Marion Cotillard

Johnny Depp stars as John Dillinger in Michael Mann's Public Enemies, a period crime drama that traces the war between the criminal underbelly of Chicago and the early years of the FBI in the 1930s. Christian Bale portrays Melvin Purvis, the resourceful FBI agent who led the manhunts for Dillinger as well as other name criminals of the time, including Pretty Boy Floyd (Channing Tatum), Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi), Homer Van Meter (Stephen Dorff) and John "Red" Hamilton (Jason Clarke). Based on the book by Bryan Burrough, the Universal Pictures production has been adapted for the screen by Mann, Ronan Bennett, and Ann Biderman. La Vie en Rose's Marion Cotillard co-stars as Dillinger's love interest, Billie Frechette. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Two thick-headed pals stumble through a town where nearly everyone is as dumb as they are in this manic comedy from Belgium. Jean-Claude (Jean-Luc Couchard) is a loud-mouthed, know-it-all and full time boor who is best friends with Stef (Dominique Pinon), a self-styled lady killer who would do better with the fair sex if he could work up the ambition to wake up in the morning. Stef has decided that despite his lofty ambitions, he may need some help in finding the woman of his dreams, and embracing loyalty rather than logic he turns to Jean-Claude for advice. As Jean-Claude explains his deeply flawed techniques for impressing women, he and Stef cross the paths of a handful of local eccentrics, including perpetual mugging victim Greg (Jeremie Renier), misguided school teacher Nadine (Marion Cotillard), sex crazed Natacha (Melanie Laurent), short-tempered cop Laurence (Florence Foresti), wealthy spoiled brat Fabianne (Marie Kremer), and abattoir enthusiast Claudy (Francois Damiens). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Gladiator duo Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe re-team for this adaptation of author Peter Mayle's best-selling novel about a London-based investment banker who relocates to Provence in hopes of selling a small vineyard he has inherited from his recently deceased uncle. As a child, Max Skinner (Freddie Highmore) was taught to appreciate the finer things in life while wandering the vineyard estate of his sophisticated uncle Henry (Albert Finney). Life has a strange way or turning out how you least expect it to though, and 25 years later, Max (Russell Crowe) is now a prosperous moneyman wheeling and dealing in the cutthroat world of London business. When Max learns that Henry has recently passed away and that he has been named the sole beneficiary of his late uncle's modest estate, the keen businessman hastily arranges a flight to France in order to assess the value of the old property and get it prepped for sale. After Max arrives to find the vineyard in a crumbling state of disrepair, his troubles are further compounded by the stubbornness of gruff estate winemaker M. Duflot (Didier Bourdon) and the unexpected arrival of a determined California beauty named Christie (Abbie Cornish), who presents herself as a long-lost cousin while making a dubious claim to Henry's estate. Meanwhile, the overstressed Max reluctantly finds himself falling for local café owner and town siren Fanny (Marion Cotillard), whose formidable guard is quickly worn down by the smitten beneficiary. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A man looking for a reason to live gets more than he bargained for in this black comedy from France. Edy (François Berléand) is an insurance salesman who has fallen into a deep depression. Edy can scarcely work up the energy to do more than listen to his collection of classic jazz records (at full volume, much to his neighbor's annoyance) and drink all night, and he's made some unsuccessful attempts at suicide. However, Edy's efforts to end his own life not only don't do the job, they have a bad habit of destroying other people's property, and in one case killing an innocent bystander. Unsure of what to do, Edy calls upon his friend Louis (Philippe Noiret) for advice. Louis, who helped Edy get started in the insurance game, has some ideas of how to bring excitement back into his friend's life, but Edy becomes nervous when Louis leads him into a life of crime that gets messier with each passing day. Edy also stars Yves Verhoeven, Laurent Bateau, and Marion Cotillard. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A strange institution prepares young girls for their future in a manner they don't truly understand in this surreal drama laced with fantasy. Iris (Zoe Auclair) is a six-year-old girl who arrives in a coffin (though alive and well) at a remote boarding school, where she and a handful of other girls are looked after by teachers Mademoiselle Eva (Marion Cotillard) and Mademoiselle Edith (Hélène de Fougerolles). Handpicked for the school and taken away from their families at a young age, each girl's age and place in the school's hierarchy is identified by the color of ribbon they wear in their hair (the oldest students, about 12, get purple ribbons), and they are forbidden to leave the campus grounds. Violating the rules is dealt with harshly, and their lessons focus on little besides ballet and biology. Each evening, the older girls are taken away to a different program they are not allowed to discuss, and the students get the impression that they are somehow being trained for future responsibilities, though what and why both remain a mystery. The first feature film from writer and director Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Innocence was adapted from a short story by Franz Wedekind. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Part romantic comedy and part black comedy, director Yann Samuell's 2003 feature film debut Jeux d'Enfants (Love Me if You Dare) follows the exploits of two young would-be lovers as they go from childhood to adulthood with themselves as the greatest hurdle to their own happiness. Julien and Sophie first meet at the age of eight when both are undergoing great trauma: Julien is watching his mother die and Sophie has become the focus of intense hazing at the hands of some fellow schoolmates. On one fateful day, Julien decides to stick up for Sophie and pulls a practical joke on her tormentors. Henceforth, the two embark on a close friendship that revolves around daring each other to pull increasingly audacious practical jokes, rather than on the seemingly obvious intimate relationship they seem dangerously close to discovering at any moment. Jeux d'Enfants was selected for inclusion into the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival as well as that same year's Telluride International Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

A throwback detective attempts to unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of a young Parisian student named Rachel in this noirish mystery from director Guillaume Nicloux. His life a smoky and meaningless haze of women and seedy investigations, private eye François Maneri (Thierry Lhermitte) agrees to take the case of a missing student in an investigation that grows increasingly complex. First speaking to Rachel's family and friends, François soon discovers a dark and complicated past that few of those who were close to Rachel knew about. As François moves ever closer to discovering the truth behind Rachel's disappearance, facts become blurred and the truth a complex maze of sordid details that threatens to envelop the detective in the same darkness that swallowed Rachel. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Gilles Paquet-Brenner's psychologically-tinged, French-language action thriller Les Jolies Choses (AKA Pretty Things, 2001) stars Marion Cotillard in a rare double role as identical twins Lucie and Marie. Lucie, who works as a white-hot fashion model, exhibits a dominant, often controlling, "Type A" personality, whereas Marie consistently projects a backward, reserved, laconic and unassuming attitude. When Lucie receives a covetable French recording contract, a significant problem stands in her way: the inability to sing. Marie possesses the voice of an angel, however, and quickly jets off to Paris to stand in for her sister, unannounced - little realizing the dangerous and even violent string of consequences that she is igniting. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Combining romance, science fiction and a political parable, Furia takes place in the future, after an oppressive government, which has shut down all political opposition, recognizes art as a means of free expression -- and therefore bans painting on public surfaces. Theo (Stanislas Merhar) is an activist artist who creates paintings on walls under the cover of darkness, despite the fact his bother Laurence (Wadek Stanczak) works with the local government. Their father Aaron (Pierre Vaneck), a local barkeep, used to paint, but when he was caught, the color was taken from his eyes and now he can only see in monochrome. When Theo meets another rebel artist, the lovely Elia (Marion Cotillard), he's immediately smitten, and when she's arrested and subjected to torture, Theo tries to have himself caught so he can be with her (and protect her) behind bars. Furia was adapted by director and co-screenwriter Alexandre Aja from a short story by Julio Cortazar, an Argentinian refugee who fled to Paris in the era when rebellious citizens were "disappearing" -- 30,000 in all. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

As part of an intergalactic coalition, a well-meaning space alien volunteers to bring a message of self-actualization and harmony with nature to the one planet rejected by all her peers as incorrigible--Earth. This family-oriented French sci-fi comedy chronicles her adventures on the chaotic planet. Mila is 150 years old and has five children; encoded in her brain are two telepathic programs designed to restructure the thinking of destructive humans. The first is a fairly mild program designed to inspire the humans to rethink their world and begin asking some difficult questions. The other is far stronger and rapidly indoctrinates subjects with lofty utopian ideals and makes them deeply aware of themselves. Mila lands in Paris and is unnoticed but for the sudden, inexplicable power surges and outages that occur whenever she sends a telepathic message to her alien cohorts. Instead of eating, Mila draws energy from holding newborn babies. It is while holding an orphan infant in an obstetrics ward that her Earthly troubles begin. Feeling deeply for the baby's plight, she confronts the ward's head doctor and when logic fails, looses her programs upon him. Instantly the unsympathetic brute sees the light and begins helping her save the babe from wicked welfare workers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide