Lio

When a suicidal nurse living in a nondescript town near the French-Swiss border walks into the woods with the intention of taking her own life, a surprise turn of events forces her to connect with the surrounding community in a way she could have never imagined. Frederique Bornoz (Isild Le Besco) is a quiet loner who never got along with her father (Philippe Villeumier) and takes great caution not to get emotionally involved with her patients at the hospital in which she works. Upon informing her ex-boyfriend Andre (Christophe Sermet) that she will soon be leaving town and has no plans of ever returning, Fred is crushed to learn that the man she still loves has already started dating again. Later, after entering into an impulsive ménage a trios with a pair of male friends, the one-time junior rifle champ loads her trusty firearm and walks into the woods and prepares to take her own life. Fred's suicidal plans are soon interrupted, however, when the despondent young woman spies two young boys tussling in the trees. Instinctively raising her rifle and getting a beat on the boys, Fred fires a single bullet that grazes one of the boys and destroys the knee of the other before fleeing the scene having failed to fulfill her mortal mission. When one of the boys, an sullen fourteen year-old named Marco (Steven De Almeida), is admitted to the Fred's hospital ward, the pair enter into a complex relationship in which Fred's dark secret casts a long shadow over every conversation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This French ensemble comedy, is set in a small town where Gabrielle, a beautiful doctor's wife and mother of three prepares to play Elvira in a local production of Don Juan. The trouble begins when she finds herself sexually attracted to the town's womanizing hairdresser Serge, who plays the sexy don. When not rehearsing, he shamelessly flirts with Gabrielle, and she, so tired of playing second fiddle to her husband's busy career, does nothing to stop him. She even begins toying with the notion of a real affair. Gabrielle's thoughts are no secret from her perceptive children who decide that drastic measures are in order and so poison the pig's head pate that Serge is supposed to eat during the play. Things do not go as planned and comical mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ismael ( Karra Elejalde) is a thief who, as this thriller opens, is robbing the home of a woman painter. When she unexpectedly returns while he is riffling through her possessions, he kills her without a second thought. At some point as he is escaping the scene, however, he discovers that the painter's daughter has witnessed the whole thing. Ten years later, he spies a young woman (Ana Alvarez) on the streets and feels certain that this is the one woman who could put him into prison. He kidnaps her, only to discover that she is permanently crazed, and has no capacity for doing much. Nonetheless, he keeps her tied up in a bed upstairs, much to the irritation of his girlfriend (Lio), who soon takes matters into her own hands. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Pierre and his wife Anne had a good thing going together, until their son Nicolas was born. Anne traveled with him on all his long truck journeys, and they had frequent and passionate sex. For quite a few years now, Anne has stayed at home to take care of their boy, who is a sickly, weedy little fellow. Pierre is frustrated. Anne is frustrated too but has her almost incestuous feeling for her son to torment her. Even little Nicolas is frustrated, in part due to the knowledge that his father feels that the sacrifice he and his mother made in raising him hasn't been worth the effort. He too has some release in the form of a good relationship with his gigantic dog. When the seething passions of these four discontented mammals reach a crisis point, the result (in this film) is exceedingly ironic. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

French director Claude Lelouch, of Man and a Woman fame, called the shots on Itineraire D'un Enfant Gate. Jean-Paul Belmondo (who co-produced the film) stars as a powerful international businessman who, in his youth, had been a carnival performer. Once more bitten by wanderlust, Sam Lion (Belmondo) tries to escape his responsibilities by staging his own death. Hiding out in Tanzania, Lion meets Abert Duvivier (Richard Anconina), one of his own employees. Duvivier, informing Lion that the business has gone to hell in a handbasket thanks to the mismanagement of Lion's daughter Victoria (Marie-Sophie Lelouch), begs the executive to return. The literal translation of the film's title is Itinerary of a Spoiled Child. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This light romantic comedy is set up as a film-within-a-film, and features Francois Cluzet as Ferdinand, a screenwriter and director who has been in the business since he debuted as a child actor. (The same can be said of this film's director and co-scripter, Didier Haudepin). Ferdinand is working on a play about a young actor and his problems, but at the same time, he is trying to iron out his own problems. His beloved Elsa (Christine Pascal) has just left him and he cannot stop himself from writing a subplot dealing with his troubled romantic life. This sets off his producer, and so Ferdinand had better come up with a solution to his plot and his personal life soon. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide