Olivier Rabourdin Movies
- 2007
Actress-cum-director Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi's sophomore feature, the comedy-drama Les Actrices (Le reve de la nuit d'avant), follows the trials and travails of Marcelline (Tedeschi), a tense and jittery stage thesp whose personal and professional life threaten to fall into pieces simultaneously. On a personal level, Marcelline hits the midpoint of her life, hears her biological clock ticking, and longs desperately for a child. At work, Marcelline's inability to find the core of her character, Natalia Petrovna, in a production of Turgenev's A Month in the Country only causes her emotional tension to double. In time, she regresses into such a basket case that she can barely respond to the stage director's query about whether she is right or left-handed. Marcelline's natty and overanxious mother (Marisa Borini, Tedeschi's mother in real life) weighs heavily on her as well, pressuring her constantly about the need to find an appropriate suitor before time runs out; instead, Marcelline finds herself drawn helplessly to Eric (Louis Garrel) a sexy young actor in the production - who, without her knowledge, nurtures reciprocal affections. This parallels the events that befall Petrovna in Turgenev's play, and indeed, at one point the spirit of Petrovna (Valeria Golino) appears to Marcelline for much-needed counsel. Meanwhile, as Marcelline weathers her own personal crises, one of her friends, Nathalie (Noemie Lvovsky) - the assistant to the play's director - struggles with her offstage lack of fulfillment as a wife and mother. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Noemie Lvovsky, (more)
An aimless 20-year-old with a penchant for following the rules receives a mysterious set of instructions that lead him down a path from which he may never return in director Géla Babluani's tense tale of death and chance. Sébastien has come into possession of a train ticket and a mysterious set of instructions. Though he is unsure of exactly what fate awaits him when he arrives at his destination, one thing is certain: these items were most certainly not meant for him. Bored by his uneventful existence and hungering for something new, Sébastien boards the outbound train and takes his first bold steps into an unknown future. But the world can be a cruel and unforgiving place filled with unfeeling men to whom human life means little more than a lost wager, and if Sébastien is to make it through his harrowing journey alive he must keep his wits about him and pray that luck is on his side. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Georges Babluani, Aurélien Recoing, (more)
Men of faith find their pacifist beliefs put to the test in this drama from filmmaker Xavier Beauvois, inspired by a true story. Christian (Lambert Wilson) is the leader of an order of Trappist monks living in the hills outside Algiers. The community outside the monastery is almost exclusively Muslim, and the monks have worked to foster understanding between themselves and their neighbors; they observe Muslim traditions, are well versed in the Koran, and provide medical and charitable assistance to the townspeople. The monastery is an oasis of calm and peace as Algeria is caught up in a civil war, with forces led by Muslim extremists leading a bloody campaign against the nation's rulers. Christian and his monks do not wish to take sides in a conflict they believe is immoral; they refuse the protection of the military while also denying aid and comfort to the insurgents. The monks' efforts to remain outside the war, however, have ugly consequences when they're taken hostage by a band of Islamic revolutionaries. Des Hommes et des Dieux (aka Of Gods and Men) was an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, (more)
- 2008
- PG13
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An ex-soldier (Liam Neeson) traveling through Europe embarks on a frantic quest to rescue his daughter (Maggie Grace) after the young girl is abducted by slave traders in District B13 director Pierre Morel's contemporary thriller Taken. Robert Mark Kamen joins the screenwriting team, which also includes Morel and longtime collaborator Luc Besson, who also produces. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, (more)
Celebrated French actresses Kristin Scott-Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier go head-to-head as dual femme fatales in this scathing, shocking corporate thriller from helmer Alain Corneau (All the Mornings of the World). Christine (Scott-Thomas) is the head executive at a top agribusiness firm in France. Ruthless and uncompromising, she revels in playing diabolical head-games with her staffers that include blackmail and seduction, and enjoys an almost pathologically close relationship with protégé Isabelle (Sagnier). The women also share a lover, accountant Philippe (Patrick Mille), who readily assumes a submissive role to the dominatrix posturing of each lady in the bedroom. The balance of power shifts, however, when a colleague (Guillaume Marquet) shows Isabelle how to "one-up" Christine in the office - which prompts Christine to respond with a nasty, humiliating trick involving a security camera. In the days ahead, retaliation escalates on both ends until each of the women begins contemplating felonious action against the other. To reveal more would be unfair, but suffice it to say that Corneau packs the narrative with a series of unforeseeable twists and turns. As the director's final film (he died in 2010), Love Crime brought Corneau much needed critical acclaim at the end of his life, following a series of disappointments including Words in Blue and Second Wind. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ludivine Sagnier, Kristin Scott Thomas, (more)
A young Kurdish refugee finds friendship from an unlikely source in Welcome, writer-director Philippe Lioret's dramatic chronicle of intersecting lives. The tale unfurls in Calais, a seaside community in the north of France where one can glimpse the white cliffs of Dover, England with the naked eye. Vincent Lindon stars as Simon, a local swimming instructor privately reeling in turmoil because he dreads an imminent divorce from his wife (Audrey Dana). Soon, his path unexpectedly criss-crosses with that of Bilal (Firat Ayverdi), a 17-year-old Kurdish refugee with two aspirations: swim the English Channel, and join his girlfriend in England following a lengthy separation. Despite their differing ages, the two men discover that they have a fair amount in common, and soon forge a tight bond marked by similar goals. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Vincent Lindon, Firat Ayverdi, (more)
An attractive widow finds her attentions turning to her teenage son in a troubling manner in this drama from France. Pierre (Louis Garrel) is a moody 17-year-old who is spending the summer with his parents at their summer home in the Canary Islands. While Pierre isn't especially close to his father (Philippe Duclos), he enjoys a warm relationship with his mother, Hélène (Isabelle Huppert) -- almost too warm, as her affection for him subtly strains the boundaries of typical familial behavior. When Pierre's father dies unexpectedly in an auto accident, his emotional dependence on Hélène grows, while her desire for her son does the same. Though Pierre finds himself attracted to several girls his own age summering on the island, he finds it increasingly difficult to reconcile his curiosity with the growing sexual tension between mother and son. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Louis Garrel, (more)
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