Myriem Roussel Movies

For 30 years the title eatery has delighted its customers with good family style French cooking, but as with many good things, its time has come and it must close. This semi-autobiographical French drama, adapted from screenwriter/director Laurent Benegui's novel, chronicles the final meal served to 15 loyal patrons on closing day. Amidst affectionate humor and occasional pathos, much attention is paid to the conversations, personal situations, and emotions of the diners and the staff. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this mystical comedy, Felicien has traveled to Portugal from France soon after the end of the First World War. It seems that his recently deceased father had invested a lot of money in a factory located in a remote village, and he has come to evaluate that investment. He gets some clues to the real situation in the town when the man driving his coach refuses to go any further and leaves him on a section of road which is practically paved with abandoned crutches. After a short trek, he meets up with the local dignitary who is to show him around, and he meets a priest and an artist. The priest gives a further clue to the events taking place in the village when he indicates that he's completely exasperated with the endless miracles that seem to be taking place. From that point onward, amazing coincidences, visions and miracles take place in great numbers. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

If the hunt that lends dramatic action to this fast-paced story could be notched up into a more harrowing adventure, then the fates of escaped thief Ned (Lambert Wilson) and Lilly (Myriem Roussel) the wife of his pursuer, would engage viewers' attention all the more. The half-psychotic cop Franck (Tcheky Karyo) captures Ned during a robbery but instead of taking him directly to the station, he handcuffs him to a pipe in his bathroom at home. Meanwhile, Franck's wife Lilly is in the process of dumping him for good and after an argument, Franck gets knocked unconscious. Lilly and a friend uncuff Ned, and the three take off. Franck is after them big-time, and sure enough, the hunted make a few unforgivable errors that only help the demented cop in his search. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this cool, clinical adaptation of the novel about love and death by Yasunari Kawabata, Hugo (Andrzej Zulawski) is a writer whose one great book was based on an affair he had with Lea (Charlotte Rampling), a sculptor. Bereft of inspiration for a follow-up, Hugo returns years later to rekindle the flame of romance and creativity. Lea soundly rejects him, and her student Prudence (Myriem Roussel) feels a burning hatred for the man who deserted the woman/teacher she admires. So after Hugo returns to his wife and family in Paris, Prudence hunts him down to perversely seduce him in a mocking manner. In the meantime, she and Hugo's son Martin (Jean-Claude Adelin) fall in love for real. After Prudence goes back home, Martin comes for a visit -- with accidentally unhappy results for all concerned. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Passion, a major film in Jean-Luc Godard's ongoing investigation of the relations between painting and cinema, uses innovative forms to explore political and economic questions. Jerzy Radziwilowicz plays a director shooting a film whose scenes are all reproductions of paintings by Goya, Valasquez, and other European masters. Production comes to a halt when his producers refuse to increase his budget until he explains the film's story to them. Meanwhile, the director is ending an affair with Hanna (Hanna Schygulla), the wife of Michel (Michel Piccoli), who is the manager of the hotel where the film's cast and crew are staying. In a sub-plot, Isabelle Huppert plays a factory worker who attempts to unionize her fellow employees. The story of Passion is elliptical and incomplete. It is a means of presenting a collection of scenes and images on related themes. This kind of story will become the hallmark of Godard's later career. The links among the episodes become even looser in such films as Germany: Year Nine Zero and For Ever Mozart. Passion marks the reunion of Godard with director of photography Raoul Coutard, who shot many of Godard's films of the 1960s. The cinematography is key to understanding this difficult film in which how an image is shot is as important as what it depicts. Godard and Coutard favor shots that begin as open, disorganized framings and become painterly compositions as the people and things in them move. ~ Louis Schwartz, All Movie Guide