Olivier Gourmet Movies

Two men with seemingly nothing in common become unlikely friends in this drama from France. Harry (Daniel Auteuil) is a salesman working for a large but faceless corporation, where he's become a success at the expense of his personal life. His wife Julie (Miou-Miou), frustrated by his lack of concern for his family, has divorced him, and while he still has visitation rights to his children, he manages to forget when it's his weekend with his daughters, and he neglects to pick them up at the train station. Harry is depressed and nearly suicidal; while driving late one rainy night, he accidentally hits a dog who is walking with Georges (Pascal Duquenne), a personable young man with Down's Syndrome. Georges lives in a mental institution, where he's happy and well cared for, but when several of the other patients leave for a weekend visit, Georges decides that he should leave too, and he sets out to visit his mother. Harry can't bring himself to leave Georges behind, so after burying the dog, he offers to drive him to his mother's home, which becomes the start of a complicated odyssey for the two of them, especially after Harry finds out that Georges' mother is no longer alive. Actor Pascal Duquenne actually does have Down's Syndrome; he and co-star Daniel Auteuil shared the Best Actor award at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

French novelist Vincent Ravalec made his directorial debut with this French drama about small-time crook Gaston (Yvan Attal) who poses as a millionaire after he picks up hitchhiking 16-year-old Marie-Pierre (Virginie Lanoue). Actually living in a seedy apartment, Gaston deals in stolen goods, but he soon climbs to bigger heists, including car thefts. Concealing his illegal activities, Gaston operates his company, Extramill, out of upscale, posh offices, while he and Marie-Pierre move into a sedate upper-middle-class neighborhood. Life is sweet, but the onset of paranoia, kinky sex activities, and police probes eventually culminate in violence. Shown in the Cinemas en France section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

From the directors of the critically acclaimed La Promesse (1996) comes this stark portrayal of a young woman coming of age at the edge of social oblivion. Rosetta (Émilie Dequenne) lives in a tiny, beat-up trailer without toilets or running water with her alcoholic, irresponsible, and utterly dispirited mother, who requires her frequent care. Rosetta longs to have a "normal" life and become a productive member of society, but even this modest goal seems beyond her grasp. Quietly terrified that she will slide into the abyss like her mother, she wages a desperate, purely instinctive battle to lift herself out of her wretched, semi-feral existence. At the film's outset, she is bodily removed from her job at a food factory; for much of the rest of the film, her attempts to gain employment are thwarted by the callousness and indifference of others. The only person to show any kind of sympathy is Riquet (Fabrizio Rongione), who ekes out a pittance at a waffle stand while secretly skimming profits from his boss. Though his awkward attempts to gain her interest go unacknowledged by the barely socialized Rosetta, the two develop something like a friendship. Later in the movie, however, her loyalty to her new-found friend clashes with her all-consuming desire for a job. First-time actress Dequenne, who spent time in a similarly harsh environment to prepare for the role, won the Best Actress prize at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. This film also won the coveted Palme d'Or at Cannes and was screened at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Two people brought together by fate find it's not easy to live on love in this drama with a sharp sociopolitical subtext. Agatha (Rona Hartner) is a beautiful young woman from Romania who had a brief but passionate love affair with a French surgeon when he visited her country as part of a charitable medical team. Agatha has decided to come to France to rekindle their romance, but when she arrives in the city of Roubaix, she discovers he didn't take their relationship nearly as seriously as she did. With nowhere to go, Agatha is befriended by Mehdi (Roschdy Zem), a cab driver who helps her find a place to stay. Mehdi is attracted to Agatha, and she returns his interest, but as it turns out Mehdi is already seeing someone -- Cecile (Karole Rocher), who is having an affair with Mehdi while involved with his close friend Marc (Pierre Berriau). Hoping to move away from Roubaix with Agatha and start a new life, Mehdi gets a job as a bill collector, while Marc impulsively walks off his job and an angry Cecile gives him his walking papers. Agatha soon discovers, however, that Roubaix offers few opportunities for undocumented aliens, and that even lifelong residents have a hard time getting by. Sauve-Moi received its North American premiere at the 2001 San Francisco Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A group of medical therapists gets a new perspective on a patient's well-being in this drama with comic accents from France. Rene is a man in his early fifties who worked hard and led an active life until he was stricken with a degenerative disease that is slowly destroying his muscle tissues. Rene had already lost control of his legs when one of his arms begins to fail him, and he finds himself placed in an extended care facility for the physically and mentally handicapped, where he soon gains a reputation as a difficult patient. One day, while Julie (Nadia Kaci), one of the nurses, is tending to Rene, he announces that one of the reasons why he's so cranky is that he's desperate to have sex. Julie and her co-worker Sandrine (Chantal Neuwirth) ponder Rene's problem and decide they've been ignoring their patient's sexual needs, so they try to figure out what they can do for him. Rene is not averse to spending an evening with a prostitute, but they discover there are legal complications to this plan; if Julie or Sandrine obtain a hooker for Rene, they could be arrested for pimping, with the facility also liable. Searching for a loophole, Julie and Sandrine discover that they would be afforded legal protection if a doctor were willing to prescribe a session with a prostitute for Rene, but getting a doctor to write a script instructing Rene to pay a woman for sex is an uphill battle in itself. Meanwhile, Julie has her own love life to think about -- she's infatuated with self-centered therapist Jacques (Julien Boisselier), even though Roland (Lionel Abelanski), a drab but good-natured delivery man, is obviously in love with her. Shot on digital video, Nationale 7 was transferred to 35 mm film for its theatrical engagements; the film received its North American premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A woman looking for love finds a man who leads her into a life of crime in this thriller. Carla (Emmanuelle Devos) is a woman in her mid-twenties who works as a secretary in a real estate office. More cute than pretty, Carla is shy by nature, and the fact that she has a hearing problem has made her all the more withdrawn. While she longs for a relationship with a man, she finds herself living vicariously through her friend Annie (Olivia Bonamy), a single parent who dates often while Carla babysits her child. Carla makes the acquaintance of Paul (Vincent Cassel), a rough-hewn small-time criminal who has just been released from prison on parole. While Carla ought to know better, she finds herself strongly attracted to Paul, and Paul responds in kind. But before long, it becomes obvious that Paul is having an influence on Carla's normally stable nature; eager to get even with a co-worker who had wronged her, Carla persuades Paul to steal one of her company's files, which makes things more than a bit difficult for Carla's rival. Carla and Paul's actions go from malicious to seriously criminal when Paul hatches a scheme to rob a nightclub owner to whom he owes money -- a scheme that involves Carla's keen skill as a lip reader. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This downbeat drama by acclaimed Belgian filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne bears a thematic and formal resemblance to their previous works, La Promesse and the Palme D'Or winner Rosetta. Dardenne brothers' regular Olivier Gourmet is in every frame as the stern Olivier, a carpenter who teaches the craft to teenagers seeking a vocation. Olivier's drab routine is interrupted by the enrollment of a new student, Francis (Morgan Marinne), who becomes the object of the carpenter's inexplicable obsession. Speaking with his ex-wife, Magali (Isabella Soupart), about his new charge, Olivier reveals the reason for his fixation: Francis was the young street tough who murdered their child years ago. Now out of juvenile prison, Francis seeks to start anew, and eventually even asks the flummoxed Olivier to become his guardian. Olivier withholds his knowledge from the oblivious Francis, even as a tentative relationship between the two develops. The tense scenario leads to a climactic confrontation at a lumberyard, as the past finally catches up with teacher and student. This rigorous and deliberately paced film played in competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, where Gourmet was awarded the best actor prize. ~ Elbert Ventura, All Movie Guide

On the heels of his award-winning, emotionally devastating 2001 drama The Piano Teacher, German filmmaker Michael Haneke weaves this disturbing tale of a family forced into a harrowing confrontation with a group of strangers set against the backdrop of a global apocalypse. In the aftermath of an unseen but catastrophic global disaster, a shaken family slowly makes their way to the presumed safety of a holiday home in the French countryside. Upon arrival, the family discovers their home inhabited by a woman and a horrified man. When a shot rings out, a life is taken, and time seems to stand still. In the aftermath of unspeakable violence, it appears that the only hope for a band of desperate refugees lies in a nearby train station and a locomotive that -- despite their most optimistic hopes and prayers -- may never actually arrive. ~ Jason Buchanan, 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