Marie Bunel Movies

A television weatherwoman is pursued simultaneously by a spoiled pharmaceutical heir and a successful -- but much older -- writer in director Claude Chabrol's blackly comic tale of romance and class differences. Gabrielle Deneige (Ludivine Sagnier) has a high-profile job detailing the forecast on French TV. Yet despite Gabrielle's staunch work ethic, she values her privacy over her professional career and lives in a modest house with her aging mother (Marie Bunel). One day, renowned author Charles Saint-Denis (François Berléand) is interviewed at the television station where Gabrielle works, and the two feel an instant, powerful connection. Later, at a book signing, the pair continues to flirt despite the presence of entitled rich kid Paul Gaudens (Benoît Magimel) -- who openly despises the writer and longs to claim Gabrielle as his own. Despite the fact that Charles is still happily married to his wife of 25 years (Valeria Cavalli), with whom he has set up home in a posh ultra-modern estate in the countryside, he and Gabrielle share an intimate afternoon at the author's nearby pied-à-terre. Later, as the potentially psychotic Paul steps up his pursuit of Gabrielle, the girl begins to question whether either of her suitors is pure in his intentions. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

French producer and musician Christophe Barratier makes his directorial debut with the drama Les Choristes, inspired by the 1947 film La Cage aux Rossignols. Wildly successful orchestra conductor Pierre Morhange (Jacques Perrin) returns home when his mother dies. He recollects his childhood inspirations through the pages of a diary kept by his old music teacher Clément Mathieu (Gérard Jugnot). Back in the late '40s, little Pierre (Jean-Baptiste Maunier) is the badly behaved son of single mother Violette (Marie Bunel). He attends a dreary boarding school presided over by strict headmaster Rachin (François Berléand). New teacher Mathieu brightens up the place and organizes a choir, leading to the discovery of Pierre's musical talents. Featuring performances by Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc Choir. Les Choristes was shown at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A young woman tries to ease herself out of the closet without terrifying her parents in the process in this comedy-drama. The year is 1969, and Sacha (Marie Bunel) is a young Belgian woman living in Canada. Sacha's family sent her to Canada to attend medical school, but she hasn't had the heart to tell them that she's dropped out of college to devote herself to her new interest in photography. Sacha also hasn't told her parents that she's a lesbian -- and that she has a new girlfriend, Odile (Macha Grenon). Odile is tired of being kept a secret, and insists that Sacha tell her parents the truth before American astronauts land on the moon in a few months -- or else. Sacha flies home to Belgium for a visit, planning to come clean to her folks, but she discovers they've arranged a huge welcome home party for the entire neighborhood. With everyone so excited that the soon-to-be-doctor is paying them a visit, Sacha wonders when the time will be right to give her family the news. Not that it will be easy to explain things to them anyway: Mother (Helene Vincent) is high-strung and suffering from cancer, Father (Christian Grahay) is the owner of a business about to go bust, sister Elisa (Mimie Mathy) is an embittered midget who talks to her goldfish, and her grandmother (Tsilla Chelton) has a few secrets of her own that she isn't sharing. Que Faisaient Les Femmes Pendant Que L'Homme Marchait Sur La Lune? was the first feature directed by Chris Vander Stappen), who won acclaim for the screenplay to Ma Vie en Rose. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Not a strict adaptation of the oft-filmed Victor Hugo classic, director Claude Lelouch's ambitious epic instead focuses on the story of two men, a father and a son, whose life stories bear striking similarities to Hugo's character Jean Valjean. The father is Henri Fortin (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a chauffeur (in 1900) wrongly accused of his employer's murder. Like Valjean, he is subjected to a harsh and unfair prison sentence. While Henri vainly attempts to escape his unjust fate, his family suffers, with his wife forced to raise their young son alone. The film jumps ahead several decades to show the adult life of this son (also Belmondo), a former boxer turned furniture mover who agrees to help smuggle a Jewish lawyer (Michel Boujenah) out of France during the Nazi occupation. Along the way, the lawyer reads to the younger Fortin from Les Misérables, and Fortin begins to imagine himself in the role of Jean Valjean, on the run from the obsessive Inspector Javert. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Pierre (Laurent Grevill) has somehow managed to retain his job as a rural schoolteacher, despite an addlepated "campaign for decency" by the Vichy government which has targeted practically every halfway offbeat or intellectual facet of French life, including the schools, alleging that they are responsible for a downbeat mood in national affairs. When Mauve (Florence Pernel), a woman he knew as a child, returns from Paris to live with her sister they renew their acquaintance and things quickly progress to the point that the two of them get married. However, whether it is due to ghosts from Maude's past, or his own naturally morose temperament, it soon becomes clear that they are not well suited for one another. This drama is based on a novel by Michel Besnier. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

When the arrogant, womanizing narrator, Antoine (Fabrice Luchini), goes to meet his girlfriend, Solange (Marie Bunel) at the train station, he's dismayed to find her with another man. Antoine tells us that this is a first. He is always the one to end his relationships with women. Antoine visits his elderly friend, Jean (Maurice Garrel), a book dealer, and tells him that he wants revenge, but he doesn't have the imagination to come up with a plan. Eventually, Jean tells Antoine that he knows a publisher who's interested in publishing a series of diaries. He suggests that to get his revenge, not just on Solange but on all women, Antoine should get another woman to fall completely in love with him and then dump her, while keeping a detailed journal about the affair. Antoine agrees, placing an ad for a typist to meet someone. Catherine (Judith Henry) responds to the ad. Antoine is initially repulsed by Catherine, but Jean pushes him to pursue her, saying Antoine's lack of interest will make the story even more interesting. Antoine assents, on the condition that Jean tell him exactly how to proceed. Antoine follows Jean's advice. Catherine resists his advances at first, and as Antoine gets to know her, he finds himself becoming more and more attracted to her. La Discrete won Cesar Awards for Best First Work, Best Writing, and Most Promising Actress (Henry). It also won the FIPRESCI Award at the 1990 Venice Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

When speaking of Laurel and Hardy's first feature film Pardon Us, Stan Laurel described it as "a three-story building on a one-story base"-in other words, a 2-reeler stretched and bloated into 6 reels. Much the same could be said of Blake Edwards's Blind Date, though one wonders if Stan Laurel could have even gotten two reels out of its wafer-thin premise. At the outset, yuppie Bruce Willis is warned not to let his blind date, southern belle Kim Basinger, drink anything stronger than lemonade. So what does Willis do the first chance he gets? That's right, kids; he plies poor Basinger with champagne. And then he wonders why his life rapidly goes to hell in a handbasket. In his first starring movie role, Bruce Willis manages to find all sorts of nuances in his one-note role, while Kim Basinger is very funny when she's blotto-at least, for the first five minutes or so. John Laroquette costars as a character straight out of a 1920s bedroom farce; he's also pretty good, even though his dialogue is numbingly unamusing. Blake Edwards is famous for his ability to make a lot out of a little...but there has to be a limit somewhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Produced on behalf of the HBO cable service, The Blood of Others is a rare venture into English-language filmmaking by Claude Chabrol. Set during World War II, the film stars Jodie Foster and Michael Ontkean as a pair of French resistance fighters. If you can swallow that, then you'll accept New Zealand native Sam Neill as a German businessman. Chabrol's wife Stephane Audran costars as Gigi, while other prominent members of the cast include Alexandra Stewart, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Micheline Presle. Oh, yes, the plot: based on a novel by Simone de Beauvoir, The Blood of Others concerns Jodie Foster's confused loyalties: should she continue in her underground activities, or succumb to the charms of the seemingly civilized Neill? This French-Canadian coproduction was originally telecast August 23, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide