Natalie Carter Movies

Audrey Tautou stars in director Claude Miller's adaptation of François Mauriac's classic novel, which tells the tragic tale of a housewife from 1920s provincial France locked in a loveless arranged marriage to a wealthy, landowning neighbor. In an era when marriages were used to merge land parcels and build powerful families, Thérèse Larroque (Tautou) wed Bernard Desqueyroux (Gilles Lellouche). Though the union ensured Thérèse a life of luxury, however, her dormant passions are later reawakened when her best friend (and her husband's younger sister) Anne (Anaïs Demoustier) enters into a romance with a dashing Portuguese suitor. Meanwhile, inspired by Anne's blatant disregard for tradition in favor of true love, the free spirited Thérèse makes one last, desperate attempt to reclaim her independence. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Celebrated French actresses Kristin Scott-Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier go head-to-head as dual femme fatales in this scathing, shocking corporate thriller from helmer Alain Corneau (All the Mornings of the World). Christine (Scott-Thomas) is the head executive at a top agribusiness firm in France. Ruthless and uncompromising, she revels in playing diabolical head-games with her staffers that include blackmail and seduction, and enjoys an almost pathologically close relationship with protégé Isabelle (Sagnier). The women also share a lover, accountant Philippe (Patrick Mille), who readily assumes a submissive role to the dominatrix posturing of each lady in the bedroom. The balance of power shifts, however, when a colleague (Guillaume Marquet) shows Isabelle how to "one-up" Christine in the office - which prompts Christine to respond with a nasty, humiliating trick involving a security camera. In the days ahead, retaliation escalates on both ends until each of the women begins contemplating felonious action against the other. To reveal more would be unfair, but suffice it to say that Corneau packs the narrative with a series of unforeseeable twists and turns. As the director's final film (he died in 2010), Love Crime brought Corneau much needed critical acclaim at the end of his life, following a series of disappointments including Words in Blue and Second Wind. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Informed that his elderly father has mysteriously disappeared, anxious Parisian François (Mathieu Amalric) recalls his tragic family history in director Claude Miller's adaptation of the fact-based novel by author Philippe Grimbert. As a sickly young child, François (Valentin Vigourt) instinctively knew that he was a disappointment to his champion swimmer mother, Tania (Cécile De France), and gymnast father, Maxime (Patrick Bruel). While François does find some amount of solace in his friendship with kindly masseuse Louise (Julie Depardieu), his discovery of a strange toy in the attic causes his parents to act more strangely toward him than ever before. Feeling sympathetic toward the young boy, Louise eventually reveals to François that he once had a half brother, and that his parents weren't drawn together by fairy-tale romance but through violence and strife. Back before the war, Maxime became engaged to the beautiful Hannah (Ludivine Sagnier). While Hannah's parent's were keenly aware of the ominous implications of Hitler's rise to power, Maxime worried little since he always considered himself French first and foremost. At the wedding, however, Maxime finds his gaze frequently wandering from his fetching bride to athletic beauty Tania. Later, after the happily married bride gives birth to a handsome young boy named Simon (Orlando Nicoletti), the Nazis invade and the once-happy family is torn violently asunder. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi