Clotilde Hesme Movies
- 2008
A filmmaker going though a midlife crisis stumbles into a new way of examining life in this comedy-drama from France. Bertrand (Mathieu Amalric) is a movie director who has lost touch with his muse and is desperate to come up with an idea for his next picture. While visiting a funeral home as he tries to brainstorm, Bertrand becomes stuck in a coffin and ends up spending the night trapped in a box. Shaken but strangely invigorated by the adventure, Bertrand realizes he needs new experiences and finds a good source for them when a chance meeting leads him to an urban commune known as the Kingdom. Led by Uma (Asia Argento), the young people who make up the Kingdom often dress in animal costumes and engage in unusual consciousness-expanding rituals. Fascinated by what he's found, Bertrand becomes a frequent visitor at the Kingdom, and while his girlfriend Louise (Clotilde Hesme) tries to encourage him in his self-exploration, she's frequently bemused by his methods. De La Guerre (aka On War) was screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight series at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mathieu Amalric, Asia Argento, (more)
- 2008
Jacques Maillot's psychological drama Les Liens du sang observes the tense and fragile days following a difficult reunion between two very different siblings. François (Guillaume Canet) is a police inspector who spent years forcibly estranged from his issue-laden brother Gabriel (François Cluzet), after a judge sentenced the latter to a decade in prison for murder. Gabriel's sudden release from prison ends the separation, and the men both instinctively make attempts to bury the past and help Gabriel reassimilate after years off the street. Their efforts prove feeble and ineffectual, however, as the past comes encroaching back and begins to plague both men. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guillaume Canet, François Cluzet, (more)
- 2007
- NR
Though Love Songs (aka Les Chansons d'Amour) is not a film operetta per se, director Christophe Honoré and composer/lyricist/vocalist Alex Beaupain use that film to pay homage to the French movie musical as conceived by Jacques Demy in his classic Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1967). The Honoré film concerns a series of hopelessly romantic Parisian characters who are unable to convey their feelings to one another in everyday situations, and who thus use musical numbers as outlets -- as vehicles of emotional expression. Beaupain composed the score; a number of the songs that are included appeared on one of his solo albums. The individual stories covered in the film tell age-worn tales as old as time: the loss of love, the discovery of new love, the impossibility of mutual love. The film stars Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroianni, Clotilde Hesme, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Brigitte Roüan, Jean-Marie Winling, and Yannick Renier. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, (more)
Quand Tu Descendras du Ciel director Eric Guirado follows up his feature filmmaking debut with this drama about a grocer's son who returns to the village where he was born in order to take over his father's business. Ten years ago, Antione (Nicolas Cazalé) left his family behind and moved to the big city. Now, after discovering that his father (Daniel Duval) has suffered a heart attack and that the family grocery store will soon be forced to shut down, Antoine heads back to the French mountain town at the behest of his brother François (Stéphan Guérin-Tillié). It seems that few folks save for his mother (Jeanne Goupil) are happy to see Antoine return, though the meandering 30-year-old has brought city friend Claire (Clotilde Hesme) along to keep him company during his stay in the country. Though it remains to be seen whether Antoine and Claire will ever become anything more than friends, the free-spirited sprite is more than happy to help out when it comes to making the rounds with the mobile store that services the local villages. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cazalé, Clotilde Hesme, (more)
Touted in many circles as a response to The Dreamers (2003) -- Bernardo Bertolucci's ode to Paris in May 1968 -- Philippe Garrel's Regular Lovers (aka Les Amants Réguliers) explores the same events cinematically but undertakes a wholly unique aesthetic and temporal approach. The director follows his central characters, a young man named François and his clique of friends, as they experience the aftermath of the events and grapple with their attempts to understand what has just occurred. Garrel's familiarity with The Dreamers came by default; his son, Louis, starred in that earlier work, and plays François in this film. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Garrel, Clotilde Hesme, (more)
