, picking up and seducing numerous men and then doing things like destroying their cars. Eventually, they set their sights on a "higher" goal and decide to do in an entire town. Meanwhile, it becomes evident that a sinister medical researcher, Dr. Worms (Gérard Depardieu), has infected promiscuous Joelle with a sexually transmitted disease he invented for the sole purpose of becoming the man who finds its cure, which he hopes will make him beloved, famous and rich. At some point, an elaborate series of flashbacks enter the story, and in one sequence, Camille attempts to persuade her feuding parents to get back together long enough to conceive her. Reviewers noted that logic is not a strong point in this film, but they found its fast pace and bright performances vastly entertaining. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte Gainsbourg, Anouk Grinberg, (more)
This experimental drama is something of an actor's challenge: see if you can convincingly play an age range from six to thirty six without any makeup or costume changes, just by using your gifts as a performer. In this film, the role of Victorine poses just such a challenge to Anouk Grinberg, who appears as this child of the Marseilles slums. At any moment in the film, she is likely to be any age. The young girl cowering at her mother's feet becomes a sexual wunderkind, as well as observing the bizarre and often sexual antics of her multiracial neighbors. If there is one theme for the movie beyond Victorine's odd life, it is that everyone needs affection and support. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anouk Grinberg, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
- 1992
Caroline can't get enough of the television coverage about an upcoming manned Mars landing, but it doesn't interest her no-good boyfriend Antoine, who is not only a suspicious lout but who never seems to have a good-humored moment. It's August and it's hot. Caroline leaves their apartment to get some ice cream, runs into an inoffensive man and gets involved in the celebrations at a nearby medical convention. Meanwhile, her unpleasant boyfriend is busily concocting games with his ex-con neighbor, games which backfire on him mightily. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anouk Grinberg, Dominique Pinon, (more)
- 1995
A successful prostitute attempts to fashion a homeless man into her ideal pimp in this unconventional, darkly humorous French drama. Marie (Anouk Grinberg) has no real need for a pimp, being a self-reliant, unabashed woman so fond of her job as a hooker that she is able to convince strangers to try it themselves. Indeed, her financial success allows her to take care of Jeannot (Gérard Lanvin), an impoverished vagrant whom she finds on the streets. She provides him with a bath and a place to sleep, and the two rapidly become lovers. Nevertheless, Marie is soon imploring Jeannot to act as her pimp, begging him to slap her around and take her money. He takes to his new role and soon decides to talk a manicurist (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) into becoming the next member of his stable. The newcomer's inexperience proves to be his downfall, however, as the manicurist lands him in trouble with the law. Director Bertrand Blier attempts to create a controversial look at sexuality by combining black comedy with scenes of smoky sensuality, though many critics found the central premise and the presentation of Marie's contradictory, masochistic character too unconvincing for the film to be fully successful. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anouk Grinberg, Gérard Lanvin, (more)
- 1995
A 10-year-old boy's fantasies about his absent father provide the basis for this thoughtful French drama that uses comedy, drama, and tenderness to present a realistic, not overly sentimental portrait of a dysfunctional family. Martin lives in Lyon with his mother Nina. Martin is an energetic, troubled lad frequently involved in fights at school and constantly trying to run off to North Africa where he believes his father lives as a tribal warrior. He honestly believes his papa will return to them so when the beautiful Nina gets involved with other men, he refuses to accept his rather flighty mother's new lovers. The most recent is Pippo, an aimless Italian fellow. When not daydreaming about his dad, and the fabulous life that awaits him in the desert, Martin plays with his one friend, Karim, an Arab boy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anouk Grinberg, Axel Lingee, (more)
- 1996
Irony abounds in this French comedy that tells the tale of an unsophisticated, rather dim-bulbed country lad who follows the advice of a former French freedom fighter and tries to change himself into a hero of the recently ended French Resistance. Poor Albert is no stranger to deceit. For his first 12-years, his mother led him to believe that his father was a war hero. He is devastated to learn that his father really died of alcoholism. During the war, Albert does all he can to avoid fighting for the Resistance, even though the Nazis control his village. He marries and moves in with his wife's family, innocent of the fact that the whole time he is there, they are concealing downed British fliers. The night their town is freed, Albert leaves for Paris where he meets Dionnet, "The Captain," a bona-fide Resistance hero. It is he, who teaches Albert how to successfully change his identity. After much practice and memorization, Albert finally has a new identity and goes to work as a secretary for Mr. Jo, a former double agent. Albert stays in a boarding house, where a resident prostitute teaches him about lovemaking. Meanwhile, Albert becomes recognized as a courageous patriot, a role he manages to sustain only a little while before it all falls apart and the painful truth is finally revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mathieu Kassovitz, Anouk Grinberg, (more)
- 1999
Sex, avant-garde art, and Communist ideology are at the heart of this compelling historical drama. The film opens just as the Soviet Empire crumbles in 1989. As Louise (Brigitte Catillon) mourns the death of her lover, she discovers the journal of Alfred Katz (Gregoire Colin), an earnest Jewish radical and erstwhile poet who disappeared in 1938. With the aid of a history professor, Louise unravels what happened to Katz. In the feverish climate of pre-WWII Paris, Katz reveals himself as both a fervent Trotskyite and an unabashed romantic. At a party thrown by the noted surrealist Andre Breton, he meets Mila (Anouk Grinberg), a beautiful part-time model, part-time whore. As soon as he falls for her, he learns of her other lover Felix (Xavier Beauvois), a fervent Stalinist. Bored with politics, Mila eventually marries Katz. Soon betrayal and politics catch up with the poet. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Grégoire Colin, Anouk Grinberg, (more)
- 2000
In this bizarre and darkly comic fantasy, Antonio (Sergio Rubini) is a man who was born with unusually large incisors; his freakishly huge teeth make him an outcast from his peers as a child, and he attempts more than once to break off the offending choppers. The emotionally fragile Antonio was further devastated at the age of 12 when his mother (Anouk Grinberg) died, and as a man, he's become obsessive and controlling in his relationships with women. Antonio is convinced that his girlfriend Mara (Anita Caprioli) has been unfaithful to him -- with her dentist (Tom Novembre), of course. After Antonio confronts Mara in a moment of anger, she responds with rage, and strikes him in the face with a large ashtray, breaking off one of his teeth. Antonio now must travel across the land, going from dentist to dentist in search of someone who can make a crown that will suit his extra-large smile. Denti was shown in competition at the 2000 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergio Rubini, Anouk Grinberg, (more)
- 2002
Alexandre Arcady's thriller Entre Chiens et Loups (Break of Dawn) is about dishonor among hitmen. Radman (Joaquim de Almeida) hires terminally ill Adrien (Richard Berry) and brash youngster Werner (Saïd Taghmaoui) to fire at a Romanian political figure. The catch is that they are supposed to miss and be killed in order to make the politician look strong. Adrien agrees to the arrangement because he wants to collect a windfall for his family before leukemia claims him. The "shooters" are double-crossed and then have to stay alive long enough to get revenge. The film is based on a novel by Claude Klotz. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Berry, Saïd Taghmaoui, (more)
- 2006
A psychiatrist who probes the mind of traumatized soldiers attempts to unlock the secret that drove a gentle but deeply-disturbed World War I veteran to the edge of insanity in the feature debut from writer/director Gabriel Le Bomin. While most physicians casually dismiss the visibly disquieting ailments of the afflicted veterans who occupy the hospital beds in his institution as "malingering," Dr. Labrousse (Aurelien Recoing) tends to look a bit deeper before making his diagnosis. Antonin (Gregori Derangere) is a patient of Dr. Labrousse's who, despite being assigned the decidedly non-violent duty of tending to carrier pigeons, has now become locked in a catatonic state. Confounded as to how Antonin fell victim to such severe battle fatigue, Dr. Labrousse turns a camera on his patient and gradually begins to introduce a variety of different stimuli that will help him to better gauge the true impact of the damaged man's trauma. It is precisely this stimuli that unlocks Antonin's deeply suppressed memories about the war, and begins to reveal that his malady is not the result of the things that happened to him, but the horrifying sights be bore witness to as the war dragged on and ravaged the bodies of his fellow soldiers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Grégori Derangère, Anouk Grinberg, (more)
