Ilan Goldman Movies
A retired, wheelchair-bound singer and her best friend bond over their troubled pasts during a road-trip to Memphis. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Renée Zellweger, Forest Whitaker, (more)
Writer/director Olivier Dahan (Crimson Rivers II) helmed La Vie en Rose, the screen biopic of tragic French songstress Edith Piaf. Marion Cotillard portrays Piaf, the superstar once raised as a young girl by her grandmother in a Normandy bordello, then discovered on a French street corner -- as a complete unknown -- by cabaret proprietor Louis Leplée (Gérard Depardieu). The film segues breezily between various episodes from Piaf's life -- such as her lover, French boxer Marcel Cerdan's (Jean-Pierre Martins) championship bout in mid-'40s New York; her period in Hollywood during the '50s; Piaf's abandonment as a young girl by her contortionist father (and earlier by her mother, a street singer); her brushes with the law as an adult; and her 1951 car accident and subsequent morphine addiction that caused her to age well beyond her years and left her barely mobile; and, through it all, her ability (like Billie Holiday) to funnel personal tragedy and emotional struggles into her vocalizations -- dazzling audiences in the process. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marion Cotillard, Sylvie Testud, (more)
- 2004
- R
- Add The Crimson Rivers II: The Angels of the Apocalypse to Queue Add The Crimson Rivers II: The Angels of the Apocalypse to top of Queue
French filmmaker Olivier Dahan directs the crime thriller sequel The Crimson Rivers II: The Angels of the Apocalypse, with a script by Luc Besson inspired by the novel Les Rivières Pourpres by Jean-Christophe Grange. Jean Reno returns as veteran police detective Pierre Niemans. He is sent to the Lorraine region of France to investigate a creepy monastery, where his team discovers a dead body hidden in the walls. Meanwhile, police captain Reda (Benoît Magimel) accidentally hits Jésus (Augustin Legrand) with his car, leading to another encounter with a killer monk. Niemans and Reda get together with religious expert Marie (Camille Natta) for the supernatural investigation. Christopher Lee appears in a cameo role. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean Reno, Benoît Magimel, (more)
- 2004
Les Visiteurs co-stars Jean Reno and Christian Clavier re-team for this comic book adaptation that follows a hip Parisian private eye on his quest to locate a Corsican "citizen" due to receive a large inheritance. Jack Palmer (Clavier) is a Paris-based detective whose swollen ego could cast a shadow over the Eiffel Tower. Ange Leoni (Reno) is a native of Corsica whose location can't be pinned down by even the most dogged of detectives. Approached by an obscure, small-time attorney and charged with the seemingly simple task of locating the missing Leoni, gifted gumshoe Palmer accepts the job under the false assumption that it will be the easiest money of his professional career. Soon after arriving on the island of Corsica, however, this superstar sleuth finds of just how mistaken he truly is. Not only are the locals suspiciously tight-lipped about the mysterious Corsican's whereabouts, but it quickly begins to appear as if the underworld has taken an ominous interest in Palmer's "open and shut" case as well. Later, after being brutalized by policemen, kidnapped by thugs, and having his car bombed, Palmer begins to comprehend the true futility of his search upon learning that his target is both the godfather of the Corsican mafia and France's most wanted. As the identities of the hunter and the hunted gradually become harder to distinguish, the detective is led on a wild goose chase around the picturesque island while finding the charms of Leoni's lovely wife Lea (Caterina Murino) increasingly difficult to resist. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christian Clavier, Jean Reno, (more)
Sarah (Élodie Bouchez) a young Carmelite nun, collapses in pain, dazed and spouting a nonsense phrase. Concurrently, a great distance away, her identical twin sister, Gaëlle (also Bouchez), in prison, wakes up to find her cell in flames. While Gaëlle, the victim of an attack by her fellow prisoners, is transferred to a different prison, Joachim (Gérard Depardieu), a Cecilian (both a doctor and a priest) visits with Sarah. He's perplexed by her case because her tests all came back normal, and he deducts that her spells must have a psychological source. But Sarah isn't forthcoming about her past, and Mother Emmanuelle (Carmen Maura), who runs the convent, doesn't even want Joachim to treat the young woman. Through his investigations, Joachim learns that Sarah has a twin sister, to whom she may have some kind of psychic connection. Delving deeper into the past, he discovers that Gaëlle went to prison for a horrible crime at around the same time Sarah entered the convent. Joachim is dealing with the violence of his own past, and cannot let go of his prying, despite the advice of his colleagues. He finds Gaëlle after she is released on parole, and takes her in. Their relationship becomes more complicated, and they are threatened by others who would prefer that the past stay buried. The Pact of Silence was based on a novel by Marcelle Bernstein. It was adapted for the screen by Roselyne Bosch (1492: Conquest of Paradise) and directed by Graham Guit. The film had a theatrical release in France, but was released straight-to-video in the U.S. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Élodie Bouchez, (more)
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