Frankye Pain Movies
- 2006
Renowned filmmaking brothers Joel and Ethan Coen re-team with frequent collaborator Steve Buscemi for this comedic entry in the anthology film Paris, Je T'Aime. The episode, which unfolds in the Paris Metro, observes the calamities that befall a hapless American loser (Buscemi). This tourist makes the pivotal mistake of ignoring his cultural guidebook by looking directly into the eyes of a jealous French boyfriend - and lives to regret it. Tuileries also stars Julie Bataille and Axel Kiener. Other contributors to the omnibus film include Alexander Payne, Wes Craven, and Gus Van Sant. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Buscemi, Julie Bataille, (more)
Audrey Tautou, who rose to international stardom with the title role in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's worldwide smash Amélie, reunites with the director for this drama, set during the darkest days of World War I and its immediate aftermath. Mathilde (Tautou) is a pretty but frail young women who was left with a bad leg after a childhood bout with polio. Mathilde lives in a small French village with her Aunt Bénédicte (Chantal Neuwirth) and Uncle Sylvain (Dominique Pinon), and is engaged to marry Manech (Gaspard Ulliel), the son of a lighthouse keeper who is fighting with the army near the German front. Manech is one of five soldiers who have been accused of injuring themselves in order to be sent home; in order to discourage similar behavior among their comrades, Manech and the other soldiers are sentenced to death, and the condemned men are marched into the no man's land between the French and German lines, where they are certain to be killed. Mathilde receives word of Manech's death, but in her heart she believes that if the man she loved had been killed, she would know it and feel it. Convinced he's still alive somewhere, Mathilde hires a private detective (Ticky Holgado) shortly after the end of the war, and together they set out to find the missing Manech. Jodie Foster appears in a supporting role as a Polish expatriate living in France. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, (more)
One woman decides to change the world by changing the lives of the people she knows in this charming and romantic comic fantasy from director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Amelie (Audrey Tautou) is a young woman who had a decidedly unusual childhood; misdiagnosed with an unusual heart condition, Amelie didn't attend school with other children, but spent most of her time in her room, where she developed a keen imagination and an active fantasy life. Her mother Amandine (Lorella Cravotta) died in a freak accident when Amelie was eight, and her father Raphael (Rufus) had limited contact with her, since his presence seemed to throw her heart into high gear. Despite all this, Amelie has grown into a healthy and beautiful young woman who works in a cafe and has a whimsical, romantic nature. When Princess Diana dies in a car wreck in the summer of 1997, Amelie is reminded that life can be fleeting and she decides it's time for her to intervene in the lives of those around her, hoping to bring a bit of happiness to her neighbors and the regulars at the cafe. Amelie starts by bringing together two lonely people -- Georgette (Isabelle Nanty), a tobacconist with a severe case of hypochondria, and Joseph (Dominique Pinon), an especially ill-tempered customer. When Amelie finds a box of old toys in her apartment, she returns them to their former owner, Mr. Bretodeau (Maurice Benichou), sending him on a reverie of childhood. Amelie befriends Dufayel (Serge Merlin), an elderly artist living nearby whose bones are so brittle, thanks to a rare disease, that everything in his flat must be padded for his protection. And Amelie decides someone has to step into the life of Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz), a lonely adult video store clerk and part-time carnival spook-show ghost who collects pictures left behind at photo booths around Paris. Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amelie Poulain received unusually enthusiastic advance reviews prior to its French premiere in the spring of 2001, and was well received at a special free screening at that year's Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, (more)
French legend has it that a creature known as the Beast of Gevaudan -- a huge, wolf-like monster -- was responsible for the violent deaths of over 100 persons in the mid-18th century, and this horror fantasy blends the lore of this fabled beast with a story of two men who set out to capture it. After a number of mutilated corpses begin appearing across the French countryside, naturalist Chevalier Gregoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) is dispatched by the King to find and capture the animal responsible for the killings. Mani (Mark Dacascos), an Indian from Canada and an experienced hand in the wilds, is hired to assist de Fronsac in his work. Gregoire's assignment earns him the acquaintance of Marianne de Morangias (Emilie Dequenne), the lovely daughter of the idly wealthy Count de Morangias (Jean Yanne), but Gregoire receives a much chillier welcome from her brother Jean-Francois (Vincent Cassel), who, despite having lost an arm to a lion in Africa, is quite the huntsman himself. As Gregoire and Mani arrive in the village of Gevaudan, they're drawn to a local house of prostitution, where the animalistic allure and supernatural powers of Sylvia (Monica Bellucci) prove to have a profound effect on the naive Gregoire. Jim Henson's Creature Shop provided the special-effects expertise for the creation of the Beast of Gevaudan. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, (more)
In this French drama, Gaspar Noe, who won awards (Prix Georges Sadoul, Cannes Crix Week) for his 40-minute Carne (1991), continues where that film ended, beginning with a Carne recap: The Butcher (Philippe Nahon) narrates, telling how, as a war orphan working at 14, he opened his horsemeat butcher shop and fathered a mute, retarded daughter. After the mother and daughter left for life in a Paris suburb, he served a prison term after an assault on someone he mistakenly believed had raped his daughter. The follow-up sequel, set in a Lille suburb, begins in 1980: Obese bar owner (Franjkyie Pain) is pregnant by The Butcher, who is unable to find work. The couple moves in with her mother, but he becomes irritated with the two women and goes to Paris where the humiliation of job-hunting and the sum total of futility and hopelessness triggers thoughts of what he might accomplish with his gun and his last three bullets. Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Nahon, Frankye Pain, (more)
- 1996
Despite his lifelong efforts, Jean is one of those unfortunate men who can never understand women. This arty, metaphorical French film presents three examples of Jean's difficulties over the course of his long life. Each of the three episodes takes place beside the same river. He is first seen as a small boy playing on the river banks with the teenage girl he secretly loves. She mischievously promises to tell him her darkest secret if only he will perform a certain task for her. The story then takes a more surreal turn as a now-grown Jean, once again beside the river, toys with a beautiful woman at a picnic. She wants a commitment from him, but wily Jean is unwilling to satisfy her. In the final segment, Jean has become an old man and is once again deeply in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Written and directed by Gaspar Noé, this 39-minute experimental film centers around a horsemeat butcher who comes to suspect his daughter is being repeatedly raped by one of his employees. The plot is purposely incoherent at times, and utilizes graphic depictions of sex, the birth process, butchery, and discordant music. Intended to induce an "attack on the senses," Carne features Philippe Nahon, Blandine Lenoir, and Frankye Pain. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Nahon, Blandine Lenoir, (more)
