Magali Noël Movies

Maverick auteur Andrzej Zulawski directs this flamboyant adaptation of classic French novel La Princesse de Cleves, complete with dirt bike races, hot sex, and naked hockey players. Talented Canadian photographer Clelia (Sophie Marceau) lands a financially lucrative job in Paris at a rumor-mongering tabloid called La Verite run by Rupert MacRoi (Michel Subor). Though she finds most of her coworkers to be disillusioned and perverse, she happens upon Cleve (Pascal Greggory), a bumbling middle-aged children's book publisher. Cleve is days away from marrying MacRoi's daughter to bolster his flagging publishing house. Nonetheless, Clelia and Cleve retire to his office to make love almost immediately upon meeting. Though MacRoi has already bought his company, Cleve breaks off his wedding plans and proposes to Clelia. Enter Nemo (Guillaume Canet), a sexy young photographer who promptly propositions her upon their first encounter. In spite of her ferocious sexual attract to Nemo, Clelia marries Cleve and resolutely keeps to her wedding vows in the face of her suitor's continued advances. Madame de la Fayette's novel, from which this film draws inspiration, has already been adapted twice: the 1961 version was directed by Jean Delannoy and starred Marina Vlady, and the 1999 take, entitled The Letter was directed by Manoel de Oliveira and featured Chiara Mastroianni. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

In this meditative, poetic comedy, a strait-laced young bureaucrat has been informed that, rather than being promoted, he is being apprenticed to the town archivist in anticipation of taking over his job whenever the old man retires, which doesn't look like it will happen anytime soon. A vengeful anarchist sets the town hall aflood, and something changes in the minds of the lad and his new mentor, so that we see them happily folding soggy, ruined official forms into boats and sending them down the river. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Set in the near future when a subterranean world is ruled over by a totalitarian psycho, this tame story about the macho hero Diesel (Gerard Klein) and the woman he saves (Agnes Soral) is too cliched to convince for long. When the woman, a prostitute, has to run for her life because she witnessed a murder, Diesel comes to her rescue, and a series of chases and confrontations follows. From the three gangsters after the woman, to the ruler of the city, the characters tend to be surface sketches and the situations predictable. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

All of the time and effort put forth to stage a musical is chronicled here in this bright and funny French outing. The story is set at a shopping mall where people audition for an upcoming show. Afterward, they are seen going through the grueling routines of learning the music and rehearsing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In making this film about a director who is presently working on an autobiographical movie, real-life director Elie Chouraqui has played on a Jewish cultural theme (the "reel" director is Jewish) and the intermixing of 1960s movie-making techniques. In the film, director David is in his 30s and his autobiography brings in details about his growth to adulthood -- his early life along the seacoast in Normandy, his parents, his education, and in the present, his sister and her husband, and a few of his own lovers. Visions of the past enhance the events of the moment, such as in the scene of David's mother's death. In the end, viewers may be able to answer the question posed by the title -- "What makes David run?" ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Paolo Barca is a sophisticate from Milan who is sent to Sicily to teach school. He is also a virgin. When he realizes the extent of his student's ignorance about sex, he makes classroom sex education a priority. This, naturally, creates a furor in conservative Sicily. Ironically, he soon receives lessons in sexuality from his female colleagues. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The lives of many are in the hands of Italian Police Commissioner Castroni, who is challenged by four young terrorists who are wreaking havoc upon the entire community. ~ All Movie Guide

After serving time in prison for an undisclosed crime, a woman keeps herself alive by resorting to robbery and prostitution. She often waits for her boyfriend, an ex-convict who is forbidden to spend any time in Paris according to his probation agreement. She escapes jail only to break her ankle bone, hiding out from the authorities until the unbearable pain forces her to return to the prison hospital for surgery. She takes temporary solace in a lesbian affair at the prison before once again following her no-good boyfriend into the gutter as the two use each other for sex to avoid their legal and moral responsibilities. The story is taken from the novel by the late Albertine Sarrazin. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This sweet coming-of-age film concerns a pair of Italian teenagers, Gabriele (Jacques Perrin) and Giovenella (Rosemarie Dexter), whose parents attempt to keep them apart. Gabriele's father (Folco Lulli) goes so far as to take his son to a prostitute, and when that fails, considers letting the youngster sleep with his own mistress. Gabriele finally rents an apartment, where he and Giovenella consummate their love. A surprisingly prim coda involves a warning by a policeman and the couple's vows to refrain from further physical intimacy until marriage. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a man is shocked to discover that the wife he thought he murdered is very much alive; he is further to dismayed that it was his girl friend who actually bit the bullet. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide