Pascal Cervo
- 2006
A boy is forced to witness the slow and painful collapse of his family in this drama from France. Martin (Julien Cochelin) is an eleven-year-old boy who lives with his family in a rural community. Their large, shabby house has seen better days, but household repair is the least of the family's problems. Martin's mother Nadege (Dominique Reymond) is emotionally unstable and has begun to retreat into a world of her own, and her husband Jean (Jean-Yves Chatelais) has all but given up on trying to communicate with her. Rose (Annie Cordy), Jean's mother, has moved in with the intention of helping out while Nadege recovers, but it's clear she has little regard for her daughter-in-law and avoids interacting with her grandson. Didier (Pascal Cervo), Martin's older brother, helps look after the boy, as does Malika (Fettouma Bouamari), a Middle Eastern immigrant who helps keep house. However, Didier suffers a falling out with his parents when they discover he's fallen in love with a neighbor boy, and Didier is devastated to learn his new boyfriend has announced his upcoming marriage to a girl. Le Dernier des Fous (aka Demented) was adapted from the novel The Last of the Crazy People by Timothy Findley. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julien Cochelin, Pascal Cervo, (more)
- 2000
Two women discover new love while trying to resolve their old relationships in this stylized drama. The Girl (Claire Keim) is a beautiful, bisexual cabaret singer who one night meets The Painter (Agathe de la Boulaye), an artist who is immediately and intensely attracted to her. The Girl and The Painter spend the night together, and are soon involved in an ongoing relationship, with The Painter spending most of her time at The Girl's flat in Paris. Meanwhile, The Painter finds it's not easy to break off her relationship with Bu Save (Sandra N'Kake), while The Girl is trying to keep her boyfriend, The Man (Cyril Lecomte), from finding out to much about her new romance, since she needs to maintain their relationship for the sake of her career. The Girl is the first feature film from Sandee Zeig, who helped to open the independent distribution firm Artistic License; it's based on a novella by Monique Wittig, who wrote the screenplay with Zeig. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claire Keim
The first feature film of Helene Angel, who has won several prizes for her short films, Peau d'Homme, Coeur de Bete uses the point of view of children to focus on a tragedy that befalls a family. After fifteen years of absence, a man returns to his family. Five-year-old Aurelie watches the stranger arrive and develops an immediate affinity with him. Her older sister, however, is very suspicious of the intruder and certain that misfortune will follow. The adults see nothing, but struggle with all their might when tragedy strikes. Naturally, the two girls bear the brunt of the impact. The film is an homage to the distant and primitive world of childhood, which shapes each of us. Peau d'Homme, Coeur de Bete received the Golden Leopard at the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival and Serge Riaboukine was awarded a Bronze Leopard as Best Actor. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Serge Riaboukine, Bernard Blancan, (more)
- 1999
The emotional dilemmas of two sisters and their families sets the stage for the French drama Plus Qu'hier Moins Que Demain. Francoise (Laetitia Legrix) is a teenager who has grown tired of her hometown and her parents, while her older sister Sonia (Mireille Roussel) has come back home, with husband and child in tow. Sonia's unresolved issues with her family, including a relationship with her uncle that ended badly, trigger bouts of depression that previously led to a suicide attempt. Francoise, on the other hand, has fallen in love with her cousin Bernard (Pascal Cervo), whose father is the man who once loved Sonia and betrayed her father. Plus Qu'hier Moins Que Demain was shown at the 1999 Rotterdam Film Festival, where it won the Tiger Award in the New Director competition. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Mihelich, Laetitia Legrix, (more)
- 1999
French producer Joel Farges got together with Czech producer/director Artemio Benki and four other young Czech filmmakers to contribute to a series of 20-minute episodes about love in the magical city of Prague at the end of the millennium. Praha ocima was inspired by episode films about cities, such as New York Stories by Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Woody Allen; but most of all by Six in Paris made by Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer, Jean-Luc Godard, and others. Not all of the five directors of the film come from Prague and their styles are certainly diverse. But they all have an affinity with the city, which is a meeting place of many cultures. Artemio Benki's Riziko (Dive), about a French couple whose relationship ends because, in Prague, she falls in love with a Czech, is narrated in a poetic style. Martin Sulik's Obrazky z vyletu (Pictures from a Trip) narrates the tribulations of a Slovak mother, an aging music teacher who has to accept her daughter's way of life in Prague. Petr Vaclav's bitter but nonetheless romantic Vikend V Praze (Weekend in Prague) is about a Chinese student visiting the city who realizes that her relationship with her French lover is over. Michaela Pavlatova's Absolutni Laska (Absolute Love) re-enacts the affair of two ex-lovers. Vladimir Michalek's Karty jsou Rozdany (The Cards are Dealt) is the bizarre story of a reporter who gets depressed every time he goes to a bar but cannot stop going. The common themes of the stories are the complications of love affairs, tragi-comic barriers to communication, the ingenious ways lovers bridge distances and generally the strange behavior of couples in love. Through the theme of love, Praha ocima also reflects the general welfare of the city's inhabitants. The film was screened at the 1999 Rotterdam International Film Festival. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Côte, Arnaud Giovaninetti, (more)
French auteur Gael Morel pays tribute to the rush associated with reaching the age of 20 in this fast-paced, sexually charged drama. During the prologue, teen Samir and his best friend Rick rub bloody fingers together as they make a blood-brother's pact. Suddenly a shot rings out and Rick dies of a bullet wound in Samir's arms. Time passes and Algeria-born Samir feels uncomfortable about his cultural background. Meanwhile, university student Julie is upset to hear that her boyfriend Quentin has just signed a contract to publish his first book and move to Paris. It doesn't help that his book is a barely disguised chronicle of his friends' activities. Quentin meets the blatantly homosexual Samir at a party one night. Interested in finding more fodder for a second book, he gets Samir to tell about his intimate relationship with the late Rick. It's difficult, but Samir complies even as he finds himself increasingly attracted to Quentin, who rejects him point blank. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Élodie Bouchez, Pascal Cervo, (more)
- 1996
This French-Belgian drama, based on a novel by Odon von Horvath, is set in 1938 in a German city along the banks of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers. It attempts to provide insight as to why certain German youths were so easily lead into becoming Nazis by using two narrators, one a teacher who challenged the movement and another by a student who embraced it. Pabst teaches a group of teenage boys, all of whom seem to be young Nazis. The trouble begins when Pabst and a WW I vet are assigned to take the class to a military camp and a nature outing for urban kids. While there a boy is brutally murdered and they blame one local girl. During her trial, Pabst speaks out against Hitler and becomes pariah. Still he continues investigating the death, at great personal expense until at last he brings the real killer to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
In this French coming-of-age drama a 15-year old boy breaks free from his fixation with his older half-sister and learns to trust himself and become independent. The story is set in a rural French town. When his wild half-sister Vivien finally returns home after an eight year absence, young Marc is ecstatic. He is awed by her free-wheeling, independent life. He quietly follows her every move, living vicariously through her. She becomes his teacher, but as Marc observes her more closely he begins to see that his sister has no real sense of self-worth. Her promiscuity is only a mask to hide her lack of self-respect. Marc begins to withdraw and follow his own path. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nathalie Richard, Pascal Cervo, (more)
