Yves Marmion Movies

Simultaneously recalling Richard Curtis's Love Actually (2003), and - on a more culturally proximate note - Cedric Klapisch's seriocomedy Paris (2008), this outing from writer-director Amanda Sthers observes the intersection of six French lonely hearts against a uniform backdrop. As the tale opens, three single men sit waiting in a French airport: psychiatrist Max (Michel Lonsdale), writer Marcel Henri (Pierre Arditi), and editor Olivier (Patrick Mille). As fate would have it, their paths just happen to intersect with three lonely, needy women of varying temperaments and backgrounds: distinguished widow Fanny (Monique Chaumette), man-hungry teacher Lila (Anne Marivin), and the desperately unhappy, suicide-prone cancer patient Julia (Carole Bouquet). As various couplings occur and various substories unfold within the confines of the airport, each of the characters finds his or her life changed in an irrevocable and unforeseeable way. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Their relationship fractured when older sister Juliette is sentenced to 15 years in prison, two siblings wage an emotional battle to rebuild their relationship, overcome the secrets that keep them apart, and finally express the thoughts that have lain dormant for well over a decade. The moment Juliette was convicted, her parents declared that they wanted nothing to do with her. Now, after 15 years behind bars, Juliette is a free woman and in desperate need of a human connection. When Juliette's younger sister, Léa, is approached by a prison social worker and asked if she would be willing to provide her recently paroled sibling with a place to live, she doesn't hesitate to open her doors and share her home. But Léa is happily married with two adopted daughters, and her husband, Luc, is uneasy with the arrangement. Still, the house is large, the couple is used to having company, and the two young girls are thrilled to have a new aunt. As Juliette gets settled, Léa does her best to make her feel welcome. Likewise, Léa's colleague Michel and emigrant couple Samir and Kaïsha also offer to help Juliette readjust to life on the outside. Along the way, Juliette slowly begins to emerge from her shell and Léa realizes just how much she missed her sister. Perhaps if she can put aside her feelings of guilt long enough to truly understand her sister's plight, these two strangers can finally remember what it means to be family. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Based on actual events that took place in Waterford, Ireland, in the late 1700s, director Stefan Schwartz's romantic comedy-drama concerns itself with a group of abductors who kidnap usually willing young women in order to persuade them to wed. Set during an era where law dictates that the eldest sons inherit family estates and younger siblings are left to either enter the priesthood or the military, young noblemen decide to take matters into their own hands by abducting the young heiresses and charming them for a night before releasing them to make their ultimate decision. As Anne (Sophia Myles) is subjected to the uninvited advances of Power (Liam Cunningham), Abduction Club member Byrne (Daniel Lapaine) schemes to kidnap Anne's older sister Catherine (Alice Evans). Though the kidnapping plan is foiled when Anne decides to tag along, Byrne's friend Strang (Matthew Rhys) finds himself attracted to the younger sister despite Abduction Club rules stating that abductees must be at least 18 (Anne is 17) and that no more than one member of the same family is to be abducted at any given time. Strang is subsequently expelled by Abduction Club leader Sir Myles (Patrick Malahide), and the fledgling affections of the mismatched couple face a formidable challenge as the local militia is tipped off to their scheme. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A group of friends and mutual acquaintances embark on a number of vacations -- concealed or otherwise -- for relaxation and unexpected romantic hijinks in French actor/director Michel Blanc's fourth directorial effort, the romantic ensemble comedy See How They Run. While hosting a dinner party, the well-to-do Elizabeth (Charlotte Rampling) and Bertrand Lannier (Jacques Dutronc) learn that their neighbors Veronique (Karin Viard) and Jerome (Denis Podalydes) -- who used to be successful but are currently hiding their financial woes -- will be vacationing in the same resort town at the same time. Impulsively, Elizabeth invites her friend, and fellow dinner party guest, Julie (Clotilde Courau), to join them and thus make a party out of the event. However, Bertrand backs out of the trip while claiming to have to work -- only to schedule a rendezvous with his lover, his transsexual secretary (Mickael Dolmen), instead. Meanwhile, the Lannier's teenaged daughter, Emilie (Lou Doillon), has been planning a parentally endorsed vacation to the United States with one of her friends, but is in actuality going on a romantic retreat with one of her father's employees, Kevin (Sami Bouajila). As the separate excursions commence, a number of romantic couplings spring up -- as well as a number of new friendships -- that will have long-lasting effects on all of the vacationers' lives. See How They Run received the honor of being selected for inclusion into the 2002 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

French director Regis Wargnier's fifth feature film is a romantic period drama which is also a tribute to the victims of a tragic Stalinist episode. In June 1946, Stalin launched a major propaganda campaign aimed at Russians who had settled in the West, offering them amnesty and an opportunity to be involved in the postwar restructuring of the USSR. Many people who believed Stalin and returned home were executed, interned, or subjected to repression. The protagonist of Est-Ouest, Alexei Golovin (Oleg Menshikov), takes his young French wife Marie (Sandrine Bonnaire) and son Serioja with him on the long journey back to his native land that he has missed so much. On the board of the steamship taking them to Odessa, people like them celebrate the new life that they anticipate. However, reality strikes when they reach shore. Many people are immediately executed or sent to work camps. Alexei is spared to use his skill as an accomplished doctor. He is sent to Kiev to work in a dispensary and live in a communal apartment. Alexei accepts his fate but Marie dreams of escaping to freedom. Opportunity comes her way when she meets Gabrielle Develay (Catherine Deneuve), a famous French actress on tour, passing through Kiev. Tension mounts as the relationship of Alexei and Marie is put to test. For the script of this co-production between France and Russia, Wargnier had three other collaborators: Louis Gardel, who had previously collaborated with Wargnier on Indochine; Sergei Bodrov, a well-known Russian filmmaker best-known for his award winning S.E.R. and The Prisoner of the Mountains; and Azeri scriptwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov, best remembered for his scripts of Nikita Mikhalkov films. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

A young French sailor falls in love with a Russian tourist during a passion-filled three-day furlough, but is whisked away for a months worth of submarine duty before he can learn her last name and Moscow address. When he is finally freed again, he embarks upon a search for his lost love. Unfortunately, while his aim is true, his timing is off. His first stop is the broadcast headquarters of a major television network. He arrives shortly before the place blasted apart by a bomb. Later, he goes to the apartment of a noted talk-show host in hopes of receiving air-time during which he will plead for information concerning his lost love. But things don't come out as planned for somehow, the sailor ends up considered the prime suspect in the bombing while the real-life terrorist and his cohort, who happen to be in the same apartment building in hopes of knocking off a crooked judge. A hostage situation quickly develops in which the sailor and the talk-show host are trapped in the apartment with a daffy lady neighbor and her child. Meanwhile the leader of a SWAT team tries to concentrate on his work and ignore the increasing pressure placed upon him by his mistress to leave his wife. Up until the story's bloody finale, the film contains plenty of humor mixed with the action. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Fast-paced, funny and bursting with erotic joie-de-vivre, this outing from the always irreverent Catalan filmmaker Bigas Luna follows the lusty adventures of the bouncy Bambola and her peroxide-blond, gay brother Flavio. Their fun begins shortly after the death of their Mamma Greta, the owner of a ramshackle trattoria located beside the Po River on Italy's northern plains. Following the funeral, the two siblings decide to fix up the cafe, but first they need money. Their quest leads them to fatso financier Ugo. Barely able to control his lust for the buxom Bambola, he helps them, but when she starts batting eyes at the handsome swimmer Setimio (whom Flavio also desires), a tragedy ensues that results in Ugo's death and Setimio's incarceration. Brother and sister visit him in prison and one day, she attracts the attention of the beastly inmate Furio. Jealous of her relationship with Setimio, Furio orders him gang raped. The event is life changing for Setimio who suddenly looks at Flavio with new, wanting eyes. At the same time, Bambola goes to Furio's cell to engage in a fast, furious coupling that leaves her crazy for more. Upon his release, Furio heads for the trattoria to continue the affair. But trouble comes when Furio refuses to move the relationship beyond their beastly wrangling. He goes too far one night when he comes to bed with a live eel for Bambola to play with. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

One woman's conflicting emotions and the whims of fate prevent her from being faithful to the man she loves in this drama. In 1939, Jeanne (Emmanuelle Beart) marries Louis (Daniel Auteuil) shortly before he is called to duty during World War II. Jeanne does not deal well with loneliness, and she takes many lovers after Louis is declared Missing In Action. In 1944, Jeanne receives word that Louis is alive, incarcerated in a P.O.W. camp. When Louis is released and returns home, he learns of her scandalous behavior; he forgives her for her infidelities and offers to give her freedom, but Jeanne chooses to remain in the marriage. Several months later, Jeanne gives birth to twins; while Louis is not convinced that he's the father, he loyally accepts them as his own. Louis takes his wife and children to Berlin, where to his disappointment, Jeanne becomes smitten with Mathias (Gabriel Barylli), a successful businessman. Before long, Louis is once again sent into battle, this time in Indochina. Jeanne returns to France, and Mathias opts to go with her; both Louis and Mathias remain faithful to Jeanne, and when Louis is made a military attaché to Damascus, Mathias once again follows her. Une Femme Francaise) reunited Emmanuelle Beart and Daniel Auteuil, who previously co-starred in the acclaimed French drama Un Coeur en Hiver. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Billed as "a heterosexual movie by Gregg Araki," The Doom Generation is the director's self-styled bad-taste teen film. Amy Blue (Rose McGowan) is an obnoxious teenage speed freak and her boyfriend Jordan White (James Duval) is a passive, slow-witted poseur who won't have sex with her because he's terrified of AIDS (even though they both claim to be virgins). One day, they run across Xavier Red (Johnathon Schaech), a charming but enigmatic drifter who has a bad habit of killing people. Joining the young couple on a seemingly endless road trip, Xavier (or "X,"as the verbally challenged Jordan insists on calling him), proves a threatening and repulsive yet strangely alluring companion whose very presence raises issues of loyalty and sexual identity. The Doom Generation is dotted with a variety of eccentric cameo appearances, including comic Margaret Cho, actress Parker Posey, musician Perry Farrell, "Hollywood Madame" Heidi Fleiss, and onetime Brady Bunch star Christopher Knight. This is the middle installment in Araki's "teen apocalypse trilogy," which also includes 1993's Totally F***ed Up and 1997's Nowhere. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Elements of mystery and fantasy are deftly interwoven and presented from a child's perspective in this unique film. The basic plot focuses on a police marksman, Max. Recently Max had accidentally shot a hostage, and now his confidence is shaken. He is offered special bullets by a peer. These bullets help him to earn a high score during target shooting. Subsequently, Max receives a special assignment to guard chess grand master, Maxim who must not know a bodyguard has been assigned to him. When Maxim meets Eva, Max's wife, and her daughter Lili, the two are attracted to each other. Their attraction is observed by a sniper. In a parallel subplot, which has a medieval fairy tale setting, a group of do-gooders including Max and Kaspar (the magic bullet man) are battling evil. The film's surprising ending represents Lili's view of recent events. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This European film, shot entirely in rural Finland, parodies American biker movies from the 1960's. It tells the strange and convoluted story of acid-head, biker Bad Trip who belonged to a motorcycle gang known as the Cannibals. Trip is on the run from his former gang after he is caught stealing gang leader Candy's bike. As he tries to escape from the vicious gang he encounters many strange characters who either help or hinder him. When Trip takes LSD, he is visited by the Silver Rider, who helps him get away by creating a decapitation trap. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi