John P. Arnold Movies

Writer and director Sofia Coppola puts a new spin on the life and times of one of Europe's most infamous monarchs in this lavish historical drama which fuses a contemporary sensibility with painstaking recreations of the look of the 18th century. Born to Austrian nobility, Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) is only 14 years old when she's pledged to marry Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the 15-year-old king of France, in an alliance that has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with love. Sent to France and literally stripped of her former life, Marie weds Louis, but to the consternation of the royal court, he seems either unwilling or unable to consummate the marriage while their advisors clamor for an heir to the throne. Young and more than a bit out of step with the new life that's been thrust upon her, Marie gives herself over to the pleasures of life in Versailles, knowing and caring little of the political intrigue that surrounds her. In time, Marie's trusted older brother, Joseph (Danny Huston), is brought in to coach Louis on the finer points of marital relations, and before long the couple is finally blessed with a child. However, as Marie tends to her children in the gilded cage of her palace and enjoys an affair with a Swedish nobleman, political power plays are throwing France into chaos, and the growing ranks of the poor rebel against the royals and their life of privilege. Also starring Rip Torn, Judy Davis, Steve Coogan, and Asia Argento, Marie Antoinette was given a controversial reception when it premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Gallic director François Ozon's idiosyncratic Ricky represents an attempt to weld together two polar opposite and seemingly incompatible genres: kitchen-sink realist drama and high-concept Spielbergian fantasy. Loosely inspired by a Rose Tremain short story, the tale opens on a council estate just east of Paris (in the Seine-et-Marne), where single mom Katie (Alexandra Lamy) ekes out a low-key and fairly miserable existence. She earns her keep as a factory worker, while glumly attempting to raise her seven-year-old daughter Lisa (Melusine Mayance) on the side. Circumstances shift dramatically when Katie falls into an affair with a Spanish colleague, Paco (Sergi Lopez), but no one can guess just how dramatically. Together they conceive a son whom they name Ricky, and when the infant is born, he sports odd markings on his back; this gives Paco uneasy feelings and prompts him to leave the house. In time, the baby sprouts angelic wings, turning him into both a freak and a curiosity. This naturally leads to an endless series of complications, such as Katie's concern about how to dress Ricky and keep him from flying away. More disturbingly, it draws hordes of gawkers and paparazzi, who suffocate the family with intrusive attention and seem permanently unwilling to relent. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

French director Aurélia Georges's offbeat character study The Walking Man commences with the intersection of two minds and two lives: that of a photographer, and a gaunt fellow with a perpetually darkened mood named Viktor Atemian. The men meet in mid-1970s Paris, forge an enduring friendship and play Dadaist games together; in time, Viktor impulsively picks up a pen and paper and begins to write continually, irrepressibly. Viktor's success first peaks, thanks in no small part to the acclaim of his premier short story, but in time, his popularity and his money both run out - he's forced to sell his luxury Parisian apartment and eventually winds up on the street. Georges's film follows Atamian as he slides from the crests of fame to the depths of obscurity, and into the emotional and spiritual no man's land that accompanies such a state. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide