Celine Sallette Movies
- 2008
A man is shot dead, but is the woman with the gun really the killer? That's the all-important question in this thriller from France. Henri Pages (Pierre Arditi) is a successful politician who with his wife Elaine (Miou-Miou) has invited an eclectic group of guests to their country home for a weekend get-together. Joining Henri and Elaine are Pierre Collier (Lambert Wilson), a prominent psychoanalyst; his unhappy wife Claire (Anne Consigny); Pierre's lover Esther (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), an artist; Lea (Caterina Murino), an exhibitionistic actress who was once involved with Pierre; Philippe (Mathieu Demy), a straight-laced writer; and Marthe (Celine Sallette), a beautiful woman given to severe mood swings. Henri has a large collection of guns, and while Pierre is enjoying a swim, he's shot to death with one of the rare firearms. While Claire is holding the murder weapon when the body is found, police detective Lieutenant Grange (Maurice Benichou) isn't so certain he has an open and shut case on his hands, and begins looking into the many people who have a reason for wanting Pierre out of the picture. Grange's investigation becomes even more challenging when Lea makes it clear she's sexually attracted to him. Le Grand Alibi (aka The Great Alibi) was adapted from the novel The Hollow, a Hercule Poirot mystery by Agatha Christie. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miou-Miou, Lambert Wilson, (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)
Writer and director Sofia Coppola puts a new spin on the life and times of one of Europe's most infamous monarchs in this lavish historical drama which fuses a contemporary sensibility with painstaking recreations of the look of the 18th century. Born to Austrian nobility, Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) is only 14 years old when she's pledged to marry Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman), the 15-year-old king of France, in an alliance that has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with love. Sent to France and literally stripped of her former life, Marie weds Louis, but to the consternation of the royal court, he seems either unwilling or unable to consummate the marriage while their advisors clamor for an heir to the throne. Young and more than a bit out of step with the new life that's been thrust upon her, Marie gives herself over to the pleasures of life in Versailles, knowing and caring little of the political intrigue that surrounds her. In time, Marie's trusted older brother, Joseph (Danny Huston), is brought in to coach Louis on the finer points of marital relations, and before long the couple is finally blessed with a child. However, as Marie tends to her children in the gilded cage of her palace and enjoys an affair with a Swedish nobleman, political power plays are throwing France into chaos, and the growing ranks of the poor rebel against the royals and their life of privilege. Also starring Rip Torn, Judy Davis, Steve Coogan, and Asia Argento, Marie Antoinette was given a controversial reception when it premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, (more)
