Caroline Lang Movies
- 1987
This suspenseful Italian crime drama is set in a Colombian river town and chronicles the series of events that led up to murder. Based on a novel by distinguished author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the tale begins in the present as a middle-aged doctor returns to the village after a twenty-year absence to investigate the murder that occurred just before he left. A flashback ensues. All the trouble began when a wealthy general's son came to town searching for a bride. He found an appropriate girl and was very happy until he discovered that his bride was not a virgin. In a terrible rage he sent the poor girl back to her family where her father beat her into revealing her lover's name. Her twin brothers then set out to punish the guilty fellow, a much-despised womanizer. Though the entire town knew that the brothers planned to kill him, no one intervened. Strangely, the victim died without a fight. The story jumps back to the present to witness the return of the general's son. He runs into his former fiancee and quietly hands back all of the letters she had written him over the years. Not a single one is opened. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rupert Everett, Ornella Muti, (more)
- 1986
A long parade of actors and actresses pop up in an unconnected series of skits, vignettes, and sight gags in this comedy anthology by Jean Curtelin. Among the sketches performed is one with Jean Carmet playing a man from the sticks woefully burdened with the challenge of getting through a dog food commercial on less than one tank of intelligible French. Another skit shows a silent duel between an airport custodian and an automatic door, while another with the renowned Michel Galabru sets up a strange teacher-student exchange. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pierre Arditi, Andréa Ferréol, (more)
- 1986
- PG
It is possible to enjoy Claude Lelouch's Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later on its own merits, though we advise that to fully appreciate the film, it's best to catch Lelouch's 1966 blockbuster A Man and a Woman first. True to its word, the 1986 film brings us up to date with the protagonists of the earlier picture. One-time movie script girl Anouk Aimee is now a producer, suffering a slump due to a string of box-office bombs. Former race car driver Jean-Louis Trintigant now books races for younger drivers. His love affair with Aimee long in the past, Tritignant is startled to receive an out-of-the-blue phone call from his former amour. She wants his permission to film a musical version of their romance, but with more "suitable" younger leads. Alas, Aimee has been part of the Studio System too long, and can't help but include a pointless subplot involving an escaped lunatic. Aimee must give up her show-biz excesses, and Tritignant must forsake his much-younger mistress Marie-Sophie Pochat, in order to clear the decks for a happy ending. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anouk Aimée, Jean-Louis Trintignant, (more)
- 1983
The last film by veteran writer/director Robert Bresson, the French crime drama L'Argent (Money) was based on a short story by Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. Looking for some quick cash, young man Norbert (Marc Ernest Fourneau) gets a phony 500 franc note from his friend Matrial (Bruno Lapeyre). After he spends it at a photography shop, the unscrupulous shop owner (Didier Baussy) decides to pass it on to someone else. The unfortunate victim is honest delivery man Yvon Targe (Christian Patey), who doesn't realize the bill is a fake. When he tries to buy some food with it, he is arrested. He tries to sue the photographer, but shop assistant Lucien (Vincent Risterucci) has been bribed to stay quiet about the transaction. The scandal causes Yvon to lose his job. In order to support his family, he tries driving a getaway car for some criminals. Unfortunately, their heist doesn't go so well, and he is sent to prison for three years. While incarcerated, his child dies of diphtheria and his wife (Caroline Lang) leaves him. Crazed, Yvon turns to theft, violent crime, and eventually cold-blooded murder. L'Argent earned (Bresson) the Director's Prize at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christian Patey, Sylvie van den Elsen, (more)
