Stephane Excoffier Movies
Frank Van Passel's adaptation of William Elsschot's novella Villa des Roses stars Julie Delpy. Delpy is a French maid who works at a home for the poor and unfortunate. She becomes pregnant, and is forced to risk a dangerous abortion. The director employed digital effects to help create the elaborate visual design of the film. Villa des Roses was screened at the Hollywood Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Delpy, Shaun Dingwall, (more)
- 1986
- R
Accidentally stepping off a train at some God-forsaken whistle stop, a worldly, elegantly dressed Frenchwoman (Stéphane Excoffier) finds shelter in the cabin of a lonely Dutch pointsman (Jim van der Woude), whose life consists mainly of his work, daily housekeeping, and sleep. Using gestures, facial expressions, color contrast, and virtually no dialogue (the characters speak two different languages, anyway), director Jos Stelling builds his film on the opposition between the virginal pointsman's emotional aloofness and the blatant, provocative eroticism of his guest, which eventually makes her a hostage of his passion. This is an artistic film that will likely appeal primarily to movie buffs. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Van Der Woude, Stephane Excoffier, (more)
- 1985
This is an atmospheric tale of a rehearsal of the opera Don Juan paralleled by real-life dramas that mirror the opera. The director in charge is Francois (Francois Beukelaers), who has become infatuated with Stephane (Stephane Escoffier) and is rapidly alienating his wife Sandra (Alexandra Vandernoot) with his extramarital wandering. His assistant Ben (Ben Van Ostade) does not appreciate Francois' behavior either -- he wants Stephane for himself. As so as these tangled webs get a bit sticky, the opera with its magnificent singers (Jose van Dam is Don Giovanni) continues in rehearsal, and everyone gets ready for an open-air performance in the haunting Belgian countryside. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- François Beukelaers
- 1973
The line between fantasy and reality is once more blurred in this Belgian/French drama about a professor of literature who develops an obsession with a beautiful woman he meets (or imagines meeting) in the woods. He has an affair with this woman, but before he can run off with her, his daughter, who is an object of his incestuous desire (as several daydream sequences make clear), kills the stranger. Perhaps, though, his daughter only kills his daydreams when she gets married. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Luc Bideau, Danièle Delorme, (more)
