Didier Le Pêcheur Movies

A man seems poised to get away with murder even as he tries to clear an innocent man in this drama from director Edouard Niermans. Grégoire Duval (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) is a druggist who runs a successful shop in the early 1960's. Duval is a well-respected citizen, but he has a dark side, and one night, when he propositions a young woman who rejects him, he flies into a rage and kills her. There are no witnesses to the crime and Duval tells no one about what happened. When the woman's body is found, Duval is not suspected, and instead Khader (Lahcen Razogir), the woman's Algerian boyfriend, is arrested and charged with the crime. With the Algerian war a fresh and unpleasant memory in the minds of most French citizens, Khader seems like a likely culprit, and circumstantial evidence is quickly stacked against him. Duval's conscience begins to get the better of him, and he begins visiting the courtroom during the trial, pointing out the flaws in the prosecutors' case. However, Duval realizes that his neighbors are so eager to believe that Khader is a murderer that there may be no saving him. Le Septieme Jure (aka Jury Duty) received its North American premiere at the 2008 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

French director Elie Chouraqui adapts the novel of the same name into this drama, that, although set in 1991, became tragically topical in the weeks before its release due to the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Andie MacDowell stars as Sarah, a photo editor for Newsweek and the happily married wife of Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Harrison Lloyd (David Strathairn). Harrison has been reconsidering his career of covering the world's war zone "hot spots" in order to spend more time with his family, and is accused by his colleague, Kyle (Adrien Brody), of playing it too safe in his risky profession. Harrison elects to accept one more combat assignment to cover the simmering tensions in Croatia, a conflict that quickly erupts into a full-scale, genocidal Civil War. Informed that Harrison is believed to have been killed in the fighting, Sarah refuses to accept her husband's death and becomes convinced that she's seen him, alive, in a news broadcast. She travels to Croatia on a quest to find him, and is eventually aided by Kyle, as well as two of Harrison's other colleagues, Yeager (Elias Koteas) and Stevenson (Brendan Gleeson). The group, armed with cameras instead of weapons, witnesses the horrors and atrocities unfolding in the region, while tracing the elusive path of Harrison, who may well be dead already. Harrison's Flowers was distributed by Universal Focus, the art house division of Universal Pictures that previously released Mulholland Drive (2001) and Billy Elliott (2000). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

A little philosophy can be a dangerous thing. Especially if it comes from the sudden blinding insights of the none too bright. Such insights, based upon totally illogical conclusions form the basis of this devilishly dark, distorted French absurdist comedy. At the beginning of the eccentric tale, a noted author deliberately drives his car into a brick wall, a suicide method employed by the protagonist of his last novel. Taxi driver Evangila and her brother North are deeply upset their favorite author's sudden death. They discuss the deeper implications of his act, and deduce that the author killed himself because he was increasingly obsessed with the notion that he was actually a character in someone else's novel. Finding their conclusion perfectly sound, the duo make the next logic leap and decide that they too are literary characters in someone else's book. That being the case, then all responsibility for their actions lies on the writer's shoulders, not theirs; therefore, they can do whatever they want with no consequence. Meanwhile the writer's bereaved widow, Karenina, decides she wants to join her husband in death. She makes several sucide attempts, but someone always 'rescues' her at the crucial moment. In desperation, she decides to simply leap from a tall bridge. As Karenina plots her demise, North and Evangela continue to wrestle with their newfound philosophy. The newest twist is that the author of their lives is in reality their god. Since he is the tangible, living being who dictates their every move, they decide to consult a priest in the hope that he can convince their Creator to meet them and answer a few burning questions. Unfortunately the priest can't help them and suggests that perhaps someone near death could provide more insight, someone about to commit suicide perhaps? Evangela and North, figuring a tall bridge is a good place to encounter a suicide immediately go to a certain bridge and end up meeting Karenina. When a spiritualist and God Himself get involved the story really goes off the deep end and that is when the fun really begins. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide