Gerard Crosnier Movies

Cuca Canals and director Bigas Luna (Jamon, Jamon) adapted Didier Decoin's novel, winner of the Goncourt Prize, for this period film, a Spanish-French-Italian co-production. French foundry worker Horty (Oliver Martinez), married to Zoe (Romane Bohringer), wins a competition of strength. His prize is a trip to witness the Titanic's launch from Southhampton. At his hotel room, Marie (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) tells him that she is a Titanic chambermaid with nowhere to stay. Although she sleeps in his bed, they don't have sex. When Horty awakens, she's gone. Later, he spots a photographer taking her picture and buys the photograph. Horty returns to France, where he hears rumors that his wife Zoe has been sleeping with the foundry boss. After his drinking buddies find the photo of Marie, they ask him about her, and he begins to fabricate a tale -- seen in flashbacks -- of his encounters with Marie, a story which increases in eroticism as he retells it night after night with increasing theatrical flourishes and embellishments. Southhampton scenes were actually filmed in Trieste. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In this confusing, surreal, and slow-paced drama that swings back and forth from strange to farcical, Robert (Alain Delon) meets Donatienne (Nathalie Baye) on a train. She tells him a story about a woman and a man who meet on a train and subsequently spend a night - only one night - in a glorious sexual encounter before they part forever. He is so taken with her that he ends up in her mountain chalet, not just for one night, but for many - drinking beer and forgetting about his wife in Paris. Donatienne then has sexual relations with all the men in her neighborhood - and the film steps fully into a bizarre world in which neither Robert nor Donatienne can honestly relate to each other. The mystery about what is going on is revealed in the end, but by then the film - verbose, inscrutable, and artificial - may have alienated more than one viewer. On the other hand, the performances of Delon and Baye stand out against this flawed backdrop, an achievement recognized at the 1984 Cesars when Delon won the Best Actor award for his role as Robert. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this political drama, Hannah Kaufman, a Jewish-American attorney, must defend Selim Bakri, a young Palestinian suing Israel for the right to live on his Left Bank ancestral land. The government's lawyer, a cocky Israeli attorney, is Hannah's lover and the father of her unborn child. Conflict ensues when Hannah and Selim also become lovers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide