Anna Mouglalis Movies
Writer/director Samuel Benchetrit takes the helm for this laid-back crime comedy that weaves together four stories which all eventually convene at a roadside diner. Franck (Edouard Baer) is a petty criminal who is currently pondering the prospect of holding up a remote diner. When observant waitress Suzie (Anna Mouglalis) eventually realizes that Franck has more than a meal on his mind, she reveals that she too had considered robbing the place until getting disheartening peak at the anemic cash register. In the second story, desperate criminals Leon (Bouli Lanners) and Paul (Serge Lariviere) kidnap the daughter of a wealthy businessman in hopes of earning a tidy ransom, but soon find themselves forced to act as surrogate parents when the young girl is revealed to be suicidal. Later, after two aging rock stars (Alain Bashung and Arno) discuss their careers over a meal at the diner, four former gangsters smuggle an old friend out of the hospital for a nostalgic trip to their former hideout, only to discover that the familiar log cabin has long since been razed and replaced with a modest diner that provides no means for lying low. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sergi López, Anna Mouglalis, (more)
Giancarlo De Cataldo's best-selling tale about three lifelong friends effectively take control of organized crime in modern-day Rome comes to the screen in this sweeping crime drama from director Michele Placido. Libanese (Pierfrancesco Favino) is the cold-hearted leader of a juvenile delinquent trio that also includes undyingly loyal Freddo (Kim Rossi Stuart) and power-hungry Dandi (Claudio Santamaria). After kidnapping and casually murdering a baron (Franco Interlenghi), the scheming friends soon form the shady alliances with the local gangsters, corrupt cops, and secret service members that will allow them the opportunity to effectively corner the market on heroin sales. Meanwhile, determined Inspector Sciloja (Stefano Accorsi), who has made it his goal to bring Libanese and his cronies to justice, stealthily manages to trace back the marked ransom money from the baron's kidnapping to Dandi's girlfriend Patrizia (Anna Mouglalis) - an alluring call girl whom the inspector soon finds himself falling for. But Inspector Sciloja isn't the only one to fall under the spell of a female who seems strangely out of his reach. On the other side of the law, Freddo becomes enamored by the decidedly pure Roberta (Jasmine Trinca), whose attempts to educate the smitten thug in the beauty of the Italian Masters seem to be made in vain. In projecting a fictionalized tale of murderous criminality against the larger backdrop of Italy's turbulent social history during the waning decades of the 20th Century, director Placido strives to craft a film that is not only entertaining, but historically relevant as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Rossi Stuart, Anna Mouglalis, (more)
- Starring:
- Pierre Richard, Anna Mouglalis, (more)
- Starring:
- Daniel Auteuil, Greta Scacchi, (more)
Hugo Santiago's stylish detective film The Wolf of the West Coast is based on a short story by crime novelist Ross MacDonald. James Faulkner plays Lew Millar, a renowned private eye who is hired by a gangster to be his bodyguard. When Millar arrives at the criminal's French hideaway, the gangster is already dead. Among the people Millar investigates are the gangster's brother, the man's sister-in-law, and their teenage daughter. A judge may also offer insight into the case, as well as Millar's own past. The Wolf of the West Coast was screened at the Montreal Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Faulkner, Anna Mouglalis, (more)
In the scattered narrative of The New Life, men and women are for sale, apparently to be used as prostitutes, at a housing project somewhere in Eastern Europe. Melania (Anna Mouglalis of Merci Pour le Chocolat) is bought by a pimp, Boyan (Zsolt Nagy), who brings her into a room and torments her, painfully cutting off her hair with a pocketknife before forcefully kissing her. Seymour (Zachary Knighton), an American, goes to a strip club and watches some dancers. He is immediately attracted to Melania, and pays to have some private time with her. Once they're alone, he hesitates, uncertain of himself, before lust overcomes him and he pounces on Melania. It's over in a moment. She dresses quickly and leaves, while he lays on the bed, moaning in despair. Melania next services a sadistic man whose instructions she can't seem to follow properly. He humiliates her, beats her, and then sings her a song. Seymour becomes obsessed with Melania. He watches her sing in a nightclub. He pays to spend more time with her, and then tries to buy her outright, against the advice of his troubled friend, Roscoe (Marc Barbé, who starred in director Philippe Grandrieux's debut film, Sombre). Seymour fantasizes about taking Melania away, but Boyan is determined to keep her. He makes her dance for him, spinning like a top. Roscoe winds up being chased through the woods and attacked by dogs. The New Life, scripted by Grandieux and Eric Vuillard, was shown at the 2002 London Film Festival and at Lincoln Center in New York as part of their 2003 Film Comment Selects series. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
The brief love affair between two 20th century icons is dramatized in this period drama from director Jan Kounen. Igor Stravinsky (Mads Mikkelsen) was one of Europe's most promising new composers when in 1913 he premiered his ballet Le Sacre du Printemps (aka The Rite of Spring); the piece proved to be wildly controversial, and the audience at the Paris debut was vocal in their disgust, ruining Stravinsky's reputation for years. One patron who did like the performance was Coco Chanel (Anna Mouglalis), who was already among Europe's most celebrated fashion designers. Seven years later, Chanel encounters Stravinsky at a party, and learns that the composer is penniless and without a place to live. Chanel befriends him, and allows him to move into her summer home in the country along with his wife, Catherine (Elena Morozova), and their four children. Chanel is nursing a broken heart after the recent death of her boyfriend, and what began as an act of compassion for a fellow artist turns into an affair of the heart as Chanel and Stravinsky become lovers, much to the chagrin of the sickly Catherine. Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky was the second film about the fashion icon released in 2009, following Anne Fontaine's Coco Before Chanel. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Mouglalis, Mads Mikkelsen, (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)












