Marion Hänsel Movies

Belgian director Marion Hänsel's feature Si le vent soulève les sables unfolds in a desert village that is being crushed under the weight of drought (which has dried the local well out completely) and decaying livestock. Though the majority of the populace migrates to the south in an essential quest for a better life, Rahne -- the only literate indigene -- cuts against the grain, journeying to the east despite the danger of imminent war that lies in this direction. Accompanying him are his wife Mouna, his three children, a handful of sheep, and a few goats. The journey carries them across bellicose territory under a relentless sun, and finds the determined family struggling to survive at all costs. During the trek, they pull a great deal of strength from one of the children, the nomadic Shasha, whose exuberance and optimism cannot be quelled. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A woman struggles to hold on to the man she loves in this drama set in the 1930s from Belgian filmmaker Frédéric Fonteyne. Elisa (Emmanuelle Devos) is a housewife who is passionately devoted to her husband, Gilles (Clovis Cornillac), who works in a steel mill. Despite taking care of twin daughters and unfailingly seeing to the cooking and cleaning in their home, Elisa is as adoring of Gilles as she was on the day they met, and she eagerly tends to his ravenous sexual appetite. However, while most men would be thrilled to have a wife like Elisa, after years of marriage she begins to suspect that he might be having an affair with her sister Victorine (Laura Smet) while Elisa is pregnant with their third child. Elisa is too much in love with Gilles to leave him, but while she can accept her husband's faults, neither she nor her husband are certain if this is a casual fling or a love affair that will put an end to their relationship. La Femme de Gilles (aka Gilles' Wife) was adapted from a novel by Madeleine Bourdouxhe. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Marion Hansel directed this personal meditation on the joys and responsibilities of parenthood, in which a narrator reads Hansel's philosophic musings on raising her young son on her own, while carefully shot and selected footage of different cloud formations from around the world provide a striking visual backdrop. Catherine Deneuve read Hansel's text in the original French-language version of Nuages; Charlotte Rampling did the honors for the English-language print, while Barbara Auer, Carmen Maura, and Antje De Boeck respectively lent their voices to the German, Spanish, and Dutch editions of the film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The third collaboration between screenwriter Stephane Bouquet and writer/director Sebastien Lifshitz, Presque Rien is the story of a young French man coming to terms with his mother's depression, and his own homosexuality, during a summer holiday in France. Delicately handsome Mathieu (Jeremie Elkaim) has come to a seaside resort town with his sisters Annick (Marie Matheron) and Sarah (Laetitia Legrix) and his mother (Dominique Reymond), who has suffered from a crippling depression ever since her newborn baby died of cancer. One day while sunning himself on the beach with Sarah, Mathieu notices the attentions of Cedric (Stephane Rideau), a sturdy, handsome, slightly older youth. The two quickly develop an illicit romance, spending their days combing the beach and their evenings slipping off for passionate sex. Cedric, it turns out, has dropped out of school and, after a brief stint as a rent boy and a failed relationship with a boy named Pierre (Nils Ohlund), moved over one town and settled into a comfortable routine of blue-collar work. The sturdy, good-natured Cedric charms Mathieu's family, but the true nature of the youths' relationship soon becomes apparent, leading to conflict, especially with oldest sibling Annick. Mathieu's biggest problem, however, is his sense of powerlessness over his mother's illness and the death in the family. The scenes of his romance with Cedric are interspersed with scenes from two later time periods. In one setting, we witness Mathieu's recovery from a suicide attempt and subsequent refusal to accept Cedric's visits; in another, we see Mathieu return, alone, to the site of his sexual coming of age. Presque Rien received its American release under the title Come Undone; after premiering at the 2001 L.A. Outfest, a gay and lesbian film series, it received a limited art-house release. Rejane Kerdaffrec, who previously appeared in the Lifschitz/Bouquet film Les Corps Ouverts, appears in a small role as Mathieu's psychiatrist. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Two very different people become friends and partners in this nautical drama. Nikos (Stephen Rea) is a radio man working on a Greek freighter when he finds himself stranded in Hong Kong after the firm that owned his ship suddenly goes out of business. Nikos is already depressed over his recent breakup with his girlfriend, and this latest turn of events hardly makes him feel any better; he develops a dependence on opium as he works a variety of odd jobs trying to keep himself together while waiting for his ship to return to the sea. Li (Ling Chu) is a ten-year-old Chinese girl, cut off from her mother and father, who has a sampan and asks Nikos to help her get the boat ready for the water. Nikos doesn't much care for Li at first, but her youthful optimism and determination to succeed make an impression on him, and in time he leads her on a voyage to find the family she left behind years before. Director Marion Hansel's work on this film was honored with a Golden Palm nomination at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Through a series of flashbacks, the reason behind the mysterious inability of a famous conductor (Malcom McDowell) to continue preparing for a series of concerts is revealed. It all began while the conductor, a Jew, was hiding from the Nazis in a disused Italian convent, pretending to be a bank clerk. There he met another fugitive (Charles Aznavour), who was pretending to be a great conductor. Despite the odd circumstances, the real conductor and the fake one become friends, and the reasons for their deceptions become clear. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This French-Belgian co-production is set in a remote, squalid South African farm. Jane Birkin stars as Magda, the "proper" farmer's daughter who murders her father (Trevor Howard) when she learns of an affair between him and a local woman (Nadine Uwampa). By rights, Magda should leave for parts unknown at this point. Instead, she becomes obsessively involved in the lives of her father's mistress and her native husband (John Matshikiza). An inevitable second tragedy results. A multiple award winner, Dust was adapted by director Marion Hansel from In the Heart of the Country, a novel by J.M. Cotezee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this somber movie, Martin (Heinz Bennent), a sculptor, is dying in his bed on a barge that floats along a fog-shrouded waterway. As he agonizingly descends into a final oblivion, his second wife is at his bedside, comforted by his first wife -- also present. Director and writer Marion Hansel stands at a slight remove while the last day in the life of the moribund man, with all its pain, is interspersed with flashbacks to happier times with his second wife. Some of the dialogue is oddly artificial and when combined with the space that the director places between the viewer and the events on the screen, it may distance some from the suffering of the lead figures. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide