Martine de Clermont-Tonnerre Movies

A talented woman becomes a muse to two of the world's great composers in this historical drama. Clara Schumann (Martina Gedeck) is a gifted pianist and composer, but her talents are overshadowed by those of her husband, Robert Schumann (Pascal Greggory). Robert is supportive of Clara's creative ambitions, while she loves him and clearly admires his work. But Robert is a troubled man whose mental illness is aggravated by his appetite for alcohol and drugs. One night, Clara hears a performance by the young Johannes Brahms (Malik Zidi) and she's transported by the beauty of his music. Clara befriends the budding composer and helps him guide his talents while striking up a strong friendship with him; he becomes a frequent presence in the Schumann household, and brings happiness to a home that's been darkened by Robert's growing instability. Geliebte Clara (aka Clara) was written and directed by Helma Sanders-Brahms, who happens to be a distant relative of one of her principle characters, Johannes Brahms. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The lives of two troubled souls unexpectedly intersect in this ambitious drama from French auteur Eugène Green. Sarah (Natacha Régnier) is a gifted operatic vocalist who has been cast in a production of Monteverdi's Lamento Della Ninfa that's being recorded for release on LP. While Sarah's talents are certainly up to the challenges of her role, the conductor overseeing the production (Denis Podalydès) verbally browbeats her and sends her into an emotional tailspin that she can't shake, despite the encouragement of her boyfriend, Manuel (Alexis Loret). Elsewhere, Pascal (Adrien Michaux) is a student working on his master's degree in philosophy. However, two things are distracting him from his work -- an intense fascination with the artist Michelangelo and his poems, and his crumbling relationship with his girlfriend, Christine (Camille Carraz). Pascal falls into a severe depression when Christine finally leaves him, and he's contemplating suicide when he hears some music that gives him a new lease on life -- Sarah's recording of Monteverdi. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Algerian filmmaker Abdelkrim Bahloul writes and directs the drama The Assassinated Sun, based on actual events in the newly independent Algeria of the 1970s. Following the country's liberation in 1962, the police didn't take kindly to gay poet Jean Senac (Charles Berling). Nevertheless, he was appreciated by a large liberal audience. The police also don't approve of writing student Hamid (Mehdi Dehbi) who writes and stars in a French-language play during a national theater competition. Senac, however, enjoys the play and proceeds to develop a friendship with Hamid. Even though the two were never publicly declared lovers, Hamid becomes the main suspect when Senac is found murdered. The Assassinated Sun won awards at the 2003 San Sebastián International Film Festival and the 2003 Montréal World Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Former documentary filmmaker Walter Salles (Foreign Land) directed this Brazilian-French road movie tracing the travels and travails of a young boy and an aging woman across the Brazilian landscape. In Rio de Janeiro's central railroad station, callous Dora (leading Brazilian stage/screen actress Fernanda Montenegro) works at a stand where she writes letters for a parade of poor and illiterate. Some of these remain undelivered because she chooses not to mail all of the letters. One of her customers is a woman whose nine-year-old son, Josue (Vinicius de Oliveira), hopes to see the father he has never met, but after the mother dictates two letters to the father, she's killed when hit by a bus. Since Josue is left homeless, Dora reluctantly takes him home to her small apartment overlooking the railroad tracks, where she sometimes spends time with her neighbor Irene (Marilia Pera). Dora places Josue with people who claim to find adoptive parents. When Irene informs her they actually sell children who are then killed for their organs, Dora rescues Josue, and the two board a bus. After a failed attempt to abandon Josue at a roadside stop, Dora and Josue hitch a ride from a religious truck driver. Failing to locate his father, they arrive penniless at a huge rural religious convocation, where Josue suggests Dora bring her letter-writing skills back into play. The notion works, and Dora profits by writing letters to saints for the more devout among the assembled multitudes. Continuing on, they arrive at a sprawling-mass housing development -- and hopefully, a solution to the problem of a family for Josue. Young actor de Oliveira was a shoeshine boy who beat out more than 1,500 other children who auditioned or were interviewed for the Josue role. Made with grants from the Sundance Institute, NHK, and the French Ministry of Culture, this film was shown at 1998 film festivals (Sundance, Berlin). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide