Marc Faure Movies
Audrey Tautou, who rose to international stardom with the title role in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's worldwide smash Amélie, reunites with the director for this drama, set during the darkest days of World War I and its immediate aftermath. Mathilde (Tautou) is a pretty but frail young women who was left with a bad leg after a childhood bout with polio. Mathilde lives in a small French village with her Aunt Bénédicte (Chantal Neuwirth) and Uncle Sylvain (Dominique Pinon), and is engaged to marry Manech (Gaspard Ulliel), the son of a lighthouse keeper who is fighting with the army near the German front. Manech is one of five soldiers who have been accused of injuring themselves in order to be sent home; in order to discourage similar behavior among their comrades, Manech and the other soldiers are sentenced to death, and the condemned men are marched into the no man's land between the French and German lines, where they are certain to be killed. Mathilde receives word of Manech's death, but in her heart she believes that if the man she loved had been killed, she would know it and feel it. Convinced he's still alive somewhere, Mathilde hires a private detective (Ticky Holgado) shortly after the end of the war, and together they set out to find the missing Manech. Jodie Foster appears in a supporting role as a Polish expatriate living in France. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, (more)
- 1995
In this downbeat drama from France, Benoit (Xavier Beauvois) is an upper class art student who is shocked to discover that he's been drafted into the Army. Eager to avoid military service, Benoit feigns illness, consults a psychiatrist for depression, and even tells the draft board he's gay, all to no avail. In a fit of desperation, Benoit attempts suicide, only to learn in the hospital that he has tested positive for HIV. Now that he has a real reason to be depressed, Benoit sinks into an emotional downturn and ends up in jail, where he is introduced to Omar (Roschdy Zem), who suggests that he can make big money fast by smuggling drugs. With nothing better to do, Benoit goes into business with Omar, and with his ill-gotten gains, he travels to Italy, where he meets a beautiful young woman named Claudia (Chiara Mastroianni). Benoit and Claudia quickly fall in love, but the lure of the drug market soon proves more powerful than Benoit's feelings for his girlfriend. Director and star Xavier Beauvois won the Jury Prize at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival for his work on this film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Xavier Beauvois, Roschdy Zem, (more)
