Alain Doutey Movies

Neophyte director Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's French-language romantic comedy Odette Toulemonde concerns the unlikeliest of relationships that develops between two Parisians. The title character (Catherine Frot) is a forty-year-old saleswoman, saddled with two children (an adolescent daughter and a hairdresser son), who spends her days hawking cosmetics from behind the counter of a Parisian department store. Odette has absolutely no reason to feel limitless joy or to retain a bright, positive outlook on life, but experiences both - thanks in no small part to the novels of her favorite author, Balthazar Balsan (Albert Dupontel). Meanwhile, Balsan ostensibly has everything - money, fame, success - and yet feels unbridled emptiness inside. These two lives suddenly intersect and complement each other in fantastic and unexpected ways. Nicolas Buysse, Jacques Weber, Nina Drecq and Fabrice Murgia co-star; Schmitt authored the original script. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Filmed in France, Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Morocco, and Canada, this ambitious biographical TV miniseries chronicles the life and times of the "Little Corporal" from Corsica who managed to conquer nearly all of Europe within a period of a dozen years. The narrative begins in the mid-1790s, as Napoleon Bonaparte (played, curiously enough, by comic actor Christian Clavier) makes his mark on posterity with spectacular victories in Austria and Egypt. On the home front, Napoleon woos and wins the lovely (and considerably older) Josephine (Isabella Rossellini), but finds time for extracurricular romances with other women, notably Countess Marie Walewska (Alexandra Maria Lara). Ultimately, Bonaparte's ambitions destroy him, first in Russia, then at Waterloo, consigning the general-cum-emperor to live out his life in humiliation and exile. When originally broadcast in France in October 2002, Napoleon ran six hours (plus commercials), with four episodes. For its American presentation on the A&E cable network beginning April 8, 2003, the production was literally sliced in half, shown in two installments with a running time of three hours. What remained was all highlights and few insights, though a few brilliant moments remained, many of these supplied by the supporting cast, which included Gérard Depardieu (who also produced) as Fouche, and John Malkovich as Talleyrand. Thankfully, the full six-hour version was made available in the U.S. on DVD and VHS in 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As a way of getting on in the world, working for wages and constantly being in danger of being fired or laid off is a pretty poor system. In this movie, pretty, young Aimee decides that marriage to the right man is a much better bargain. Though she is very fond of an impoverished bookstore owner, the man who meets her strict criteria is a famous and high-strung restaurant critic. After cohabiting with her new spouse for a while, she goes for the really big-time payoff that comes with divorce and stages everything entirely to her satisfaction. Of course, it takes an iron will and tremendous concentration for this passionate girl to play such a stern, money-grubbing role, but she's up to the task. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Bayard (Remi Martin) is a lowly squire who joins the army of King Charles (Patrick Timsit) after he is rejected by the noblewoman Blanche de Savoie (Anne-Gisel Glass). Bellabre (Gerard Jugnot) is the army captain who trains Bayard for the proposed invasion of Naples. Bayard returns a conquering hero to win the heart of Blanche, who defies the newly crowned King Louis XII (Martin Lamotte) and the Machiavellian Scottomayor (Roland Giraud) to marry her heroic soldier. Sight gags and parodies abound in this comedy that contains some of the grim humor of Monte Python And The Holy Grail. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Produced on behalf of the HBO cable service, The Blood of Others is a rare venture into English-language filmmaking by Claude Chabrol. Set during World War II, the film stars Jodie Foster and Michael Ontkean as a pair of French resistance fighters. If you can swallow that, then you'll accept New Zealand native Sam Neill as a German businessman. Chabrol's wife Stephane Audran costars as Gigi, while other prominent members of the cast include Alexandra Stewart, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Micheline Presle. Oh, yes, the plot: based on a novel by Simone de Beauvoir, The Blood of Others concerns Jodie Foster's confused loyalties: should she continue in her underground activities, or succumb to the charms of the seemingly civilized Neill? This French-Canadian coproduction was originally telecast August 23, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bertin (Victor Lanoux) has accidentally killed his wife during an argument. He is the owner of a tannery which employs most of the inhabitants of the town he lives in. Rather than subject himself to the indignities of a police inquiry, he attempts to cover up the killing by saying that she has left him. At first, his tale is believed, because he has been openly seeing another woman who is pregnant with his child (and heir). Later, a judge magistrate (the French lawman with responsibility for criminal investigations) discovers the woman's corpse, and puts Bertin on trial for murder. The factory owner is determined to be acquitted, and he blackmails the townspeople so that the trial turns out to suit him. He wins his freedom, but loses his mistress, who is thoroughly repulsed. This drama is based on the novel The Lesser Evil by Jean Laborde. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

When the French version of Les Cousines was re-edited for American release, the story was substantially changed. Originally telling the story of two undiscriminating nymphomaniac cousins, the French film came to an ironic but peaceful conclusion; the focus now falls on the sexually abused younger sister of one of these girls, who suffers from traumatic paralysis. In one scene, the cousins put her into the bed of a man who has passed out drunk, for the fun of watching his reactions to her presence when he awakens. The story of her response to this treatment and the ensuing violence completes the film's transformation. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Writer and director Sofia Coppola puts a new spin on the life and times of one of Europe's most infamous monarchs in this lavish historical drama which fuses a contemporary sensibility with painstaking recreations of the look of the 18th century. Born to Austrian nobility, Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) is only 14 years old when she's pledged to marry Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the 15-year-old king of France, in an alliance that has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with love. Sent to France and literally stripped of her former life, Marie weds Louis, but to the consternation of the royal court, he seems either unwilling or unable to consummate the marriage while their advisors clamor for an heir to the throne. Young and more than a bit out of step with the new life that's been thrust upon her, Marie gives herself over to the pleasures of life in Versailles, knowing and caring little of the political intrigue that surrounds her. In time, Marie's trusted older brother, Joseph (Danny Huston), is brought in to coach Louis on the finer points of marital relations, and before long the couple is finally blessed with a child. However, as Marie tends to her children in the gilded cage of her palace and enjoys an affair with a Swedish nobleman, political power plays are throwing France into chaos, and the growing ranks of the poor rebel against the royals and their life of privilege. Also starring Rip Torn, Judy Davis, Steve Coogan, and Asia Argento, Marie Antoinette was given a controversial reception when it premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Iconoclastic film director Samuel Fuller spent decades nurturing his dream project, a movie about his experiences in the Army's First Infantry Division during World War II, but it wasn't until 1979 that he was able to finally bring the picture before the cameras. Unfortunately, Fuller was forced by his producers to work with a scaled-down budget, and he did not have final cut on the film; after his first rough cut ran nearly four-and-a-half hours, the studio took over editing on the project, and Fuller was vocally unhappy with the final results. In 2003, critic and film historian Richard Schickel initiated an effort to restore The Big Red One to a form that more closely resembled Fuller's original vision; using a large cache of newly discovered footage and the director's shooting script as a guide, the 113-minute theatrical version was expanded to 158 minutes, adding depth and detail to Fuller's sweeping and episodic tale of a hard-as-nails sergeant (Lee Marvin) and four inexperienced recruits under his command (Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Bobby Di Cicco, and Kelly Ward) as they battle their way across Africa to Europe between 1942 and 1945. Schickel's reconstruction received enthusiastic reviews when it went into limited release in the fall of 2004. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide