Pascal Judelewicz Movies
- 2009
A winemaker is coached by a wise spirit in this fantasy set in the early 19th Century, based on a novel by Elizabeth Knox. Sobran Jodeau (Jeremie Renier) is a poor but hard-working man who helps the Comte de Vully (Patrice Valota) grow grapes but hopes to some day oversee his own vineyard and make world-class wine. Sobran is also deeply in love with Celeste (Keisha Castle-Hughes), a lovely women whose family has been touched by emotional instability. One night, Sobran is visited by Xas (Gaspard Ulliel), a guardian angel who offers to help him with his dream of becoming a vintner; Xas pledges to visit Sobran one every year to sample his wine and give him advice. However, Xas warns Sobran that like great art, great wine often is the product of sacrifice and suffering, and with the passage of time Sobran is visited by both kind and cruel fate. Sobran and Celeste are wed, and after the death of the Comte de Vully, his heir the Baroness Aurora de Valday (Vera Farmiga) puts Sobran in charge of the winery. But Sobran's skill alone doesn't produce exceptional wine, and it's not until he's touched by tragedy that he is able to produce a vintage that speaks of a full life. The Vintner's Luck received its world premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Arriving on the eponymous Sicilian island with his wife and child to investigate the murder of a would-be informant, FBI agent Matt Benson (Harvey Keitel) attempts to contact the only person who knows the truth behind the killing - the dead man's eleven-year-old son. As Benson races to reach the boy before the mafia, it's only a matter of time before the endangered boy meets the same fate as his father. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Asia Argento, Stefano Dionisi, (more)
- 2001
Gjergj Xhuvani directs this satire on the absurdities and tragedies of totalitarianism in a remote corner of Albania. Set in the 1970s during the height of the Hoxha's isolationist regime, the film centers on Andre (Artur Gorishti), a young biology teacher who ventures from the capital, Tirana, to teach in an elementary school in the mountainous countryside. His first duty is to select an official slogan for his class. He chooses the shortest option -- "Glory to the Revolutionary Spirit" or "American Imperialism Is a Paper Tiger" -- largely because he and his class are assigned to spell out the slogan in stones on a mountainside. Unfortunately, in this school where the government's ever-shifting party line is the absolute law, Andre's choice in slogans proves to be against the current mood in Tirana, exposing him to accusations of counter-revolutionariness. Attractive French teacher Diana (Luiza Xhuvani) quickly informs him of his error and soon romantic sparks start to fly. But Andre's imprudent choice has raised suspicions in his nervous superiors, who are looking for a scapegoat in case a visit from a high-ranking party member goes poorly. This film, the first Albanian film ever to be screened in the Cannes Film Festival, was also screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Artur Gorishti
- 2001
Three families trace their fortunes, for good and ill, over the course of ten summers in this drama from French filmmaker Yves Hanchar. The Bertini, Delperee, and Foucher families first meet by the seaside in 1990, and as the various members become fast friends, they find themselves vacationing together each summer over the next decade. Daniel Delperee (Jeremy Lippmann) finds himself falling in love with Carole (Jessica Pare), a friend of one of the Foucher girls, and over the next several summers he has to come to terms with his feelings for her. He must also face new responsibilities, as his mother Marianne (Catherine Hosmalin), who had been unhappy since parting with her husband Paul (Luc Picard), dies in an auto accident. Daniel then is unsure how to react after Paul becomes involved with a much younger woman, Maddelena (Floriane Devigne). En Vacances received its North American premiere at the 2001 Santa Barbara Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luc Picard, Luigi Diberti, (more)
After a series of short films, writer/director Laurent Firode made his feature-length debut with this tale of coincidence, chance, and fate inspired by a variation of the chaos theory, which supposes that if a butterfly beats its wings in one part of the world, it could theoretically cause a full-fledged storm thousands of miles away. Firode applies this theory to a disparate group of Parisians, opening with a young retail worker, Irene (Audrey Tautou), reading her horoscope on the train to work one morning. At the store, Irene has to deal with an elderly woman (Francoise Bertin) who wants to return a broken coffeemaker; as if that weren't enough, the dissatisfied octogenarian consumer has to put up with her impudent grandson, Luc (Eric Feldman). Amidst all the seemingly unrelated human activities in the film, cockroaches, bird droppings, and changes in the weather all conspire to bring the characters together -- or drive them apart, as the case may be. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audrey Tautou, Faudel, (more)
Just how far should a father go to help his daughter gain fame and fortune? Jean (Josse De Pauw) lives in a working-class Belgian community, where he holds down a job at a bottle factory with his friend Willy (Werner De Smedt). Jean and his wife Chantal (Gert Portael) have a teenage daughter, Marva (Eva van der Gucht), who like her father, is interested in music; Jean likes to write songs in his spare time, while Marva dreams of becoming a singer. But Jean's songs don't seem to impress anyone but Willy, and while Marva has a good voice, she's overweight, has little charisma, and seems a poor prospect for success in show business. When the bottle factory is shut down, both Jean and Willy are thrown into dire circumstances, and Jean is trying to figure out how to support his family when his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. He is offered a ride by a friendly stranger, whom Jean soon recognizes as Debbie (Thekla Reuten), a well-known pop singer. In a flash of ill-advised inspiration, Jean gives Debbie a heavily drugged beverage, and after she passes out, he spirits her away to a cottage in the woods. He then contacts Debbie's manager (Victor Low), informing him that he has the star hidden away -- and if he ever wants to see her again, Marva has to be given a chance to sing on national television. Iedereen Beroemd! was shown in competition at the 2000 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Josse de Pauw, Werner De Smedt, (more)
- 1999
- NR
In this sly comedy of manners, Anne (Victoria Abril) is a free-spirited single mother whose three children were all fathered by different men, none of whom are currently in contact with Anne and none of whom know that Anne bore their offspring. Anne's son Victor (Pierre-Jean Cherit) has started asking his mother questions about who his father is and where he's gone; Anne, however, isn't sure just what to tell him, or any of his siblings, about their Dads without things becoming embarrassing. However, when Anne takes the kids on a vacation to Mexico, she realizes she'd better come up with an explanation and quick, since all three of her former beaux happen to be staying at the same resort where Anne and her brood are registered. Mon père, ma mère, mes frères et mes soeurs was the first directorial credit for actress Charlotte de Turckheim, who also appears in the film as Jeanne. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victoria Abril, Charlotte de Turckheim, (more)
Acclaimed Belgian novelist Jean-Philippe Toussaint drew attention to his directorial talents in 1990 with a remarkable satire on modern life, Monsieur. His third feature, La Patinoire, is about a film director who is shooting a highly symbolic film called 'Dolores' at an ice rink. He has hired a Lithuanian ice hockey team with which he is having enormous communication problems. His actors all have inflated egos, his film crew is made up of fools, and there is a politician on his back. But he must finish the film, no matter what, in time for the Venice Film Festival. A black comedy which is applicable to all absurd situations of life, but particularly those associated with the film industry, La Patinoire is a clever satire from beginning to end, including its title. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Novembre, Mireille Perrier, (more)
- 1997
- R
Manuel Pradal makes his feature-film debut with this free-form tale of Marie (Vahina Bronchain), a seductive 14-year-old child/woman who works in an American naval base canteen during the 60s. The base is located near an undetermined Mediterranean resort area. When not amusing herself with the occasional sailor, Marie finds herself drawn to the cruel teenage boy Orso, a tough thief who has just robbed a resort so he can buy a gun. Together, Marie and Orso travel to a remote island, but instead of finding paradise, the two find only meaningless violence. There is not much to the story, but what makes this film interesting is Pradal's use of cinematography to create dream-like effects fraught with symbolism. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vahina Giocante, Frederic Malgras, (more)
- 1996
Corruption on the boxing circuit at the turn of the century provides the basis of this French drama. The story centers on a talented young fighter, a logger that Abel Ginoux and his Italian partner Zipolino, a crooked doctor, discover during a fight in a woodland town. The logger, Passe Partout, is in a fight with Ginoux's best fighter and ends up accidentally killing the pugilist. Ever the opportunist, Ginoux lures Partout into the ring to replace the late fighter. Partout proves to be the classic provincial innocent with high, rugged ideals and little knowledge about the modern world. Ginoux takes him to town for the first time and the logger is delighted to discover amenities such as electricity and silent films. He soon falls in love with the beauteous Camille who works in her late father's cafe with her mother. Her father made many of the films, most of which are boxing matches, because he believed that the presence of a camera rendered a fight unfixable. Ginoux forces Partout to make a difficult decision when he demands that Partout take a dive in the ring during a filmed match. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Bohringer, Karl Makinen, (more)
