Tolsty Movies
The historical novel by Alexandre Dumas was adapted for the screen with this lavish French epic, winner of 5 Césars and a pair of awards at the Cannes Film Festival. Isabelle Adjani stars as Marguerite de Valois, better known as Margot, daughter of scheming Catholic power player Catherine de Medici (Virna Lisi). Margot is an heiress to the throne during the late 16th century reign of the neurotic, hypochondriac King Charles IX (Jean-Hugues Anglade), a time when Protestants and Catholics are vying for political control of France. Catherine decides to make an overture of good will by offering up Margot in marriage to prominent Protestant Huguenot Henri of Navarre (Daniel Auteuil), although she also schemes to bring about the notorious St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572, when tens of thousands of Protestants are slaughtered. The marriage goes forward but Margot doesn't love Henri and takes a lover, the soldier La Mole (Vincent Perez), also a Protestant from a well-to-do family. Murders by poisoning follow, as court intrigues multiply and Catherine's villainous plotting to place her son Anjou (Pascal Greggory) on the throne threatens the lives of La Mole, Margot and Henri. The American release version was cut to 145 minutes. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Adjani, Daniel Auteuil, (more)
- 1994
- PG
A jungle boy comes to Paris in this French adventure that while primarily aimed towards children, will be equally enjoyable to adult audiences. The film opens with Steph, an international trader, winging to Venezuela to formally divorce his estranged wife Patricia who left him thirteen years ago to live in Lipo-Lipo, a remote outpost deep in the Amazon. While he is there, Steph discovers that Patricia secretly bore him a son, Mimi-Siku. Mimi is truly a child of the jungle, but he longs to see the Eiffel Tower. He returns to Paris with his father. Upon arrival, Steph is dismayed to discover that his partner Richard has fumbled a major soybean deal and that both of their jobs are on the line. While Richard and Steph are frantically trying to sell their excess beans which includes suspicious interactions with the Russian Mafia, Mimi-Siku, dressed in his loincloth and carrying his bow and arrow, explores his new home. Pandemonium ensues as the boy climbs the Eiffel Tower, begins shooting and eating aquarium fish, and accidently terrifying people with his pet tarantula. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thierry Lhermitte, Patrick Timsit, (more)
This French drama uses two plots that occasionally come together. The stories are set within the multiethnic neighborhoods of Paris. In the first, Daiga (Yekaterina Golubeva), a spunky Lithuanian actress, drives into to town to collect on the promise of a director she slept with. He lied to her and now she, who speaks no French, must accept help from friends and relatives who set her up in a small hotel. She gets a job as a chambermaid. The second examines the lives of a large expatriate Caribbean family. Theo ( Alex Descas), a musician, takes small carpentry jobs for wealthy Parisians to support his young daughter. He really wants to go home to Martinique, but his daughter's mother doesn't want to. Theo's brother Camille (Richard Courcet) has real problems. He is the wild one. Dressed in his fishnet stockings and garish makeup, Camille sings at the local gay club. He sleeps with his lover (also his doctor) in the same hotel as Daiga. Camille seems nice enough until it is discovered that he is not only a drug addict and HIV-positive, he also strangles old women to death while a partner robs their homes. Camille seems oddly distant from his actions, which he calmly describes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yekaterina Golubeva, Richard Courcet, (more)
