Yves Jacques Movies
- 2009
Simultaneously recalling Richard Curtis's Love Actually (2003), and - on a more culturally proximate note - Cedric Klapisch's seriocomedy Paris (2008), this outing from writer-director Amanda Sthers observes the intersection of six French lonely hearts against a uniform backdrop. As the tale opens, three single men sit waiting in a French airport: psychiatrist Max (Michel Lonsdale), writer Marcel Henri (Pierre Arditi), and editor Olivier (Patrick Mille). As fate would have it, their paths just happen to intersect with three lonely, needy women of varying temperaments and backgrounds: distinguished widow Fanny (Monique Chaumette), man-hungry teacher Lila (Anne Marivin), and the desperately unhappy, suicide-prone cancer patient Julia (Carole Bouquet). As various couplings occur and various substories unfold within the confines of the airport, each of the characters finds his or her life changed in an irrevocable and unforeseeable way. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Bouquet, Pierre Arditi, (more)
- 2008
An uprising on a college campus evolves into something more dangerous than a clash of ideals in this drama from Canadian writer and director Sébastien Rose. Jean-Marc (Raymond Bouchard) is the president of a well-respected university in Quebec who has found himself at the center of a heated controversy. Louis-Ferdinand (Frederic Pierre) is the leader of a student activist group who have demanded sweeping changes in Jean-Marc's policies; Jean-Marc refuses to consider their proposals, leading to a series of protests which have inspired a wave of campus vandalism. Bertrand (Alexis Martin) is a professor at the university who supports the students' cause but not their methods, and when he attempts to reason with Louis-Ferdinand and his colleagues, it leads to an altercation that only makes a tense situation more difficult. Natacha (Catherine de Lean) is Jean-Marc's daughter and also a single mother with a drug problem who is still dealing with the scars of an unhappy childhood. Jean-Marc and Bertrand are scheduled to speak at a university banquet where they hope to air their differences about the ongoing student protests, but Gilbert (Benoit McGinnis) is an uninvited guest who has his own radical solution to the stand-off. La Banquet was an official selection at the 2008 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alexis Martin, Raymond Bouchard, (more)
Informed that his elderly father has mysteriously disappeared, anxious Parisian François (Mathieu Amalric) recalls his tragic family history in director Claude Miller's adaptation of the fact-based novel by author Philippe Grimbert. As a sickly young child, François (Valentin Vigourt) instinctively knew that he was a disappointment to his champion swimmer mother, Tania (Cécile De France), and gymnast father, Maxime (Patrick Bruel). While François does find some amount of solace in his friendship with kindly masseuse Louise (Julie Depardieu), his discovery of a strange toy in the attic causes his parents to act more strangely toward him than ever before. Feeling sympathetic toward the young boy, Louise eventually reveals to François that he once had a half brother, and that his parents weren't drawn together by fairy-tale romance but through violence and strife. Back before the war, Maxime became engaged to the beautiful Hannah (Ludivine Sagnier). While Hannah's parent's were keenly aware of the ominous implications of Hitler's rise to power, Maxime worried little since he always considered himself French first and foremost. At the wedding, however, Maxime finds his gaze frequently wandering from his fetching bride to athletic beauty Tania. Later, after the happily married bride gives birth to a handsome young boy named Simon (Orlando Nicoletti), the Nazis invade and the once-happy family is torn violently asunder. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cécile De France, Patrick Bruel, (more)
Anton Chekhov's The Seagull receives an updated adaptation in this drama from veteran French filmmaker Claude Miller. Mado (Nicole Garcia) is a successful actress who is spending the summer at her country estate with her boyfriend, Brice (Bernard Giraudeau), a noted filmmaker who directed her latest picture. Also staying with Mado is her son, Julien (Robinson Stévenin), a budding experimental filmmaker with a combustible personality who is infatuated with Lili (Ludivine Sagnier), a beautiful young woman whose family lives nearby. Lili is attentive but cool around Julien, who doesn't pay much heed to the attentions of Jeanne-Marie (Julie Depardieu), the daughter of Mado's caretaker (Marc Betton) who has long held a torch for him. When Julien screens his latest film for Mado and her guests, it leads to a bitter argument between the two as her criticism of her son's work devolves into a series of personal attacks on one another. As Julien threatens to sever ties with his mother, Lili courts the attentions of Brice, while Jeanne-Marie defends Julien's work with little reaction from him. La Petite Lili received its world premiere at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicole Garcia, Bernard Giraudeau, (more)
Director Denys Arcand revisits the situations and relationships that informed his international breakthrough The Decline of the American Empire with this dialogue-driven character study. Set 17 years after Decline, The Barbarian Invasions, like its predecessor, examines the varying politics -- economic, personal, and sexual -- at play among an aging group of friends, lovers, and ex-spouses. This time around, leads Remy (Rémy Girard) and Louise (Dorothee Berryman) are divorced, with their son Sebastien (Stéphane Rousseau) living in capitalist splendor in London. But the slightly estranged family is brought together by Remy's losing battle with terminal cancer, and the hedonistic, ex-radical father and straight-laced son have to overcome their differences. Along the way, Remy waxes nostalgic with many of the same pals who made up the dinner party of the first film. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rémy Girard, Stéphane Rousseau, (more)
- 2002
Filmed in France, Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Morocco, and Canada, this ambitious biographical TV miniseries chronicles the life and times of the "Little Corporal" from Corsica who managed to conquer nearly all of Europe within a period of a dozen years. The narrative begins in the mid-1790s, as Napoleon Bonaparte (played, curiously enough, by comic actor Christian Clavier) makes his mark on posterity with spectacular victories in Austria and Egypt. On the home front, Napoleon woos and wins the lovely (and considerably older) Josephine (Isabella Rossellini), but finds time for extracurricular romances with other women, notably Countess Marie Walewska (Alexandra Maria Lara). Ultimately, Bonaparte's ambitions destroy him, first in Russia, then at Waterloo, consigning the general-cum-emperor to live out his life in humiliation and exile. When originally broadcast in France in October 2002, Napoleon ran six hours (plus commercials), with four episodes. For its American presentation on the A&E cable network beginning April 8, 2003, the production was literally sliced in half, shown in two installments with a running time of three hours. What remained was all highlights and few insights, though a few brilliant moments remained, many of these supplied by the supporting cast, which included Gérard Depardieu (who also produced) as Fouche, and John Malkovich as Talleyrand. Thankfully, the full six-hour version was made available in the U.S. on DVD and VHS in 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Clavier, Isabella Rossellini, (more)
Long-established director Emir Kusturica makes his acting debut in Patrice Leconte's 19th century tale of a loyal, strong-willed woman who follows her soldier husband to a desolate French territory off the coast of Newfoundland. Madame La (Juliette Binoche) lives in marital bliss on the island of Saint-Pierre with her loving, oddball husband (Daniel Auteuil), simply called "the Captain" by his charges. Their world is upset one night, however, when two visiting sailors on a bender murder a local citizen. Neel (Kusturica) is sentenced to death, but the other one dies in a carriage accident before reaching prison. As the island waits for a guillotine (or "widow") to be shipped from the French government, Madame La does her best to convince the townspeople that Neel is genuinely good of heart and doesn't deserve a bloody fate. La Veuve de Saint-Pierre marks the second time that Auteuil has worked with director Leconte: their first effort, La Fille Sur la Pont, earned him a Best Actor award at the Cesars, France's equivalent to the Academy Awards. La Veuve screened at the 2000 Cannes and Toronto film festivals. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil, (more)
- 2000
Gilles (Michel Cote) is a mild-mannered dentist until his wife of 20 years suddenly dumps him for another man. Dejected, depressed, and distraught, he turns to his psychiatrist, Docteur Bilodeau (Yves Jacques), who has his patients lay into a punching bag. For Gilles, the treatment proves to be too successful, and soon he's taking his treatment out on his clients. While cooling his heels in jail, he bonds with cellmate Sunsey (Patrick Huard), a hard-drinking, dope-smoking man's man. Soon, Gilles office has transformed into a neo-hippie drug den and party pad. Somewhere amid the THC haze, Gilles starts to date comely lass Sophie (Guylaine Tremblay) -- who in a Vertigo-like turn looks just like his soon-to-be ex-wife. Has he found the doppelganger of his life's love or should he lay off the hallucinogens? This film was huge hit in its native Quebec. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Cote, Patrick Huard, (more)
- 2000
Claude Miller directs this surreal comedy about a woman's nightmarish trip to the hospital. Beset by troubles with her family, her married lover, and her studies, anthropology grad student Claire (Anne Brochet) suffers from fainting spells and migraines. After a couple of unnervingly bizarre consultations with Dr. Fish (Yves Jacques), she is sent to a neurological hospital to recuperate. There she shares a room with Odette (Mathilde Seigner), who was recently paralyzed, and with elderly Eleonore (Annie Noel), who is harmless, though simply stark raving mad. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Brochet, Mathilde Seigner, (more)
- 1999
In this French Canadian drama, a man going through some difficult life experiences find things become even more complicated when his ex re-enters his life. Max (James Hyndman) is an artist who has lost the use of his legs and is confined to a wheelchair. Fortunately, he still has many close friends and his loft serves as a salon for a variety of like-minded bohemians, including a self-centered sculptor, Mortimer (Yves Jacques); the slightly dim Julius (Michel Charette); and Maggie (Jacynthe Rene), who has no qualms about posing for Max in the nude. However, Max's well-ordered existence is upset when he hears from Lucie (Pascale Bussieres), his former girlfriend before an ugly breakup. Lucie has taken it upon herself to punish Max for their acrimonious parting, and she bombards him with a variety of obscene or annoying phone calls, taunts him as a cripple, and has sex with another man in an apartment across the street, clearly visible to Max through his window. Meanwhile, Max's best friend Laurel (Pierre-Luc Brillant) has his own ghosts from the past to deal with; he's recently discovered the identity of his birth mother, who gave him up for adoption when he was still an infant. Laurel would like to meet her, but his adopted mother, Pauline (Louise Portal), would prefer that the biological mother stay in his past. Director Jean Beaudin collaborated with novelist Monique Proulx for this adaptation of Proulx's book Homme Invisible a la Fenetre. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Hyndman, Pascale Bussières, (more)
- 1998
Christophe Smith made his directorial debut with this media satire, set on December 14, 1999, about a TV news network in cahoots with Washington on Operation Crazy Guru -- a plan to get a U.S. president re-elected for a third term. Griffith (Mickey Rooney), head of the Miami-based international World News Company, decides inept Paris correspondent Michael Kael (Benoit Delapine) is gullible enough to report the staged events, so Kael is sent off to Africa to cover a two-day fest in Katango. International nets air nuke threats by a Japanese nutcase, made on tapes sent from Katango. Kael, of course, has been unwittingly set up as WNC's key reporter, but everything goes haywire once Kael deduces that it's all being faked. The screenplay, by Delapine, is an expansion of comedy sketches that originated on two popular French cable TV shows. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoit Delepine, Marine Delterme, (more)
- 1995
The primary two loves of Alfred Nobel's life provide the basis of this Swedish biopic. Alfred Nobel was the inventor of dynamite and the founder of the prestigious Nobel Prize, which he created as a way to assuage his conscience after unleashing such a destructive force upon the world. One of Nobel's lovers was Bertha von Suttner, an Austrian woman he loved, but never made love to. The other was the adulterous Sophie Hess with whom he had a passionate affair. Also examined are some of the things leading up to Nobel's inventions. The big-budget story was shot at many scenic locations in Sweden, France and Austria. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This made-for-TV drama from France examines the life and times of Charles Pathe (played by Didier Bezace), a producer and entrepreneur who became one of the pioneering figures of the French film industry. The film examines the ups and downs of Pathe's career, as well as his encounters with American film trailblazer George Eastman (Ronald Guttman) and legendary French comedian Max Linder (Alain Fromager). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Didier Bezace, Yves Jacques, (more)
- 1994
Be careful what you wish for...it just may come true. This is the underlying theme of this French-Canadian comedy drama that follows the travails of a TV addict who wins a talent contest and finds himself the subject of an embarrassingly revealing television series. Louis Jobin is a rather depressive young salesman who works in an electronics store. At night he is a passionate channel surfer, sitting upon his couch staring at his television. When Channel 19 announces a talent contest. Louis immediately enters. The contest winner will become the subject of a TV show with Channel 19 filming every movement, 24 hours a day for three months. Louis wins the contest and is at first elated by his prize but then begins to feel otherwise after he becomes a celebrity. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Drainville, Agathe de la Fontaine, (more)
- 1990
Ding and Dong (Serge Theriault and Claude Meunier) are two standup comedians whose slangy Quebecois humor has made them popular among those who speak that dialect of French. This slapstick comedy capitalizes on their wordplay to the maximum extent; consequently the film is recommended primarily to those with close ties to Quebec. In the story, Ding and Dong are a standup act who go to perform at a tiny club in a remote town. Their act receives a much less enthusiastic welcome than the fistfight which closes the bar down. Subsequent adventures are similarly disastrous, until they inherit a tidy sum and buy "Theatre de la Nouvelle Tragedie" where they begin producing (and starring in) classical plays which they warp in their own characteristic fashion. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Serge Theriault, Raymond Bouchard, (more)
- 1986
- R
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A rousing "he said/she said" endeavor, The Decline of the American Empire begins by separating the boys from the girls. Preparing a gourmet dinner, four male intellectuals begin trading stories of their sexual experiences. At the same time, four well-read women, all working out in a gym, exchange their own tales from the love front. The film is set in the lofty circles of academia, a world well known to Canadian director Denys Arcand. The anecdotes related herein are based on actual events in the lives of Arcand's professorial friends. There's nothing bookish, however, about the subject matter of the stories themselves, which ranges from mild philandering to S & M. The Decline of the American Empire was the winner of eight Canadian Genie awards (that's the above-the-border equivalent of the Oscar), including Best Picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Curzi, Rémy Girard, (more)
- 1985
This French/Canadian "caper" comedy stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as an oh-so-clever bank robber. Disguised as a clown, Belmondo robs a major Montreal bank, taking Guy Marchand and Kim Cattrall as a hostages. We soon learn that both Marchand and Cattral are actually Belmondo's accomplices in his precisely planned holdup. The trick now is for the threesome to get out of Montreal--a feat comparable to Hannibal crossing the Alps. Chock full of surprising plot twists, Hold-Up is based on a novel by Jay Cronley, which also served as the inspiration for the 1990 Bill Murray vehicle Quick Change. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Kim Cattrall, (more)
