Xavier Maly Movies

Audrey Tautou, who rose to international stardom with the title role in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's worldwide smash Amélie, reunites with the director for this drama, set during the darkest days of World War I and its immediate aftermath. Mathilde (Tautou) is a pretty but frail young women who was left with a bad leg after a childhood bout with polio. Mathilde lives in a small French village with her Aunt Bénédicte (Chantal Neuwirth) and Uncle Sylvain (Dominique Pinon), and is engaged to marry Manech (Gaspard Ulliel), the son of a lighthouse keeper who is fighting with the army near the German front. Manech is one of five soldiers who have been accused of injuring themselves in order to be sent home; in order to discourage similar behavior among their comrades, Manech and the other soldiers are sentenced to death, and the condemned men are marched into the no man's land between the French and German lines, where they are certain to be killed. Mathilde receives word of Manech's death, but in her heart she believes that if the man she loved had been killed, she would know it and feel it. Convinced he's still alive somewhere, Mathilde hires a private detective (Ticky Holgado) shortly after the end of the war, and together they set out to find the missing Manech. Jodie Foster appears in a supporting role as a Polish expatriate living in France. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Jacques Rivette directed this richly detailed six-hour drama based on the story of Joan of Arc. In Part one, "Les Batailles," Jeanne the Maid (Sandrine Bonnaire) leaves her childhood home in Domremy after hearing what she is sure was the voice of God. She believes that she can help lead France to victory on the battlefield, and she persuades Charles, dauphin of France (Andre Marcon) to allow her to guide his troops. Part two, "Les Prisons," concerns the sad aftermath of Jeanne's defeat at Orleans. Jeanne is sent to prison, where in two separate trials she is tried for heresy and impersonating a man, with both her life and the sanctity of her mortal body at stake. A four-hour version, with each of the two parts trimmed down to two hours, is also available. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

When a screenwriter gets involved on a film project with his producer friend, he is seduced by the director's adolescent sister--even though his agent has repeatedly warned him to try to keep a distance from the two. Soon he finds that the girl has been manipulating everyone around her and when she winds up missing, the writer is left to try to figure out what has happened. This psychological/sexual drama features actors Jeff Goldblum, Daniel Ceccaldi, Dexter Fletcher, Liza Walker and Miranda Richardson. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a remake of the 1964 film farce Bedtime Story. Steve Martin and Michael Caine take over the roles originally played by Marlon Brando and David Niven: two international con artists, plying their trade on gullible wealthy women up and down the Riviera. Martin and Caine vie over the honor of fleecing ingenuous heiress Glenne Headly (in a role originated by Shirley Jones). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This melodramatic, clichéd story loosely based on a true, 1983 racially-motivated murder, starts with three men arrested for disorderly conduct at a dance. After they are released, they take a train trip, vent their continuing anger on a young Arab, and kill the man by forcing him out of a window on the speeding train. Their crime is witnessed by Isabelle (Christine Pascal) and reported to the police, enabling commissioner Couturier (Roger Hanin) to find the killers. The major problem now is to prevent a race riot when right-wing extremists falsely accuse some Arabs of reprehensible actions and the townspeople gather to demonstrate at the prison. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide