Santiago Amigorena Movies

A spy discovers doing a favor for a friend leads her into unexpectedly dangerous circumstances in this dark comedy. It's been close a decade since French intelligence agent Irene (Juliette Binoche) has heard from her friend Elliot (Nick Nolte), an American CIA operative who left Europe and took up a new identity under mysterious circumstances. But one day out of the blue Irene gets a call from Elliot as he asks her to track down his daughter Orlando (Sara Forestier), currently living in the French countryside, and bring her to Paris so they can re-connect. Irene agrees, but she soon discovers Orlando has nothing good to say about her missing dad and only grudgingly agrees to pay him a visit. When they arrive in Paris, Irene and Orlando find the family reunion is bigger than they thought -- David (Tom Riley), Elliot's stepson, is also on hand, though David and Orlando mix like oil and water. As Elliot tries to juggle meetings with his two children and Irene tries to help by playing interference, Elliot is also visited by a deranged American intelligence representative, William Pound (John Turturro), who along with Elliot knows something about a possible attack on the United States, as well as a pair of shadowy moneymen (Mathieu Demy and Said Amadis) who want to know more about the plot and are willing to pay for the privilege. Quelques Jours En Septembre (aka A Few Days In September) was the first directorial credit for veteran screenwriter Santiago Amigorena. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A not-so-worldly twentysomething gets caught up with some shady Parisians in director Cedric Klapisch's 2003 crime comedy-drama Not for or Against. Wallflower camerawoman Caty (Marie Gillain) is three years into her career and residency in the French capital with little to show for it in the friend category, never mind the fact she is hopelessly single. While on the job filming an interview with a prostitute, Caty gets a tip from the hooker for a quick and profitable money-making possibility. Following up on the lead, Caty meets the handsome Jean (Vincent Elbaz) who offers to pay her to film him while he robs a store. After some perfunctory soul-searching, Caty impetuously decides to take the offer. This start in crime leads her into Jean's gang of criminals, which she rather quickly becomes a member of. As the thieves tend to spend their loot about as quickly as they accumulate it, they begin planning an enormous caper that will enable them to live more comfortably -- if they manage to survive its undertaking. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

Christopher Loizillon's Ma Camera et Moi (My Camera and Me) is the story of Max (Zinedine Soualem), a young man obsessed with videotaping life. Adopted and later ignored by parents who eventually conceived a biological child of their own, Max becomes preoccupied with videotaping everything after being given his first camera by an uncle. A hose fire only strengthens this need. Now in his mid-twenties, Max has fallen in love with Lucie (Julie Gayet), a blind woman who needs to feel life as much as Max needs to look at it. As Max negotiates this new relationship, he attempts to keep up his business of producing videotapes for other people. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

In this low-key drama from France, Marie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) has been laid off for over a year; depressed and with little to do, she drifts through the aisles of a supermarket, aimlessly doing her shopping. She bumps into Pierre (Patrick Dell'Isola); they strike up a conversation and she discovers that he worked for the same firm and was also let go, about a month ago. They keep running into each other at the market and strike up a friendship that grows into an affair. But Marie and Pierre are both married, and neither wants their spouses to know; this relationship has less to do with love than with a need to fill up the empty hours of the day and restore their damaged self-esteems. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This is the first feature-length film by Stéphane Clavier (brother of Christian Clavier, the actor and screenwriter), and it does not fare as well as his 1987 short, Torero Hallucinogène. This comedy is about a Métro worker, Jules (François Cluzet), who penned seventeen unanswered letters to France's Minister of Transportation protesting being fired. When he learns that the Minister is to appear in person at the Lyons station to dedicate a new rail line, Jules is there hoping to speak with him in person; he carries a concealed gun and when he is unable to speak to the Minister, the normally mild Jules snaps and takes an entire train car hostage. Aside from this unusual avocation, the story is replete with various odd characters, but in spite of good performances by its lead actors who try to add depth to their roles, the film is still more a miss than a hit. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This French comedy-drama is loosely inspired by Crime and Punishment. The title refers to an unnamed country where lovers use silence to express their love for each other. Slightly unstable office worker Rak (Francois Cluzet) is not silent but rambles in monologues, describing himself in the third person. Fired from his job, he goes into "business" for himself -- sitting in a cafe and interviewing salesmen for a position selling a non-existent encyclopedia. When he sees a real estate agent evict young musician Lucie (Elina Lowensohn), he uses a toy gun to rob the agent (who dies of fright) and then offers Lucie space in his spacious but seedy apartment, where the two find love. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

A middle-aged woman temporarily abandons her role as wife and mother to embark upon a mad love affair with a man 20 years her junior. Up until the time she meets handsome young Emilio, Diane Clovier had a relatively happy life with her husband, kids and career. Emilio, with his amoral charm, is the antithesis of her life and Diane throws herself into a heated frenzy of lovemaking and romance with him. She shows little regard for the destruction she causes within her family. Her husband Phillipe, a lawyer, finds out about the affair, but does nothing to stop it in the hope that she will come to her senses. But as her relationship with Emilio grows hotter, it looks as if Diane may be lost forever. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This French comedy-drama chronicles the reunion of five high school friends who come to witness the birth of a child whose father, a former friend, recently died. The boys graduated in 1975 and now, five years later they have come to a Parisian hospital to await the birth. As they wait, the try to understand the circumstances that caused their friend Tomasi, a formerly happy-go-lucky guy, to become a drug addict and die of an overdose. They also begin to reminisce about their senior year. They talk about everything from their experiences with girls and drugs, to their relationships with teachers and parents. Those times are depicted in detailed flashbacks. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The two brothers (Ludovic Vandendaele and Erick Da Silva) in this story are homeless and unsocialized; if they ever knew a loving family, it was from the outside looking in. They live by stealing, but they get their kicks from breaking things; at the beginning of the film they have stolen a bus and driven it over the edge of a cliff. They are fascinated by fish, especially the kind that are still trying to breathe even though they have been on ice for hours. In their imaginations, they are sharks and the rest of society is fish. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide