Thibault Vinçon Movies
- 2008
Two women are caught in a rivalry over the love of a child in this period drama, loosely adapted from a short story by Gustave Flaubert. Felicite (Sandrine Bonnaire) is a passionate woman eager to find love, and when her ardor scares off her boyfriend Theodore (Pascal Elbe), she takes a job as a domestic, working for wealthy Madame Aubain (Marina Fois). Aubain is a frail and troubled woman raising two children, Paul (Antoine Olivera) and Clemence (Melissa Dima); Felicite develops a close bond with the children, who in turn show her the sort of unconditional affection she's always longed for. Aubain, however, becomes deeply jealous of Felicite's warm relationship with the youngsters, and insists on criticizing her in their presence. Aubain, who is romantically involved with the children's music teacher (Thibault Vincon), finally decides to cut off the friendship between Felicite and teenaged Clemence (Marthe Guerin) by sending her daughter away to a private boarding school. Clemence's absence is a heavy blow to Felicite, and while she tries to fill the hole in her life by looking after her nephew, she never fully recovers from the loss. Un Coeur Simple (aka A Simple Heart) was the first feature film from director Marion Lane, who previously distinguished herself as an actress. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandrine Bonnaire, Marina Fois, (more)
- 2007
A novelist, an actress, and a struggling young singer all attempt to make their mark in modern day Paris in director Marc Fitoussi's cynical entertainment industry satire. Bertrand (Denis Podalydes) is a French literary professor whose students all know that he is shacked up with pretty math teacher Solange (Valerie Benguigui) despite the couple's best efforts to keep their relationship under the radar. Though no one in the school much cares for Bertrand's prose, self-flagellating student Frederic (Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet) is the one notable exception. Meanwhile, as Bertrand struggles to deliver his second novel, recent big city arrival Cora (Emilie Dequenne) finds that her fondness for outmoded songwriters may be having an adverse effect on her career trajectory. While Cora struggles to make ends meet by working at a popular chain steakhouse, even this attempt to remain afloat ultimately proves disastrous. Somewhere in another part of town, embittered actress Alice (Sandrine Kiberlain) resents the fact that she is consistently passed over for "real" film roles after accepting work as an anime voiceover artist. Yet despite the fact that Alice resents her drama school classmate Annabella (Camille Japy) due to the latter's success on the legit stage, Annabella has her own problems as evidenced by her troubled relationships with her nephew and sister. Later, the engineer for Alice's dubbing session eventually works up the muster to speak her mind, and Cora begins to sense that her luck is finally turning after a chance encounter with veteran songwriter Joseph Costals (Jean-Pierre Kalfon). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandrine Kiberlain, Émilie Dequenne, (more)
French writer/director Emmanuel Bourdieu's intense, cerebral drama Poison Friends dissects the internal politics (and eviscerates the pretentiousness) of French academic circles played out on a collegiate campus. Three first-year graduate literature students at the Sorbonne, Alexandre Pariente (Alexandre Steiger), Eloi (Malik Zidi), and Edouard (Thomas Blanchard) fall under the spell of a more vain and self-superior fellow student, André (Thibault Vinçon). André is handsome, intelligent, suave, and an intellectual vulture, and his reputation in the eyes of coeds and faculty is soon so elevated that he wields the power to tell everyone what to do, how to think, and in which direction to carry their lives. Ultimately, the question arises of whether he is truly as perfect as he seems; then André unexpectedly takes off for America, leaving everyone in his wake. Jacques Bonnaffé, Dominique Blanc, and Françoise Girard co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thibault Vinçon, Malik Zidi, (more)
Rodolphe Marcnoi's The Last Day concerns the troubled history of a family. Eighteen-year-old Simon (Gaspard Ulliel) meets the attractive 17-year-old Louise (Melanie Laurent) while he travels on a train to spend Christmas with his family. She joins him on his visit home. Simon's mother, Marie (Nicole Garcia), is happy to see her son, but dad (Christophe Malavoy) loves to complain and harass his family, and sister Alice (Alysson Paradis) competes fiercely with her brother. The family mistakenly believes that Simon and Louise are intimately involved with each other. Eventually, their interactions reveal buried truths about various members of the family. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gaspard Ulliel, Nicole Garcia, (more)
