Emmanuelle Béart Movies
Initially cast for her extraordinary beauty, Emmanuelle Béart has emerged over the years as one of France's preeminent actresses. The blonde, sapphire-eyed Béart first gained notice for her starring role in Manon des Sources, for which she won a Best Supporting Actress César, and went on to gain further respect with her roles in such films as La belle noiseuse, Un Coeur en Hiver, and Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud.The daughter of pop singer and poet Guy Béart, Béart was born on August 14, 1965 in the small southern town of Gassin, near St. Tropez. Following her parents' divorce when she was very young, Béart and her siblings were raised by her mother in a small mountain village in Provence. Béart began acting at a young age and had her first substantial role as one of a group of children struggling to survive after a nuclear holocaust in Demain les Momes (1976). A subsequent stint as an au pair in Montreal led to a chance meeting with director Robert Altman, who wanted the unknown actress to appear in one of his upcoming films and encouraged her to continue acting. The planned collaboration never came to fruition, and, after returning to France, where she began taking drama classes, Béart won her breakthrough role as the vengeful daughter of the late Jean de Florette in Manon des Sources (1986). Following the film's success and her César win, she sought to avoid typecasting, taking on a number of diverse roles in films of varying quality. In 1989, she played a drug addict in Les Enfants du Desordre, while two years later she gained some of her strongest notices as an artist's model in Jacques Rivette's La belle noiseuse.
The following year, Béart starred in what many felt was her strongest film since Manon, Un Coeur en Hiver. She portrayed a high-strung violinist, starring alongside Daniel Auteuil, with whom she starred in Manon and with whom she had been involved with since the mid-1980s; they had a daughter together in 1992 and separated after ten years together. It was her last highly acclaimed film until 1995, when she starred with Michel Serrault in Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud, playing a dissatisfied young woman who gets caught up in psychological turmoil when she begins working for an emotionally repressed businessman. That same year, she starred with Auteuil in Regis Wargnier's Une Femme Française, in a role written for her by Wargnier. The film, which cast Béart as a passionate woman caught up in a series of love affairs, was not the success it was expected to be, although Béart did win a Best Actress award at the Moscow International Film Festival. Following a window-dressing role in Mission Impossible (1996), her second English language feature, Béart again dedicated herself to making French films. In 1999, she starred in Le Temps retrouvé, Raul Ruiz's acclaimed period drama inspired by the works of Marcel Proust. The film was screened in competition at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival.
In addition to her screen work, Béart is also known in France for her political and social involvement. Aside from being the ambassador for UNICEF, she has made news for her opposition to anti-immigration legislation, making headlines in August 1996 when she was forcibly removed from a siege in a Paris church. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 2007
A movie fan finds a way to make himself a presence in the lives of his favorite actresses in this comedy from French writer-director Laetitia Colombani. Robert Lepage (Kad Merad) is a janitor who is part of the cleaning crew at the offices of the biggest talent agency in Paris. Ordinarily, this job wouldn't offer many perks, but Robert is clever enough to know what to look for while he's vacuuming or emptying waste baskets, and he's able to swipe invitations to major events and pencil himself onto guest lists for show-biz soirees. Robert's longtime girlfriend (Maria de Medeiros) doesn't think much of his double life, but he's having enough fun that he starts adding his own thoughts to paperwork at the office, and begins using his skills to boost the careers of his favorite stars -- classy veteran actress Solange Duvivier (Catherine Deneuve), sultry siren Isabelle Serena (Emmanuelle Beart) and promising starlet Violette Duval (Melanie Bernier). Thanks to Robert's meddling, Solange, Isabelle and Violette are cast together in a big-budget costume epic, but when he becomes a regular visitor to the set, the actresses begin wondering among themselves who he is and how he became such a big shot. Mes Stars Et Moi (aka My Stars) received its North American premiere at the 2008 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Béart, (more)
- 2006
The devastated life of a man haunted by the unsolved murder of his beloved wife is strangely complicated by the mysterious neighbor who loves him from afar in a dark noir thriller directed by Manuel Pradal and starring Norman Reedus, Emmanuelle Béart and Harvey Keitel. Vincent (Reedus)' wife has suffered a most brutal fate, and these days the once happy New Yorker is but a frozen shell of his former self. Vincent is not a man unloved, however, because although he may currently be unaware of her feelings for him, his neighbor Alice (Béart) knows in her heart that she and Vincent were meant to be together. All that needs to happen to make Vincent recognize her love is for the grieving widower to finally be liberated from his tragic past; and Alice is willing to go to any lengths necessary in order to make this happen. If Vincent was finally to find the man responsible for his wife's death, he could finally be free to open his heart to Alice. When Alice hails a cab driven by lonely New York soul Roger (Keitel), the gears of the scheming woman's elaborate plan are slowly set into motion despite the ignorance of both the naïve cabbie, and the somber object of her delusional affections. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Emmanuelle Béart, (more)
- 2006
A down-and-out sleight-of-hand artist tries to pull off the trick of a lifetime by keeping a decaying cabaret in business in this comedy-drama with music from director Thierry Klifa. Gabriel Stern (Claude Brasseur) has spent over four decades running the Blue Parrot, a Parisian nightclub where he regularly appeared in a drag act as "Gabriella." One evening, a weary Gabriel asks his friend and confidante Nicky (Gerard Lanvin), a magician who regularly appears on the Blue Parrot's stage, to finish closing up the club so he can go home. Nicky agrees, and the next morning he gets the sad news that Gabriel died in his sleep. Gabriel's son and daughter, both in their thirties, come to Paris to handle the funeral details -- Nino (Michael Cohen), a gay accountant who brings along his younger lover (Pierrick Lilliu), and Marianne (Geraldine Pailhas), who edits a well-known magazine for women. Also on hand are Simone (Miou-Miou), Gabriel's ex-wife, Marianne's mother and Nicky's former co-star; Alice (Catherine Deneuve), another of Gabiriel's exes who's also Nino's mom; and a number of the regular performers at the club. When Gabriel's will is read, to the surprise of many the ownership of the Blue Parrot is handed over to Nino and Marianne; the two have no interest in running a nightspot and announce the place is up for sale. Nicky wants to keep the Blue Parrot open, but doesn't have the money to buy the club, even though Gabriel's ghost frequently visits him, imploring him to find a way to prevent it from closing. Le Heros de la Famille (aka Family Hero also stars Emmanuelle Beart and Valerie Lemercier as members of the club's stable of regular performers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Lanvin, Catherine Deneuve, (more)
- 2005
Director Danis Tanovic picks up where the late-Krzysztof Kieslowski left off by taking on the second installment of Kieslowski's "Heaven," "Hell," and "Purgatory" trilogy (the first was adapted by Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer) with this tale of a family whose dark past returns with a vengeance. Loosely modeled by screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz on the second act of Dante's Inferno, Hell tells the story of sisters Sophie (Emmanuelle Béart), Céline (Karin Viard), and Anne (Marie Gillain), whose lives were turned upside down when their father was imprisoned and their mother was rendered a wheelchair-bound mute. As the estranged sisters are slowly brought back together by a mysterious and handsome stranger who is somehow involved with the tragic events of the past, the questions that had for years gone unanswered slowly begin to drift into focus. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Béart, Karin Viard, (more)
A middle-aged woman fears that her husband is cheating on her -- and chooses a very unlikely method for verifying her paranoia -- in this psychological drama from the writer of Une Liaison Pornographique. Catherine (Fanny Ardant) is a successful Parisian gynecologist whose long-term marriage to Bernard (Gérard Depardieu) has been passionless as of late. When she checks his cell phone messages one afternoon, she discovers a suggestive "thank you" from a young colleague of his, which creates an even wider chasm between the two. Desperate, Catherine goes to an upscale strip club nearby to solicit the services of Nathalie (Emmanuelle Béart), a matter-of-fact prostitute. It seems Catherine wants Nathalie to seduce Bernard and report back to her each week, an assignment that's initially off-putting to the young woman, but one she begins to relish as the weeks pass. Soon, Nathalie is using intimate details to fuel Catherine's rage toward her husband. Nathalie... had its gala North American premiere at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart, (more)
A woman struggles to trust a man who has become her protector and benefactor in this French drama set during World War II. In 1940, as German troops invade France, Odile (Emmanuelle Béart), a woman who has recently lost her husband, is desperate to get her two children, Philippe (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet) and Cathy (Clémence Meyer), away from the fighting by heading south, though the roads are choked with others eager to do the same. When the road Odile is traveling is strafed by German bombs, she and her children abandon their car and take to the woods, where they are soon joined by Yvan (Gaspard Ulliel), a headstrong teenager who is also fleeing the advancing Nazi forces. Odile isn't certain the hot-headed young man is such a good traveling companion, but Philippe wants him around to help protect the family from the Germans, and he gives him his late father's watch as an inducement to stick around. Late one night, in need of rest, Yvan finds a huge abandoned house, and he and Odile quickly take it over. The house seems to be a safe haven, and the four travelers decide to stay for a while. Philippe finds a role model in Yvan, and lonely Odile finds herself drawn to him, though, with the passage of time, she becomes eager to learn more about his past, which he hesitates to discuss. Strayed (aka Les Égarés) was adapted from the novel The Boy With Grey Eyes by Gilles Perrault. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Béart, Gaspard Ulliel, (more)
Jacques Rivette's Histoire de Marie et Julien (The Story of Marie and Julien) stars Emmanuelle Béart and Jerzy Radziwilowicz as a pair of ex-lovers who get back together after their lives change. Julien (Radziwilowicz) is a clock repairman whose girlfriend has left him. Marie (Béart) is a mysterious woman who does not bleed after being cut. Her boyfriend has died. Marie and Julien had once engaged in an affair when they were each involved with other people, and now that they have no emotional entanglements, they slowly begin a new relationship. This film started decades before as a project in Rivette's "Scenes From a Parallel Life" series and abandons the majority of the formal rules imposed by the filmmaker on the other films in the cycle. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Béart, Jerzy Radziwilowicz, (more)
Friendship turns to love, and unrequited love leads to a dangerous obsession in this moody drama. Nathalie (Emmanuelle Beart) and Louise (Pascale Bussieres) grew up together and had been close friends since childhood, but while both were studying drama in their early twenties, their friendship went through an abrupt shift -- while beautiful Nathalie enjoyed flirting with the men in her classes, Louise's interest in her best friend turned into infatuation, and when Nathalie indulged herself in a brief fling with a young actor, Louise was overcome with anger and jealousy and tried to kill herself. Nathalie was told by Louise's family that she didn't want to see her any more, and a decade passed before their paths would cross again. Louise is now married to a man named Nicolas (Sami Bouajila), and one night they go to the theater to see a touring production of a new play. To her surprise, Louise discovers the female lead is played by Nathalie; after the show, she slips backstage to say hello, and soon finds that she's as strongly attracted to Nathalie as ever -- and that Nathalie is involved with Matthias (Dani Levy), the gifted but difficult playwright who wrote and directed the production. Leaving Nicolas behind, Louise follows Nathalie to Denmark, and is able to pull a few strings to get Nathalie an audition with Walter Amar (Jean-Pierre Kalfon), a well-known and well-respected theatrical director. Nathalie soon leaves Matthias' show to star in Amar's new production of Lulu, and Louise volunteers to help Nathalie as she prepares for the role. Nathalie appreciates Louise's support and friendship, but she soon begins to chafe under Louise's obsessive attention, and she wonders if history might be repeating itself. La Repetition was shown in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, with writer and director Catherine Corsini earning a nomination for the coveted Golden Palm award. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Béart, Pascale Bussières, (more)
Acclaimed French filmmaker Olivier Assayas follows up on the international success of Fin Août, Début Septembre and Irma Vep with this sweeping adaptation of the sprawling three-volume tome by Jacques Chardonne. Set in three chapters spanning from the beginning of the 1900s to after WWI, the first section takes place in the fictional village of Barbazac, located in the Cognac region. Protestant pastor Jean Barnery (Charles Berling) learns of his wife Nathalie's (Isabelle Huppert) infidelity from the village grapevine and sends his daughter away. At the same time, 20-year-old Pauline (Emmanuelle Beart) returns to the village after the death of her father. Pauline and Jean are almost immediately attracted to each other when they first meet at a ball. Soon Jean installs Nathalie and their daughter in an apartment, files for divorce, and resigns as minister. The second chapter opens with Pauline visiting Jean, who is bedridden in a Parisian hotel from tuberculosis. Upon his recovery, they marry and live for a spell in Switzerland, until Jean's family entreat him to return to Limoges and take over the floundering family porcelain business. The final chapter opens with bombs of WWI: Jean is sent to the front, while Pauline works as a nurse. When the war finally draws to a close, Jean struggles to keep the business afloat. He raises the ire of his workers and stockholders alike by freezing wages and slashing dividends, but his fastidious attention to detail soon makes his company the finest producer of porcelain in Europe. Yet as the economic climate of the continent slowly worsens, so does his business -- and his health. This film was first screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Béart, Charles Berling, (more)
Noted French screenwriter Daniele Thompson makes her directorial debut with this lighthearted romantic comedy. After the December 21st funeral of Yvette's (Francoise Fabian) second husband, she is consoled by the three daughters from her first marriage to Stanislas (Claude Rich), a Russian-Jewish violinist. The oldest, Lorba (Sabine Azema), lives with her father and makes a living by singing ballads in a Russian cabaret, Sonia (Emmanuelle Beart) is a fastidious middle-class housewife, and Yvette's youngest, Milla (Charlotte Gainsbourg), is a go-getting businesswoman. As Christmas celebrations gather steam, Louba learns that at age 42, she is unexpectedly pregnant by Gilbert, her married lover of 12 years. Meanwhile, Sonia develops a habit of taking five-finger discounts while shopping, and Milla takes up with a mysterious drifter who lives as a boarder in Stanislas' house. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Rich, Françoise Fabian, (more)
Actor Jacques Weber made his directorial debut with this film adaptation of Don Juan written in 1665 by Moliere (1622-1673). In early 17th-century Spain, two women (Penelope Cruz, Ariadne Gil) believe Don Juan (Weber) when he promises marriage to both, but they soon are left to ponder his whereabouts. However, the brothers of Elvire (Emmanuelle Beart), also abandoned by Don Juan, are out for revenge. Musical interludes (a cappella chorales, guitar) are by Bruno Coulais. After Moliere faced clerical opposition to Tartuffe (1664), it was banned, and he then wrote Don Juan, also subjected to continual attacks. For more on Moliere and Don Juan, go to the summary of Frederick Wiseman's La Comedie Francaise ou L'amour Joue (1996). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Weber, Michel Boujenah, (more)
- 1998
Yves Angelo directed this slow-paced French drama adapted from the novel by Steinunn Sigurdardottir about two sisters -- high school literature instructor Alda (Emmanuelle Beart) and her older sister Olga (Sandrine Bonnaire). On an island, the sisters and Olga's 17-year-old daughter Sigga (Vahina Giocante) live in a former rectory adjacent to a cemetery where an old woman (Bulle Ogier) talks to herself. After school, while Sigga does her homework, the enigmatic Alda engages in some extracurricular exercises with married men (with Olga sometimes eavesdropping just outside her door). Polite shopkeeper Jakob (Andre Dussollier) makes visits to collect the variety of straw animals made by Olga. Time passes slowly as long-buried secrets are unearthed, but the pace picks up during a fantasy sequence. The dialogue-sparse film features a clip from Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). Shown at 1998 film fests (Venice, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Béart, Sandrine Bonnaire, (more)
- 1995
One woman's conflicting emotions and the whims of fate prevent her from being faithful to the man she loves in this drama. In 1939, Jeanne (Emmanuelle Beart) marries Louis (Daniel Auteuil) shortly before he is called to duty during World War II. Jeanne does not deal well with loneliness, and she takes many lovers after Louis is declared Missing In Action. In 1944, Jeanne receives word that Louis is alive, incarcerated in a P.O.W. camp. When Louis is released and returns home, he learns of her scandalous behavior; he forgives her for her infidelities and offers to give her freedom, but Jeanne chooses to remain in the marriage. Several months later, Jeanne gives birth to twins; while Louis is not convinced that he's the father, he loyally accepts them as his own. Louis takes his wife and children to Berlin, where to his disappointment, Jeanne becomes smitten with Mathias (Gabriel Barylli), a successful businessman. Before long, Louis is once again sent into battle, this time in Indochina. Jeanne returns to France, and Mathias opts to go with her; both Louis and Mathias remain faithful to Jeanne, and when Louis is made a military attaché to Damascus, Mathias once again follows her. Une Femme Francaise) reunited Emmanuelle Beart and Daniel Auteuil, who previously co-starred in the acclaimed French drama Un Coeur en Hiver. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Béart, Daniel Auteuil, (more)
Almost a follow-up to director Claude Sautet's Un Coeur en Hiver (1992), Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud further explores repressed emotions and failed relationships. Nelly (Emmanuelle Béart), an attractive young woman, is six months behind in her rent and struggling with odd jobs, while her husband (Charles Berling) lies in bed reading newspapers and watching TV. Her friend Jacqueline introduces her to Pierre Arnaud (Michel Serrault), a retired judge and wealthy ex-businessman, who offers to settle Nelly's debt. She agrees and is later so disappointed by her husband's indifferent reaction that she leaves him. Arnaud asks her to be his secretary because he needs help in typing his memoirs. Though obviously attracted to her, he rarely expresses his emotions, and he suddenly erupts only when he finds out about Nelly's affair with his young publisher Vincent (Jean-Hugues Anglade). The film won Césars from the French Academy of Cinema for Best Director and Best Actor, although it lost Best Film to Mathieu Kassovitz's more innovative La haine. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Béart, Michel Serrault, (more)
This French drama about the relationship between an insanely jealous man and his wife took 30 years to make. Since its inception by the late director Henri-Georges Clouzot the film was plagued with bad luck. He began filming it in 1964. There are only two characters in the film and on the third day of shooting the female lead became gravely ill. Later during rehearsals with a new actress, the director had a heart attack. Though he lived until 1977, he never got around to finishing it. The script was passed on to producer Marin Karmitz by Clouzot's widow. Paul wanted to buy the beautiful resort hotel he worked at for 15 years. His happy and spirited wife Nelly goes along with it. She is already a mother and contented with her life. Paul, who incurred tremendous debts to get the hotel, is not so happy. He is stressed to the breaking point. After he suspects his wife of philandering he slowly goes insane. He also begins increasing his consumption of alcohol and sleeping pills. Their lives become a living hell. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Béart, François Cluzet, (more)
- 1993
In this drama, filmed in a series of vignettes, a diverse cast of characters tries to pick up the pieces of their lives after Paul's ladyfriend commits suicide. Not only that, but Paul (Michel Piccoli) must cope with having four house guests, including an infant baby, the infant's recently separated mother, another child of hers, and an immature young woman who is the girlfriend of a rock band's lead singer. Their complex and demanding lives add to the distressed man's difficulty in coping with his bereavement and at the same time help pull him through it. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emmanuelle Béart, Michel Piccoli, (more)
Daniel Auteuil and Emmanuelle Béart from Manon of the Spring (1986) co-star once again in Un Coeur en Hiver, playing characters whose distance from each others' lives belies the enormous emotional impact they have on one another. Directed by Claude Sautet, whose 40-year career included the Oscar-winning César et Rosalie (1972), Un Coeur en Hiver is a remarkably restrained film with torrents of feeling just under the surface. Auteuil plays Stephane, partner in an exclusive violin brokerage. His older business partner Maxime (Andre Dussolier) has a lovely new violinist girlfriend, Camille (Béart), who stirs Stephane but is ultimately rejected by him, sending all three characters into a spin that destroys their delicate, symbiotic balance. Hovering over this story is an unusual musical motif that is key to the characters' inner motivations. Violins play, and play on camera, all through the film, but the nature of Stephane's craft, Camille's career, and Maxime's profits is that the music can always be refined, tinkered with, changed with a twist of this or a bit of that. That's precisely how they conduct their relationships and lives -- with a fragile sense of security and no idea when to stop manipulating life for effect. ~ Tom Keogh, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Auteuil, Emmanuelle Béart, (more)
- 1991
In this fascinating and unconventional examination of the creative process, an artist near the end of his career finds new inspiration in a young model. Edouard Frenhofer (Michel Piccoli) is a famous and well-respected artist who lives in a comfortable estate in the French countryside. At the age of 60, Frenhofer considers his career as a painter to be over; he says he no longer feels any inspiration to create, and his last attempt at a major work, a nude study of his wife Liz (Jane Birkin) called "La Belle Noiseuse" (The Beautiful Nuisance), has sat unfinished for ten years. Just as Frenhofer has lost his enthusiasm for his art, he has also lost his passion for Liz; their relationship is polite and friendly, but without enthusiasm. When Frenhofer tells Nicolas (David Bursztein), his young protégé, that he no longer feels the desire to paint, Nicolas suggests that he needs a more inspiring subject, and he offers his girlfriend Marianne (Emmanuelle Béart) as a model. Frenhofer is taken with Marianne's beauty, and, with Liz's cool approval, he and Marianne spend several arduous sessions together, exchanging ideas and opinions as Frenhofer methodically attempts to create a final masterpiece. While La Belle Noiseuse runs 240 minutes, director Jacques Rivette also prepared an alternate version, La Belle Noiseuse -- Divertimento, which runs 120 minutes, features a different framing sequence, and incorporates takes unused in the original cut. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Emmanuelle Béart, (more)
In this fascinating and unconventional examination of the creative process, an artist near the end of his career finds new inspiration in a young model. Edouard Frenhofer (Michel Piccoli) is a famous and well-respected artist who lives in a comfortable estate in the French countryside. At the age of 60, Frenhofer considers his career as a painter to be over; he says he no longer feels any inspiration to create, and his last attempt at a major work, a nude study of his wife Liz (Jane Birkin) called "La Belle Noiseuse" (The Beautiful Nuisance), has sat unfinished for ten years. Just as Frenhofer has lost his enthusiasm for his art, he has also lost his passion for Liz; their relationship is polite and friendly, but without enthusiasm. When Frenhofer tells Nicolas (David Bursztein), his young protégé, that he no longer feels the desire to paint, Nicolas suggests that he needs a more inspiring subject, and he offers his girlfriend Marianne (Emmanuelle Béart) as a model. Frenhofer is taken with Marianne's beauty, and, with Liz's cool approval, he and Marianne spend several arduous sessions together, exchanging ideas and opinions as Frenhofer methodically attempts to create a final masterpiece. While La Belle Noiseuse runs 240 minutes, director Jacques Rivette also prepared an alternate version, La Belle Noiseuse - Divertimento, which runs 120 minutes, features a different framing sequence, and incorporates takes unused in the original cut. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Emmanuelle Béart, (more)
- 1991
Amnesty International produced this film, which features more than two dozen greats of French cinema making pleas for the lives of political prisoners around the world. Each filmmaker speaks passionately on behalf of an individual whose life has been warped by political intolerance, imprisonment, torture or murder, as the lives of those prisoners or sufferers are documented onscreen. A variety of directors contributed shorts with this theme, and the ways in which the appeals are dramatized differ markedly from one to the next. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Philippe Noiret, (more)
- 1991
Young, naive and innocent, Pierre (Manuel Blanc) has dreams of becoming an actor. He is a good-looking and personable boy, and he has just moved to the city to see if he can't accomplish his dreams. He gets a job as an orderly at a hospital and is further supported by an older woman (Helene Vincent), a nurse he has met there, in return for his sexual favors. However, in his acting class, he quickly discovers that he is not overflowing with talent, and his dream of becoming an actor grows dim. Instead, despite the advice of a knowledgeable and worldly older gay man (Philippe Noiret), he becomes a sex worker. It has long been a staple of the movies that certain hustlers and prostitutes maintain a distinction between their work and their lives by not kissing their clients, hence the title of this film, J'embrasse Pas. He grows to love the seedy, degraded lifestyle, and seems to be adapting well to his new profession until he has the poor judgement to fall in love with a high-class prostitute (Emmanuelle Béart) and earns the antagonism of her pimp. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Manuel Blanc, Hélène Vincent, (more)
- 1990
Serafina, Pulcinella and Isabella are three lusty, beautiful members of a traveling theatrical troupe touring the French countryside in the 17th century, leaving in their wake a crop of broken hearts. This picaresque romantic comedy is based on the 1863 novel Le Capitaine Fracasse by Theophile Gauthier. In the story, the company stops at a castle owned by the scruffy young Baron de Sigognac (Vincent Perez), who is deeply smitten with the charms of the middle-aged (and somewhat morose) beauty Serafina (Ornella Muti). He decides to travel with the company, and Serafina perversely tries to get him to woo the youngest of the company, the newly bereaved Isabella (Emmanuelle Béart). When the company plays before a group of noblemen, the three women make yet more conquests, a few of them unwelcome, and a series of competitions and duels for the hearts of the lovely ladies follows, before everyone settles down with the "right" person. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Massimo Troisi, Ornella Muti, (more)
