Elisa Tovati Movies
- 2008
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laetitia Casta, Jean-Paul Rouve, (more)
- 2002
Lies, betrayal, lust, and ennui are just a few of the themes at work in this knowing and urbane dissection of modern love and relationships, which follows the romantic pursuits of four disparate couples. Gabrielle is a shy but attractive librarian who falls for Remy, a seductive rake. Vanessa is a beautician who decides to shack up with Gerard, a significantly older professor of literature who compounds his loftiness by smoking a pipe. Then there's Brigitte, a rather bodacious woman who charms the pants off the younger Claude at a gallery opening. Finally, there is Cyril, an average Joe who falls in love with the stunningly beautiful Anick, and can't quite believe his luck. Director Eric Assous uses the ins and outs of all four couples to examine the never-ending battle of the sexes with humor, drama, and a keen eye for the nuances of gender politics. Very Opposite Sexes had its North American premiere at the 2002 Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte de Turckheim, Patrick Chesnais, (more)
- 2001
The Sephardic Jewish characters who headlined the riotous 1997 comedy Would I Lie To You? - all employees in the garment business - return for this laugh-filled 2001 sequel. At the center of the farce are Dov (Gad Elmaleh), Patrick (Gilbert Melki), Serge (Jose Garcia), Yvan (Bruno Solo) and Eddie (Richard Anconina), friends for life and colleagues in the said industry, who spend their days wheeling and dealing and establishing connections but run the socioeconomic gamut from filthy rich to lower working class. A series of misunderstandings commences when blue-collar Serge - employed as a motorcycle messenger and living with his parents - takes the wealthy Patrick's blue Rolls Royce convertible out on an errand and runs headfirst into Chochana (Elisa Tovati), a Jewish girl with whom he feels instantly smitten. She naturally assumes, given the car, that he's wealthy - and he of course does nothing to discourage this. In time, Serge manages to prolong the economic ruse to such a degree that he ends up engaged to the high-maintenance Chocana, and on a headfirst collision course with her furniture kingpin father (Enrico Macias). Meanwhile, the garment industry as a whole in Le Sentier (the chief Parisian neighborhood in which the men do business) suffers from a massive economic downturn, thanks in no small part to escalating labor costs and the flourishing of Internet start-ups; in desperation, Yvan and Eddie turn to EuroDiscount, a massive chain of European department stores, with a feeble attempt to sell their merchandise to that outfit. They fail to count, however, on the ugly reaction of the cunning manager, Vierhouten (Daniel Prevost), which threatens to send them spiraling toward bankruptcy. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Anconina, José Garcia, (more)
In this soft-porn drama, the oversexed hunk Benito Javier Bardem) spends a good portion of his military service in north Africa dreaming of sex, money and power - but mostly sex. He can barely keep himself in control, and is constantly grabbing his crotch. Somehow, when he is released from the service, he marries the daughter (Maria de Medeiros) of a real moneybags, and he uses some of those resources to build a gigantic skyscraper in the form of a phallus. After a car crash leaves him partially paralyzed and very despondent, his ill-used wife kicks him out and he moves to Miami, where he picks up a woman who (in a reversal of roles) loves 'em and leaves 'em. For some reason, this circumstance cuts our previously almost irrepressibly priapic hero to the heart, and he sobbingly realizes the extent of his losses. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Javier Bardem, Maribel Verdú, (more)
Bear witness to the rise of the most corrupt and ruthless ruler ever to preside over the Roman Empire as filmmaker Paul Marcus tells the tale of Nero's unlikely ascent to the throne, and his historical fall at the hands of his own vengeful kingdom. After murdering his sister's husband on grounds of conspiracy, the increasingly incoherent Caligula exiles his grieving sibling and sets into motion a devious plan that will one-day find her son Lucius presiding over all of Rome. Beset on all sides by tyranny and bloodlust, Lucius rises to power as Nero while facing the constant wrath of all who oppose his legacy. His paranoia soon reaching a fever pitch, Nero struggles to maintain power as his army, his people, and his own mother, ultimately turn against him. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergio Castellitto, Chiara Caselli, (more)
