Jean-Marc Barr
- 2008
A dream narrative told in flashback structure, France-based filmmaker Raoul Ruiz's Nucingen Haus follows writer William James (Jean-Marc Barr) as he learns that he has won a sprawling mansion, and decides to take up residence there with his wife (Elsa Zylberstein). But Nucingen Haus is already populated by a collection of eccentric residents who speak their own outlandish language and operate by their own bizarre social code - and they don't take kindly to the prospect of being displaced by these two newcomers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Marc Barr
Lars von Trier's black comedy The Boss of It All (Direktøren for Det Hele) concerns an IT company owner who -- in need of a figurehead to "hide behind" when confronted with employee problems -- invented the personage of a CEO during the startup period for his corporation. The scheme worked for a surprisingly long period, but when the time arrives to sell the business, massive problems arise -- for the prospective buyers insist on only negotiating with the CEO, in person. Thus, the owner further extends the ruse, by hiring a down-and-out actor to impersonate the chief officer. With Direktøren for Det Hele, von Trier uses a new means of filmmaking for this film: Automavision, whereby filming is done with an "automatic randomized camera" that selects the shots. It became a means for Von Trier to "clean up" his approach to directorial work and reconnect with his own love of filmmaking. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jens Albinus, Peter Gantzler, (more)
Directors Jean-Marc Barr and Pascal Arnold's sexually political drama Chacun Sa Nuit explores the carnal interdependencies among a host of characters who live in a town in provincial France. At the center of it all is Pierre (Arthur Dupont), a conceited and vain bisexual musician in his late teens who acts as a magnet, to varying degrees, for a whole array of characters -- from his sister, Lucie (Lizzie Brocheré), with whom he has a heated incestuous relationship, to a city councilor with whom he participates in gay orgies. When Pierre turns up dead, Lucie investigates the reasons for his demise and charts the network of sadomasochistic relationships that crisscross the town. Arnold wrote the screenplay, based on an actual series of events; the picture co-stars Pierre Perrier, Nicolas Nollet, and Guillaume Baché. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lizzie Brocheré, Arthur Dupont, (more)
It's Summer Rental meets Blame it on Rio when a French family heads off to the Mediterranean for a sultry summer vacation in the ensemble sex comedy Côte d'Azur, co-directed by Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel (The Adventures of Felix). When the head of the clan, Marc (Gilbert Melki), decides to tote his wife, Béatrix (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), and his teenage children Laura (Sabrina Seyvecou) and Charly (Romain Torres) off to his childhood beach home on the Riviera, a number of sexy liasons ensue. Charly -- though straight -- must contend with the come-ons of his best friend, Martin, a closeted homosexual infatuated with him for years but too shy to say so. Meanwhile, as Laura takes up with a young biker, Béatrix re-encounters her old boyfriend Mathieu (Jacques Bonnaffé); Marc's ex-flame pops up, too, both former lovers expressing interest in rekindling affairs. Soon, the entire vacation becomes a surfeit of hilarious erotic complications. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Gilbert Melki, (more)
The politics of slavery and the follies of nation-building highlight Danish director Lars von Trier's thought-provoking follow-up to the director's 2003 drama Dogville, featuring The Village's Bryce Dallas Howard in the role originally played by Nicole Kidman, and shot in the same stage-bound style as its predecessor. Shortly after leaving Dogville, Grace (Howard) and her father (Willem Dafoe) wander into a gated Alabama community still operating under the tenets of slavery. Appalled to stumble across a brutal scene in which a white master is viciously lashing his slave (Isaach de Bankolé), Grace hastily intercedes and pleads with the abusive man to treat his workers with respect and dignity. When merciless matriarchal plantation owner Mam (Lauren Bacall) dies shortly thereafter, the remaining slaves, who have never tasted freedom and only known life under "Mam's Law," implore the sympathetic Grace to help ease their turbulent transition toward democratic rule, with disastrous results. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bryce Dallas Howard, Isaach de Bankolé, (more)
Andie MacDowell, Olivia Williams, and Stephen Rae star in this bittersweet tale of two grieving women connected by an accidental phone call. Connecticut mother Marilyn Vine (MacDowell) has always lived a charmed life, so when her adolescent son Dale suddenly dies while celebrating his fifteenth birthday the tragedy of her loss is almost too powerful to bear. 3000 miles away in Dublin, Ireland, Ria Lynch (Olivia Williams) finds her marriage to longtime husband Danny (Iain Glen) coming to an unexpected in when Danny reveals that he is divorcing her to set up home with his pregnant mistress Bernadette (Heike Makatsch). When fate delivers the telephone call that connects these two women, both at a crucial turning point in their lives, Marilyn and Ria both agree to a two-month house exchange that could provide them with the space and down time to move beyond the pain that threatens to consume them. As both women grow increasingly accustomed to their new environments, the kindness of strangers and opportunity for reflection provides them both with the courage to face their changed lives with a newfound sense of hope. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andie MacDowell, Olivia Williams, (more)
Set in a small fictional town in the U.S. during the 1930s, Lars von Trier's Dogville was filmed in a studio with a minimal set and features narration by John Hurt. On the run from a group of gangsters, Grace (Nicole Kidman) arrives in the small mining town of Dogville. Town philosopher Tom Edison (Paul Bettany) takes her in and strikes a deal with her: She'll work for the townsfolk in exchange for a safe place to hide; after two weeks the people will vote for her to either stay or go. Grace agrees to the terms and ends up meeting the locals, including the town doctor (Philip Baker Hall), shopkeeper (Lauren Bacall), and apple farmer (Stellan Skarsgård). Eventually, Grace's standing in the town takes a downward shift as the search for her intensifies. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicole Kidman, John Hurt, (more)
Based on the 1997 National Book Award-nominated novel of the same name by Diane Johnson (co-writer of the script for Stanley Kubrick's The Shining), Le Divorce is a romantic comedy from director James Ivory. Revisiting the "Americans in France" theme that Ivory explored in 1998's A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries, the film stars Kate Hudson as Isabel Walker. When she receives word that her pregnant poetess sister Roxy (Naomi Watts) has been left by her philandering French husband, artist Charles-Henri de Persand (Melvil Poupaud), Isabel offers her help and moral support. As the depressive Roxy struggles with the separation proceedings -- which include the rights to ownership of a work of art that's a family heirloom -- Isabel takes a job with author Olivia Pace and has a fling with the bohemian Yves (Romain Duris). But things get complicated when the younger, more impudent sister decides instead to pursue Charles' uncle, the snooty, married diplomat Edgar (Thierry Lhermitte), and when a mysterious man (Matthew Modine) starts stalking Roxy. Eventually, the rest of the plucky Walker clan has to come to the aid of the siblings. Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston co-star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kate Hudson, Naomi Watts, (more)
Oliver Megaton's action thriller Red Siren, an adaptation of Maurice G. Dantec's La Sirene Rouge, concerns the unusual friendship that develops between a 12-year-old girl, Alice (Alexandra Negrao) and a jaded, 40-year-old hired killer, Hugo (Jean-Marc Barr), who finds, in her, a new lease on life. A group of bad guys are hunting the girl because of her evil mother - relentlessly trying to track her down. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Marc Barr, Alexandra Negrao, (more)
Directed by actress Rosanna Arquette, this candid documentary is not only about the iconoclastic and somewhat reclusive film star Debra Winger (who does not even appear onscreen until an hour into the film), but also about the trials and tribulations of actresses in Hollywood who have reached "that certain age." In the course of her "search," Arquette interviews several of her colleagues, among them Whoopi Goldberg, Diane Lane, Teri Garr, Holly Hunter, Vanessa Redgrave, Charlotte Rampling, Meg Ryan, and Sharon Stone, all of whom have their own personal horror stories about insensitive producers and casting directors who tend to think of over-40 (and sometimes over-30) actresses as being suitable only for mother, "other woman," and "hero's girlfriend" roles -- when they bother to cast these actresses at all. The women also discuss the difficulties in balancing a successful career and a private life. Test-marketed on the film festival circuit throughout 2002, Searching for Debra Winger received its largest audience when it aired over the Showtime cable channel on August 18, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Arquette, Rosanna Arquette, (more)
- 2002
French Canadian actress and singer Carole Laure makes her directorial debut with the comedy drama Les Fils de Marie (Marie's Sons). Assisting cinematographer Pascal Arnold with writing, directing, and producing, Laure also assumes the lead role as Marie, a woman dealing with the death of her husband and teenage son in a car accident. In order to cope with her grief, she places an ad in the paper in search of a surrogate son who is in need of a mother. She offers care to the four motherless men who respond to her ad: performance artist Alex (Danny Gilmore), abused teenager Martin (Felix Lajeunesse-Guy), overweight recluse Victor (Daniel Desjardins), and married father Paul (Jean-Marc Barr). A co-production of France and Canada, Les Fils de Marie was shot on digital video and premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Laure, Jean-Marc Barr, (more)
- 2000
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Based on the novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, this film version of St. Ives is a romantic costume adventure set during the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The dashing Jacques St. Ives (Jean Marc Barr) is an officer in the French army who slips and literally falls into the hands of the British army. He is summarily locked up in a Scottish prison where he fortuitously gains the fancy of the young and beautiful Flora (Anna Friel). Flora and her aunt Miss Gilchrist (Miranda Richardson) help St. Ives escape in order to reunite him with the grandfather (Michael Gough) who thought St. Ives was killed years ago. But the celebration is cut short as St. Ives' embittered brother (Jason Isaacs) decides he doesn't wish to share his inheritance. The ensuing conflict produces numerous sword fights, a hot air balloon chase, adventures with warring armies, and a climactic wedding. ~ Jessica Frost, All Movie Guide
- 2000
In this metaphoric drama from French writer, director, and actor Jean-Marc Barr, Lyle ($Barr) is a farmer who lives in the rural Midwest with his wife Amy (Rosanna Arquette). Lyle's marriage to Amy is not an especially happy one; they never have sex, partly because she can't bear to betray the memory of her first husband, who has passed on, and partly because she is frightened by Lyle's unusually large penis. Lyle pursues celibacy with a grim determination until the day his childhood friend Vernon (Ian Vogt) comes to town for a visit with his wife, a beautiful French woman named Juliette (Elodie Bouchez). Vernon has been unable to satisfy Juliette sexually, and when she hears about Lyle's unusually proportioned body, she decides to seduce him. All is happy for Lyle and Juliette until word of their affair spreads through town, angering a group of vengeful fundamentalist Christians. While Barr and most of his creative team are from France, Too Much Flesh was shot in English on location in Illinois. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosanna Arquette, Élodie Bouchez, (more)
Reportedly the third in acclaimed director Lars von Trier's "Golden Hearts" trilogy (preceded by Breaking the Waves and The Idiots), this film is a hip reworking of the classic Hollywood Musical, starring international pop diva Bjork. Set somewhere in rural Washington state, Czech immigrant Selma (Bjork) works in a pressing plant, struggling to make ends meet for herself and her 10-year-old son, Gene (Vladica Kostic). Her best friend is coworker and fellow European Kathy (Catherine Deneuve). While outside work, she is maintaining a cautious friendship with local yokel Jeff (Peter Stormare). She also landed a starring role as Maria in an amateur production of The Sound of Music. Selma's life would be one of relative contentment if it were not for the ugly secret she harbors -- she is on the verge of blindness due to a genetic disorder, and her young son will suffer the same fate without an operation. Selma has quietly been stashing away money for the surgery and has already amassed $2,000. When her savings, squirreled away in a can in the kitchen, suddenly disappear, she confronts her cash-strapped landlord Bill (David Morse). Of course, like all musicals, the plot periodically takes a backseat to the seven production numbers, including a show-stopping sequence in Selma's factory. Shot entirely on digital video, the film reportedly used up to 100 cameras for each musical number. Dancer in the Dark received top prizes at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival including Best Actress for Bjork and the coveted Palme d'Or for Best Picture. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Björk, Catherine Deneuve, (more)
- 1999
- NR
Lovers is a love story which focuses on the difficulties of opening up to another person. Dragan (Sergej Trifunovic), a young painter from the former Yugoslavia, walks into a bookshop, and Jeanne, the woman behind the counter (Elodie Bouchez), decides to fall in love with him. The rest of the film is about the identity of Dragan and the Jeanne's worries about the relationship. Director Jean-Marc Barr, known as an actor from such films as The Big Blue, got initiated into the Dogma 95 film movement while acting in Lars von Trier's Europa. Lovers is the fifth film to carry the seal of Von Trier's Dogma manifesto, which mandates that films be made in a naturalistic manner, with hand-held camera, natural light, and no background music, among other restrictions; and it was the first one which was not made in Denmark. Despite its strict adherence to the Dogma rules, it is a Paris story reminiscent of the French New Wave. Lovers was screened at the 1999 Munich Film Festival. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Élodie Bouchez, Sergej Trifunovic, (more)
- 1998
Born in Dorsetshire, Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) fictionalized the region as Wessex in his short stories and novels. In 1973, stories from Thomas Hardy's collection Wessex Tales (1888) were adapted to television for a BBC-2 series (also titled Wessex Tales) that included a memorable contribution ("A Tragedy of Two Ambitions") scripted by acclaimed British dramatist Dennis Potter, who later adapted Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge for the BBC2 in 1978. The Scarlet Tunic is based on another story from Wessex Tales, "The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion," a 20-page tale of thwarted love, structured as a recollection by Phyllis as told to Hardy shortly before she died. For this $800,000-budgeted British period film, set in the early 19th century, the name Phyllis was changed to Frances (Emma Fielding), daughter of retired doctor Edward Groves (Jack Shepherd). Frances is engaged to her father's friend, dull Humphrey Gould (John Sessions), away on business. A German cavalry regiment is encamped on Groves' land, and one day, Frances meets handsome hussar Matthaus (Jean-Marc Barr), who's ready for action. He would like to either fight the French or return to Germany. The two have an immediate attraction. When the bored soldiers, including Matthaus, make plans to desert, Frances decides to leave with Matthaus. Unfortunately, Gould visits the Groves home on that very night, with resulting confrontations and conflicts. Former second-unit director and stunt coordinator Stuart St. Paul makes his feature directorial debut, with the screenplay (St. Paul, Mark Jenkins, Colin Clements) expanding on both the events and characters as penned by Hardy. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Marc Barr, Emma Fielding, (more)
- 1998
Jacques St. Ives (Jean Marc Barr) is a much-envied officer in Napoleon's army who requests a demotion in rank so as to avoid a number of duels from fellow officers, who may challenge only those of an equal rank. To his shock, Jacques is demoted to the rank of private by a furious commander and is sent to the front where, through a mishap, he is taken prisoner and sent to Scotland where the prison warden is a bored British officer, Major Farquar Chevening (Richard E. Grant). The major lusts for a local lovely, Flora (Anna Friel), but she lusts for Jacques; Flora's randy aunt Susan has eyes for the major, while Flora arranges an escape for Jacques with his long-lost grandfather, and the major takes lessons in womanizing from Jacques. In a nasty turn, St. Ives' bitter and violent brother (Jason Isaacs) plots to kill Jacques before he can assume their grandfather's inheritance. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
- 1998
In this erotic French-Italian-Spanish drama, Max (Georges Corraface), having spent a decade behind bars on a murder conviction, exits the prison a free man. Mysterious museum-worker Mila (Anna Galiena) is parked at the prison gate and speaks to him from her car. Mila is married to businessman Simon (Jean-Marc Barr), who doesn't satisfy her sexually. Later, when Max descends into a basement cafe to use the rest-room, he spots Mila at a pay phone, approaches her, and they have sex amid the rest-room urinals. Max gives her his phone number, and they rendezvous at an upscale hotel. When Max begins following Mila and spying on her, he makes a startling discovery -- her husband is his own brother. Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Georges Corraface, Jean-Marc Barr, (more)
- 1998
A young woman dies of a drug overdose when she takes the ecstasy pill at a party. At the morgue, her corpse is raped by the attendant, who is overwhelmed by the youth and beauty of her body. The repressive act of necrophilia changes into something else when the girl returns from the other world and instead of pressing charges, tries to get to know her "savior" better. The film is a commentary on contemporary times where it seems to be easier to have sex than to make love. All characters have problems in their relationships with others. Despite its subject, J'aimerais Pas Crever un Dimanche avoids being voyeuristic. Instead of the bodies, the camera chooses to linger on faces as if trying to decipher what the characters are thinking at that precise moment. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- 1998
Jerome Cormuau directed this French film (with French-English dialogue), a romantic comedy set in Los Angeles. After a dispute with his roommate, free-lance photojournalist Marc (Jean-Marc Barr) needs a place to stay and gets an invite from pal Victor (Philippe Duquesne). Victor's lover Alex (Frederic Bouraly) objects and concocts a scheme to get Marc to live with his friend Lisa (Ophelie Winter), who just threw her husband out of the house. Soured on straight men, Lisa wants company but prefers a homosexual roommate -- so Marc must pretend to be gay in order to move into Lisa's beachfront mansion. Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ophélie Winter, Jean-Marc Barr, (more)
- 1996
Few people realize that the great movie-character archetypes over time have become real people and walk among us. At least that is the premise the filmmakers of this off-beat and comical parody of old films would have viewers believe. With a nod towards film noir, the story centers on a missing television western sheriff who inexplicably disappears mid-season. This greatly upsets Monica "Mo" Fitzgerald who is in charge of the huge entertainment conglomerate that invented the sheriff, so she hires hard-boiled detective "Same Follow" to find him. In true Raymond Chandler fashion he begins his search and even gets entangled with a blond femme fatale who explains to him how Mo' has brainwashed all the actors working for her into becoming their characters or "sprites" as she calls them. In looking more closely, Follow discovers that it is increasingly difficult to tell the sprites from real people. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Marc Barr, Jean Yanne, (more)
