Catherine Wilkening Movies
- 2005
A would-be independent filmmaker moves from Super-8 to 35 mm overnight in this comedy from France. Goran (Clément Sibony) is an auto mechanic who has been given the nickname Kubrick by his pals because of his great love for movies and his desire to someday become a professional filmmaker. Karim (Micky El Mazroui) and Toxic (Dan Herzberg) are Kubrick's two best friends, willing to do anything to back him up. When Karim has a hot date one night and no place to take his girl, Toxic lets him use his apartment and ends up sleeping in a public park. The next morning, Toxic discovers a film crew has set up for a location shoot in the park, and a member of the crew, mistaking him for a driver, hands Toxic the keys to a truck full of camera equipment, sound gear, and costumes and tells him to park it somewhere else. Seizing a golden opportunity, Toxic turns the truck over to Kubrick, who with the tools at his disposal begins plotting his dream project -- a full-dress screen version of Romeo and Juliet, starring neighborhood beauty Soraya (Karina Testa) and local wise guy Billou (Lorant Deutsch) as the doomed lovers. Ze Film was written and directed Guy Jacques, who shot the film on-location in the neighborhood where he grew up. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clément Sibony, Dan Herzberg, (more)
- 2003
Italian filmmaker Luca Barbareschi co-writes, directs, and stars in the political comedy Il Trasformista (The Chameleon). Family man Augusto Vigno (Barbareschi) is a small business owner in northern Italy. While participating in a local environmental protest, he is picked up by influential government dealers who clean him up and prepare him for office. He finds his idealistic values compromised by the big-time political scene in Rome and the advances of a single woman (Catherine Wilkening). The Chameleon was shown at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival as part of the Horizons program. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luca Barbareschi, Rocco Papaleo, (more)
- 2003
French experimental-short filmmaker Pierre Vinour makes his feature-length debut with the low-budget mood piece Supernova (Experiment #1). Politician Simon Peyrelevade (Philippe Nahon) contemplates suicide as he is hit by some unearthly matter. Instead of heading home to Paris, he goes out to his family farm in the countryside. He's visited by a curious doctor (Catherine Wilkening) and his estranged son Julien (Clément Sibony). Supernova was filmed with both Super 8 mm film stock and digital video. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Nahon, Catherine Wilkening, (more)
- 2003
A handful of men who are standing in the shady side of 50 depend on one another to sort out the romantic and personal complications facing them in this comedy from France. Manu (Jean-Pierre Darroussin), Antoine (Bernard Campan), Alex (Marc Lavoine), and Jeff (Gérard Darmon) are four close friends who've known each other for years, and lately seem to be spending a lot of time helping one another with women and midlife crises. Manu, who runs a delicatessen, is single, with two ex-wives and three grown children to his credit; lately, he's been dating Juliette (Florence Thomassin), who is young and beautiful, but not especially bright. Antoine is a school teacher who, for the past 15 years, has been married to Lili (Fabienne Babe); however, when he learns that she had a brief fling with another man, he's not certain he'll ever be able to forgive her. Magazine publisher Alex constantly pledges his fidelity to his wife, Nanou (Catherine Wilkening), when in fact he's been chronically unfaithful for years, though Nanou (to her frustration) has been unable to prove it. And Jeff, Alex's business partner, has been divorced from his first wife, Françoise (Ludmila Mikael), for over a decade; lately, he's been keeping company with Elsa (Zoé Félix), a lovely and loving woman who happens to be half his age. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Darmon, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, (more)
- 1996
In this British made-for-TV mystery, the title sleuths investigate the murder of a school principal. It's a puzzling case, because while every one knew he was dead, his body was supposedly buried in Austria. Instead, the body is accidentally unearthed beneath the memorial erected for him on the school grounds. A college student's death further complicates matters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren Clarke, Colin Buchanan, (more)
- 1992
In this comedy, Victor thought he really had it bad when he lost his wife and his job on the same day. However, when he tries to get some sympathy from his friends, he discovers just how bad things can get, because although everything seems to be just fine with their lives, they are incredibly angry. It seems that, just beneath the surface, everyone's cozy situation is about to fall apart, and they know it. Children are acting up, wives or husbands are just about to leave, and there is nothing much to smile about. Desperate for some comfort, he goes to a bar and has a few drinks. There, he meets the one person he's encountered so far who doesn't seem to be mad at the world: a seemingly simpleminded man with no home, no job, and no prospects of getting either. He allows his new human mascot to accompany him while he goes to visit his parents and is distressed to find that his mother is leaving his father for a much-younger man. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Lindon, Patrick Timsit, (more)
- 1990
Dr. Roussel (Jean-Pierre Bacri) is one of the handful of French doctors who earns really outstanding compensation. Dr. Olivier Rohan (Stephane Freiss) has just finished qualifying in his specialty (cardiology) and is one of the vast number of young doctors who don't earn very much at all. He has just entered into private practice but is happy to earn a few extra dollars by filling in for Dr. Roussel in answering nighttime emergencies at the local hospital. However, his first emergency puts him squarely into the middle of a dicey political situation with the ultra-right-wing Nouvelle France party. When he becomes aware of the extent of medical corruption and collusion with the political system, he is horrified. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stéphane Freiss, Catherine Wilkening, (more)
- 1990
In this espionage outing, an American art student in Paris witnesses the murder of a model. He is more shocked when she shows up very much alive in his apartment. Things get stranger when he finds himself surrounded by assorted spies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Hamill, Catherine Wilkening, (more)
- 1989
Le Crime D'Antoine stars Tom Novembre as a sensitive composer. Novembre's world comes crashing down upon him when his new bride (Catherine Wilkening) suddenly dies. Years pass: still mooning over his lost love, Novembre answers a personal advertisement. The woman who placed the ad is the living image of his late wife. The composer's ecstasy is tempered by his new companion's bizarre behavior. Hmmm....could first-time director Marc Riviere have seen Vertigo at sometime or other? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Novembre, Catherine Wilkening, (more)
A modern-day Passion Play becomes a reenactment of the life and death of Jesus Christ in more ways than one with this critically acclaimed drama from Quebec filmmaker Denys Arcand. Lothaire Bluteau stars as Daniel Coloumbe, an intense young actor in Montreal who is hired by church fathers to restage and update the city's annual Passion Play, which over the course of the past 40 years has begun to seem hidebound. Daniel hires a group of struggling young actors that become devoted to him and his creative vision as he devises an extremely avant-garde production that takes Christ's rebellious teachings literally. Revolving around set pieces reflecting passages from Christ's life rather than a traditional re-creation of events, Daniel's revisionist work also incorporates blasphemous ideas about his subject, questioning his true nature. Daniel's play is a critical smash and wows mesmerized audiences, but greatly disturbed church officials order the labor of love dismantled. Real life begins imitating biblical events as the actors become cast-outs and Daniel smashes up an audition in which the actress portraying his Mary Magdalene (Catherine Wilkening) is asked to disrobe by a prurient producer. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lothaire Bluteau, Catherine Wilkening, (more)
- 1989
Vic (Christophe Malavoy) is an author saddled with heavy gambling debts and a baby-killing wife Cat (Pauline Lafont), committed to an asylum. He goes to pick her up when she is released, hoping to sign her to a commercial contract that can eliminate his financial losses. Aina (Catherine Wilkening) is Cat's fellow inmate, a scissor slasher with more than a sentimental attachment for her female friend. These three are headed for trouble. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christophe Malavoy, Pauline Lafont, (more)
- 1988
Claire (Marianne Basler) has her vacation go from dream to nightmare in this prison melodrama. Claire is arrested by the puritanical cop Kasta (Vittorio Mezzogiorno) after she is seen by him topless and necking with her boyfriend on a secluded beach. When Claire refuses to sign a confession, Kasta frames her for drug dealing. Clair is sent to an island prison where she contends with the usual women-in-prison problems of leering lesbians, murderers, drug addicts, and sadistic guards. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vittorio Mezzogiorno, Catherine Wilkening, (more)
- 1987
This romantic drama about two strangers who meet and fall in love in Paris contains seriocomic touches that add considerably to the feature. Marie (Catherine Wilkening) is a young Jewish girl from Algeria who comes to Paris in hopes of being a model. She is sidetracked when she meets Ali (Karim Allaouri), a French-born Arab and ex-convict. Ali makes plans to meet up with an accomplice to get his share of the money from a robbery with hopes of traveling to Houston, Texas to become a "cosmonaut." ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karim Allaoui, Catherine Wilkening, (more)
- 1986
Patrick (Stephane Ferrara) is a hired thug who goes into a small dinner theater to collect an overdue debt. He falls for the actress Catherine (Catherine Wilkening), and the two copulate like wild animals in heat on several occasions. When Catherine is offered a starring role in an upcoming production, her rehearsal schedule leaves little time for Patrick. Now addicted to her lovemaking, Patrick throws her in a car and tries to kill himself and Catherine by intentionally crashing his car on the highway. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephane Ferrara, Catherine Wilkening, (more)
