Karin Viard Movies

An outsider becomes a witness to the shocking and sometimes chaotic world of a special police force in this drama from writer and director Maiwenn. The Child Protection Unit is a team of police officers who deal in cases that involve minors, and an ordinary workday finds them dealing with child abuse, youthful thieves, molestation, teen prostitutes, and families on the run from the law. The work is emotionally taxing, and the members of the Child Protection Unit count on each other for support, though they often have issues with one another as well. Nadine (Karin Viard) has a close friendship with Iris (Marina Fois), but in the wake of her divorce, Nadine has becomes jealous of her work partner, which sometimes explodes into vicious arguments. Chrys (Karole Rocher) has just discovered she's having a baby, complicating her relationship with Mathieu (Nicolas Duvauchelle), who is secretly in love with her. And Fred (Joeystarr) is going through a messy divorce that has taken him away from his young daughter, making him volatile and high strung, and while the group leader Balloo (Frederic Pierrot) tries to cover for him, his behavior is hard to explain to those outside the unit. This becomes clear when Melissa (Maiwenn), a photojournalist, is assigned to follow the men and women of the CPU for an upcoming magazine piece and becomes part of their dysfunctional family. Poliss (the title comes from a child's misspelling of the French word for "police") received a Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for fourteen Cesar Awards (the French Oscar), winning two.
~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A trophy wife proves capable of much more than acting as an adornment for her egotistical husband in director François Ozon's adaptation of the hit play by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Grédy. Saint-Guénolé, France: 1977. Their children having long since grown up and moved out, submissive housewife Suzanne Pujol (Catherine Deneuve) spends most of her days catering to her ornery husband, Robert (Fabrice Luchini), the owner of his family's prosperous umbrella factory. But Robert is hardly a savvy businessman, so when his workers protest their poor working conditions by going on strike, the stress leads him to suffer a massive heart attack. This provides Suzanne with the perfect opportunity to finally show her true value, and with a little help from the mayor (and her former lover), Maurice Babin (Gérard Depardieu), the much ridiculed trophy wife manages to get the factory back up and running so efficiently that the exasperated, trash-talking workers are forced to eat their words. Later, Robert makes a full recovery, and resorts to some decidedly unethical tactics to wrestle back control of the factory. But Robert's hasty grab for power sparks a bitter battle of wills with his unusually shrewd wife, who isn't about to give up her newfound leadership role without a fight. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Recalling such prior successes as The Big Chill, Peter's Friends, and Return of the Secaucus 7, director Danièle Thompson's seriocomedy A Change of Plans follows a group of four French couples who converge in an apartment over the course of one lengthy summer's eve and spend the time chatting about life, personal goals, relationships, and sex. The said event unfurls during the perennial "Fête de la Musique" in the City of Lights. Attendees include the shark-like divorce attorney who owns the apartment, ML (Karin Viard), and her out-of-work husband, Piotr (Dany Boon); slick, unctuous attorney Lucas (Christopher Thompson) and his slightly stuck-up homemaker wife, Sarah (Emmanuelle Seigner); gynecologist Melanie (Marina Fois) and her oncologist husband, Alain (Patrick Bruel); and ML's sister, Juliette (Marina Hands), and her much older boyfriend, Erwann (Patrick Chesnais). As the night unfurls, it becomes readily apparent that none of the partners are happy and that virtually all have cheated or are planning on cheating on each other, which turns the film into an extended meditation on dissatisfaction and infidelity among the Parisian upper crust. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Three couples wrestle with temptation and fidelity in this tart romantic comedy from France. Anne (Karin Viard) is a producer at a local television station in Lyons; she's edging into her forties and is wound a bit tighter than she needs to be. As Anne struggles to get ahead at work, she finds herself growing tired of her husband Thomas (Sam Karmann, who also directed the film), a laid-back academic. Before she met Thomas, Anne was married to Marc (Francois Cluzet), a workaholic real estate man who left her to wed younger and prettier Caroline (Julie Delarme). But now that Caroline is pregnant with his child, Marc finds he's not as attracted to her, and begins having disloyal thoughts about other women. And Vincent (Andre Dussollier) is a successful writer who is involved with a man who is young and handsome; however, Vincent's lover doesn't always trust him, and is convinced Vincent will be playing the field when he goes out on a promotion tour for his next book and researches a biography of once-famous jazz singer Pauline Anderton (Ginette Bellue). True Enough (aka La Verite ou Presque) was based on a novel by author Stephen McCauley. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

First-time director Carine Tardieu's gentle and evocative coming-of-ager La Tête de Maman concerns Lulu (Chloë Couloud), an adolescent girl whose mother (Karin Viard) sits perpetually on the brink of illness and radiates unhappiness; she is resolutely unhappy with her husband, unhappy with the present state of her life. Concerned about her mom's emotional condition, Lulu discovers an old photograph that suggests the source of her dissatisfaction: a love affair gone sour with a young man who abandoned her, several years before Lulu's birth. To win back her mother's "smile," Lulu sets out to locate her mom's old boyfriend - now a middle-aged veterinarian - and bring him back to her mother's side. She also discovers, over the course of this mission, that her mom is now suffering from a terminal illness and sits at death's door. The character of Lulu narrates throughout, and periodically defers, in the midst of dilemmas, to her heroine, the model-turned-actress Jane Birkin (who appears from time to time, playing herself). ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Director Danis Tanovic picks up where the late-Krzysztof Kieslowski left off by taking on the second installment of Kieslowski's "Heaven," "Hell," and "Purgatory" trilogy (the first was adapted by Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer) with this tale of a family whose dark past returns with a vengeance. Loosely modeled by screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz on the second act of Dante's Inferno, Hell tells the story of sisters Sophie (Emmanuelle Béart), Céline (Karin Viard), and Anne (Marie Gillain), whose lives were turned upside down when their father was imprisoned and their mother was rendered a wheelchair-bound mute. As the estranged sisters are slowly brought back together by a mysterious and handsome stranger who is somehow involved with the tragic events of the past, the questions that had for years gone unanswered slowly begin to drift into focus. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A group of friends and mutual acquaintances embark on a number of vacations -- concealed or otherwise -- for relaxation and unexpected romantic hijinks in French actor/director Michel Blanc's fourth directorial effort, the romantic ensemble comedy See How They Run. While hosting a dinner party, the well-to-do Elizabeth (Charlotte Rampling) and Bertrand Lannier (Jacques Dutronc) learn that their neighbors Veronique (Karin Viard) and Jerome (Denis Podalydes) -- who used to be successful but are currently hiding their financial woes -- will be vacationing in the same resort town at the same time. Impulsively, Elizabeth invites her friend, and fellow dinner party guest, Julie (Clotilde Courau), to join them and thus make a party out of the event. However, Bertrand backs out of the trip while claiming to have to work -- only to schedule a rendezvous with his lover, his transsexual secretary (Mickael Dolmen), instead. Meanwhile, the Lannier's teenaged daughter, Emilie (Lou Doillon), has been planning a parentally endorsed vacation to the United States with one of her friends, but is in actuality going on a romantic retreat with one of her father's employees, Kevin (Sami Bouajila). As the separate excursions commence, a number of romantic couplings spring up -- as well as a number of new friendships -- that will have long-lasting effects on all of the vacationers' lives. See How They Run received the honor of being selected for inclusion into the 2002 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

This is a dark, sinister second feature from the director of the 1995 film The Rock of Acapulco, featuring Charles Berling and Karin Viard as a married couple in Paris enjoying the fruits of their careers. He works in an executive post and she works out of a spacious Paris apartment she has inherited from her parents. Their son Julien (Alexandre Bongibault) and daughter Aude (Camille Vatel) are mostly in the care of babysitter Daphnee (Ludvine Sagnier). One day, an unkempt older couple (Manuela Gourary and Pierre Julien) ring their doorbell and introduce themselves as "the Worms," a sibling pair that evidently lived in the building years before. Marianne welcomes them in to look around. Their behavior seems courteous at first, but upon their departure, the family is affected. The house begins to do things on its own, Marianne's depression comes back to haunt her, and Daphnee's sweet demeanor turns sour without warning. A moody thriller from France, this is the first production of Bee Movies, a genre-based company known for such fare.
~ Jason Clark, Rovi

While pioneering pre-feminist author George Sand has been the subject of several film biographies focusing on her ten year relationship with Frederick Chopin, Les enfants du siècle looks at an earlier period in Sand's life, in particular her stormy romance with poet Alfred de Musset. In the early 1830's, Baroness Dudevant (Juliette Binoche) has abandoned her husband and arrives in Paris with her children in tow as rioting divides the city. The Baroness decides to reinvent herself and pursue a career as a writer; she renames herself George Sand, begins wearing clothes modeled after men's suits, and smokes cigarettes while penning manifestos denouncing marriage and affirming a woman's right to sexual satisfaction. Alfred de Musset (Benoit Magimel), a noted author, finds her brash nature fascinating, and they become first friends, then lovers as he helps her craft her literary efforts. However, Sand is six years older than de Musset, which leads to a severe conflict with his family; the couple heads to Venice in search of escape and inspiration, but Alfred decides that he prefers the city's brothels to George's company and that they should keep separate rooms from now on. George makes the acquaintance of an Italian doctor, Pagello (Stefano Dionisi), with whom she has a passionate affair; the realization that he's driven her into the arms of another man proves too much for Alfred, who returns to France. Eventually, George leaves Pagello and gives Alfred another chance, a decision she comes to regret. Les Enfants du Siecle had its world premiere at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

La Nouvelle Eve is a bittersweet comedy about an independent woman, thirty-ish and single, and her unexpected need for the affections of a forty-ish balding family man with no interest in acquiring a mistress. Camille (Karin Viard) works as a lifeguard at an indoor swimming pool in Paris. The idea of domesticity bores her to tears; she would rather see herself having kinky sex in elevators or restrooms than carrying a baby in her arms. But something has been missing in her life, and she's absent-minded and irritable. When she trips on the street and falls, Alexis (Pierre-Loup Rajot) offers her his handkerchief. Camille is self-destructive in her obsession to possess Alexis. But Alexis is not totally indifferent, either. Acting is quite remarkable, particularly the performance of Karin Viard as a modern woman who is completely confused with her old-fashioned emotions. The film pokes fun at the bourgeois family life as well as the singles scene. La Nouvelle Eve, which was produced by Paolo Bronco, was screened as part of the Panorama section of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

A quartet of Parisians embark upon a guided hike in Corsica and end up working through the sometimes comical chaos of their individual lives while becoming lost and contending with such obstacles as bad weather and aching bodies. Both of the female hikers are seeking love, though one of them is involved with their married guide and tries to push him into getting a divorce. The other, a former actress, simply wants the perfect mate. Neither of the two male hikers, one who is involved with an Australian and the other is in love with making money, qualify for her affections. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi