Anne-Dominique Toussaint Movies

A Beirut beauty salon serves as a microcosm of modern society in director Nadine Labaki's look at liberated conversation in a conflicted society. Over the course of their day it becomes readily apparent that women are truly the same everywhere, regardless of the society they live in. While single Layale struggles with her growing attraction to a married man, Muslim bride-to-be Nisrine fears that her husband will find out that she has already lost her virginity, and Rima wages a futile war against her lesbian instincts. As with many women who frequent the salon, Jamale does everything within her power to reverse the visible effects of aging. As Rose laments the fact that she has sacrificed her own happiness in order to care for her older sister, the intimate conversations shared over the course of a typical day reveal just how universal the lives, loves, and concerns of contemporary women truly are. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

"What would you think if I shaved my moustache?" asks Marc (Vincent Lindon) of his wife, Agnès (Emmanuelle Devos), one fateful night as they prepare to visit friends for dinner. She's never seen him without it, but while she goes to do some last-minute shopping, he impulsively shaves the moustache off. Thus begins a tragic odyssey that leads Marc to question every relationship in his life, and even his own identity. Marc's journey into darkness begins when Agnès returns home. At first, he playfully tries to conceal what he's done. When he finally reveals his bare face to her, with a flourish, her reaction is...nonexistent. She baffles him by appearing not to notice the change. Confused, he says nothing, and they proceed with their plans for the evening. When the couple's friends Serge (Mathieu Amalric) and Nadia (Macha Polikarpova) also fail to make note of the change in Marc's appearance, he begins to get angry, believing that Agnès is playing an elaborate prank on him. In the car on the way home, he loses his temper, and it's her turn to be baffled. What moustache? How can she have noticed that he shaved his moustache when he's never had one? While Agnès begins to question her husband's sanity, Marc frantically searches for evidence of his former facial hair. Things only get worse for Marc, as no one at his job remembers him having a moustache either, and before long, he discovers that there are other details of his life that only he remembers. The Moustache marks the directorial debut of Emmanuel Carrère, who adapted his own novel with Jérôme Beaujour (She's One of Us). The film was shown as part of The Film Society of Lincoln Center's 2006 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

French filmmaker Philippe Le Guay writes and directs the ensemble comedy Le Cout de la Vie (The Cost of Living). Set in the city of Lyon over a period of a few days, the film reveals people's relationship to money through the intersecting lives of several characters. Fabrice Luchini plays the wealthy Brett, who likes to hang on tightly to his money, while Vincent Lindon plays the generous Coway, who has spent way more than he earns. Geraldine Pailhas plays Helena, a high-class escort with expensive tastes, while Isild Le Besco plays a down-to-earth young heiress who cares more about love than money. Meanwhile powerful businessman Nicolas de Blamond (Claude Rich) puts loads of people out of work when he shuts down his factories after he learns of his failing heath. The Cost of Living was shown at the 2003 Locarno International Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Gjergj Xhuvani directs this satire on the absurdities and tragedies of totalitarianism in a remote corner of Albania. Set in the 1970s during the height of the Hoxha's isolationist regime, the film centers on Andre (Artur Gorishti), a young biology teacher who ventures from the capital, Tirana, to teach in an elementary school in the mountainous countryside. His first duty is to select an official slogan for his class. He chooses the shortest option -- "Glory to the Revolutionary Spirit" or "American Imperialism Is a Paper Tiger" -- largely because he and his class are assigned to spell out the slogan in stones on a mountainside. Unfortunately, in this school where the government's ever-shifting party line is the absolute law, Andre's choice in slogans proves to be against the current mood in Tirana, exposing him to accusations of counter-revolutionariness. Attractive French teacher Diana (Luiza Xhuvani) quickly informs him of his error and soon romantic sparks start to fly. But Andre's imprudent choice has raised suspicions in his nervous superiors, who are looking for a scapegoat in case a visit from a high-ranking party member goes poorly. This film, the first Albanian film ever to be screened in the Cannes Film Festival, was also screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

After a series of short films, writer/director Laurent Firode made his feature-length debut with this tale of coincidence, chance, and fate inspired by a variation of the chaos theory, which supposes that if a butterfly beats its wings in one part of the world, it could theoretically cause a full-fledged storm thousands of miles away. Firode applies this theory to a disparate group of Parisians, opening with a young retail worker, Irene (Audrey Tautou), reading her horoscope on the train to work one morning. At the store, Irene has to deal with an elderly woman (Francoise Bertin) who wants to return a broken coffeemaker; as if that weren't enough, the dissatisfied octogenarian consumer has to put up with her impudent grandson, Luc (Eric Feldman). Amidst all the seemingly unrelated human activities in the film, cockroaches, bird droppings, and changes in the weather all conspire to bring the characters together -- or drive them apart, as the case may be. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

In this sly comedy of manners, Anne (Victoria Abril) is a free-spirited single mother whose three children were all fathered by different men, none of whom are currently in contact with Anne and none of whom know that Anne bore their offspring. Anne's son Victor (Pierre-Jean Cherit) has started asking his mother questions about who his father is and where he's gone; Anne, however, isn't sure just what to tell him, or any of his siblings, about their Dads without things becoming embarrassing. However, when Anne takes the kids on a vacation to Mexico, she realizes she'd better come up with an explanation and quick, since all three of her former beaux happen to be staying at the same resort where Anne and her brood are registered. Mon père, ma mère, mes frères et mes soeurs was the first directorial credit for actress Charlotte de Turckheim, who also appears in the film as Jeanne. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

Louise (Elizabeth Bourgine) is a young woman working at a publishing house who develops an unusual affection for submitted manuscript. She breaks up with Serge (Philippe Leotard), the printer who loves her. Louise tells the heartbroken Serge she has fallen in love with the author whom she has never met or even seen. She travels to New York to hunt down the elusive author and ends up in a remote farmhouse in Vermont, where she is greeted by Norma (Anna Massey), the mother of the elusive author. The two women wait for his return in this psychological drama that later becomes a thriller. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide