Veit Heiduschka Movies

The remarkable life of one of France's most influential leaders is dramatized in this stylish historical drama. In 16th Century France, political power walks hand in hand with religion as the Royal Family are devout Catholics and Huguenots (early Protestants) are treated as second-class citizens. Henry (Julien Boisselier) is a Huguenot military leader who has become a hero in Navarre, a territory in Southwest France, and as Nostradamus (Fritz Marquardt) predicts a remarkable future for him, he is introduced to Catherine de' Medici (Hannelore Hoger), the Catholic queen of France. Catherine clearly holds power over feeble-minded King Charles IX (Ulrich Noethen), and she is keen on holding on to her position by seeing her sons go on to rule the nation. But as the Huguenots become restless and Henry looks to be the potential leader of a revolt, Catherine arranges a marriage between Henry and her daughter Margot (Armelle Deutsch), certain the alliance will stop the budding conflict. But the nuptials only leads to the infamous St. Bartholomew's Day massacre as Catholics attack Huguenots, leading to the death of thirty thousand people. Henry is captured by the Queen's army but escapes to lead the Huguenots in a war against the throne; while Henry is forced to resort to violent means, his goal is to end the fighting by establishing religious freedom and ending faith-based rule in France. Henri 4 (aka Henry of Navarre) was originally produced as a mini-series for European television; it was also edited into a theatrical feature, and this version was an official selection at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Arash T. Raihi directed this compassionate drama of disparate characters fleeing their homeland in search of freedom. Merdad (Pourya Mahyari) and Ali (Navid Akhavan) are two friends in their late teens who are helping their young cousins Azy (Elika Bozorgi) and Arman (Sina Saba) make their way from Iran to Austria, where they're supposed to meet up with their parents. However, since the children don't have visas, Merdad and Ali are looking for a way to cross the boarder without being noticed. En route, they meet Lale (Behi Djanati Atai) and Hussan (Payam Madjlessi), a couple seeking political asylum in Europe who are also traveling with a youngster, their son Kamran (Kian Khalili). In the town of Ankara, they meet a man who would be happy to help them cross into Austria -- for a price. However, they also learn tracking down potential illegal immigration into Europe is popular with the local authorities, and discover enemies at every turn. Meanwhile, the travelers make the acquaintance of Abbas (Said Oveissi) and Manu (Fares Fares), a pair of locals who have long supported the Iranian opposition and offer whatever advice they can to those trying to flee the country. Ein Augenblick, Freiheit (aka For A Moment, Freedom was honored at the best first feature film at the 2008 Montreal International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Paranoia grips a bourgeois European family when a series of menacing videotapes begin turning up on their doorstep in Piano Teacher director Michael Haneke's dark drama. From the outside, Georges (Daniel Auteuil), Anne (Juliette Binoche), and son Pierrot (Lester Makedonsky) are the typical middle-class European family, but when a series of mysterious videotapes accompanied by morbid drawings reveal that someone has been monitoring their house, Georges begins to suspect that his past has come back to haunt him. It was during France's occupation of Algeria that Georges wronged a young Algerian boy named Majid (Maurice Bénichou), and as the enraged father and husband begins tracking down his former friend, the line between victim and predator becomes increasingly blurred. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A destitute child from an impoverished Ukrainian village finds that the world can be a cold and cruel place after being lured from his home by a nefarious huckster under the guise of working in the circus. Barbu is a ten-year-old boy whose dreams of a brighter future find him slowly falling for the hollow promises made by shady promoter Caruso. Though Caruso regularly descends upon the town to seduce gullible children with promises of fame and fortune in the West, the truth about what actually happens to Caruso's children couldn't be more tragic. When Barbu is lured to Berlin and sold to a gang that uses children for stealing, the strong-headed youngster soon determines to make the best of his situation and become the best thief in the bunch. His quest to become the King of Thieves is sidetracked, however, when after learning that Caruso has sold his older sister Mimma to a Berlin brothel, Barbu determines to rescue his sister from a grim future of forced prostitution. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Goran Rebic's drama Donau, Duna, Dunaj, Dunav, Dunarea stars Robert Stadlober as Bruno, a young man who is attempting to grant his mother's dying wish. He convinces a sailor named Franz (Otto Sander) to take him out to sea so that she can be buried in the water. Bruno has selected Franz because he believes that Franz may be his father. As the two form a bond, they pick up a series of passengers, including an addict named Matilda (Annabelle Mandeng), who ends up becoming involved with a Romanian immigrant (Florin Piersic Jr.), who is desperate to stay in his new country. The film was screened at the 2003 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

How far is a man willing to go to be with the woman he wants? Erika (Isabelle Huppert) is a veteran piano instructor at a famous music conservatory in Vienna. Erika is highly respected for her remarkable talent and strong discipline, but she's also known to be a harsh taskmistress and does not suffer fools gladly; among her students, Erika's class is considered a highly rewarding challenge, but difficult to weather. Erika seems to get her stern and unforgiving nature from her mother (Annie Girardot), with whom she still lives, and without a husband or a lover, Erika satisfies her strong but frequently perverse sexual appetites through extreme porn videos, voyeurism, and masturbatory practices that sometimes involve pain and self-mutilation. Erika discovers she has attracted the attentions of one of her students, Walter (Benoit Maginel), a gifted and good-looking young man who does not seem at all put off by her icy personality. She refuses to acknowledge Walter's romantic overtures, but when he rises to the defense of a fellow student after a recital, Erika is enraged, and Walter pursues her, finally following her as she storms off to the women's room. Erika abruptly approaches Walter in a rough sexual fashion, but refuses to fully satisfy him until he is willing to allow her to control the relationship. When Walter becomes aware of just how much pain and humiliation is involved in Erika's erotic bill of fare, he refuses to participate, but in time his attraction to her causes him to weaken, and he begins to accede to her sexual demands. La Pianiste was shown in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where Isabelle Huppert and Benoit Maginel were named Best Actress and Best Actor, and writer/director Michael Haneke received the Jury's Grand Prize. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Balkan Baroque is a real and imaginary biography of the Yugoslavian performance artist Marina Abramovic. Rather than a mechanical reproduction of the artist's work, the film tries to create a new reality by translating the performances into cinematographic images that intensify the fictional context of the film. Abramovic plays herself, but ,appearing in multiple forms, blurs her own identity. Memories and fantasies intermingle with day to day rituals. The chronological narrative often breaks to reflect the interior voyage of the protagonist from the present to the past and back to the present. The result is a visually impressive film. Balkan Baroque had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

In this exploration of our violent society, writer and director Michael Haneke takes a disturbing look at how depictions of violence at once reflect and shape our culture. A well-to-do German family -- father Georg (Ulrich Mühe), mother Anna (Susanne Lothar), and son Georgie (Stefan Clapczynski) -- are settling in for the weekend at their vacation retreat near the lake. While Georg and his son head out for some sailing, a courteous young gentleman named Peter (Frank Giering) appears at the door, asking if he can borrow some eggs. When he breaks them, Anna offers him some more, but the conversation soon takes an odd turn; Peter goes from pleasant to sniveling to confrontational, and he's soon joined by his friend Paul (Arno Frisch). When Georg returns, he demands that Paul and Peter leave, but the two strangers refuse; Paul and Peter react with violence against Georg and his family, and they soon have the family tied up and begin torturing them. Peter and Paul occasionally refer to the camera in a manner recalling Bertolt Brecht, and near the end of the film, they even demand the opportunity to replay a scene so that they may mete out more punishment against their victims. The score includes classical selections by Mozart and Handel as well as performances by avant-garde composer John Zorn. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This drama, set during WWII, was co-written by acclaimed playwright George Tabori and features the writer as both narrator and an observer during the filming of incidents from his mother's life. Elsa Tabori (Pauline Collins) is a polite and dignified woman who believes that if you do as you're told, things will work out for you. However, she lives in Budapest in the midst of Nazi occupation, and Elsa's optimism hardly seems practical when one is forced to wear a yellow Star of David. When Elsa witnesses the grim fate of Maria (Natalie Morse), a gentile who made the mistake of visiting a Jewish friend as the police were rounding up victims to be shipped to a concentration camp, she discovers that cooperation is no guarantee of safety -- and that she must find a way to save herself before she's sent to her death. Fate, however, soon intercedes in an unexpected display of benevolence. This was director Michael Verhoeven's third film concerning the holocaust in Europe, following Das Schreckliche Madchen and Eine Unheilige Liebe. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In Central Europe during the 1980's an important Hungarian intellectual inexplicably committed suicide. His was only one of many enigmatic deaths and disappearances at that time. His true story provides the basis for this film. The story begins during 1988 when Hungary was still a Communist state. Tibor was a chemical researcher who discovered how to use poisonous gases in chemical weapons. The Russians attempted to get him to give details about the research, but he refused. The KGB arrest him and then drown him in a bathtub. His body is subsequently discovered in the shallows of Lake Balaton. The Hungarian police claim it was suicide, but his son Peter is not convinced. He begins to unravel the mystery and meets with tragedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

For 14-year-old Benny, anything recorded on videotape is inherently better and more real than what he can see with his naked eyes. He is barely noticed by his professional parents and spends most of his time either viewing wild and violent films or looking at the view outside his window through his video camera. One day, on a whim, he invites a girl to his house and coolly murders her while his video camera is rolling. Then he hides the body temporarily in his closet and goes off to a party. The calm and unexcited way his parents discuss the situation when he explains it to him, using his video film to demonstrate, makes it clear that his own psychopathology has a long background in that of his parents. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Roxanne (Wookie Mayer) is in a steady relationship with a man whose foibles are beginning to wear thin with her. When she spots Karl (August Zimer) in a chance meeting, she is practically thunderstruck. Seeing him makes her believe in true love again. She begins to try and track him down, but everywhere she goes, he has always just left. Likewise, Karl is married and has a child, but feels that his wife is not a good parent. When he sees Roxanne, he also feels that true love is once again a meaningful concept. He, too, starts to try and find this person who embodies so much for him. He, too, finds it impossible to get together with her. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi