Denis Freyd Movies
An Albanian woman living in Belgium finds her dreams of opening a snack bar with her boyfriend leading to tragedy after she agrees to marry a Russian Mafioso in order to gain citizenship. All Lorna wanted was to start a small business with her loving boyfriend, but in order to make that happen she would first have to gain citizenship. Local mobster Fabio claims that he can make that happen if Lorna agrees to a sham marriage with a man named Claudy. After gaining Belgian citizenship, Lorna discovers that a high-profile Russian Mafioso is also seeking legal entry into Belgium, and soon. He's willing to pay a hearty sum in order to marry Lorna, but in order for that second marriage to be possible Fabio will have to have Claudy killed. Will Lorna be able to remain silent as Fabio's deadly plot unfolds, and what will become of her if Fabio finds out that she has warned Claudy of the impending danger he faces? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arta Dobroshi, Jérémie Renier, (more)
- 2008
- NR
An entire household is caught in traffic thanks to the opening of a new super-highway in this satiric comedy drama from Swiss filmmaker Ursula Meier. Marthe (Isabelle Huppert) and her husband (Olivier Gourmet) live in a small home in rural France with their three children. The family values their peace and quiet, except for oldest daughter Judith (Adélaïde Leroux), who has a fondness for cranking heavy metal music as she relaxes in her lawn chair. While construction on a highway near the house began years ago, the progress has been so slow that Marthe and her family have all but forgotten about it. But once the road is opened, they're suddenly subjected to a nonstop barrage of noise, exhaust, and all the stress that comes with it, and the relative calm of the household decays into chaos as Marthe is driven to a nervous breakdown. Home was screened as part of the Critics' Week program at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Gourmet, (more)
Abderrahmane Sissako wrote and directed this offbeat, satiric comedy which imagines how the powers that be in the West might be forced to answer for the damage they've done in the Third World. Mele (Aissa Maiga) is an attractive Malian lounge singer married to Chaka (Tiecoura Traore), though their relationship is on the verge of collapse. In their eyes, the African continent isn't in much better shape than their marriage, and one day a makeshift courtroom appears in the courtyard near their shabby home. In the courtyard, a handful of powerful international organizations, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, are put on trial for their crippling effect on the African economy; as the evidence is presented which explains how these "friends" of Africa have saddled the nations with debts they can never repay, witnesses explain how these actions impact the daily lives of ordinary citizens, who pass through the trial as they go on with their days. Executive producer Danny Glover makes a cameo appearance in a "Cowboys and Indians" sequence which supposedly takes place in Timbuktu. Bamako (aka The Court) received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aïssa Maïga, Hélène Diarra, (more)
- 2006
Two athletes look to their sport to help them repair their damaged lives in this psychological drama from Argentine filmmaker Veronica Chen. Goyo (Rafael Ferro) was once a top-ranked competitive swimmer until it was discovered he was using performance-enhancing drugs, leading to a scandal that stalled his career. Looking for a way back into the game, Goyo is coaching Chino (Nicolas Mateo), a promising newcomer who has skills not unlike Goyo, but doesn't have the same appetite for competition. Chino's interest in swimming is pragmatic -- he grew up in severe poverty, and he wants a better life for his girlfriend Luisa (Jimena Anganuzzi) and the child she's carrying. Goyo, however, hasn't found the kind of stability in his personal life that Chino enjoys; even though he's long divorced from his first wife Maria (Gloria Carra), he keeps trying futilely trying to win her back, while shrugging off the attentions of Ana (Leonora Balcarce), who is clearly attracted to him. As Goyo prepares Chino for an important marathon river race, the personal issues that follow the two men become nearly as important as their technique in the water. Agua received its North American premiere at the 2007 San Francisco International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rafael Ferro, Nicolas Mateo, (more)
After learning he has a newborn son, a small-time thief attempts to go straight - but not until his amorality is pushed to its breaking point - in this social-problem drama from writer-directors Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne. Eighteen-year-old Sonia (Déborah Francois) has just given birth to a baby boy. The baby's father Bruno (Jérémie Renier) is panhandling in the street when Sonia tracks him down, and he shows little interest in fathering the child, or even providing a roof over the heads of the fledgling family. As the new and inexperienced mother navigates the bleak industrial landscape of the small Belgian town they live in, Bruno falls in with a clandestine group that buys and sells healthy children on the black market. He tragically learns that one avaricious decision, made in an instant, can affect the lives of everyone in his orbit. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jérémie Renier, Déborah François, (more)
Twenty-five years after telling his two daughters that their mother had abandoned the family to start a new life in Paris, a tormented father finally reveals that she actually died during a botched back-alley abortion in this documentary by filmmaker Mariana Otero. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
This downbeat drama by acclaimed Belgian filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne bears a thematic and formal resemblance to their previous works, La Promesse and the Palme D'Or winner Rosetta. Dardenne brothers' regular Olivier Gourmet is in every frame as the stern Olivier, a carpenter who teaches the craft to teenagers seeking a vocation. Olivier's drab routine is interrupted by the enrollment of a new student, Francis (Morgan Marinne), who becomes the object of the carpenter's inexplicable obsession. Speaking with his ex-wife, Magali (Isabella Soupart), about his new charge, Olivier reveals the reason for his fixation: Francis was the young street tough who murdered their child years ago. Now out of juvenile prison, Francis seeks to start anew, and eventually even asks the flummoxed Olivier to become his guardian. Olivier withholds his knowledge from the oblivious Francis, even as a tentative relationship between the two develops. The tense scenario leads to a climactic confrontation at a lumberyard, as the past finally catches up with teacher and student. This rigorous and deliberately paced film played in competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, where Gourmet was awarded the best actor prize. ~ Elbert Ventura, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olivier Gourmet, Morgan Marinne, (more)
- 2002
- NR
Director Sam Garbarski marked his feature film directorial debut in 2003 with the family-comedy drama Le Tango des Rashevski (The Rashevski Tango), a tale of one extended family's struggle to find meaning and identity within their own somewhat dormant Jewish heritage. When 81-year-old family matriarch Rosa Rashevski passes away, her descendants are left unprepared, as they have no idea what traditional Jewish rites they should be practicing. As a result, various Rashevski begin some rather intense periods of spiritual introspection, ranging from Rosa's granddaughter Nina's (Tania Gabarski, daughter of the director) proclamation to start and raise a Jewish family to grandson -- and former Israeli military man -- Rica's (Rudi Rosenberg) turbulent relationship with his Muslim girlfriend, Khadija (Selma Kouchy). To further complicate matters, a non-Jewish family friend named Antoine (Hippolyte Girardot) shows up at the funeral and strikes up a conversation with Nina, whom he used to baby-sit when they were both younger. As he grows more fond of the young woman and becomes intent on making her his wife, he learns of her intentions to have a Jewish family and tries to find a solution that would make the young woman reconsider him as a suitor. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hippolyte Girardot, Ludmila Mikael, (more)
- 2000
This historical drama is based on a true story from 17th century France. Madame de Maintenon (Isabelle Huppert) rises from humble beginnings to become a courtesan to the royal court and eventually marries King Louis XIV (Jean-Pierre Kalfon). With the king's indulgence, Maintenon opens a special school for girls, seeking to educate young ladies of distinguished parentage but limited financial means. With the coaching of Maintenon and her staff, the girls learn to speak French with a linguist's precision, in addition to studying philosophy and history. However, when two of Maintenon's charges, Anne (Morgane More) and Lucie (Nina Meurisse), recite material in class that Madame deems inappropriate, it begins a war of wills between the headmistress and her students. The girls begin demanding increasingly greater freedom of both mind and body, as Maintenon turns from espousing beauty and liberty to demanding strict self-denial and enforcing an increasingly narrow set of regulations. Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale composed the film's original score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, (more)
- 1999
German filmmaker Jens Meurer directs this documentary about the Black Panthers, the seminal militant black power movement that was persecuted by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI during the 1960s. Ultimately, the film portrays the revolutionaries in a positive light and the Feds crusade as a tragic waste of life. Panther leader Bobby Seale (who now hawks a line of barbecue cookbooks), law professor Kathleen Cleaver, and musician Nile Rodgers were interviewed for this film. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Seale, Kathleen Cleaver, (more)
- 1995
This French-produced documentary from Italian documentarist Daniele Incalcaterra attempts to provide insight into the complicated almost chaotic Italian political system as it follows the 10 month's that Silvio Berlusconi and his cabinet were in power. It was a tumultuous time for post WW II Italy, a time when the media had plenty of power and government corruption ran amok. Rather than try to explain everything and everyone involved in the fiasco that was Berlusconi's government, the filmmakers concentrate on four primary players, Piercamillo Davigo, Antonio Di Pietro, two prominent judges, and two election candidates, Alvaro Superchi, who worked at the Alfa Romeo factory and was affiliated with the Party of the Democratic Left and Gianni Pilo, representing Berlusconi's position. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This French drama, based on an 1850s essay by Thomas De Quincey, examines a brief, fictionalized time period in the life of Professor Kant. The story is set in Kant's hometown, Konigsberg; it chronicles his last few years prior to his death in 1804 at the age of 80. The story looks more at the great thinker's odd, obsessive lifestyle than it does his philosophies. Kant, truly a "mad professor," had himself on a rigid daily schedule. At night he slept in a mummy-wrap. During the day he imbibed tremendous amounts of coffee at rigidly prescribed intervals. The whole town was expected to keep a respectful distance when Kant took his daily walks. Melodrama enters the philosopher's life after his loyal servant for the past thirty years suddenly leaves. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Warrilow, André Wilms, (more)
- 1994
This French film offers a powerful fictionalized account of renowned French poet, actor, and intellectual Antonin Artaud who in life walked a fine, often blurred line between genius and insanity. It is told from the viewpoint of Artaud's intimate friend, student, and pusher, the poet Jacques Prevel. The story begins in late Spring 1946 as Artaud is released from a Rodez asylum where he stayed for nine years. He returns to Paris where Prevel, eager to resume their mentor student relationship, patiently waits. The last two years of Artaud's life provide the focus for much of the film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sami Frey, Marc Barbé, (more)
- 1986
Insurance investigator Ronald Fox Terrier (Michel Serrault) looks into a questionable claim of disability feigned by Papu (Jean Poiret) in this situation comedy. When both men are dunked into the waters at a holy shrine, the faking Papu finds himself unable to get out of his wheelchair, while Ronald's mute voice is miraculously restored. Terrier has an affair with the vamp Sabine (Jeanne Moreau) before returning home to his emotionally detached wife (Sylvie Joly). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Serrault, Jean Poiret, (more)
