Laura Morante Movies

An unusually wise twelve year old boy attempts to save his mother's failing love life by setting her up with his handsome music teacher in director Claudio Antonioni's entry into the 2007 Montreal World Film Festival. Raul is a precocious adolescent who lives with his mother Monica - a singer in an eccentric orchestra called Orfeo that was founded by Monica's father. Lately, Monica's love life is in shambles, and this fact hasn't gone unnoticed by Raul. In attending his mother's performances, Raul concludes that she has a bad habit of pursuing relationships with the wrong kind of men. Convinced that his mother could be happy if she only found a mate who would properly care for her, Raul does his best to play matchmaker by introducing her to his music teacher Medri. Later, when the relationship takes an unexpected turn, Raul learns a valuable lesson in love that will no doubt remain with him well into adulthood. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A fresh-faced orphan from the provinces labors away at the last old-fashioned café on Avenue Montaigne as the Paris theater elite prepare for the biggest night of the year in Jet Lag director Danièle Thompson's whirlwind comedy of intersecting lives. Jessica (Cécile De France) may have been orphaned at the tender age of four, but her doting grandmother (Suzanne Flon) did her best to bring the motherless girl up right. A one-time ladies' room attendant at The Ritz, Jessica's grandmother was a woman well known for her extraordinary taste. Upon arriving in Paris to work as a waitress at a modest café nestled between a renowned concert hall, a venerable theater, and a high-profile auction house, Jessica soon finds herself interacting with a curious cross section of the thriving entertainment industry. As rehearsals for the upcoming shows get under way and Jessica is assigned the task of delivering food to the hardworking actors and low-earning stagehands, she soon discovers that even the most famous of people are often forced to make difficult decisions in life.

Jean-François Lefort (Albert Dupontel) is a classical pianist whose devoted wife has him booked at venues across Europe for the next six years. As the free-spirited musician struggles to eschew the formality of his upcoming concert appearance, self-made businessman Jacques Grumberg (Claude Brasseur) takes time out from his May-December romance and his stressful medical treatment in order to auction off a collection that he has been building his entire life and reach out to his estranged intellectual son, Frédéric (Christopher Thompson). Meanwhile, back on the theater front, popular television actress Catherine Versen (Valérie Lemercier) prepares to star in a farcical play, a famous American film director (Sydney Pollack) begins auditioning actors for an upcoming film about Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, and a cheerful concierge on the verge of retirement (Dani) enjoys her final stint rubbing elbows with the biggest and brightest stars in Paris. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

When the wife of a high-ranking government official begins experiencing chilling visions that are somehow tied to a series of murders around Paris, her fate becomes intricately tied with that of the two police officers investigating the gruesome crimes in this horror-flavored thriller from the producer of The Professional and starring Jean Reno. Anna Heymes' (Arly Jover) memory is failing, and her dreams are plagued by unspeakable images of murder. Meanwhile, in the Turkish district of Paris, upstanding police officer Nerteaux (Jocelyn Quivrin) and his questionably motivated partner, Schiffer (Reno), investigate the savage murder of three clandestine Turkish laborers. As the investigating officers uncover an important clue implicating the Turkish mafia in the crimes, Anna awakens to discover that her appearance has been drastically altered by a mysterious plastic surgeon. As the link between Anna and the Turkish murder victims slowly comes into focus, the truth about her nightmarish past sets into motion a terrifying sequence of events. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Italian director Michele Placido explores the legendary -- yet brief -- affair that occurred between writers Dino Campana and Sibilla Aleramo in the early part of the 20th century in his 2002 romantic drama, A Journey of Love. Early Italian feminist Sibilla Aleramo (played by Laura Morante) endured a forced marriage to an abusive husband due to an unexpected pregnancy at the age of 16. Eventually, she left her husband -- only to also lose all contact with her son due to her husband's spitefulness. These formative years enabled Sibilla to develop a literary voice, as she moved from city to city and began building a reputation not only as a fine writer, but also as a prodigious lover. At the age of 40, Sibilla met the somewhat younger and certainly more unconventional Dino Campana (Stefano Accorsi) and the duo embarked on a notoriously self-destructive and intense two year affair. A Journey of Love was an official competing selection in the 2002 Venice Film Festival and won Accorsi the Volpi Cup from the Festival Jury for Best Male Actor. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

A woman finds herself wondering if the support of her friends is helping or hindering her progress as a writer in this comedy-drama from Italy. Mara (Laura Morante) is an actress in her late thirties who has broken up with her boyfriend, a film producer (Vanni Corbellini), just as she's trying to complete a screenplay for a film festival, with her deadline only a week away. As Mara tries to find the right tone for her story, she finds herself inundated with visits from her friends, many of whom have problems of their own -- chatty Monica (Monica Scattini), newlywed Tazi (Naike Rivelli), and stable Very (Maddalena Crippa). Before long, the stories of their lives find their way into Mara's project. Film was the directorial debut from Laura Betti, who is well known as an actress in her native Italy. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Claudio Fragasso directed this Italian thriller in which a former French secret service agent (top Israeli male model Raz Degan) recruits newlyweds to become assassins. After Carla (Laura Morante), married to Domenico (Thomas Kretschmann), kills several people, neighbor Dario (TV-star Raoul Bova) recognizes her, taps the couple's phone, and secretly videotapes their crimes. When Dario's wife Luciana (Francesca Schiavo) helps him collect evidence on the killer couple, the excitement jolts their sex life up a few notches. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Much like Alcatraz, Santo Stefano is a fortress-like Mediterranean penitentiary closed by the Italian government in the mid-'60s. The prison, named for the small island where it's located in the Tyrrhenian Sea, provides the setting for the directorial debut of screenwriter Angelo Pasquini. Antonio (Andrea De Rosa), the pre-teen son of prison director Bruno D'Assisi (Claudio Bigagli), attends the prison school although his mother (Laura Morante) is back on the mainland. Antonio becomes friends with Nicola (Claudio Amendola), an inmate who has the trust of director D'Assisi. Campaigning in the Church and press for prison reform, D'Assisi attempts to upgrade the atmosphere in the prison by creating a sense of community and trust. However, escalating right-wing reactions build into a backlash against his methods. After a mainland visit, D'Assisi finds the evil Ardito (Antonio Petrocelli) and a brutal bunch of guards have replaced his more trusted guards. The character of D'Assisi is loosely based on the humane activities of the chief who headed the prison between 1952 and 1960. Shown at the 1997 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Two disparate Italian families battle it out on a remote island during summer vacation in this barbed social comedy that sharply comments on the yawning chasm created by ideological and political differences between liberal-but-narrow-minded intellectual elitists and ultra-conservative, ignorant masses. The story's battleground is set upon the island of Ventotene and on either side are adjacent cabins. In one stays the intellectually arrogant Sandro Molino. He brings with him his girl friend Cecilia, her baby, and her father. Cecilia is constantly insecure about her relationship with Sandro while papa Mauro, a failed thespian, fights his ever-encroaching depression. The Molino camp and its many followers spend their days playing music, sipping wine, smoking hashish, grooving on nature and engaging in endless conversations until the prominent Roman gun merchant Ruggero Mazzalupi and his boisterous family show up and spoil everything. The riotous Mazzalupis are as vulgar as the Molinos are tragically hip. The real conflict begins when Sandro threatens to turn Ruggero in for abusing a Senegalese servant. Chaos between the clans erupt, but amidst the cafuffle, two teens still manage to fall in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

What there is of a plot in this drama serves mainly as a vehicle for the exploration of character. In the story, Michel (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) is a recent widower. As the story opens, he and his friend Andre (Philippe Nahon) are sharing a drink on Christmas Eve. He takes a yellow scarf from a woman he knows (Laura Morante) and teasingly refuses to return it. Throughout the remainder of the film, the scarf reappears, as does the woman, until they wind up in bed together at the end of the film. Before that happens, Michel wanders around Paris, viewing the festivities with a jaundiced eye which serves to heighten the unattractiveness of those he observes. Later he has dinner with a group at Andre's house, and his poor opinion of human nature is amply supported by the events that occur then. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Lorraine and Gille are sharing a romantic dinner at a cafe in Rome while they celebrate their relationship with a vacation to that historic city. Gille is suddenly still, as he hears a voice out of sight that sounds familiar. Eventually he places it: it is the voice of his former flame Laura, a married woman he had a particularly wild affair with years ago. Rather than turn around and confirm that it is really her, instead he tells Lorraine all about that earlier romance, much to her discomfort. All the action in this film takes place in "real" time at the restaurant in question. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Dario (Diego Abatantuono) is a lively, loyal friend, and a good trouper who can recover cheerfully from even the worst onstage disasters. He needs to be, because he is constantly onstage with his best friend Federico (Fabrizio Bentivoglio), who is a barely adequate actor. In everyday life, Federico somewhat timid and unassertive. It's too bad that Dario is having an affair with Federico's wife, but in every other regard, Dario works hard to look after his friend while they are on tour together, playing shows in one small town after another. When Federico discovers the ruse, at first he is hurt, but in the end, both men have become disgusted with Federico's wife's inability to choose between them. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide