Vanessa Paradis Movies
Best known in the U.S. as Johnny Depp's significant other (and mother of his child), the gorgeous, toothy singer/actress Vanessa Paradis has actually been on the European radar since she was seven years of age, when she appeared on a French TV talent show (courtesy of her uncle, a record producer) and sang "Emilie Jolie." Born in the Paris suburb of St. Maur, Paradis grew up to become an international sensation as a pop singer and actress, particularly in France, where she has a success level akin to that of Madonna or Cher in the United States.In 1986, at a mere 14 years of age, Paradis had her first big hit in Europe when composer Franck Langloff and lyricist Etienne Roda-Gil wrote a song for her entitled "Joe Le Taxi." The following year, she released her first album, M & J, which played to great success and broadened her exposure overseas. She went on to appear in her first film, Noce Blanche, in 1989, and her second album, Variations Sur le Meme T'aime was released the following year.
In 1991, Paradis signed a lucrative contract with Chanel to be the spokesperson for Coco, their latest endeavor. The ads for the fragrance famously modeled the singer after a bird in a cage, with photography by Jean-Paul Goude. Paradis followed this modeling stint with a third album, on which she collaborated with rock singer Lenny Kravitz, who boosted her image stateside.
Paradis continued to impress movie audiences with her turn opposite Gérard Depardieu in the 1995 film Elisa, but it wasn't until 1999's La Fille Sur le Pont, a dreamy black-and-white romance directed by Patrice Leconte, that she achieved worldwide status as an emerging actress. Playing the object of affection of acclaimed French actor Daniel Auteuil, Paradis earned rave reviews and a place in the hearts of smitten men all over the world ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Guillaume Canet stars in Guillaume Nicloux's suspenseful post-noir thriller La Clef (The Key) as Eric Vincent, a thirtysomething whose wife, Audrey (Marie Gillain) longs for a baby. A troubled situation involving Eric's own dad, however (including years of estrangement) makes him extremely reluctant to father a child himself. One day, a call arrives, and a mysterious stranger on the other end both announces the death of Eric's father and invites Eric to reclaim the gentleman's ashes. This sets into motion a chain of events that will entangle the young man in a series of endless complications - complications involving drug dealers, professional thieves, long-buried family skeletons and a host of other ills. As the story unfolds, Nicloux criss-crosses two narratives: a crime-themed account set in the present, and a chain-of-events set in the past that details how Eric's life became enmeshed in a web of deadening violence. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guillaume Canet
- 2004
True love, motorcycle daredevils, and alien visitation all find their way into this wildly imaginative fantasy, written and directed by Didier Poiraud and his brother Thierry Poiraud, a pair of comic artists who adapted the story from their own work. James Bataille (Jason Flemyng) is in love with Concia (Vanessa Paradis), a chanteuse whose father, Bosco (Jean-Pierre Marielle), runs the only nightspot in the tiny town where they live. The mechanically inclined Bataille attempts to stage an elaborate motorcycle stunt to impress Concia, but when it goes sour, he ends up in prison with a 133-year sentence. Desperate to help Concia and raise some money, Bataille escapes from behind bars to make an appointment to fix the car of music biz tycoon Allan Chiasse (Benoît Poelvoorde). Chiasse's timing may be fortuitous, as Concita is soon to take part in the town's annual talent show, though he's expected to face tough competition from a very unusual dog act. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
A woman's long history of bad luck starts to change when she puts her life on the line in this romantic drama. Adèle (Vanessa Paradis) is a 22-year-old woman whose life seems to have been a long series of miscalculations; she's never had much luck with love, life, or career, and is standing on a bridge overlooking the Seine one night, contemplating suicide, when she's approached by a man named Gabor (Daniel Auteuil). Gabor announces he's a knife-thrower who needs a new human target for his act. Would Adèle be interested? Adèle's immediate answer is to jump into the water, but after Gabor fishes her out and gets her to a hospital, she has a change of heart and the pair are soon on their way to Monaco, where Gabor gets a spot at a circus. Adèle and Gabor make a great team; he's good with knives, she's young and beautiful, and suddenly Adèle's luck starts to change. She visits a casino one night and comes home with a fortune, and even when Gabor throws blindfolded, she walks away without so much as a scratch. However, an obvious chemistry is brewing between the two, which leads to a dilemma: Gabor has a strict policy of never getting romantically involved with his partners. Will he make an exception, or is Adèle's new run of luck coming to an end? ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Auteuil, Vanessa Paradis, (more)
- 1998
Director Nicolas Boukhrief, who debuted with the 1995 Up Yours, returned with this French-Italian-Luxembourgian-Belgian drama in seven segments. In a variation on Schnitzler's La Ronde, each segment introduces a character seen in the next episode: In the opening, a murderer strangles a woman. A French soldier, injured in a bomb blast, is attracted to his nurse, but she's engaged to an aspiring stand-up comic. In the Paris Metro, the comedian befriends an older woman, who travels to Italy to join her impotent husband. The husband seeks excitement and finds it with a con artist who supplies sex and drugs. The young con artist's sister is an actress in porn films, and she brings the story full circle when she meets the murderer from the first scene. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Cassel, Francois Renaud, (more)
- 1998
This French comedy-thriller is directed by Patrice Leconte, who was Oscar-nominated for Ridicule (1996). The film reunites Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon, almost three decades after they appeared together in Borsalino (1970). Unaware of her father's identity, car thief Alice Tomaso (Vanessa Paradis) is released from prison one month after her mother's death. She plays an audiocassette in which her mother tells her that 20 years earlier she loved two men and thus never knew which was Alice's father. In true Belmondo fashion, Alice steals a sports car and drives toward the south of France to seek out both possible papas, now semi-retired businessmen. Auto dealer Leo Brassac (Belmondo) and successful Julien Vignal (Delon), who flies his own helicopter, dislike each other, but they team up after Alice steals a car with $50 million of Russian Mafia money in the trunk. The Russian syndicate wants Alice to turn over the money, but she can't; it was taken by undercover cop Carella (Eric Defosse), tracking each illegal Russkie move. Fortunately, former Foreign Legionnaire Leo and jewel-thief Julien have both the weapon power and smarts to help Alice thwart all mob machinations. The French equivalent of Heat -- in which Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are seen noshing during a quiet coffeeshop encounter -- contains a scene where famed French icons Delon and Belmondo order burgers at McDonalds. But then the two gear up for action, and composer Alexandre Desplat heightens the nostalgic mood with Claude Bolling's familiar Borsalino refrain. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, (more)
- 1997
The good witch Morgane bears a son and finds herself faced with a painful choice. Tradition requires that she select a godfather for the child at the exact moment of its birth. The moral alignment of the godfather will determine that of the child. The trouble is that there are only six witches left on the earth and the only eligible magical godfather, Molok, is a wicked warlock. If she refuses him, her only option is to select a mortal man who was born on the same day and time. Unfortunately if a mortal were to undergo the ceremony her son would lose his magic and the volunteer would literally lose his mind and become a living vegetable. This romantic French tale tells what happens when Morgane chooses the latter option. After much searching she and her remaining cronies narrow the eligible list down to three men. Unfortunately, Molok finds out and kills two of them, leaving only Michael, a handsome young New York inventor to fill the bill. Michael hates flying, but his business colleague Joel manages to convince him to go to Paris. There he meets Morgane who takes him to her grandmother's home. En route they pause to take magical potions and make love in the forest. Trouble brews when afterward Morgane finds herself falling in love with Michael and thinking twice about taking away his extraordinary intelligence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Paradis, Jeanne Moreau, (more)
- 1995
A troubled young woman goes in search of the father she never knew in this French drama. In 1979, Elisa (Florence Thomassin) is an unhappy and unstable woman who -- after trying to strangle her two year old daughter Marie -- kills herself on Christmas Eve. Sixteen years later, Marie (Vanessa Paradis) has grown into a young woman with more than her share of problems; she's wise beyond her years when it comes to men, and she lies as often as she tells the truth. With her friends Solange (Clotilde Courau) and Ahmed (Sekkou Sall), Marie makes her way through a variety of small-time confidence games, but she's obsessed with discovering the identity of her father, who abandoned her after the death of her mother years before. After intimidating a number of civil service workers, Marie learns that her father is Jacques Desmoulins (Gerard Depardieu), a successful but reclusive songwriter who lives on a small island where he uses alcohol to keep him company. Marie makes her way to Jacques' island in the hope of getting even with the man she blames for many of her troubles. Leading lady Vanessa Paradis is also a successful pop singer in Europe. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Paradis, Gérard Depardieu, (more)
- 1989
Temptation comes in many forms. For Francois (Bruno Cremer), a high-school philosophy teacher, it takes the form of Mathilde (Vanessa Paradis), a troubled student with a very bad attitude. Francois sets out to improve her attitude and her grades, and soon the two are bedmates as well as tutor and student. When Francois wants out of the affair, Mathilde will have none of it, and this stubborness nearly ruins both their lives when the affair is discovered. However, whatever else one may say about the relationship, her grades did improve while it was going on. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Paradis, Bruno Cremer, (more)
