Hélène Lapiower Movies
- 2001
Two strangers share a strange and terrible bond in this stylish horror tale that juggles sex and graphic bloodshed. Shane Brown (Vincent Gallo) is a strange man with a forbidding nature who has just married lovely but nervous June (Tricia Vessey), and they've decided to go to Paris for their honeymoon. In the City of Lights, a beautiful but dangerous woman named Core (Beatrice Dalle) has been leaving a trail of dead bodies in her wake when she's captured by Leo Semeneau (Alex Descas), a mysterious scientist who spirits her away to his estate. As Core is placed under guard, Semeneau leaves to return to the city for an unnamed assignment; we soon learn that one of Shane's reasons for coming to Paris was to find him and retrieve some important information. In time, we also discover that Shane and Core have something rather unusual in common -- both are murderous cannibals who regularly feast on the flesh of their victims, and Semeneau's information may hold the key to the secret behind their deadly appetite. Trouble Every Day generated a certain amount of controversy in its screenings at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where a number of patrons walked out in disgust at the film's intense blend of sensuality and cannibalism. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Gallo, Tricia Vessey, (more)
Not unlike Michael Apted's Up series and Helena Trestikova's Marriage Études, Hélène Lapiower's sociological documentary A Little Family Conversation culls footage from a seven-year period of production, and thus enables the audience to witness the very deliberate personal growth of its subjects over time. Lapiower delves into the history and interrelationships of her family, a Jewish clan that migrated from Poland to France nearly a half-century prior. However, as occasionally happens, the project had such personal resonance for the director that it grew and broadened its ambitions in Lapiower's hands, ultimately extending beyond the scope of its immediate subjects and meditating on such themes as personal identity, familial identity and the generation gap. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 1996
In this satiric comedy-drama from France, Paul (Mathieu Amalric) is an assistant professor of philosophy disenchanted with teaching and distracted enough that he can't (or won't) finish the dissertation that would allow him to become a full professor. Esther (Emmanuelle Devos) has been his girlfriend for nearly a decade; while he's no longer happy with the relationship, he has trouble working up the courage to break it off. He's smitten with Sylvia (Marianne Denicourt), the lover of his best friend Nathan (Emmanuel Salinger); Paul and Sylvia had a brief fling two years ago, and he can't get her out of his mind. However, once Paul gives Esther her walking papers, he starts chasing after Valerie (Jeanne Balibar), while also keeping his eye on Patricia (Chiara Mastroianni), the girlfriend of his cousin (and roommate) Bob (Thibault de Montalembert). It's hard to imagine Paul having much time to think about anything else amidst all this romantic tumult, but when Rabier (Michel Vuillermoz), a former friend, gets a top spot in Paul's department, it leads to an ongoing argument that both adds to and reflects the turmoil of his romantic life. Amalric's performance earned him a 1997 César Award as Most Promising Young Actor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos, (more)
- 1993
Emma (Nathalie Baye) has been happily married to Charles (Didier Sandre), a hardworking journalist, for over ten years. They have a son, and are considering having another child when she learns that she is both pregnant and HIV-positive at a time when Charles is away. As Emma has never used drugs or slept around, and has never had a blood transfusion, there can only be one source for her infection: her absent husband. Shocked to the core by this turn of events, she goes through his things and finds an address book with the names of many women in it. Determined to discover what has been going on, she begins contacting every name in the book. She continues her investigations even after her husband, whom she confronts over this, returns. While this film never comes across as an instructional piece, it was co-written by an AIDS specialist. It is also significant because is marks the final movie performance of Louis Ducreux (as the grandfather) after more than fifty years in the business. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nathalie Baye, Didier Sandre, (more)
- 1993
Writer/director Yolande Zauberman's touching tale of the friendship between two boys, one Jewish and the other Catholic, in pre-World War Two Poland. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roma Alexandrovich, Sasha Yakovlev, (more)
- 1991
Soriba Samb (Oumar Diop Makena) is a Senegalese who has gotten a much-prized internship to study filmmaking in Paris. In this story, Soriba heads to Paris, accompanied by the five-year old son of a friend of his who is believed to be still living in Paris. In addition to coping with his new internship, Soriba has to track down the boy's father Issa, a childhood friend of his, and attempt to persuade him to return to Senegal. When he finds him, he discovers that he is successfully running a prostitution ring, and selling pornography, and is not at all inclined to leave Paris. Despite that, Soriba goes to the trouble of performing the spells and rituals he has promised Issa's mom he would do. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hélène Lapiower
- 1989
Originally Femme de Papier, Paperback Woman has also been released in English-speaking countries as Front Woman. Jean-Pierre Leaud stars as a publisher of steamy novels, while Helene Lapiower co-stars as Leaud's lover, a girl of limited talents who nonetheless is one of the publishing company's most prolific authors. Not that she actually ever writes anything: she's simply a "front" for a popular author who prefers to remain anonymous. Inevitably, Helene meets the man who she has pretended to be. Paperback Woman was co-written and directed by Suzanne Schiffman, longtime screenwriter for such New Wave filmmakers as Francois Truffaut, Jacques Rivette and Jean-Luc Godard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
In a specialized, hermetic drama about love won and lost, not necessarily by the same individuals, novice director Christine Laurent has focused on the backstage melodramas of an opera company. The conductor for an upcoming performance of the Marriage of Figaro has his mind and heart on other matters -- an entrancing diva who keeps him enraptured with her presence and voice. In the meantime, he finds fault with his cast members who cannot, of course, measure up to the woman of his dreams. As singers encounter one problem or another, it is clear that something has to be done about the conductor. Director Laurent designed costumes for both theater and opera, giving her some insight into the venue. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Magali Noël, Krystyna Janda, (more)
- 1984
Gérard Depardieu's version of Tartuffe brings no innovative cinematic flair to the story of an outrageous and daring imposter who passes himself off as a haughty, pious priest (Tartuffe, also played by Depardieu), in order to gain access to the fortune and properties - and daughter - of the gullible merchant Orgon (François Périer). Molière's play was equally daring for its time, and was actually banned for five years until he adjusted the ending to give Tartuffe his come-uppance, and placate the French clergy in the process. Depardieu should have taken the lead of Molière, when he took the lead of this film, and displayed more creative bravado at the helm. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- François Perier, Gérard Depardieu, (more)
