Martine Chevallier Movies
Years after her once-promising career as a professional pianist is tragically sidelined, a young musician still haunted by the past receives a second chance at making things right in director Denis Dercourt's elegant tale of shattered dreams and delicate mutual dependence. Upon performing for the examination board in order to gain entrance into the prestigious musical Conservatory, young pianist Mélanie (Julie Richalet) finds her concentration shattered when the chairwoman of the jury - herself a famous concert pianist - carelessly signs an autograph for a fan. Her endless hours of rigorous training suddenly rendered useless by the pass of a pen, Mélanie remains unable to regain her composure after the incident and subsequently gives up music altogether after failing to pass the test. Years later, Mélanie is a file clerk at a well-renowned law firm whose skills soon catch the eye of senior partner M. Fouchécourt (Pascal Greggory). Impressed by her solid work ethic and unwavering dependability, Fouchécourt hires Mélanie as a live-in nanny whose duty it will be to watch over his son during an extended business trip. Upon arriving at Fouchécourt's lavish countryside mansion, Mélanie makes the acquaintance of Mme. Fouchécourt (Catherine Frot) - the very same pianist whose thoughtless action sent Mélanie's life into an irreversible downward spiral. It seems that now the tables have turned, and Mme. Fouchécourt herself has lost the confidence to perform. Her frazzled nerves somehow calmed by the presence of the quiet new helper, Mme. Fouchécourt implores Mélanie to sit in on her recitals and become her personal page turner as she attempts to overcome her debilitating fear of failure. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Frot, Déborah François, (more)
When her wealthy parents are suddenly motivated to take an overtly political stance as massive political and economical change sweeps through France, the daughter of a wealthy Spanish lawyer and a successful French journalist attempts to make sense of her once-stable world as everything she thought she ever knew is turned upside down.
Anna (Nina Kervel) is a nine-year-old Catholic schoolgirl who excels in catechism class and knows how to hold a knife and fork while cutting her fruit. Her father, Fernando (Stefano Accorsi), comes from a prominent Spanish family and her mother, Marie (Julie Depardieu), is a well-known writer for a popular French women's magazine. Also sharing the family's sprawling home is Anna's younger brother, François (Benjamin Feuillet). When the increasing militancy of Fernando's communist sister begins to pose a threat to the family, the concerned brother stealthily travels to Spain and successfully smuggles his sister back into France. Fully indoctrinated in the belief that all communists are bad, Anna struggles to understand why, after returning from a trip to Latin America, her parents seem to have developed a strong social conscience. Meanwhile, as the thunderous footsteps of eager revolutionaries begin to echo through the hallways and mom begins to prepare a book protesting the illegality of abortion, Anna does her best to adapt to the strange new environment. The fiction feature debut of filmmaker Julie Gavras (daughter of celebrated filmmaker Costa), Blame It on Fidel! playfully covers the year in which the death of Charles De Gaulle, the election of Salvador Allende, and a landmark petition signed by 300 French women admitting to undergoing illegal abortions altered the way many Europeans viewed the world. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Anna (Nina Kervel) is a nine-year-old Catholic schoolgirl who excels in catechism class and knows how to hold a knife and fork while cutting her fruit. Her father, Fernando (Stefano Accorsi), comes from a prominent Spanish family and her mother, Marie (Julie Depardieu), is a well-known writer for a popular French women's magazine. Also sharing the family's sprawling home is Anna's younger brother, François (Benjamin Feuillet). When the increasing militancy of Fernando's communist sister begins to pose a threat to the family, the concerned brother stealthily travels to Spain and successfully smuggles his sister back into France. Fully indoctrinated in the belief that all communists are bad, Anna struggles to understand why, after returning from a trip to Latin America, her parents seem to have developed a strong social conscience. Meanwhile, as the thunderous footsteps of eager revolutionaries begin to echo through the hallways and mom begins to prepare a book protesting the illegality of abortion, Anna does her best to adapt to the strange new environment. The fiction feature debut of filmmaker Julie Gavras (daughter of celebrated filmmaker Costa), Blame It on Fidel! playfully covers the year in which the death of Charles De Gaulle, the election of Salvador Allende, and a landmark petition signed by 300 French women admitting to undergoing illegal abortions altered the way many Europeans viewed the world. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nina Kervel, Julie Depardieu, (more)
- 2006
Roschdy Zem and Cecile de France star as a Muslim Arab and a Jewish woman who find their four-year love affair put to the ultimate test in director/co-writer Zem's 21st Century take on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Ishmael (Zem) is a music instructor at a Paris conservatory. His widowed mother still lives in the housing project in which her son was raised, and his Jewish best friend is the proprietor of a popular independent record store. Clara (France) is a physical therapist who specializes in helping motor-impaired children and whose retired parents live with her single sister in the family's comfortable suburban home. Secular thirty-somethings who never put much credence in adhering to their respective faiths, Ishmael and Clara have remained together for four fun-filled years without incidence. When Clara discovers that she has become pregnant with Ishmael's child, however, the couple's carefree romance threatens to grow complicated as their ethnic backgrounds bleed into the forefront of their consciences and they struggle with how to reveal the development to their traditional-minded parents. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roschdy Zem, Cécile De France, (more)
- 2006
Jointly written by an eight-member French comedy troupe called Les Quiches (Alexandre Brik, Vanessa Pivain, Deborah Saiag, Benoit Petre, Mayane Delem, Mika Tard, Morgan Perez and Isabelle Vitari) and co-directed by four of the eight (Petre, Saiag, Tard and Vitari), Foon is a kitschy, campy Euro musical comedy that sends up contemporary American high school life. The creative team authored the script in a deliriously silly cross-pollenization of French and English ("Franglais") that yields expressions from 'Si vous please' to 'Thank you beaucoup.' The action at the heart of the story centers around the revered prom -- an event that functions as the battleground for a classical rivalry between the in-crowd (called "Foons" as an amalgam of "Fun" and 'Cool") and the dorks. Foon also satirizes numerous motion pictures, with satirical references to films such as Carrie, What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, and the Zapruder footage of the Kennedy assassination. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alexandre Brik, Mayane Delem, (more)
