Anna Galiena

A pair of teenage classmates known as "Chicken" and "Curry" for the fact that they are virtually inseparable attempt to cover for the fact that they both failed their high school finals by claiming that "Curry" is in the midst of an identity crisis that can only be solved by returning to his homeland of India with his Jewish best friend. While the ruse works wonderfully on the parents of both students, the impromptu journey of self-discovery takes an unexpected detour when "Curry" locates his sister and becomes captivated by the country he first despised, and "Chicken" falls for an older medic working for Doctors Without Borders after entering a synagogue for the first time in his life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Directed by Tinto Brass, Senso '45 takes place during the waning period of Nazi occupation in Venice, and is based on an 1882 novella written by Camillo Boito. When a wealthy, politically connected older woman named Livia (Anna Galiena) develops a relationship with Helmut (Gabriel Garko), a rakish, opportunistic SS officer, both are sucked into a state of moral decline similar to that which the country itself has gone into since the occupation. Senso '45 also features Franco Branciaroli, Antonio Salines, Loredana Cannata, Erika Savastani, and Simona Borioni. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

In this period drama, romance and confusion rule the day in a 17th theatrical troupe. Giovanni Andreini (Peter Stormare) is a playwright who leads the Company of Faithful Comics, a group of performers dependant on the financial support of the Duke of Mantua; however, before he's willing to finance the Company's upcoming trip to Paris, he requests a special private performance featuring the beautful women of the troupe, without costumes. The actresses grudgingly agree, and Giovanni begins work on his latest play, Love In the Mirror. He intends the female lead to go to his wife Virginia (Anna Galiena), but when a lovely young woman named Lidia (Simona Cavallari) approaches Giovanni and tells him how much she enjoys his work, he's so smitten that he gives the role to her. Soon Lidia and Giovanni are having an steamy affair, and this turn of events so upsets Virginia that she leaves Giovanni and joins a convent; however, she comes up with a better idea for getting revenge on her husband by seducing Lidia herself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A noble judge attempts to put an end to the corruption that plagues Palermo in director Ricky Tognazzi's adaptation of Alexander Stille's best-selling novel detailing the hazardous career of real-life judge Giovanni Falcone. The setting is Palermo, Italy, and the decade is the 1980s. As the grip of corruption tightens like a vice on the city, one judge has vowed to bring down the Mafia even if it costs him his life. Judge Falcone (Chazz Palminteri) knows well that honest-minded judges have a notoriously short lifespan, but he also knows what's right, and he's not willing to go down without a fight. As the intense pressure to call off the investigation and look the other way increases from all sides, the good judge vows to stay the course and ensure that the citizens of Palermo don't fall prey to the ruthless racketeering of a criminal organization whose power is only exceeded by their brutality. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In this erotic French-Italian-Spanish drama, Max (Georges Corraface), having spent a decade behind bars on a murder conviction, exits the prison a free man. Mysterious museum-worker Mila (Anna Galiena) is parked at the prison gate and speaks to him from her car. Mila is married to businessman Simon (Jean-Marc Barr), who doesn't satisfy her sexually. Later, when Max descends into a basement cafe to use the rest-room, he spots Mila at a pay phone, approaches her, and they have sex amid the rest-room urinals. Max gives her his phone number, and they rendezvous at an upscale hotel. When Max begins following Mila and spying on her, he makes a startling discovery -- her husband is his own brother. Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Marcello Mastroianni plays several different roles in this off-beat, witty exploration of a man with multiple personalities from world-class filmmaker Raúl Ruiz. Mastroianni first appears as Parisian traveling salesman Mateo Strano who suddenly shows up at the home of Maria, the wife he abandoned twenty years before. She eventually remarried Andre. Mateo begins telling the skeptical Andre that he never really left Marie. Instead he was bewitched by fairies and has been living in the apartment across the street the entire time. He seems so serious, that he is able to lure Andre to the alleged apartment. There Mateo murders him with a hammer and then calmly returns to Maria who seems nonplused by the sudden turn. With pride she shows Mateo their adopted daughter. Mastroianni next appears as Sorbonne professor of negative anthropology Georges Vickers, a grown man who still lives with his cranky mother until he inexplicably leaves to become a vagrant. Living on the streets, he encounters Tania, a streetwalker with a passion for the philosophies of author Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan. The hooker and the tramp stay together until the day that Vickers returns and he leaves. It is soon afterward that he discovers that Tania is really the president of a major corporation. When he learns that she has been jailed for attempting to murder her creepy ex-husband, Vickers uses his clout to save her. The story then jumps to a newlywed couple happily struggling in a humble garret. Their lives change dramatically when a benefactor suddenly appears and provides them with a marvelous country house. They are also given a mute butler (Mastroianni) who answers their every beck and call. It doesn't take the couple long to figure out that the sinister valet (who actually owns the chateau) is quietly poisoning them. In terror they leave, but later he finds them and demands that they give him their baby daughter. He gives the child to Maria, Mateo's wife. Mastroianni's fourth persona, that of industrial magnate Luc Alamand then appears. He is in trouble when he learns that the wife, daughter, and sister he manufactured to impress potential clients are actually coming. The stress causes the sudden emergence of his other disparate personalities. Interestingly, though each live wildly different lives, they are clearly the same mild-mannered, self-effacing character. The comedy in the story works on wildly different levels with sight gags and puns running simultaneously with literary and cultural satire. Beneath it all runs a serious message about the destructiveness and confusion caused by trying to create a single European culture. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This peaceful French drama was filmed in the beautiful West African desert. Set in the 18th century, when the slave trade was still booming, it chronicles the complex relationships between Jean-Francois, an exiled French aristocrat, his mulatto lover, who is a widow and a slave trader, and the ten-year-old slave whom he raises as a daughter. He receives the girl after making an important deal with a local chief. Jean-Francois is entranced by the intelligent young beauty and raises the girl, Amelie, as if she were his daughter, but as she matures, he finds other feelings stirring within. Even though he continues a long distance relationship with his lover in France, and continues trysting with the widow, Jean-Francois feels closest to little Amelie. When she and other slaves are stolen by a rival tribe, he hastily sets out to save her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This intelligent Italian comedy centers on an academically and physically run-down school and is presented from the viewpoint of the teachers. The main character is Vivaldi, who passionately believes that the purpose of education is to allow students to creatively express themselves. To this end, he comes up with all sorts of crazy ways to enliven his history class so that the students will pass their final exams. On the other side, is Sperone, a dour disciplinarian who inspires fear in all who encounter him. Vivaldi is romantically interested in the comely physics teacher Majello, but apparently she and Sperone are having a hot affair. The reasons for Vivaldi's assumption are made clear during a flashback. On the final day of the school year, the situation comes to a rapid boil as Majello has had a major fight with her husband, Sperone is bitterly disappointed, and Vivaldi desperately tries to pass a student who spends the entire day imitating a fly. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this Italian drama the lives of three people are turned upside down when a depressive young man attacks a young woman who was unaware of his fixation upon her. Saverio suffers from unrequited love of Gina, a post office clerk. Though intelligent, sensitive, Saverio's depressive tendencies make it impossible for him to repress his inner feelings. Gina has no idea that Saverio has feeling for her; she doesn't even know who he is. She and her baby live with Riccardo. Gina keeps receiving mysterious love letters, flowers, and gifts; she hides these from Riccardo. He discovers them and begins to distrust her. After Saverio becomes bolder, the two successfully trace his phone number. Grudgingly, Riccardo and Gina decide to help the young man. Gina meets with Saverio's eccentric mother and Riccardo visits Saverio' doctor. Gina tries to become his friend and helps him get a job. Once she allowed him to kiss her, then had to prevent him from going further. The situation grows more serious when he attacks her in a supermarket. Gina suddenly disappears and the bereft Saverio's life becomes gray and lifeless. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Five fables, each set in a different historical era, make up this quirky comedy from director Bill Forsyth. Each tale features Robin Williams as a basically decent but troubled average man named Hector. Beginning with the Bronze Age, where Hector struggles for survival against barbarians, the film proceeds through Roman times, the Middle Ages, and the 16th century, concluding in the present day, where Hector is a divorced father attempting to reconcile with his children. The film clearly intends to draw parallels between these stories in order to illustrate the universal nature of human experience, though the segments themselves vary widely in tone, from broadly comic to philosophically reflective. Additionally, some may find the film's attempts at creating a fantasy atmosphere rather cloying, while others may be charmed by the project's determined oddness and whimsicality. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide