Nathalie Richard

Cesar award-winning actor Jean-Pierre Darroussin makes his feature directorial debut with this satirical tale about a well-to-do Parisian lawyer who takes flight from the middle class. Charles Benesteau (Darroussin) is a forty seven year old lawyer who has grown tired of bourgeois hypocrisy. The husband of a terminally pretentious art maven, Charles leaves behind his marriage and comfortable house for a modest apartment on a multi-ethnic, working class neighborhood. Though at first his new, low-rent lifestyle brings Charles a level of happiness never achieved in his posh old neighborhood, things quickly turn chaotic when his feuding neighbors stick him with their troubled teenage daughter as they wage World War 3 behind paper-thin walls. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A minor scooter accident turns into a comic nightmare for an aimless young man and his friends in Pierre Jolivet's Zim and Co. Victor Zimbietrovski, or Zim (Adrien Jolivet, the director's son), works hard, but not in any organized way. He plays guitar in a band, and he has a couple of odd jobs, off the books. He lives with his easygoing mother (Nathalie Richard) and he gets by. But when he accidentally sideswipes a vengeful motorist, he ends up in a great deal of trouble. He tests positive for marijuana, and because it's his second offense, there's a good possibility he'll have to do time. The judge tells Zim he might avoid jail if he can prove that he has a job. Zim manages to land a job working for a sporting goods company by telling them he has a car. Now he has ten days to produce a high-school diploma, a driver's license, and a car, or he'll probably end up in the slammer. He turns to his friends, who have problems of their own. Arthur (Yannick Nasso) has to deal with his strict father, who tells Arthur he doesn't "deserve to be French" when Arthur's kicked out of a mechanic's training program by the bigoted teacher. Cheb (Mhamed Arezki) is trying to sell the latest gadget he's invented, a cell phone locator, while Cheb's cousin Safia (Naidra Ayadi) has been fired from her waitress job for dipping into the till, and needs a new place to live. Still, the four stalwart, resourceful friends band together against an uncaring and often racist bureaucracy, determined to help Zim stay free. Zim and Co. was shown by the Film Society of Lincoln Center as part of their Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in 2006. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Based on the 1997 National Book Award-nominated novel of the same name by Diane Johnson (co-writer of the script for Stanley Kubrick's The Shining), Le Divorce is a romantic comedy from director James Ivory. Revisiting the "Americans in France" theme that Ivory explored in 1998's A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries, the film stars Kate Hudson as Isabel Walker. When she receives word that her pregnant poetess sister Roxy (Naomi Watts) has been left by her philandering French husband, artist Charles-Henri de Persand (Melvil Poupaud), Isabel offers her help and moral support. As the depressive Roxy struggles with the separation proceedings -- which include the rights to ownership of a work of art that's a family heirloom -- Isabel takes a job with author Olivia Pace and has a fling with the bohemian Yves (Romain Duris). But things get complicated when the younger, more impudent sister decides instead to pursue Charles' uncle, the snooty, married diplomat Edgar (Thierry Lhermitte), and when a mysterious man (Matthew Modine) starts stalking Roxy. Eventually, the rest of the plucky Walker clan has to come to the aid of the siblings. Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston co-star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

The nature of love and memory and how the two sensations interrelate are explored in Jean-Pierre Limosin's 2002 film Novo. Office worker Graham (Eduardo Noriega) suffered a head injury that destroyed his ability to maintain long-term memories. Falling in love with the forgetful Graham, temporary office secretary Irene (Anna Mouglalis) takes the opportunity to engage Graham in a sexual relationship that feels like the beginning of a hot romance -- with plenty of adventurous sexual encounters along the way. While Irene insists that she'll maintain the memories for both of them until Graham recovers, she begins to wonder if their romance will endure without his being able to remember any of the hot details from their short history. Novo was a chosen for inclusion into the 2002 Locarno International Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

A woman finds her personality taking an abrupt about-face in this comedy-drama from France. Irene (Nathalie Richard) is a bank executive who enforces fiduciary regulations with a ruthless, to-the-letter strictness. Irene notices a homeless woman wandering around Paris in a yellow raincoat; one day, while walking home from a party, the same woman attacks Irene, and she falls unconscious for 48 hours. Once she's recovered a few days later, Irene learns that the woman who attacked her was stabbed to death in the park; curious about this turn of events, Irene goes to the morgue to see the body, where she bumps into Rosa (Valerie Mairesse), a bohemian who has a small apartment overlooking the park and who occasionally checks on unidentified bodies in hopes of finding her missing sister. Since the mugging, Irene hasn't been able to relate to her husband and children, and she decides to move in with Rosa, embracing her carefree lifestyle. Confort Moderne also stars Jean-Jacques Vanier as Irene's husband Alain and Jean-Michel Noirey as Murat. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The 400 Blows meets Rear Window in this low-key French thriller directed by Olivier Jahan. Suffering because of the death of his father and the emotional distance of his mother, high-school student Eric (Jeremie Renier) kills time by obsessively spying on his neighbors. Compulsively taking notes on everything within binocular range from his bedroom window, he harasses his neighbors by sending unsigned notes and making their private affairs public. The tables turn when one of his prey, a young couple, Tom (Sami Bouajila) and Fabienne (Alexia Stresi), figure out the identity of their anonymous tormentor. Meanwhile, Eric is slowly driving his mother and stepfather crazy with his weird, insular activity, and he can't stand his sister Carol's (Natalie Richard) newfound happiness with her beau Simon (Pierre Berriau). This look into the mind of a future serial killer was screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Noted French actress Nathalie Richard makes her English-language debut in this downbeat drama. Anne (Richard) is a woman who, after the loss of her leg in an accident, has withdrawn into her apartment, where her only contact with the outside world is her significant other, Donny (Daniel Aukin). One day Anne's sister Iris (Sarah Adler) appears; she hasn't spoken with Anne in ten years, but after a decade of free-spirited traveling, she's decided this is where she wants to stay. Anne takes Iris in and comes to enjoy her boisterous personality, but Donny dislikes her intensely, and the two begin to spar, with a serious conflict inevitable. This first effort from writer/director David Barker was shown at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This French-Belgian drama, based on a novel by Odon von Horvath, is set in 1938 in a German city along the banks of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers. It attempts to provide insight as to why certain German youths were so easily lead into becoming Nazis by using two narrators, one a teacher who challenged the movement and another by a student who embraced it. Pabst teaches a group of teenage boys, all of whom seem to be young Nazis. The trouble begins when Pabst and a WW I vet are assigned to take the class to a military camp and a nature outing for urban kids. While there a boy is brutally murdered and they blame one local girl. During her trial, Pabst speaks out against Hitler and becomes pariah. Still he continues investigating the death, at great personal expense until at last he brings the real killer to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this French coming-of-age drama a 15-year old boy breaks free from his fixation with his older half-sister and learns to trust himself and become independent. The story is set in a rural French town. When his wild half-sister Vivien finally returns home after an eight year absence, young Marc is ecstatic. He is awed by her free-wheeling, independent life. He quietly follows her every move, living vicariously through her. She becomes his teacher, but as Marc observes her more closely he begins to see that his sister has no real sense of self-worth. Her promiscuity is only a mask to hide her lack of self-respect. Marc begins to withdraw and follow his own path. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This affectionate little drama captures the last summer before graduation, when these assorted film students and drama students must leave the protected world of college and venture out into the chaotic currents of everyday life. All of them are working together to prepare a revue which spoofs and celebrates their work together. Each student has his own style and character - often chosen for maximum dramatic impact. For instance, Paul (Pierre Berriau) is permanently gloomy, and mopes around, invariably wearing a long coat. The others make fun of him, because he is so serious. Charly (Nathalie Richard) loyally helps a male friend of hers rid himself of the insistent attentions of a former girlfriend. Caroline (Charlotte Leo) is the romantic one of the bunch, and her adventures along those lines keep her fully occupied. Several of them insist that they will not compromise the purity of their cinematic and theatrical aspirations for mere monetary comfort, but when Luc (Lucas Belvaux) and Nanou (Christine Vouilloz) find that Nanou is pregnant, they reconsider their absolutist stance. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide