Frederic Pierrot Movies

Tensions arise in the household of a bourgeois architect and his young wife when they hire a young peasant girl as a wet nurse for their newborn daughter, and a friendship blossoms between the two women despite class differences. Set in 1877, A Song of Innocence opens to find Julien (Gregoire Colin) and his wife Charlotte (Emilie Dequenne) welcoming their infant daughter home. It was a difficult delivery for Charlotte, and since ambitious Julien is always away at work, the couple agree to bring in Angele-Marie (Islid Le Besco) as a wet nurse. Disappointed at having a girl, Julien plans to try for a male heir as soon as possible, despite the fact that Charlotte isn't sure she wants to have anymore children. The mood in their household is already strained when, in Julien's absence, Charlotte and Angele-Marie discover that they have more in common than either woman expected. Just days before going to work for Charlotte and Julien, Angele-Marie gave birth to her own child, quickly sending her baby off with another wet nurse so she could earn a decent wage as a wet nurse to the wealthy couple. But Julien makes no attempt to hide his distain for the relationship between the two women, and it isn't long before the situation threatens to turn violent. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Bertrand Tavernier directed this hard-hitting anti-war drama. In November of 1918, just as World War I had come to a close, Capt. Conan (Phillippe Torreton) and his men await new assignments in Bucharest. Conan regards himself as a warrior, not a soldier: while a soldier will fight in a war, it takes a warrior -- unafraid to take risks, confront death, and spill blood -- to win one. Conan is convinced that it was the bloodthirsty valor of himself and those under his command that won the war against Germany. However, while Conan's dark nature was a boon to the Army during the war, it's a distinct disadvantage in peacetime, as Conan and his friends Norbert (Samuel LeBihan) and De Sceve (Bernard LeCoq) are instructed to patrol the now peaceful border. Conan and his compatriots have become too acclimated to battle to leave it behind and begin staging raids in the mountains of the Balkans. The situation comes to a head when two women are killed in a combination robbery and attack on a nightclub; Conan and his men are to be court martialed for their actions, driving a wedge between him and his close friend Norbert, who respects Conan but lacks his reckless enthusiasm for battle. Capitaine Conan earned Cesar awards for Torreton's performance and Tavernier's direction. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Directed by Guillaume Nicloux, Cette Femme-La (That Woman) follows divorced police captain Michele Varin (Josiane Balasko), whose grief comes to a head with the swiftly approaching anniversary of her young son's death. Alone except for her late son's sick rabbit, Michele is dealing with crippling insomnia, and what little sleep she does get is marred by nightmares. Meanwhile, along with her co-worker Sylvain (Eric Caravaca), Michele tries to solve a strange suicide case, and meets several mysterious people along the way: a private investigator (Thierry Lhermitte), a strange young boy who lives near the suicide location, and Daniel (Frederic Pierrot), a lumber yard worker. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Arnaud Viard's 2003 French-language feature Clara et Moi chronicles the eccentric romance between the 33-year-old struggling actor Antoine (Julien Boisselier of Le Convoyeur) and Clara (Julie Gayet Les Menteurs), a girl he happens to meet on the subway. Clara happens along at exactly the right time for Antoine, who - worn out from celibacy - has just avowed to his analyst that he'll find a wife within a set period. All is heaven at first, almost farcically so (and Viard, well aware of this, even defies the audience's formic expectations by playfully interjecting a musical number into the middle of the movie, in which the lovers "sing" their feelings to one another, ala Demy). But suddenly, a dark and unexpected twist emerges in the relationship, that strips bare Antoine's emotional immaturity and thus threatens to bring everything crashing down. Michel Aumont co-stars. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

This French comedy-drama about a dysfunctional family won France's Jean Vigo award. In the tightly-knit Ducret family, farmer Luc (Frederic Pierrot) is married to Jeanne (Muriel Mayette), who regrets they abandoned their deformed firstborn to an institution -- an event the couple has kept secret from their other three children. Although antisocial Julien (Vincent Deneriaz), their retarded 19-year-old son, is interested in girls, he spends his time talking to a cow which gave birth to a two-headed calf. The police would like to see Julien institutionalized. After Julien finally learns about Jules, he revs up his moped and embarks on a "rescue" mission to bring Jules home. Shown in the Certain Regard section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

For Ever Mozart is an episodic film that follows a theater troupe from France attempting to put on a play in Sarajevo. Along their journey they are captured and held in a POW camp, and they call for help from their friends and relations in France. Director Jean-Luc Godard presents stories about this troop to ask how one can make art while slaughters like the one in Bosnia are taking place, and he throws in a strong critique of the European Union. For Ever Mozart is one of Godard's most disjointed and difficult films. Its stories sometimes seem to form a whole and at other times the links among them are unclear. One gets the impression that in each episode Godard attempts to start a film only to come to the conclusion that it is impossible to continue. It features some of the most beautiful shots of tanks in the cinema. ~ Louis Schwartz, All Movie Guide

Their relationship fractured when older sister Juliette is sentenced to 15 years in prison, two siblings wage an emotional battle to rebuild their relationship, overcome the secrets that keep them apart, and finally express the thoughts that have lain dormant for well over a decade. The moment Juliette was convicted, her parents declared that they wanted nothing to do with her. Now, after 15 years behind bars, Juliette is a free woman and in desperate need of a human connection. When Juliette's younger sister, Léa, is approached by a prison social worker and asked if she would be willing to provide her recently paroled sibling with a place to live, she doesn't hesitate to open her doors and share her home. But Léa is happily married with two adopted daughters, and her husband, Luc, is uneasy with the arrangement. Still, the house is large, the couple is used to having company, and the two young girls are thrilled to have a new aunt. As Juliette gets settled, Léa does her best to make her feel welcome. Likewise, Léa's colleague Michel and emigrant couple Samir and Kaïsha also offer to help Juliette readjust to life on the outside. Along the way, Juliette slowly begins to emerge from her shell and Léa realizes just how much she missed her sister. Perhaps if she can put aside her feelings of guilt long enough to truly understand her sister's plight, these two strangers can finally remember what it means to be family. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Bruno (Grégoire Colin of Beau Travail) is a troubled art student fascinated with pristine white walls and empty space. A squalid, unhappy childhood has left him angry, reclusive, and obsessive. When his brutish uncle (Etienne Chicot), fed up with Bruno's eccentricities, threatens to kick him out, Bruno calmly murders him. Elise (Julie Ordon) is several years younger than Bruno, just entering adulthood. Her mother was murdered when Elise was a little girl, and Anne (Brigitte Catillon), the psychiatrist who used hypnosis to try to draw out her memory of the event, is now married to Elise's father, Richard (Laurent Grévill). Anne still worries that the mysterious man who murdered Elise's mother will return to harm Elise. She's overprotective to the point of paranoia, and Elise grows increasingly weary of her stepmother's constant meddling. When Bruno gets an interior design job at the upscale shoe store where Elise works, they are immediately drawn to each other. While Elise is quietly determined to draw out the odd, shy young man, Bruno seems to see Elise as some kind of ideal objet d'art. Anne, ever suspicious, suspects that Bruno is up to no good, and tries to keep Elise from seeing him. As Bruno plots to make Elise his, the twisted truth about her mother's murder is revealed. Inquiétudes, based on the novel A Sight for Sore Eyes by Ruth Rendell, was written and directed by Gilles Bourdos. It was shown at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Rendezvous With French Cinema in 2004. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Noted French filmmaker Laurence Ferreira Barbosa directs this loosely-structured triptych about a trio of unconnected people who struggle through the loneliness of their lives. Impetuous 17-year-old Marguerite (Lolita Chammah), who feels cut off from both her family and classmates, passes the time by talking to God. Eventually, she decides to enter a convent. Meanwhile, housewife Claire (Isabelle Hubbert) is frustrated after ten years of childless marriage. While going to visit a fertility expert in Paris, she happens upon an old lover, gets picked up by some guy at a bar and has a bizarre encounter with an America singer (Robert Kramer). Meantime, Jacques (Frederic Pierrot) is divorced, unemployed, and loathed by his daughter. Just as his life looks one long exercise in desperate futility, he meets comely Eva (Juliette Andrea). Suddenly, he transforms himself into a private dick, trying to track down a missing associate. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Many regard the satirically inclined writer-director-star Agnès Jaoui (Le Goût des Autres) as a European equivalent of Woody Allen. The cerebral comedy Let It Rain represents Jaoui's third effort in the said capacities, and finds her juggling preoccupations with gender politics and class differences. Here, she plays Agathe Villanova, a feminist author with political plans who heads off to the summer residence of her early years to address some unfinished family business with her sister, Florence (Pascale Arbillot). Once there, her path crisscrosses with two documentarists shooting a film about powerful women -- Karim (Jamel Debbouze) and Michel (Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jaoui's off-camera husband and creative partner, who co-authored the script with her). She agrees to be interviewed for the film, leading to a series of arguments between Karim and Michel about how best to film her; meanwhile, Agnes offers to help Karim out by setting up a job for him, little recognizing the complications that this will yield. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Antoine de Caunes' second feature, Monsieur N. is a historical mystery thriller about Napoleon. Sir Hudson Lowe (Richard E. Grant) is assigned to guard Napoleon (Philippe Torreton) while the latter is in exile in Saint Helena. A local girl, Betsy (Siobhan Hewlett), has a crush on the exiled leader. This, along with the fact that keeping Napoleon on the island is costing the British a great sum of money, leads Lowe to consider drastic action. Monsieur N. was screened at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

A doctor learns some things he never expected to know as he searches for a friend on a mission of mercy in this drama. Pierre Feldman (Jean-Yves Dubois) is a French physician who visits the African nation of Port Djema in hopes of finding a close friend and colleague. Port Djema is being torn apart by a bloody civil war, and Pierre's friend, a fellow doctor, went there as a medical volunteer. He's since disappeared, and Pierre hopes to track down his friend and a child under his care. As Pierre is plunged deeper into the nation's civil unrest, he becomes acquainted with Alice (Nathalie Boutefeu), a cab driver who serves as Pierre's guide and appears to have known his friend; and Jerome (Christophe Odent), a French official in Port Djema who seems to know more than he's willing to tell about the fate of a number of French citizens. Port Djema earned a Silver Bear for director Eric Heumann at the 1997 Berlin International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide