Mar Sodupe Movies

Acclaimed and controversial French filmmaker Jean-Francois Richet directed and co-wrote this bleak look at a young woman whose first missteps in life take her farther than she ever expected along a dangerous path. Maria (Virginie Ledoyen) is a bright and attractive but not especially responsible young woman who is used to having things go her way in life. Out of school and with no clear career path, Maria ends up taking a job putting together cushions for chairs. But after a single day on the job she quits, claiming the work hurts her hands and she'd rather start her own restaurant. As Maria plots her next move, she impulsively swipes a piece of lingerie from a store, then tries to lie her way out of the situation when she's caught. But Maria finds that words can't get her out of this bind, and soon she's in jail and dealing with much deeper trouble than she ever imagined possible. De L'Amour also features French hip-hop artist Stomy Bugsy as a drug dealer who is friendly with Maria's boyfriend, played by Yazid Ait. Ait also contributed to the film's screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

True love, motorcycle daredevils, and alien visitation all find their way into this wildly imaginative fantasy, written and directed by Didier Poiraud and his brother Thierry Poiraud, a pair of comic artists who adapted the story from their own work. James Bataille (Jason Flemyng) is in love with Concia (Vanessa Paradis), a chanteuse whose father, Bosco (Jean-Pierre Marielle), runs the only nightspot in the tiny town where they live. The mechanically inclined Bataille attempts to stage an elaborate motorcycle stunt to impress Concia, but when it goes sour, he ends up in prison with a 133-year sentence. Desperate to help Concia and raise some money, Bataille escapes from behind bars to make an appointment to fix the car of music biz tycoon Allan Chiasse (Benoît Poelvoorde). Chiasse's timing may be fortuitous, as Concita is soon to take part in the town's annual talent show, though he's expected to face tough competition from a very unusual dog act. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Celebrity obsession leads a French teen to track down her favorite singer following a disastrous staged television encounter between the pair in the feature debut from director Emmanuelle Bercot. The music of pop superstar Lauren (Emmanuelle Seigner) has a profound effect on the quiet life of teen admirer Lucie (Isild Le Besco), but when Lauren suddenly appears on Lucie's doorstep as part of a promotional campaign, the starstruck teen is left reeling when her idol serenades her with a love song in front of millions of viewers. Determined to have a genuine encounter with her idol sans the media circus, Lucie subsequently sets out to locate Lauren and hoodwinks the singer's tough-as-nails production assistant (Noemie Lvovsky) into allowing her into the mixed-up megastar's luxury suite. After the pair bonds over Lauren's latest breakup, the singer agrees to take her fan in as a low-level errand girl. Now, as the disillusioned teen begins to see past the glamorous facade to discover that fame has little bearing over emotional instability, she gradually begins to realize that the celebrity world is much different than she ever imagined. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

When her wealthy parents are suddenly motivated to take an overtly political stance as massive political and economical change sweeps through France, the daughter of a wealthy Spanish lawyer and a successful French journalist attempts to make sense of her once-stable world as everything she thought she ever knew is turned upside down.
Anna (Nina Kervel) is a nine-year-old Catholic schoolgirl who excels in catechism class and knows how to hold a knife and fork while cutting her fruit. Her father, Fernando (Stefano Accorsi), comes from a prominent Spanish family and her mother, Marie (Julie Depardieu), is a well-known writer for a popular French women's magazine. Also sharing the family's sprawling home is Anna's younger brother, François (Benjamin Feuillet). When the increasing militancy of Fernando's communist sister begins to pose a threat to the family, the concerned brother stealthily travels to Spain and successfully smuggles his sister back into France. Fully indoctrinated in the belief that all communists are bad, Anna struggles to understand why, after returning from a trip to Latin America, her parents seem to have developed a strong social conscience. Meanwhile, as the thunderous footsteps of eager revolutionaries begin to echo through the hallways and mom begins to prepare a book protesting the illegality of abortion, Anna does her best to adapt to the strange new environment. The fiction feature debut of filmmaker Julie Gavras (daughter of celebrated filmmaker Costa), Blame It on Fidel! playfully covers the year in which the death of Charles De Gaulle, the election of Salvador Allende, and a landmark petition signed by 300 French women admitting to undergoing illegal abortions altered the way many Europeans viewed the world. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A teenage boy who suffers from acute sensitivity to sunlight becomes the prime suspect in a horrific murder case after moving to a small village located in the mountainous region of northern Spain. Santi is a 16-year-old boy who lives in Barcelona with his mother, Julia. But while most folks who live in Barcelona love to bask in the golden rays of the sun, Santi has a rare genetic disease that causes him to suffer severe sunburn and eye irritation within minutes of exposure to ultraviolet light. Ideally, Santi would like to move to the shadowed town of Laponia in northern Sweden, but funds are tight and his mother cannot afford to make such a move. After a heartfelt discussion between mother and son, Julia agrees to move to Arrozas de Valdeon -- a remote village shaded by the high mountains on all sides. But strange things are happening in Arrozas de Valdeon; animals are disappearing, and rumors are circulating that something in the woods is responsible. One day, Santi witnesses the killing of a young boy. No one else was around at the time the murder occurred, making Santi the prime suspect in the eyes of the villagers. In order to avoid any further problems, local policeman Antonio asks Julia to keep an especially tight leash on Santi as an investigation gets under way. But Santi is determined to prove his innocence, and after making friends with a local girl named Angela, the pair sets out to locate the mysterious creature rumored to stalk the local woods. What Santi and Angela discover over the course of their investigation can only be described as tragic. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide