Gérard Ruey Movies

Carla Del Ponte was the attorney general of Switzerland and earned a reputation as a fierce adversary of organized crime when she was given a new challenge by the United Nations -- she was asked to head up the International Criminal Tribunal For The Former Yugoslavia, an international judicial group created to deliver indictments against war criminals responsible for genocide in the former nation. Del Ponte took on the responsibility, though she soon discovered that the job would be an uphill battle -- while the Tribunal could indict and try war criminals, it was up to others to actually arrest the suspects and deliver them to the court, and with many nations (the United States among them) reluctant to take part in international justice, a number of the bloodiest figures in the "ethnic cleansing" of Serbia and Croatia still walk free. Despite this, Del Ponte has become known around the world as a woman with a fierce passion to see justice done in the Eastern Bloc. Filmmaker Marcel Schuepbach offers an in-depth portrait of a remarkable woman in La Liste de Carla, a documentary which examines the public and private faces of Del Ponte as she battles against long odds to see these criminals punished and shows the gentle, witty side that she can rarely display in public. La Liste de Carla (aka Carla's List) was screened in competition at the 2006 Locarno Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Swiss director Alain Tanner, who wowed audiences in the 1970s with his art house classic Jonah, Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976), returns to the same territory with this decidedly more downbeat film. The movie details the life of Jonah (Jerome Robart), who has indeed just turned 25. A recent film school graduate, he is living with his Senegalese girlfriend and childhood sweetheart Lila (Aissa Maiga), and occasionally shooting documentaries. The film explores the shifting emotional landscape of Jonah and Lila's relationship as the two take in a boarder, Irina - a Russian woman on the lam from Soviet mobsters, for whom she made an adult movie. Meanwhile, Lila longs to return to Senegal to be with her grandmother. Jonas et Lila, a Demain ran at the 1999 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

La Guerre Dans le Haut Pays is a period piece set in the winter of 1797-98, during the six days leading up to the fall of Bern and the victory of Napoleon's army, when the Bern government is faced with mixed loyalties from its subjects. The population of the lower valley is divided, but the upper region remains loyal, since they have been given special autonomy and a favorable system of taxation. David, a postman, works between the two regions. His father, who is a hard-line conservative, does not approve of his relationship with Julie, who is from the lower part of the valley. Julie's father, on the other hand, is more open to the new ideas of liberation. As a result of his work, David is exposed to new ideas and becomes a believer in equality and justice. When he meets Ansermoz, who is forced by his poverty to work as a mercenary for the French government, David distances himself more and more from his father. The last straw is when his father wants him to fight with those who support Bern. David refuses and plans to run away with Julie, while his father is determined to carry the combat. Tragedy strikes when the father and the son face each other on opposite sides of the battlefield. For lovers of historical drama, the film offers plenty of escapist action and excitement, with interspersed ideological clashes and fanaticism. All these are enhanced by celebrated French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere's contribution to the script. The romantic love story spices up the generally male-dominated nature of the story. For audiences who prefer films dealing with not-so-grandiose subjects, La Guerre Dans le Haut Pays, which competed at the 49th International Berlin Film Festival in 1999, has very little to offer. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

Six years before this story begins, Rosemonde killed a would-be rapist. She was acquitted and returned to working part-time in a Geneva bar. Back in the present, a brand new television station seeks to create a television film about Rosemonde's life. The project is helmed by independent producer Kevin assigns his screen-writing pal Paul to interview Rosemonde and use it for the basis of a fictionalized teleplay. Unfortuantely for him, the taciturn and cynical barmaid wants nothing to do with project and refuses to speak to Paul. This satirical French-Swiss drama follows Paul as he simultaneously attempts to get her story and into her bed. Since Rosemonde refuses to speak to him, Paul decides to pay his ex-lover Marie, a serious stage actress, become the bar maid's friend. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Chess provides the dramatic focus in this Belgian film which explores the internal conflicts of a young chess prodigy seeking the deeper implications of life and the game. The drama begins in 1828 in the luxurious country manse of a local marquise. She is deeply involved with understanding the mystical meaning of chess and hopes to hold the annual world chess championship in her home. The champion will become betrothed to her lovely daughter. The match takes place between Max, the eccentric and unstable prodigy, and the British world master. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This uneven comedy of manners concerns a young film projectionist (Jerome Ange) who sets out to find a marriageable woman. He sets his sights on two women he has lived with for nearly ten years (Kristin Scott-Thomas and Sylvie Orcier). For some reason, the projectionist encourages one of the women to hire a private detective (Patrice Kerbrat) to monitor his romantic activities. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

A disparate, small group of smugglers try to expand their income by carrying illegal cargo across the French-Swiss border in this routine tale of life on the shady side. Paul (Hugues Quester) works as a mechanic in his father's car repair shop, but he makes extra cash by smuggling goods and people across the border. He dreams of getting his pilot's license and going to Canada to work. Mali (Berry Berr) works in a factory and smuggles narcotics across the border for extra lucre. Finally, Jean (Jean-Philippe Ecoffey) works on his father's farm and is not at all interested in smuggling until he meets Mali. After he agrees to help Paul smuggle some gold into Switzerland, he has no idea that Paul realizes the police are hot on his trail. The results are disastrous. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi