Catherine Corsini Movies

A woman who has grown tired of her marriage falls into a relationship that leads her to a dangerous place in this drama from director Catherine Corsini. Suzanne (Kristin Scott Thomas) is in her mid-forties and married to Samuel (Yvan Attal), a successful doctor who is the father of their two teenage children (Alexandre Vidal and Daisy Broom). The love between Suzanne and Samuel is dead and their marriage is largely a matter of formalities, and to ease her boredom Suzanne has decided to resume her former career as a therapist. Samuel has agreed to foot the bills for building an office for Suzanne in their home, and he hires Ivan (Sergi Lopez) to help with the work. Ivan is a ruggedly handsome illegal immigrant, and Suzanne is immediately attracted to him; she promptly jumps head-first into an affair with him, and while their hunger for one another is clearly just physical, she decides to leave her family behind to live with Ivan. Even though Samuel doesn't much care for Suzanne, he's furious at the notion of her leaving him for another man, leading to an ugly conflict between the husband, the wife and the lover. Partir (aka Leaving) was an official selection at the 2009 BFI London Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A man and a woman each learn a painful lesson about using others to get what you want in this drama from French director Catherine Corsini. Julien Demarsay (Eric Caravaca) is an aspiring novelist whose greatest ambition in life is to publish a book; however, he hasn't been able to get a publisher to seriously consider his manuscripts, and he's started becoming desperate. Julien arranges to meet Judith Zahn (Karin Viard), a well-respected editor; she doesn't think he's especially talented, but she does find him handsome, and they strike up an acquaintance that quickly leads to her bedroom. Julien is looking for ways to use his new relationship with Judith to his advantage, and in time he becomes aware of the true story of Judith's father, who went from being a pacifist philosopher to fighting with a revolutionary group in Latin America in the 1970's. Julien uses this story as the basis of a novel; when he completes it he presents it to Judith, who regards it as a betrayal of their trust and cuts off ties with him. Julien, however, is able to find a publisher who believes in the book, and it becomes a commercial success. Enraged, Judith begin mapping out a scheme to get revenge on her former lover. Les Ambitieux (aka Ambitious) was screened as part of the 2006 Rome International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Friendship turns to love, and unrequited love leads to a dangerous obsession in this moody drama. Nathalie (Emmanuelle Beart) and Louise (Pascale Bussieres) grew up together and had been close friends since childhood, but while both were studying drama in their early twenties, their friendship went through an abrupt shift -- while beautiful Nathalie enjoyed flirting with the men in her classes, Louise's interest in her best friend turned into infatuation, and when Nathalie indulged herself in a brief fling with a young actor, Louise was overcome with anger and jealousy and tried to kill herself. Nathalie was told by Louise's family that she didn't want to see her any more, and a decade passed before their paths would cross again. Louise is now married to a man named Nicolas (Sami Bouajila), and one night they go to the theater to see a touring production of a new play. To her surprise, Louise discovers the female lead is played by Nathalie; after the show, she slips backstage to say hello, and soon finds that she's as strongly attracted to Nathalie as ever -- and that Nathalie is involved with Matthias (Dani Levy), the gifted but difficult playwright who wrote and directed the production. Leaving Nicolas behind, Louise follows Nathalie to Denmark, and is able to pull a few strings to get Nathalie an audition with Walter Amar (Jean-Pierre Kalfon), a well-known and well-respected theatrical director. Nathalie soon leaves Matthias' show to star in Amar's new production of Lulu, and Louise volunteers to help Nathalie as she prepares for the role. Nathalie appreciates Louise's support and friendship, but she soon begins to chafe under Louise's obsessive attention, and she wonders if history might be repeating itself. La Repetition was shown in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, with writer and director Catherine Corsini earning a nomination for the coveted Golden Palm award. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The idea for this film about a generation and its lost ideals came to Romain Goupil after attending several funerals of friends in the fall of 1996, where the '68 generation, now in influential positions in media or politics, kept meeting each other. It seemed as if the revolution that they had tried to make was being buried with each coffin. A mort la mort is in some ways an homage to this generation, now in their fifties. They were a privileged generation that thought that they could change the world, doing everything that their parents failed to do. There were no actual deaths in France as there were in Germany or Italy, but the system was not ideal for personal issues or for love. There was always a scapegoat for the injustices of the world, be it capitalism or imperialism. That way the blame could be placed somewhere else. Some of the '68 generation are still faithful to the principles of their youth and still continue to fight for the illusions of the past. But with the war going on in Kosovo, the only way is to take direct action against Fascism. While narrating the story of a generation, the director uses humor, making fun of the thousand ways of fidelity to ideas, to passion and to women and how the ideal of fidelity fares when confronted with reality. The protagonist, Thomas (played by Goupil himself) tries to face life that has passed with a theory of offense. That is why he has to say "'Death to Death'' to put an end to all deaths, but this is an illusion, it is fiction which only cinema can make real. The film tries to face all issues by taking a contrary approach. 52nd Cannes Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, 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