Nicolas Silberg Movies

Two people on opposite sides of the law are brought together under unusual circumstances in this thriller. Lea (Elsa Zylberstein) is a young woman with a checkered past who has just finished a stretch in prison and is waiting for her teenaged brother, Sammy (Vincent Martinez), to pick her up. As it turns out, Sammy has been nurturing an impressive criminal career of his own, and he's killed in an ambush with plainclothes police officers within Lea's sight. Traumatized, Lea isn't sure where to turn, and finds solace in the arms of David (Richard Berry), a police detective who is dealing with a crisis of his own -- he confiscated two kilos of heroin during a drug bust, which ruthless criminal, Zak (Pascal Greggory), is demanding as ransom after kidnapping David's nine-month-old son. While their tragedies have brought them together, what Lea doesn't know is that David is the policeman who shot her brother, and soon they both find themselves at odds with one another's allies in the French criminal underworld. Un Ange was a rare foray into theatrical filmmaking for established television director Miguel Courtois. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Best known for their historical epics that examine class and social issues in British life through a thick lens of tasteful production design and good manners, director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant set their sights on an American protagonist for a change with Jefferson in Paris. As the title suggests, Jefferson in Paris deals with the five years that Thomas Jefferson (Nick Nolte) spent as U.S. ambassador to France prior to the French Revolution; while Jefferson is sympathetic to the revolutionary forces in France, he's become well enough acquainted with the ruling aristocracy that he finds himself torn between the two sides of the issue. Jefferson, a recent widower, also becomes friends with Maria Cosway (Greta Scacchi), who is married to a foppish British artist; while it's obvious the two are in love, neither is in a position to do anything about their infatuation. And while Jefferson's daughter Patsy (Gwyneth Paltrow) loves her father, she's very upset with him when he sends her to a convent school. In this midst of this personal turmoil, Jefferson's younger daughter Polly (Estelle Eonnet) arrives in Paris, with her slave Sally Hemmings (Thandie Newton) in tow. Attractive and bright (if uneducated), Sally catches Jefferson's eye, and a friendship develops that grows into something deeper; in time, Sally becomes pregnant, and her family claims that Jefferson is the father. At the time Jefferson In Paris was released, the question of Sally Hemmings' relationship with Thomas Jefferson was a matter of lively historical debate; since then, genetic evidence has shown that, while Jefferson's paternity can't be proved beyond a doubt, it is likely that he did father children with Hemmings. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Eighteen year old Marie (Julie Delpy) keeps the news of her parent's death in a car wreck from her 12-year-old brother Eric in this implausible melodrama. She and Eric go on vacation as planned, but Marie resorts to stealing after their own money is stolen. Marie soon has reason to use the scissors she keeps in her purse for protection, as she stalks the young driver who caused her parents' fatal crash. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Louis (Jean-Louis Rolland) is a family man, with a wife and young daughter, who discovers in mid-life that he is gay. After breaking up with his wife Sybele (Florence Giorgetti), his first homosexual encounter nearly drives him to suicide. A short stint as a gay prostitute follows as he continues to struggle with his sexual identity. Louis later finds love with another man who stays with him in spite of the fact that he has AIDS. This remarkable film was shot in ten days and follows the lives of those in it over a ten-year period (from 1978 to 1988) in ten episodes. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

With an off-beat sense of humor to match its erratic central character, this original comedy-drama features Jean-Philippe Ecoffey as Yves, a young man who works as a cop at night. The catch is that Yves turns to petty crime during the day, partly to impress Aurore (Aurelle Doazan), a nurse he idolizes from afar. His criminal hobby seems hard to understand, since it's doubtful that they will really get him anywhere with Aurore; besides, she already has a boyfriend. Nevertheless, Yves starts out by robbing a post office and ends up trying to run over Aurore's boyfriend, an act which finally gets him into serious trouble. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This fictionalized account of the outlaw life of Jacques Mesrine may be a run-of-the-mill crime drama, but it does not sanitize or glorify the hoodlum in any way. As Mesrine makes his prison break, engages in robberies and kidnappings, and systematically wounds a captured journalist who he found personally offensive, he is shown to be aggressive, angry, brutal, and humorless. This is a far cry from many media reports about Mesrine and is harsher than the documentary on his activities that appeared several weeks before this film by director André Genoves was released. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Françoise Canavaggia (Danielle Darrieux) heads back to Toulon in 1963 with murderous plans for the people who now inhabit the villa that had once been hers. After arriving in Toulon, Françoise meets up with her sister and a niece, both adding to her tendency toward self-analysis. But with images of the present and past mixed with memories and fantasies of the past -- and excerpts from speeches by Petain and De Gaulle combined with psychological and philosophical ramblings -- director Paul Vecchiali has created complexities that many an audience will never figure out. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide