Aladin Reibel Movies
- 2000
Recalling Last Tango in Paris, Virginie Wagon directs this passionate, sexy, romantic drama about a cool professional Parisian who finds herself undone by adulterous yearns that she does not understand. Marie (Anne Coesens), who works as a successful door-to-door encyclopedia salesperson, has been married to her husband Francois (Michel Bompoil) for 12 years and has a two-year-old son. Though she is relatively content with her life, she feels something is wanting. Enter 50-year old African-American Bill (Tony Todd of Candyman fame). Initially she is annoyed by his insouciance, but she finds that she is irresistibly attracted to him. Soon the two are in the midst of sordid illicit affair. She knows little about her new lover, and he seems uninterested in learning about her, but the long sessions of lovemaking are something else entirely. Feeling out of control, Marie is increasingly repelled by her own actions. Psychologically, she struggles to reconcile her torrid encounters with Bill and mundane domestic chores such as bathing her son. Moreover, she finds herself incapable of hiding her adulterous behavior, rather she comes home with scratches and hickeys all over her body, to the devastation Francois. This film was co-written by Dreamlife of Angels director Erick Zonca. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Coesens, Michel Bompoil, (more)
As Valerie, 19-year-old Virginie Ledoyen is not just the titular Single Girl, but for all practical purposes, the entire movie. As the film opens, she meets her sullen, unemployed boyfriend Remi (Benoît Magimel) at a cafe, and reveals that she is pregnant with his child. She is not only unsure about whether she should keep the child, but whether Remi would make a decent father if she did. She is also starting a new job as room service in an expensive hotel and promises to return to the cafe in an hour and tell Remi her decision. The bulk of the film consists of a real-time study of that critical hour. Valerie takes trays from room to room, and the camera follows every stair step, every elevator trip. There are interactions with peculiar guests, but none of them are particularly important characters. The focus is always on Valerie. ~ John Voorhees, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginie Ledoyen, Benoît Magimel, (more)
- 1993
Emma (Nathalie Baye) has been happily married to Charles (Didier Sandre), a hardworking journalist, for over ten years. They have a son, and are considering having another child when she learns that she is both pregnant and HIV-positive at a time when Charles is away. As Emma has never used drugs or slept around, and has never had a blood transfusion, there can only be one source for her infection: her absent husband. Shocked to the core by this turn of events, she goes through his things and finds an address book with the names of many women in it. Determined to discover what has been going on, she begins contacting every name in the book. She continues her investigations even after her husband, whom she confronts over this, returns. While this film never comes across as an instructional piece, it was co-written by an AIDS specialist. It is also significant because is marks the final movie performance of Louis Ducreux (as the grandfather) after more than fifty years in the business. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nathalie Baye, Didier Sandre, (more)
- 1989
The year 1989 marked the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, and a number of filmmakers put together movies intended to celebrate that event. This historical action drama, based on the book Sous le vent de galerne by Andre Guilloteau looks at some of the less well-known and unappealing consequences of the republican takeover. In 1793, the entire region of Vendee rose up in revolt against the republican French government. Instead of bringing relief from the heavy taxation imposed under the monarchy, the republican government actually raised taxes in the region, and to add insult to injury, also imposed a heavy burden of military conscription ("the draft") on it. In the story, the inhabitants of one of the villages of the region organize under their blacksmith and a local nobleman to fight the government forces, but before they can prepare for a proper battle, they are massacred. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte Laurier, Roger Jendly, (more)
