Annelise Hesme
A fresh-faced orphan from the provinces labors away at the last old-fashioned café on Avenue Montaigne as the Paris theater elite prepare for the biggest night of the year in Jet Lag director Danièle Thompson's whirlwind comedy of intersecting lives. Jessica (Cécile De France) may have been orphaned at the tender age of four, but her doting grandmother (Suzanne Flon) did her best to bring the motherless girl up right. A one-time ladies' room attendant at The Ritz, Jessica's grandmother was a woman well known for her extraordinary taste. Upon arriving in Paris to work as a waitress at a modest café nestled between a renowned concert hall, a venerable theater, and a high-profile auction house, Jessica soon finds herself interacting with a curious cross section of the thriving entertainment industry. As rehearsals for the upcoming shows get under way and Jessica is assigned the task of delivering food to the hardworking actors and low-earning stagehands, she soon discovers that even the most famous of people are often forced to make difficult decisions in life.
Jean-François Lefort (Albert Dupontel) is a classical pianist whose devoted wife has him booked at venues across Europe for the next six years. As the free-spirited musician struggles to eschew the formality of his upcoming concert appearance, self-made businessman Jacques Grumberg (Claude Brasseur) takes time out from his May-December romance and his stressful medical treatment in order to auction off a collection that he has been building his entire life and reach out to his estranged intellectual son, Frédéric (Christopher Thompson). Meanwhile, back on the theater front, popular television actress Catherine Versen (Valérie Lemercier) prepares to star in a farcical play, a famous American film director (Sydney Pollack) begins auditioning actors for an upcoming film about Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, and a cheerful concierge on the verge of retirement (Dani) enjoys her final stint rubbing elbows with the biggest and brightest stars in Paris. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Jean-François Lefort (Albert Dupontel) is a classical pianist whose devoted wife has him booked at venues across Europe for the next six years. As the free-spirited musician struggles to eschew the formality of his upcoming concert appearance, self-made businessman Jacques Grumberg (Claude Brasseur) takes time out from his May-December romance and his stressful medical treatment in order to auction off a collection that he has been building his entire life and reach out to his estranged intellectual son, Frédéric (Christopher Thompson). Meanwhile, back on the theater front, popular television actress Catherine Versen (Valérie Lemercier) prepares to star in a farcical play, a famous American film director (Sydney Pollack) begins auditioning actors for an upcoming film about Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, and a cheerful concierge on the verge of retirement (Dani) enjoys her final stint rubbing elbows with the biggest and brightest stars in Paris. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cécile De France, Valérie Lemercier, (more)
A woman who has never had much trouble choosing between love or money tries to teach a man the tricks of the trade in this sly romantic comedy. Irène (Audrey Tautou) is an attractive thirtysomething woman who lives a comfortable life by taking up with older and very wealthy men. Irène is serving as arm candy for Jacques (Vernon Dobtcheff), who is twice her age and quite rich; Jacques takes Irène on a vacation to a resort in the French Riviera for her birthday, where she meets Jean (Gad Elmaleh), a handsome bartender at the hotel who works a variety of odd jobs to keep himself afloat. While Jacques spends Irène's birthday sound asleep, she ends up enjoying a romantic evening with Jean, until she discovers he's broke. A year later, Jacques and Irène return to the resort, and Jean discovers he still carries a torch for her. Irène is not so interested until Jacques decides he's had enough of her and breaks off their relationship; suddenly forced to fend for herself, Irène turns to Jean for help. Jean, meanwhile, has learned that Madeleine (Marie-Christine Adam), a handsome and very well-to-do widow in her sixties, has her eye on him and wishes to make Jean her kept man. Jean asks Irène to give him a crash course in the fine art of being a gigolo, while Irène tries to get back in the game by taking up with Gilles (Jacques Spiesser). Slowly but surely, Irène and Jean realize how much they care for one another, but can they get learn to live the good life without money? ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh, (more)
- 2006
An alien race attempting to gain a greater understanding of mankind focus their studies on a temperamental painter and a brooding musician in speculative sci-fi author-turned-filmmaker Bernard Werber's ambitious sci-fi mockumentary. Fascinated by the human creature and determined to gain a greater understanding of their life cycle, curious extraterrestrials plant hidden cameras all throughout modern-day Paris. The discoveries they make are sometimes poignant, and sometimes hilarious. In order to truly understand how the human mind works, however, the aliens will need to procure two test subjects - one of each gender. Placed together in a clear plastic cage suspended in darkness, Agathe (Audrey Dana) rails against her captivity as dejected Bertrand (Boris Ventura) exhibits a more subdued malaise. One by one, a serious of everyday objects are added to the cage so that the interstellar observers may take note of how each item is used by the humans. Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, Agathe and Bertrand's spouses make a connection as curious aliens observe quietly from afar. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audrey Dana, Annelise Hesme, (more)
The fourth film to chronicle the life of fourth-century B.C. ruler Alexander the Great, Oliver Stone's Alexander stars Colin Farrell as the titular Macedonian conqueror. The film follows the young king as he leads his forces on a bloody empirical conquest across the known world, taking large parts of Asia and the Middle East to amass a giant empire, all by the time he turned 25. Anthony Hopkins co-stars as Ptolemy I along with Rosario Dawson as Roxane, Angelina Jolie as Olympias, Jared Leto as Hephaistion, Val Kilmer as King Philip II, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Cassander. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, (more)
