Marie Rivière Movies

Actress-cum-director Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi's sophomore feature, the comedy-drama Les Actrices (Le reve de la nuit d'avant), follows the trials and travails of Marcelline (Tedeschi), a tense and jittery stage thesp whose personal and professional life threaten to fall into pieces simultaneously. On a personal level, Marcelline hits the midpoint of her life, hears her biological clock ticking, and longs desperately for a child. At work, Marcelline's inability to find the core of her character, Natalia Petrovna, in a production of Turgenev's A Month in the Country only causes her emotional tension to double. In time, she regresses into such a basket case that she can barely respond to the stage director's query about whether she is right or left-handed. Marcelline's natty and overanxious mother (Marisa Borini, Tedeschi's mother in real life) weighs heavily on her as well, pressuring her constantly about the need to find an appropriate suitor before time runs out; instead, Marcelline finds herself drawn helplessly to Eric (Louis Garrel) a sexy young actor in the production - who, without her knowledge, nurtures reciprocal affections. This parallels the events that befall Petrovna in Turgenev's play, and indeed, at one point the spirit of Petrovna (Valeria Golino) appears to Marcelline for much-needed counsel. Meanwhile, as Marcelline weathers her own personal crises, one of her friends, Nathalie (Noemie Lvovsky) - the assistant to the play's director - struggles with her offstage lack of fulfillment as a wife and mother. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only a short while to live, a successful fashion photographer embarks on one final journey in the second of three films in a trilogy about death and mourning from French director François Ozon (the first entry in the the trilogy was Under the Sand) . After passing out during a particularly grueling photo shoot, high profile shutterbug Romain (Melvil Poupaud) is shocked to discover that his body has been ravaged by a fully metastasized cancer that will soon kill him. Without revealing the cause for his erratic behavior, the shell shocked Romain commences to alienate his entire family and ditch his handsome young boyfriend before connecting with affable waitress Jany (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) at a roadside café while en route to his grandmother's house. Upon arriving at the home of the one family member he knows will be joining him shortly in death, Romain's naked vulnerability is met with a gentle ear and sound advice. Once again meeting with the kindly Jany on his way to his ultimate fate, Romain and the waitress strike up an unusual bargain. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Having finished his acclaimed cinematic quartet "Contes des quatre saisons," legendary filmmaker Eric Rohmer takes DV camera in hand to recreate this idiosyncratic period piece adapted from the Grace Elliot memoirs. Concerned with faithfully evoking 18th century France, Rohmer uses two strategies -- using only eyewitness accounts of the times and avoiding all external settings, arguing that Paris now is a completely different city than it was during revolutionary times. The story revolves around Grace Elliot (Lucy Russell), a Scottish aristocrat stranded in Paris during the French Revolution. She is once again thrown together with Philippe Egalite, the cousin to the king, the Duke of Orleans, and Grace's former lover. Their friendship remains complicated and uncertain, and is made all the more complex by the rush of events around them. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

A visually stylish comedy with dramatic overtones from director Tonie Marshall, Vénus Beauté (Institut) looks at the lives of three women who work at a small but successful beauty salon. Angele Nathalie Baye is an attractive woman just edging into middle age who is looking for companionship without commitment, even when it comes knocking. Her co-worker Samantha (Mathilde Seigner) has more boyfriends than she knows what to do with, and Marie (Audrey Tautou), the youngest of the group, is still learning the ropes of both love and beauty treatment. Fans of classic French cinema will want to keep an eye peeled for guest appearances from Emmanuelle Riva, Micheline Presle and Edith Scob. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this lively French drama, 17-year-old Muriel drops a bomb on her mother when she tells her that she is a lesbian. Muriel made this discovery while studying in Paris. There she found herself sexually drawn to her free-spirited and seductive pal Nora. Her friend can tell that Muriel wants her and so flirts shamelessly, even allowing Muriel to kiss and touch her. However, she insists that it is all in fun and Muriel keeps her deeper feelings unspoken. The poor girl suffers terribly when Nora gets involved with the sexy, black man Fred. To get even, Muriel tries sleeping with a boy. Eventually, after watching others like her, she screws up her courage and allows herself to express herself with another woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A Tale of Winter is the second installment in Eric Rohmer's Tales of the Four Seasons. Félicie (Charlotte Véry) and Charles (Frédéric Van Den Driessche) had a brief affair during a seaside vacation. Then Charles went abroad on business, and Félicie gave him her address so they could stay in touch; however, she made an unexplainable mistake in the address and has lost all trace of her lover. Five years later, she is still single and raising a daughter by Charles. Though she is courted both by her no-nonsense boss, Maxence (Michel Voletti), and her highbrow friend Loic (Hervé Furic), she is still in love with Charles and hopes to meet him again. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

Young Laurette (Sophie Aubry) is mature beyond her years. Certainly, compared with her feuding parents, she's a pillar of responsible behavior. It's a good thing, too, as she has three younger siblings who would come to no good end if she weren't there to look after them. Particularly after both parents have run off screaming into the night (in different directions) after an argument. In this comedy, Laurette is left in charge on that occasion for almost two weeks. Little boss that she is, she insists that her parents come back together, but receives her comeuppance when that happy result comes about through no act of hers. Meanwhile, during her parent's absence she had had a brief fling of her own, and, pregnant, is headed off to New York city to join her boyfriend. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This episodic film comes from French director Eric Rohmer and is the seventh and final installment in the filmmaker's Comedies and Proverbs cycle. Reinette (Joëlle Miquel) is as innocent as a newborn babe, while Mirabelle (Jessica Forde) is as worldly and sophisticated as Reinette is not. Their country mouse/city mouse friendship begins when they share a room in Paris and endures through a quartet of whimsical experiences. Completed in 1987, Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle was distributed in the U.S. in 1989. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

In this first film in Eric Rohmer's cycle of "Comédies et proverbes," François (Philippe Marlaud), a young student working nights as a postman, is in love with a slightly older woman, Anne (Marie Rivière). One day, he sees Anne's former lover, a pilot named Christian (Mathieu Carrière), leaving Anne's apartment in the morning. Despite Anne's explanation that Christian is now married to another woman and simply dropped by to talk, François becomes jealous. He starts spying on Christian in order to find out if his rival secretly sees Anne. Though François sees Christian meeting a different woman, he keeps following the pair. His pursuit leads him to a park where he meets up with a vivacious teenage girl named Lucie (Anne-Laure Meury), who becomes curious about his motives and agrees to help him in his detection. ~ Yuri German, Rovi