Vincent Lindon Movies

Two adults struggle to avoid letting their erotic passion for one another guide them into infidelity in this subtly erotic, understated chamber drama from France. Vincent Lindon stars as Jean, a burly blue-collar mason who lives semi-contentedly with his wife, Anne-Marie (Aure Atika), and son, Jérémy (Arthur Le Houérou), in some unspecified provincial French town. Little passion exists in Jean's life -- until his path crisscrosses with that of Véronique Chambon (Sandrine Kiberlain), his son's violin teacher. Completely taken with the woman's cultural sophistication (manifested through her love of classical music) and intellectualism, Jean begins contemplating an affair with this virtual stranger, and offers to repair one of her windows as an excuse to be more proximate to her. Ultimately, suspense begins to build as the question lingers of whether the two will give in to their desires. Stéphane Brizé directed and authored the script, an adaptation of Eric Holder's novel. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

With a loving, stable marriage of many years, a devoted son named Oscar (Lancelot Roch) and a quiet life in suburban France, life feels supremely happy for French couple Julien (Vincent Lindon) and Lisa (Diane Kruger). The household is shaken to its core, then, when an unthinkable series of events befalls the family: the police suddenly turn up and inexplicably arrest Lisa for a murder of which she appears to have no knowledge. She receives a sentence of twenty years in prison, but Julien remains convinced of her innocence - and unwilling to endure the time it will take to sort through French bureaucracy and obtain an appeal. Reeling in turmoil, Julien grows so distraught that he resorts to a desperate plan of action by deciding to spring Lisa from confinement. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Like the American pictures Magnolia and Happy Endings, French helmer Nicole Garcia's ensemble drama Charlie Says interweaves a tapestry of mordant and miserable existences. Garcia zeroes in on six vice-ridden Gallic men, all generally average and unremarkable individuals, and several at the midpoints of their sorry lives. The characters include: Mathieu (Patrick Pineau), an artic researcher returning to the town where he grew up to host an important conference; Adrien (Arnaud Valois), a national celebrity notorious for losing a tennis match, who must now resume formal court training; small-town mayor Jean-Louis Bertagnat (Jean-Pierre Bacri) , who prepares to honor Mathieu at a town ceremony and bides his off time in a stormy extramarital affair with landscape gardener Severine (Sophie Cattani); ex-con Joss (Benoit Pooleverde), a man attempting to survive parole without drifting back into crime; pool worker Serge Torres (Vincent Lindon) , a husband and father who flirts dangerously with married Finnish co-worker Nora (Minna Haapkyla); and Serge's son, the Charlie of the title (Ferdinand Martin) who has Nora's husband as a teacher but consents to ably assisting his father in the execution of an affair with Nora by falsely indicating his father's whereabouts to his mother. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

French filmmaker Pierre Jolivet directs the offbeat comedy Filles Uniques (Sole Sisters). Upper-class attorney Carole (Sandrine Kiberlain) meets working-class Tina (Sylvie Testud), who has been arrested twice for shoplifting expensive shoes. The two women start up an unlikely friendship after Tina proves herself particularly valuable to a certain case. Carole then takes her on board for another case involving corrupt casino player Mermot (Francois Berleand) and local cop (Roschdy Zem). Filmed on-location in Paris and Annecy, Sole Sisters was screened at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Paris resident Laure (Valerie Lemercier) has just finished packing her belongings in preparation for moving in with her lover, though she is oblivious to her apparent jitters at doing so. As she leaves her apartment for the night to join a pair of friends for dinner, Laure gets held up in traffic, due to a crippling public transportation strike. As she waits in her car, she finds a sense of serenity in the midst of all the chaos and begins to watch a number of people as they work their way through the congestion. One man in particular attracts her attention, as he also seems to be calmly regarding the traffic jam and its participants. The man, Jean (Vincent Lindon), gets into Laure's car and transports her down a number of side streets and away from all the confusion -- as both the strangers begin to feel an attraction toward one another. Director Claire Denis' Vendredi Soir was selected to compete in a number of film festivals in 2002, including the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

