Denis Lavant

Writer/director Philippe Ramos ponders the formative years of legendary Herman Melville seaman Captain Ahab in this stylized tale of adventure presented in five chapters. When Ahab's mother dies in childbirth, the infant's gruff father (Jean-Francois Stevenin) places his son in the care of his pious aunt Rose Mona Heftre). It is Rose who sparks the imagination of the young boy by teaching him to read the Bible, though when Ahab is reclaimed by his father a decade later the growing boy strives to become a hunter like his old man. Later, after Ahab warms to his father's lover Louise (Hande Kodja), the old man dies and the boy is sent back to his God-fearing aunt. Rejecting Rose and her abusive husband Henry (Philippe Katerine)'s unforginv brand of discipline and infuriated that his aunt confiscated the locket given to him by Louise, young Ahab boldly stages his own kidnapping as an ingenious escape plan. Later, after embarking on a series of youthful misadventures, Ahab is rescued by Pastor Mulligan (Carlo Brandt) after washing ashore on the Atlantic coast. In the following years Ahab learns to fish in the ocean and forms a strange fascination with a whale skeleton on a local shore. Thirty years later, widowed Nantucket laundress Anna (Dominique Blanc) discovers ailing whaler Ahab (Denis Levant) in her garden missing the better part of one leg. Now determined to seek revenge against the creature that left him unable to walk, the obsessive whaler acquires a whalebone leg replacement and sets out with faithful shipmate Starbuck (Jacques Bonnaffe) to take down the whale they call Moby Dick once and for all. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

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

A young woman trying to escape a violent lifestyle is unwittingly led back into it in this drama from France. Desiree (Esse Lawson) is a 16-year-old black teenager living in a lower-class neighborhood dominated by gangs. Hoping to protect herself in a community where street violence is an everyday occurrence, Desiree convinces the gang bangers in her neighborhood that she is the child of Souleimane, a legendary figure in local gang culture who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Desiree gains the respect of her peers, and becomes romantically involved with Toussaint (Tony Mpoudja), a good-looking boy her age whose sensitive side disguises a short temper. Desiree falls deeply in love with Toussaint, and believes they're destined to find a better future, but her dreams are dashed when Toussaint betrays her with another girl; an angry Desiree seeks revenge. La Squale was the first feature from writer/director Fabrice Genestal. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Drawing from the influences of Georges Méliès, Jean Vigo, Buster Keaton, and Franz Kafka, noted German filmmaker Veit Helmer directs this atmospheric, darkly comic film about attendants at a public swimming pool. Lonely Anton (Denis Lavant) watches over his bathhouse located in the midst of a barren industrial moonscape. He spends much of his time pining for a life on the ocean and thinking of ways to trick his sightless father into believing that their run-down establishment is actually thriving. Anton's narrow world comes crashing down when his wife spurns him after her father is killed in one of Anton's pools because of his devious brother Gregor's misdeeds. Gregor hopes to raze the place in order to put up some slick development project, but Anton and the pool's bizarre assortment of regulars band together to save the historic building. Soon Anton finds himself struggling valiantly to save both his dad's prized bathhouse and to win back the woman he loves. Tuvalu was screened at the 1999 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Rolando Colla made his directorial debut with this Swiss-French-Italian period drama about a Breton woman who disguises herself as a man to join a ship's crew during the 18th century. Rebellious 24-year-old Anne Bruneau (Laurence Cote) is abandoned at the altar by her fiancé Yann (Denis Lavant). Unaware that Yann was drunk and fell down a well, Anne reacts to his absence by cutting her hair, dressing like a man, and signing on with a ship captained by a dwarf (Jean-Claude Grenier). When Yann learns what happened, he begins running south to Marseilles to rejoin her. Aboard the ship, Anne's disguise is discovered by the captain and the ship's doctor (Yann Collette). With an Arab (Roschdy Zem), she jumps ship, hiding with hookers in Marseilles while still maintaining her disguise. The score is based on traditional tunes and gypsy music. Shown in competition at the 1998 Locarno Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

A misanthropic Parisian street punk learns some difficult lessons after being captured for assaulting and robbing a man in this interesting French drama. This has not been the first time young Denis Lavant has been in trouble, and this time the judge sentences him to the Coral, an experimental open community founded in 1975 by Claude Sigala, in the wilderness of the Camargue. There he encounters a group of inmates just as neurotic and messed up as he is. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In real life, filmmaker Simon Reggiani's father, Serge Reggiani, was a desperately ill elderly alcoholic and also a renowned singer and cinematic leading man (mostly in France). In an effort to sustain his father's interest in life, he cast him in the central role in a biographical pseudo-documentary. In the story, Simon convinces his father to join him on a journey to Italy, where he can meet the man who can ease the guilt he has carried for almost seventy years; he believes he was responsible for the death of his infant brother. Reviewers indicate that Serge's performance was extraordinarily magnetic and skillful. Furthermore, the caring son reported that the film served its purpose of keeping his father lively and interested in life; indeed, he has gone on to take major roles in several more films. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Paris has its share of homeless people, and some of them live in little communities near the oldest bridge in the city, the Pont-Neuf. In the story, street-person Alex (Denis Lavant) has passed out along a much-traveled road, and a taxi has slightly injured his leg, which was in the way of traffic. When he limps back to his usual resting spot under the bridge, he finds a surprisingly unspoiled young woman (Juliette Binoche) wearing an eye patch sleeping there and confronts her about it. They become acquainted, and he learns that she is Michèle, a painter from a good suburban family who has taken to the streets in order to practice her art uninterruptedly until the time when she will inevitably lose her vision to a degenerative eye disorder. Alex earns his booze money through doing street theater: fire-eating and gymnastic routines. The two become buddies and lovers, share many adventures while practicing the arts of street survival, and even have some fun along the way. So close do they become that, when Alex is imprisoned for a violent act of jealousy, a newly cured Michèle visits him in prison and promises to meet him on the bridge when he is released. Despite this film's setting among the poor, it cost a lot of money to make: one of the big costs was the need to build a replica of the Pont-Neuf. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This critically acclaimed French drama blends film noir and science fiction elements in a story about a strange and deadly plague. A sexually transmitted disease called STBO is sweeping the country; it's spread by having sex without emotional involvement, and most of its victims are teenagers who make love out of curiosity rather than commitment. While a serum that can treat the disease has been formulated, it's been locked away in an inaccessible government building, and most of those suffering can't get at it. A woman known as "The American" (Carroll Brooks) has hired Marc (Michel Piccoli), who is deep in debt and desperate for cash, to steal the drug; Marc enlists the aid of Alex (Denis Lavant), the teenage son of one of his close friends, to help pull off the robbery. Alex is in love with Lise (Julie Delpy), a girl his age that he's been involved with, but he finds himself attracted to Anna (Juliette Binoche), Marc's younger lover who is determined to stand by her man. Mauvais Sang received the Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival and the International Fantasy Film Award at the Fantasporto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Through a series of convoluted turns, like a tornado going through Kansas, director Claude Lelouch has managed to keep a vacuum at the center of his film. A corporate executive (Michel Piccoli and a young actress (Evelyne Bouix) suddenly disappear and reappear and disappear, almost as fast as blinking Christmas tree lights. Since neither can remember what is going on, it is likely that they are suffering from the classic "I was kidnapped by an extraterrestrial" syndrome. And in fact, that may be the case because it seems that some ETs wanted to speak through these two people to tell earthlings to quit gearing up their nuclear arsenals. Jean-Louis Trintignant plays an acting teacher and Charles Aznavour plays a restaurant owner in this complex story -- yet both stars cannot carry the film on their own merits. For many viewers the labyrinth that wends its way to the final credits is a bit difficult to follow, and at the center of the labyrinth is a woefully inadequate ending. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide