Christophe Honoré Movies
- 2008
Director Olivier Jahan offers an glimpse into The Director's Fortnight, a sidebar of the Cannes Film Festival conceived by a group of filmmakers known as the Société des Réalisateurs de Films who sought to counter the academism of the main part of the world-renowned festival. Pierre-Henri Deleau, the one-time artistic director of the Société des Réalisateurs de Films, and as his successor Olivier Père take movie lovers behind the scenes as the dedicated group of filmmakers prepare for the 2007 Director's Fortnight. Archive footage, film clips, and interviews with over two-dozen directors offer a comprehensive look at forty years of cinematic rebellion. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2008
In the wake of screen adaptations by such acclaimed filmmakers as Andrzej Zulawski and Manoel de Oliveira, director Christophe Honoré updates Madame de Lafayette's novel La Princesse de Clèves while placing the story in a contemporary setting. Junie (Léa Seydoux) is new in Paris, and there isn't a man in the city that hasn't noticed. Chief among her admirers are teacher Nemours (Louis Garrel) and gauche fellow student Otto (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet). As passions flare, it becomes readily apparent that Nemours maintains a rather liberal approach to student-teacher relationships. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Léa Seydoux, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, (more)
- 2007
- NR
Though Love Songs (aka Les Chansons d'Amour) is not a film operetta per se, director Christophe Honoré and composer/lyricist/vocalist Alex Beaupain use that film to pay homage to the French movie musical as conceived by Jacques Demy in his classic Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1967). The Honoré film concerns a series of hopelessly romantic Parisian characters who are unable to convey their feelings to one another in everyday situations, and who thus use musical numbers as outlets -- as vehicles of emotional expression. Beaupain composed the score; a number of the songs that are included appeared on one of his solo albums. The individual stories covered in the film tell age-worn tales as old as time: the loss of love, the discovery of new love, the impossibility of mutual love. The film stars Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroianni, Clotilde Hesme, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Brigitte Roüan, Jean-Marie Winling, and Yannick Renier. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, (more)
- 2007
Screen legend Catherine Deneuve stars as a grieving mother who forms an unusual relationship with the former best friend of her recently departed son in director Gaël Morel's melancholy drama. When Camille (Denuve)'s son was killed in a car accident, the devastating loss proved too much for emotionally fragile mother to bear. Now desperately clinging to any reminder of the son she held so close to her heart, Camille becomes increasingly fixated on Frank (Thomas Dumerchez) - the young man who was not only her child's best friend, but the one who was responsible for the tragic accident that took his life as well. At first, Frank is receptive to Camille's advances. It's not long, however, before the pair's scandalous relationship prompts many of Camille's friends to distance themselves from the increasingly unstable woman. Later, as Camille's obsession with Frank turns menacing, the relationship between grief-stricken mother and her guilt-ridden lover begins to take on ominous undertones. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Thomas Dumerchez, (more)
French sex symbols Romain Duris and Louis Garrel join screen icons Guy Marchand and Marie-France Pisier in writer-director Christophe Honoré's four-character chamber drama Dans Paris (Inside Paris). Duris plays Paul, a young man in his early thirties who splits with his girlfriend. Feeling depressed, he opts to move into a flat with his brother Jonathan (Garrel, who also narrates) and their father (Marchand). The ladykiller Jonathan slyly attempts to talk Paul into a shopping trip to lift his spirits, but ends up venturing out alone and engages in rendezvous with several women. Meanwhile, the boys' stylishly-dressed and gorgeous mother (Pisier) turns up and adds one more complexity to the network of relationships in the house. Honoré laces his drama with comedic touches and crafts the film in the gentle mode of early sixties French pictures by Truffaut, Godard and others. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Romain Duris, Louis Garrel, (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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Louis Garrel, (more)
Three French-Algerian brothers deal with their grief following the death of their mother in their own different ways in this drama. Marc (Nicolas Cazale) is a angry and confused young man obsessed with drugs, working out, and capoeira, a Brazilian martial arts discipline. The only friendship that makes Marc feel secure is his relationship with his dog, and when Marc falls behind in his payments to his drug connection Montana (Nicolas Paz), the dealer takes revenge in an especially painful manner. Christophe (Stephane Rideau), Marc's older brother, has just completed a stay in prison and is trying to put his life back together through hard work and capoeira while urging Marc to stay on the straight and narrow. However, Christophe is unable to convince his father (Bruno Lochet) to forgive him for falling to the wrong side of the law while his mother was dying. And Olivier (Thomas Dumerchez), the youngest of the three siblings, feels lost amidst the agony and mourning of his household until he becomes involved with Marc's friend Hicham (Salim Kechiouche), who teaches him the finer points of capoeira and allows him to accept his homosexual nature. Le Clan was released in the United States as Three Dancing Slaves, a reference to the dance-oriented art of capoeira. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cazalé, Stephane Rideau, (more)
French filmmaker and playwright Christophe Honoré adapts his own novel for the family drama Close to Léo. In the coastal town of Brittany, twentysomething Léo (Pierre Mignard) lives with his supporting family: mom (Marie Bunel), dad (Dominic Gould), and his three younger brothers. Everyone is shocked to learn the truth when Léo reveals that he's HIV positive. Brothers Tristan (Rodolphe Pauly) and Pierrot (Jérémie Lippmann) are old enough to understand, but everyone agrees little Marcel (Yannis Lespert) shouldn't hear about it. However, Marcel overhears the family's discussion and ends up feeling left out. Léo eventually takes him on a trip to Paris in order to explain his situation. Close to Léo was shown at the 2003 San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yannis Lespert, Pierre Mignard, (more)
- 2002
Directed by Christo Honore, 17 fois Cecile Cassard stars Beatrice Dalle as Cecile, who is having a terrible time getting over the accidental death of her husband, Thierry (Jerome Kircher). Hoping to find solace, Cecile drives to Toulouse and rents a room in a seamy hotel. Within days, Cecile has succeeded in attracting a bevy of gay men and sexually-charged young boys. Though they succeed in offering Cecile some much needed companionship, it isn't until she meets Matthieu (Romain Duris), who offers to father her child, that she believes herself to have found a second soulmate.
~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Béatrice Dalle, Romain Duris, (more)
The nature of love and memory and how the two sensations interrelate are explored in Jean-Pierre Limosin's 2002 film Novo. Office worker Graham (Eduardo Noriega) suffered a head injury that destroyed his ability to maintain long-term memories. Falling in love with the forgetful Graham, temporary office secretary Irene (Anna Mouglalis) takes the opportunity to engage Graham in a sexual relationship that feels like the beginning of a hot romance -- with plenty of adventurous sexual encounters along the way. While Irene insists that she'll maintain the memories for both of them until Graham recovers, she begins to wonder if their romance will endure without his being able to remember any of the hot details from their short history. Novo was a chosen for inclusion into the 2002 Locarno International Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eduardo Noriega, Anna Mouglalis, (more)
