Caroline Benjo Movies

François is a tough but fair teacher working in one of France's toughest schools, and his honest demeanor in the classroom has made him a great success with the students. But this year things are different, because when the students begin to challenge his methods François will find his classroom ethics put to the ultimate test. François Bégaudeau stars in director Laurent Cantet's entry into the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A novelist, an actress, and a struggling young singer all attempt to make their mark in modern day Paris in director Marc Fitoussi's cynical entertainment industry satire. Bertrand (Denis Podalydes) is a French literary professor whose students all know that he is shacked up with pretty math teacher Solange (Valerie Benguigui) despite the couple's best efforts to keep their relationship under the radar. Though no one in the school much cares for Bertrand's prose, self-flagellating student Frederic (Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet) is the one notable exception. Meanwhile, as Bertrand struggles to deliver his second novel, recent big city arrival Cora (Emilie Dequenne) finds that her fondness for outmoded songwriters may be having an adverse effect on her career trajectory. While Cora struggles to make ends meet by working at a popular chain steakhouse, even this attempt to remain afloat ultimately proves disastrous. Somewhere in another part of town, embittered actress Alice (Sandrine Kiberlain) resents the fact that she is consistently passed over for "real" film roles after accepting work as an anime voiceover artist. Yet despite the fact that Alice resents her drama school classmate Annabella (Camille Japy) due to the latter's success on the legit stage, Annabella has her own problems as evidenced by her troubled relationships with her nephew and sister. Later, the engineer for Alice's dubbing session eventually works up the muster to speak her mind, and Cora begins to sense that her luck is finally turning after a chance encounter with veteran songwriter Joseph Costals (Jean-Pierre Kalfon). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A trio of lonely, middle-aged American women finds their growing disillusionment with stateside men leading them to seek emotional comfort and sexual gratification in the arms of young Haitian man in Time Out director Laurent Cantet's emotionally incisive adaptation of Haitian-Canadian author Dany Laferrière's acclaimed short stories. Competing for the attentions of beautiful young Haitian native Legba (Ménothy Cesar) are 55-year-old Wellesley professor Ellen (Charlotte Rampling), sexually frustrated Canadian factory worker Sue (Louise Portal), and fortysomething Georgia blonde Brenda (Karen Young). The Hotel Petite Anse is a haven for older women seeking the companionship of younger men, and doyenne Ellen has come to establish herself as something of the queen bee of the popular island establishment. Despite the constant threat of Baby Doc Duvalier's thuggish henchmen, these lonely women risk their livelihoods to bask under the sun and forget the troubles of their daily lives as the line between exploiter and exploited becomes increasingly blurred. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A young man is forced to choose between family tradition and his own dreams and desires in this drama from Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles. In 1910 in a remote farming community, two families, the Breveses and the Ferreiras, both of whom earn their living growing sugar cane, have been squabbling over the ownership of a piece of land for years. The disagreement turned violent some time back, and after the first shot was fired and blood was spilled, the other family insisted upon killing the gunman as a matter of honor. The second shooter was then killed for the same reason, and ever since the two clans have been trading off murders in the name of familial honor and justice. The Breveses, who are a much smaller family, have been suffering a great deal more than their rivals thanks to this feud; a steady drop in sugar prices has also left the family with little but their pride. When Inácio, the first-born son of the Breves family, is shot down, his father (José Dumont) orders his next-oldest son, Tonho (Rodrigo Santoro), to kill one of the Ferreira boys after the traditional month-long waiting period. Tonho finds himself questioning the wisdom of this bloody rivalry, and he ponders his fate while spending time with his younger brother (Ravi Ramos Lacerda), whom his parents never bothered to name. As Tonho ponders his fate, a small traveling circus comes to town; Tonho and his brother are soon caught in the spell of Clara (Flavia Marco Antonio), a beautiful circus performer who befriends the young boy and nicknames him Pacu, while Tonho finds himself falling in love with her, and longing to travel the country at her side. Abril Despedacado won the Little Golden Lion award at the 2001 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A man who traded in his artistic ambitions for commercial success now finds himself at a personal and professional impasse in this drama. Jacques (Jean-Pierre Leaud) is a filmmaker who in the 1970s directed a number of top-grossing porno movies; more than two decades later, Jacques's struggles to get out of adult movies into something more satisfying have not borne fruit, and his efforts to make porn films that are more sensual and less obvious don't go over well with his producers. Jacques would just as soon get out of the business and complete a more personal project he was forced to abandon in the mid-'80s, but directing porn is the only work he can find that pays enough to put a dent in the debts he's racked up, as well as those of his wife Jeanne (Dominique Blanc). As Jacques tries to decide what to do with his career, he gets a surprise telephone call from his son Joseph (Jeremie Renier); Joseph turned his back on his father years ago when he found out what he did for a living, but the boy, now a college student and a political activist, has decided it's time to reconnect with his dad. Le Pornographe features Jean-Pierre Leaud's character directing two real-life French porn stars, Ovidie and Titof, in an explicit sex scene for one of Jacques' films. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Hal Hartley directed this French-produced comedy about the Second Coming of Christ (Martin Donovan), with Thomas Jay Ryan in the role of Satan. While a gambler (David Simonds) and a waitress (Miho Nikaido) talk with Satan in a hotel bar, Jesus arrives at JFK airport with Magdalena (PJ Harvey). Jesus has been sent down to end the world by breaking the Seven Seals on a computer disk in a bowling alley locker room. Made in digital video blown up to 35mm, this film is part of the French "Collection 2000 Seen By" television series of one-hour films about the Millennium (and the only one by an American director). Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Inspired by the poetry of Aime Cesaire, the French-based Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako made this short (61 minutes) French docudrama as part of the "Collection 2000" series. A Paris shopping mall is suddenly replaced by shots of Africa as Sissako returns to Mali to visit his father, commenting in voiceover on his need to film his birthplace and reflecting on European/African relations. In the small Mali village, a photographer shoots black-and-white photos on an ancient camera, local slackers listen to the radio all day, while others gather at the post office to use the town's only telephone. Various African artists are heard on the music track. Shown in the Directors Fortnight section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

At the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, this Taiwanese-French drama won a FIPRESCI Award, given by international critics. Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang previously won top awards for his 1994 Vive l'amour (at Venice) and 1996 The River (at Berlin). High strangeness is evident in the tale, originally initiated as part of the French TV series of one-hour end-of-millennium dramas. As an epidemic spreads through Taipei, virus victims display odd symptoms. A man (Lee Kang-sheng) who runs a food store with few customers lives in a shabby building in a quarantined section, and a woman (Yang Kuei-mei) in the same building has a withdrawn existence. A plumber, checking a leak, makes a hole in the man's floor and leaves; the man then observes his neighbors through the hole. The film features four musical fantasy sequences that recall Hong Kong musical films of the '50s. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Quiet and reserved kindergarten teacher Juli (Marta Angyal) and awkward coal miner Tamas (David Janosi) meet during the summer in a small coal-mining town. This French-Hungarian film, part of the Vu Par series, details the problems of their romance, leading to the fateful events experienced by the young couple on the evening of December 31,1999. Shown at the 1997 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide