Bernard Blancan Movies

An executioner and his colleagues ponder the integrity of their trade in this historical drama inspired by actual events. In March 1918, after fifty years of refusing to implement the death penalty, the King of Belgium decides a recent criminal case demands capital punishment -- a man who was found guilty of killing his pregnant wife. However, since it has been decades since Belgium executed a felon, the state lacks the necessary tools, and the King calls upon France to let them borrow a guillotine and a man who knows how to work it. Deibler, considered to be one of the most skillful executioners in France, is sent to Belgium with a guillotine in tow to do the job, accompanied by his associates Lieutenant Vinel, Corporal Thabar and Jules Pasquier. However, as they make their way to Belgium, traveling through battlefields of the First World War, Deibler and his friends find themselves torn over the ethics of the case as citizens of both nations argue about the political and moral issues tied to the death penalty. Starring Jean-Michel Dupuis, Gérald Laroche and Bernard Blancan, Le Voyage de la Veuve (aka The Journey of the Widow) received its North American premiere at the 2008 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A lawman infiltrates Paris's criminal underground to bring a gang of killers to justice in this violent thriller. Abel Vargas (Gerald Laroche) is a powerful crime boss who is serving time in prison, and as he's being transferred from one penitentiary to another, his police escort is met by a large band of Vargas's underlings, who attack them with furious violence. When the dust settles, Vargas is a fugitive and a large number of officers are dead. Police detective Vincent Drieu (Richard Berry) is put in charge of the investigation to find Vargas and his henchmen, and after losing patience with his fellow gumshoes, Drieu begins working undercover, hoping to find Vargas's associates by passing as a fellow member of the criminal fraternity. In time Drieu finds a pair of cops who understand his style and working methods, Kathia (Aissa Maiga) and Wazemme (Bernard Blancan), and together they dig deep into the French underground, courting danger as they become friends with the people they intend to put behind bars. Les Insoumis (aka Crossfire) was the first theatrical feature from director Claude Michel Rome, who previously distinguished himself in European television. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Writer/director Philippe Ramos ponders the formative years of legendary Herman Melville seaman Captain Ahab in this stylized tale of adventure presented in five chapters. When Ahab's mother dies in childbirth, the infant's gruff father (Jean-Francois Stevenin) places his son in the care of his pious aunt Rose Mona Heftre). It is Rose who sparks the imagination of the young boy by teaching him to read the Bible, though when Ahab is reclaimed by his father a decade later the growing boy strives to become a hunter like his old man. Later, after Ahab warms to his father's lover Louise (Hande Kodja), the old man dies and the boy is sent back to his God-fearing aunt. Rejecting Rose and her abusive husband Henry (Philippe Katerine)'s unforginv brand of discipline and infuriated that his aunt confiscated the locket given to him by Louise, young Ahab boldly stages his own kidnapping as an ingenious escape plan. Later, after embarking on a series of youthful misadventures, Ahab is rescued by Pastor Mulligan (Carlo Brandt) after washing ashore on the Atlantic coast. In the following years Ahab learns to fish in the ocean and forms a strange fascination with a whale skeleton on a local shore. Thirty years later, widowed Nantucket laundress Anna (Dominique Blanc) discovers ailing whaler Ahab (Denis Levant) in her garden missing the better part of one leg. Now determined to seek revenge against the creature that left him unable to walk, the obsessive whaler acquires a whalebone leg replacement and sets out with faithful shipmate Starbuck (Jacques Bonnaffe) to take down the whale they call Moby Dick once and for all. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Director Rachid Bouchareb teams with screenwriter Olivier Morelle to offer a revealing look at the brave contributions made by North African soldiers who fought for France during World War II in this emotionally-charged war drama starring Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Sami Bouajila, and Bernard Blancan. The year was 1943 and France had been bending to the will of Nazi Germany for three long years. In order to break Hitler's powerful grip, the first French Army was recruited in Africa. Comprised of 130,000 North Africans who were willing to put their lives on the line in order to defeat the Nazi death machine, the fearless fighters were contemptuously dubbed indigènes (natives) by many French, despite their remarkable sacrifice. From the noble Abdelkader (Bouajila), who is fighting strictly for the cause; to the money motivated Yassir (Naceri); the impoverished Saïd (Debbouze); and die-hard romantic Messaoud (Roschdy Zem), who longs to finally visit the country he has dreamt about from afar, the selfless efforts of these remarkable men ultimately transcend their superiors' contemptuous disregard for their service by providing invaluable aid during one of the world's darkest hours. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Richard Dembo's third directorial effort, La Maison De Nina, concerns a group of Jewish children living in an orphanage in Paris at the end of WWII. Soon there is an influx of children at the orphanage whose parents did not survive the concentration camps. Eventually those newcomers and the orphans who already lived there are feuding over the importance of their Jewish heritage. The children must deal with their grief in a variety of ways including religion, music, and one poor child by deciding to not talk. Dembo, an Oscar winner in 1984, passed away while the film was in post-production. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

A talented woman struggles to get out from under the shadow of her father in this comedy. Lolita (Marilou Berry) is the 20-year-old daughter of Étienne Cassard (Jean-Pierre Bacri), a wealthy and well-known editor and writer, and most of the people she meets seem to be more interested in her dad than in her; her zaftig figure doesn't help her self-esteem much, either. Lolita is a gifted singer and has been studying with a voice coach, Sylvia (Agnès Jaoui); however, as it turns out, Sylvia has a husband, Pierre (Laurent Grévill), who is a novelist and hopes that Cassard might be willing to help him get his new book into print and onto bookstore shelves. The great writer seems to take a cavalier attitude toward nearly everyone around him, though, including his wife, Karine (Virginie Desarnauts). Lolita strikes up a friendship with a young man named Sebastien (Keine Bouhiza) which seems to be leading to romance, but when Lolita learns that Sebastien wants to become a writer, she finds herself wondering if he really wants her, or just an introduction to her dad. Jaoui, who plays Sylvia, also directed Comme une Image (aka Look at Me) and co-wrote the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two ten-year-old boys from the inner city decide that nobody needs a vacation quite as much as they do, and head for the beach. Having no real money is hardly a concern for kids as resourceful as these two: from flirting with middle-aged women to camping out in the woods, they have every intention of making the most of their time in the sun. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

Bernard Stora directs this coming-of-age drama about a single-minded soccer player sidetracked by love. Laurant (Jalil Lespert) lives in a crowded little abode with his mother, a pair of half-brothers, and an Arabic-speaking grandmother. Laurent's soccer-playing prowess has garnered the attention of scouts from a professional team in Nantes. Believing that sex only distracts an athlete's focus, he has never bothered much with girls until he meets Fabienne (Mireille Perrier), the sexy single mother of one of his mates. Soon, a May-December relationship blooms between the two. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide