Lorant Deutsch Movies

Laetitia Casta stars in director Gilles Legrand's drama concerning an Edwardian-era girl whose fate becomes permanently intertwined with that of the last wolf pack on Mont Blanc. Angele (Casta) is a child who lives in a French Alpine town with her taxidermist father Leon (Patrick Chesnais). Shortly after Leon receives a pile of wolf corpses that he plans to stuff, Angele notices an orphaned black cub descending from the mountains in search of his family. Angele realizes that trappers will kill the cub if they find him, so she quietly releases him back into the wild. Years later, following World War I, a local family named The Garcins have struck it rich from business at their foundry; Leon named the Garcin patriarch, Albert, Angele's godfather. A benevolent and generous soul, Albert has given a local gypsy and her developmentally disabled son Guiseppe (Stefano Accorsi) a lifetime lease on a nearby mountain shack. Giuseppe guards several surviving wolves with his life, taking a special shine to the black pack leader he names Carbone. Meanwhile, Angele - who is now a young woman - longs to become a veterinarian specializing in undomesticated animals. Though the local men scoff at the idea of a female veterinarian, Angele ignores these naysayers. In order to gain some professional veterinary experience, she recruits circus owner Zhormov (Miglen Mirtchev) to fly her into the mountains that tower above her hometown, where she hopes to find wild animals. During the course of their journey, however, the plane crashes and Angele must wait as Zhormov searches for help. But sometimes help arrives in the most unexpected of forms, such as the black wolf that recognizes Angele's scent from the days when he was just a frightened pup. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

As the eighth animated Asterix feature in thirteen years, the Stefan Fjeldmark and Jesper Møller-directed Asterix and the Vikings opens in Ancient Europe, at the Vikings' mountain fortress. Timandahaf, the chief of the Vikings, hears the age-old maxim "Fear lends one wings," and interprets it literally - believing that the most craven person in the world can actually teach him to fly. As Timandahaf, his counselor Cryptograf, and Cryptograf's son Olaf set forth to locate this person (christened 'The Champion of Fear,') the action shifts to the territory of Gaul. In that locale, diminutive Viking warrior Asterix and the enormous, mustachioed strongman Obelix attempt to teach teenage layabout Justforkix (the nephew of village chief Vitalstatistix) to reinvent himself as a tireless, bellicose warrior. The Gallic men are hindered in their efforts by Justforkix's sheer lack of interest - it seems he'd rather shuffle off to the local discothèque or meet girls than fight Romans. It isn't long before Olaf overhears Justforkix's confession that he is the laziest person in the known world, and decides to kidnap the young man and throw him off a cliff to watch him fly. Justforkix is naturally terrified - but doesn't count on falling for the chief's daughter, Abba. Meanwhile, Asterix and Obelix discover these developments and set off to rescue Justforkix. In the English version of this film (the second Asterix vehicle where the animation is synchronized to the speech of the American actors), Paul Giamatti voices Asterix, Brad Garrett voices Obelix, Evan Rachel Wood voices Abba and Sean Astin voices Justforkix. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

French filmmaker Philippe Le Guay writes and directs the ensemble comedy Le Cout de la Vie (The Cost of Living). Set in the city of Lyon over a period of a few days, the film reveals people's relationship to money through the intersecting lives of several characters. Fabrice Luchini plays the wealthy Brett, who likes to hang on tightly to his money, while Vincent Lindon plays the generous Coway, who has spent way more than he earns. Geraldine Pailhas plays Helena, a high-class escort with expensive tastes, while Isild Le Besco plays a down-to-earth young heiress who cares more about love than money. Meanwhile powerful businessman Nicolas de Blamond (Claude Rich) puts loads of people out of work when he shuts down his factories after he learns of his failing heath. The Cost of Living was shown at the 2003 Locarno International Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Francis Palluau's directorial debut Bienvenue Chez les Rozes (Welcome to the Rozes) is a comedy about a hostage situation. Gilbert (Lorant Deutsch) and MG (Jean Dujardin) escape from prison and end up hiding out at the home of Daniel and Beatrice Roze (André Wilms and Carole Bouquet), who are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary. MG takes everyone hostage in order to get money owed to him from the theft that put him in jail, and the Rozes do not seem to be perturbed at all by the evening's turn of events. Clemence Poesy rounds out the cast as Magali, the daughter of Daniel and Beatrice. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi