Séverine Caneele Movies

When the Sea Rises... is the first film written and directed by actress Yolande Moreau (who also stars in the film) and cinematographer Gilles Porte (who also shot the film). Moreau stars as Irène, who is traveling the north of France performing her one-woman show. In the stage show, Irène plays a loud, obese, ugly (she wears a clownish mask) woman who comically confesses murder to the audience. At each performance, she pulls a random man out of the crowd and makes him her accomplice/lover in a mock robbery. One day on the road, Irène's car breaks down, and Dries (Wim Willaert) happens by on his scooter and rescues her. She gratefully gives him tickets to that night's performance. Spotting him with his friends in the audience, she pulls him up on stage, making him her "chicken" for that show. After the show, Dries and his friends invite her out for a drink. The next night, Dries shows up in the audience again, but gets thrown out when he gets into an argument with some rude latecomers. Irène catches him in her dressing room after the show, and gives him hell. But outside, she sees he's been in a fight and had his tires slashed, so she gives him a ride home. Dries is also a performer of sorts, building and operating giant costumes for parades throughout the region. Irène has a husband and child waiting for her back home, but she's caught off guard by Dries' attentions. When she leaves town, he impulsively follows, and the two fall into an unlikely romance. When the Sea Rises... was shown by the Film Society of Lincoln Center as part of their 2005 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Bruno Dumont drew attention to his work with his first film, La vie de Jesus, which was a realistic portrayal of the miserable existence of people in a small town north of France. His second film, L'humanité, also takes place in Bailleul, the nondescript Flanders town of the previous film. Another similarity is that the hero of this film, Pharaoh de Winter (Emmanuel Schotte) is also a loner who lives with his mother. The house they live was owned by Pharaoh's grandfather, who was a famous painter. The opening scene shows Pharaoh walking in a freshly plowed field. He throws himself onto the moist soil to feel it and to smell it. Thirty-year-old Pharaoh is an unsophisticated and humble man. He is simple but not a simpleton. He has a crush on his sexy neighbor, factory worker Domino (Severine Caneele), a gentle soul in love with a brute named Joseph (Philippe Tullier). Pharaoh's daily life is quite dull; he is a police lieutenant, a job that does not agree with his mild temperament. He has to investigate the rape and murder of a little girl. What makes Pharaoh different from others is the suffering he goes through due to his uncontrollable empathy for other human beings. He is an emotional sponge condemned to carry the burden of all our wrongdoings. He is hungry for human feelings to the point that he would smell the face of the suspect he interrogates. In the final analysis, he also is a Jesus figure, like the hero of the first film. The message is there is no place for such figures in our cruel world. Bruno Dumont has a lot of compassion for his characters, which is evident in the way that he observes their daily lives and the conflicts that they are faced with. Explicit sexual scenes may offend some viewers. L'humanité won the Grand Prize of the 52nd Cannes Film Festival, 1999. Actress Severine Caneele shared the Best Actress award with Emilie Dequenne of Rosetta and Emmanuel Schotte won the Best Actor award. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide