Stephane Boucher Movies

Actor Vincent Perez makes his feature-film directorial debut with the romantic drama Once Upon an Angel, which he cowrote with his wife, Karine Silla, and Jerome Tonnerre. Young Angèle (Morgane Moré) sets out to find work in order to ease the burden for her poor, debt-ridden parents and finds a job as a maid. By chance, she meets Gregoire Berthelot (Guillaume Depardieu), who takes a carnal interest in the young woman and seemingly nothing more. Intensely attracted to Gregoire and against all reason, Angèle spends an evening with the fiery stranger who promptly leaves her the next morning -- but he comes away from the tryst with more feelings toward Angèle than he hoped. For her part, Angèle is also left with more than fond memories of her experience with Gregoire and she eventually tracks him down -- but discovers that a couple of major complications may prevent them from developing a meaningful relationship. Once Upon an Angel was chosen as a competing film in the 2002 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

Jacques Rivette directed this richly detailed six-hour drama based on the story of Joan of Arc. In Part one, "Les Batailles," Jeanne the Maid (Sandrine Bonnaire) leaves her childhood home in Domremy after hearing what she is sure was the voice of God. She believes that she can help lead France to victory on the battlefield, and she persuades Charles, dauphin of France (Andre Marcon) to allow her to guide his troops. Part two, "Les Prisons," concerns the sad aftermath of Jeanne's defeat at Orleans. Jeanne is sent to prison, where in two separate trials she is tried for heresy and impersonating a man, with both her life and the sanctity of her mortal body at stake. A four-hour version, with each of the two parts trimmed down to two hours, is also available. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this suspenseful mystery, two rival sisters vie for the love of a powerful businessman. One of them ends up murdered and then the real trouble begins. The story is based on a best-seller by Mary Higgins Clark. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Jim Jarmusch's deadpan comedy-of-the-night is a collection of five vignettes taking place in the enclosed space of a cab ride, each occurring simultaneously in five different cities and five different time zones -- Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki. The Los Angeles episode takes place at dusk, as high-powered casting agent Victoria (Gena Rowlands) gets a ride from L.A. International Airport with tomboy driver Corky (Winona Ryder), who would rather go on driving her cab than take up Victoria's offer to make her a superstar. In New York City, novice East German cabbie Helmut Grokenberger (Armin Mueller-Stahl) has difficulty working the foot pedals to his hack, and his passenger, YoYo (Giancarlo Esposito), ends up driving himself to Brooklyn, picking up the shrill-voiced Angela (Rosie Perez) along the way. In Paris, an African cab driver (Isaach De Bankolé) ejects a collection of drunken African diplomats from his cab and picks up a beautiful but surly blind girl (Béatrice Dalle). In Rome, cab driver Gino (Roberto Benigni) engages in a heartfelt monologue confessing his past sexual exploits to his passenger, a priest who is dying of a heart attack in the back seat. The film winds down in the last melancholy vignette, taking place in Helsinki, as taxi driver Mika (Matti Pellonpää) picks up three inebriated workmen who regale him with hard-luck stories. But Mika has a much harsher story of his own to tell. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this farcical spoof of spy thrillers, set in France, few obvious or old jokes are left untold, especially if they are at the expense of overweight women, the handicapped, or dogs who don't know where to defecate. The story itself concerns the unsanctioned efforts of a covert unit to gather evidence about illegal arms shipments with the unwitting help of an embassy employee. When it appears that she is about to ruin everything by getting married on a weekend which is important to their operation, project director La Squale (the Shark) (Jean Reno) directs that someone must seduce the woman's fiance so that she'll call off the weekend. Little does he know that the woman chosen is his own girlfriend -- the only one of his agents who is sufficiently thin to be alluring. One thing after another leads to the near failure of the operation -- including the efforts of the repentant fiance (Christian Clavier) to win his girlfriend back. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide