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Jean-Yves Berteloot
Dan Brown's controversial best-selling novel about a powerful secret that's been kept under wraps for thousands of years comes to the screen in this suspense thriller from director Ron Howard. The stately silence of Paris' Louvre museum is broken when one of the gallery's leading curators is found dead on the grounds, with strange symbols carved into his body and left around the spot where he died. Hoping to learn the significance of the symbols, police bring in Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), a gifted cryptographer who is also the victim's granddaughter. Needing help, Sophie calls on Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), a leading symbologist from the United States. As Sophie and Robert dig deeper into the case, they discover the victim's involvement in the Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members have been privy to forbidden knowledge dating back to the birth of Christianity. In their search, Sophie and Robert happen upon evidence that could lead to the final resting place of the Holy Grail, while members of the priory and an underground Catholic society known as Opus Dei give chase, determined to prevent them from sharing their greatest secrets with the world. Also starring Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, and Alfred Molina, The Da Vinci Code was shot on location in France and the United Kingdom; the Louvre allowed the producers to film at the famous museum, but scenes taking place at Westminster Abbey had to filmed elsewhere when church officials declined permission. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, (more)
- 1999
Juliette (Virginie Aster) is an immigration officer working the Eurostar train that runs by tunnel between London and Paris. When Juliette discovers her boyfriend (who happens to be married) (played by Jean Yves Berteloot) has not only been reading the diary file on her laptop computer but got so mad he threw it out the window, she gives him his walking papers. On the rebound, Juliette becomes involved with Frank (Kulvinder Ghir), who works with several radical political groups. However, their relationship becomes problematic when he tries to involve her in a plan to smuggle a group of Somali refugees into England via the Eurostar. Filmed in 1997, Solo Shuttle received its first screenings on European television, though it later earned theatrical screenings in London. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginie Aster, Jean-Yves Berteloot, (more)
- 1992
When a group of student actors travel to a workshop in Dordogne to put on a production of Shakespeare's As You Like It as a summer project, they are as lively and high-spirited a group as one could ask for. While they are there, the young man who has the leading role begins casting cow eyes at the director's wife (Valerie Stroh), and soon she and the boy are having an affair. By the end of the summer, the wife is sufficiently charmed to wonder how she could have gotten into this situation where she deeply loves both men. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Stroh, Michael Vartan, (more)
- 1991
While contemplating her single state, an unmarried woman writer tosses and turns in bed. Her lover, a doctor, wants her to join him in Paris. On the other hand, she thinks maybe she should end the relationship. All of a sudden, as she lies restless in bed, she is struck with inspiration for three separate stories, which the film shows. In "A Man And Two Women," a married woman who has just given birth to a baby is entertaining a female friend of hers at their home and suggests that the friend and her husband start an affair, since all her energy is tied up in the baby. This suggestion heightens the sexual tension already present among the three players. In "One Another," a married woman gets rid of her husband and chooses to become romantically involved with her brother instead. In "Our Friend Judith," a woman finds a sense of renewal while on vacation on the island of Elba by bedding her handsome hairdresser. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Stroh, Lambert Wilson, (more)
- 1988
In this film, director Rene Feret tells the story of his parents' lives. In 1935 his mother Aline (Valerie Stroh) works in her parents' cafe in a mining town in northern France. There, she meets a customer, Pierre (Jean-Yves Berteloot), and decides she is going to marry him. In a reversal of roles, she is the one who proposes to him, and she also engineers a false pregnancy to persuade her parents to okay the match. With a few stops along the way, the story picks up after the war with the birth of the couple's third son, who is given the name Rene in memory of their first, dead son. Never rich, they achieve some level of financial stability just as their sons are about to head off to the city for college. The love between the two older people is highlighted in a poignant scene as, just as he is about to die, the father shares a champagne toast with his wife in memory of one of their happier moments. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Stroh, Jean-Yves Berteloot, (more)
- 1987
The terrifyingly destructive power of a woman's sexual obsession provides the compelling subject for this psychological study of a woman's descent into madness from French filmmaker Alain Tanner. It is the tale of Parisian actress Mercedes who is first seen attempting to break up with the obsessive Arab Johnny, who stalks her until she meets handsome newspaper writer Pierre on the subway and goes with him for an afternoon fling. Before the sweat even dries, she finds herself hopelessly in love with him. Pierre is flattered and encourages her desperate devotion, but soon after their affair begins, he is called off on a business trip leaving the suddenly distraught Mercedes alone with her demons. Though preparing for a new play, she is unable to concentrate and barely able to function without Pierre. She quits the production, locks herself in Pierre's apartment and quietly begins falling apart until he returns. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Myriam Mezieres, Azize Kabouche, (more)
- 1986
Menage begins as a comedy of sorts, but be warned: it develops into a very dark, very confusing probe into the seamier aspects of Parisian life. Gerard Depardieu plays a crude but charismatic thief, whose own gayness does not prevent his commiserating with those of the opposite sex. Miou-Miou and Michel Blanc are young, impoverished lovers who fall under Depardieu's influence. He gains their confidence by introducing them to kinky sex, then sucks them into a vortex of crime. Director Bertrand Blier, who in most of his films has explored the awesome power (rather than pleasure) of sex, nearly outdoes himself in Menage (aka Tenue de Soiree). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Michel Blanc, (more)
- 1985
With this 410-minute epic, Prolific Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira adapts the 7-hour stage play of Catholic playwright Paul Claudel. Two people -- Dona Prouheze (Anne Consigny) and Don Rodigue (Luis Miguel Cintra) have fallen in love but are honor-bound to renounce their passion for a greater love of God. Dona Prouheze is particularly devout and has offered her satin slipper to the Virgin Mary in exchange for the Virgin's protection against sin. She dies as virginal as when she was born, while Don Rodrigue conquers Asian lands for king and country. As his life progresses, he becomes more and more devoted to painting religious subjects on his ship, rebuffing the royal attempts to get him back into active duty. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luis Miguel Cintra, Patricia Barzyk, (more)
- 1984
Produced on behalf of the HBO cable service, The Blood of Others is a rare venture into English-language filmmaking by Claude Chabrol. Set during World War II, the film stars Jodie Foster and Michael Ontkean as a pair of French resistance fighters. If you can swallow that, then you'll accept New Zealand native Sam Neill as a German businessman. Chabrol's wife Stephane Audran costars as Gigi, while other prominent members of the cast include Alexandra Stewart, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Micheline Presle. Oh, yes, the plot: based on a novel by Simone de Beauvoir, The Blood of Others concerns Jodie Foster's confused loyalties: should she continue in her underground activities, or succumb to the charms of the seemingly civilized Neill? This French-Canadian coproduction was originally telecast August 23, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Michael Ontkean, (more)
