Claude Villers Movies
- 1990
Isabelle Eberhardt dramatizes the tragic true story of the iconoclastic Swiss-born writer, who gained notoriety for both her lifestyle and her work in North Africa at the turn of the twentieth century. Eberhardt (Mathilda May) began dressing as a man and converted to Islam in her teens. As the film opens, she returns from the African desert to tend to her ailing father in Geneva. After his death, the wife of the Marquis de Mores summons her to Paris. The Marquis has gone missing in North Africa, because of Eberhardt's familiarity with the region, his wife pays her to go and track her husband down. Eberhardt settles in Algiers, where, hindered by the French authorities, she quickly gives up the search for de Mores, assuming that he's dead. She stays in North Africa, journeys frequently into the desert, and writes about her experiences for publisher Victor Barrucand (Claude Villers). The hard drinking Eberhardt meets Slimene (Tcheky Karyo of The Patriot), a Foreign Legion soldier, and falls in love with him. Through him, she makes contact with the secretive Sufi brotherhood of Qadriya. As she witnesses the abuses of the French colonists, her writings grow more political in nature and she starts to get more attention. One French military officer, Comte (Richard Moire) imprisons and abuses her. When an Arab swordsman viciously attacks her, Eberhardt holds Comte responsible. He eventually arranges for her deportation. But the resilient Eberhardt returns to North Africa, against Slimene's wishes. There, another French officer, Major Lyautey (Peter O'Toole) befriends her. He seems a decent man, but when he asks her to report to him on Arab groups hostile to the French, she wrestles with her conscience. Australian director Ian Pringle would later go on to produce Romper Stomper, starring Russell Crowe. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mathilda May, Tchéky Karyo, (more)
Based on Paul Theroux's Doctor Slaughter, Half-Moon Street is motivated by the moneymaking schemes of the heroine, PhD researcher Laura Slaughter (Sigourney Weaver). Stuck in a low-paying government job in London, Laura decides to increase her bank account by working for what is euphemistically termed an "escort service." It is understood that her duties go above and beyond mere handholding, and Laura has no problem with this. Michael Caine enters the scene as Lord Bulbeck, a high-ranking British diplomat with whom Laura forms a "special" bond. Little does she know that she is being set up in a power-grabbing scheme masterminded by oil-rich sheik Karim Hatami (Nadim Sawalha). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sigourney Weaver, Michael Caine, (more)
In the French-made film (La Balance), a couple get caught between the French underworld and the cops who pledge to destroy it. The man is a one-time mobster, now pimp named Dede (Philippe Leotard) who's forced to squeal on some mob-land biggies in exchange for his acquittal from any connection to crimes committed and to get the cops off the back of his prostitute wife Nicole (Nathalie Baye). This one's full of chase scenes, profanity (it's dubbed in English), and violence. It was awarded many Caesar awards (the French equivalent of the Oscar). ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nathalie Baye, Philippe Léotard, (more)