In this satirical comedy drama from France, white-collar workaholic Paul (Vincent Lindon) and his high-strung wife Helene (Catherine Frot) are driving to a party one evening when a young woman leaps into the path of their car, crying for help. Paul refuses to let her into the car, and soon several men catch up with the woman and begin beating her savagely. Paul insists on staying out of the matter, but Helene feels some sense of responsibility for what happened, and begins spending most of her time at the hospital where the woman remains unconscious. In time, it's determined that the woman's name is Noémie (Rachida Brakni), she's 22 years old, and works as a prostitute. By this time, Helene has become obsessed with protecting Noémie, and when a strange man (Wojtek Pszoniak) attempts to sign her out of the hospital, claiming he's her uncle, Helene sneaks Noémie out posing as a nurse and takes her to her mother-in-law's country house to recover. Eventually, Noémie is well enough to tell her harrowing story -- she was brought to France from Algeria by her father, along with her sister, and fell into life as a streetwalker shortly after learning that her family had sold her hand in marriage her to a man back in Algeria. Director Coline Serreau shot Chaos using digital video equipment -- and was impressed enough with the experience that she announced she had no interest in shooting on 35 mm film ever again. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This anthology feature is comprised of 12 short stories, written by students between the ages of 16 and 26, which were filmed for broadcast on French television by a team of well-known directors. Each of the stories takes a different look at the problems of racism in contemporary society; "Les Vigneron Francais," for example, concerns Samir (Roschdy Zem), an Arabic man working as a telephone salesman for a French wine company who is compelled to use a French name and conceal his true identity because his boss believes Arabs generally know little about wine. In "Cyrano," a girl from an upper-class family makes a surprising discovery about her secret admirer. "Poitiers, Voiture 11" follows a short-tempered man (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) who manages to say exactly the wrong things as he finds himself crowded into a railroad compartment with a large family from Africa. "Maman, Regarde!" follows a little boy who, while shopping with his mother, loudly points out the presence of a black customer in the store. A boy from Africa wonders what challenges he'll have to face as he travels to France for the first time in "Lettre a Abou." And the title segment finds an elderly immigrant and his grandson receiving rude treatment in a public place; the boy is certain they should demand an apology, while the older man is reluctant to make waves. After finding an appreciative audience on French television, the Pas D'Histoires! shorts were collected into a feature that earned a theatrical release in England as well as France. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An honest man finds himself involved in an insurance fraud scheme -- but with the best of intentions -- in this French comedy. Ivan (Vincent Lindon) runs a woodworking shop founded by his grandfather. With a handful of employees and a devoted clientele, his business is doing well and Ivan takes genuine pride in its success. One day, Ivan and his employees return from lunch to discover their building is burning down. While Ivan is not happy, he's secure in the knowledge that his insurance will pay his damages and keep him afloat. Or at least that's what he thinks: it turns out that Maxime (Francois Berleand), Ivan's insurance agent, worked out a scheme where he could file policies with an insurance company retroactively and pocket the rest of the premiums. However, Maxime's partner in this scheme has taken a powder, so he comes up with an idea: Maxime, Ivan, and Sami (Roschdy Zem), who lives with Ivan's former wife, will break into the insurance company's office, tap into their computer system, and enter the policy that Ivan thought would be there all along. If this plan succeeds, Ivan can stay in business (good news for Ivan) and continue to pay alimony and child support (good news for Sami), while Maxime can avoid going to jail (good news for Maxime). If they fail, of course, they'll all go to jail, which is bad news for everyone. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Alain Berberian directed this French comedy about night watchman Franck (Patrick Timsit), who skips out on work to attend a soccer match. He sits next to a TV star who's photographed. The photo makes the cover of a national magazine, prompting Franck's boss to fire him. He can't bring himself to tell his beautician wife Evelyne (Catherine Frot), but he asks for compensation from the magazine. Franck becomes friends with paparazzo Michel (Vincent Lindon) without learning that it was Michel who got him fired. The film's commentary on paparazzi and privacy surfaces: Michel discovers he can't seem to get rid of the nerdy Franck, who constantly follows him about. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Parisienne mother Mathilde (Sandrine Kiberlain), who shares a large apartment with her surgeon husband Nico (Vincent Lindon), sometimes works at the legal business run by her mother (Francine Berge). With a stagnant sex life, the bored Mathilde prowls department stores to steal toys for her son. At a party with Nico, she realizes she's being watched by a doctor (Francois Berleand), and she spots him on the metro the following day. He tells her he's a psychiatrist, and they have their first session in a deserted restaurant. While the doctor's cure does appear to work for Mathilde, there's a trade-off: Nico's behavior becomes increasingly abnormal. This film has no connection to the earlier (1927, 1937) Hollywood films with the same title. Shown at the Venice and Toronto film festivals. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Usury is a serious problem in mid-'90s Italy, a country torn by the realities of a long-term economic recession and the people's desires for material prosperity. Unforutnately, with the closure of many Italian banks and the lack of available credit, these things are hard to come by legally, so many, especially businessmen, turn to loan sharks. According to surveys, over %65 of the nation's businesses have involvement with violent loan sharks who like their seafaring cousins will patiently circle the rickety financial lifeboats of their prey until the right moment and then rush in for the kill. This allegorical crime drama from Italian filmmaker Ricky Tognazzi chronicles the complex psychological relationship between one such loan shark and his prey, an old friend from college. Francesco (the intended victim) runs a failing construction company owned by his dying father-in-law who went deeply in debt trying to keep the firm afloat. Outwardly, Sergio is an upstanding financial advisor who knew Francesco a decade before when they were both wild college boys. Sergio learns of Francesco's plight via a helpful banker and as soon as the father-in-law dies sends Claudio (his thug) to visit the bereaved family. Saying he represents the wealthy Signora Sauro (Sergio's secret lover and accomplice) Claudio offers to make a substantial loan to Francisco who accepts. Soon Sergio is back in Francesco's life. He has set his sights on his old friend's beautiful wife Miriam and becomes obsessed with bedding her. At the same time Claudio, whom Francesco doesn't realize is in cahoots with Sergio, begins threatening him for the money. Fortunately Sergio is there to 'save' Francesco from what he doesn't realize is the inevitable destruction of his business. At least that was Sergio's plan. Unfortunately, as ruthless and shrewd as he is, he does not count on the inconsistency of his accomplices. He also underestimates his victims and that proves for him, a terrible mistake. The film is also known as Un Homme Honnete. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

As part of an intergalactic coalition, a well-meaning space alien volunteers to bring a message of self-actualization and harmony with nature to the one planet rejected by all her peers as incorrigible--Earth. This family-oriented French sci-fi comedy chronicles her adventures on the chaotic planet. Mila is 150 years old and has five children; encoded in her brain are two telepathic programs designed to restructure the thinking of destructive humans. The first is a fairly mild program designed to inspire the humans to rethink their world and begin asking some difficult questions. The other is far stronger and rapidly indoctrinates subjects with lofty utopian ideals and makes them deeply aware of themselves. Mila lands in Paris and is unnoticed but for the sudden, inexplicable power surges and outages that occur whenever she sends a telepathic message to her alien cohorts. Instead of eating, Mila draws energy from holding newborn babies. It is while holding an orphan infant in an obstetrics ward that her Earthly troubles begin. Feeling deeply for the baby's plight, she confronts the ward's head doctor and when logic fails, looses her programs upon him. Instantly the unsympathetic brute sees the light and begins helping her save the babe from wicked welfare workers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi