Jean-Francois Lepetit Movies

A closeted Swiss professor's closely guarded sexuality threatens to become front page news when he is appointed guardian to a recalcitrant teen in this light and lively comedy starring Jean-Calude Brialy and Sabine Haudepin. Swiss law states that any citizen can be appointed guardian to a child and must assume that responsibility if so named. When outwardly straight, happily married professor and author Jean-Pierre learns that he has been named guardian of an orphaned teenage boy, his attempts to discourage the judge from placing him in charge of the boy prompt the magistrate to launch an investigation into his suitability for the task. Realizing that his livelihood is on the line, Jean-Pierre attempts to repair his relationship with Alice, the woman and friend who once married him as a favor. As the teen he has been placed in charge of takes the initiative to move in with him, Jean-Pierre's secret threatens to become the talk of the town and his life begins to unravel at the seams. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Roufa (Abdel Kechiche) is an attractive young man, and that works out well for him because he is a practitioner of "bezness:" he's a sex-for-hire boy for the tourists who come to Tunisia. His girlfriend deeply resents his having sex with other women but doesn't seem much bothered that a rich German man he's been having sex with is hoping to sponsor him in Europe. She also has a hard time with his tendency to behave like any other Arab male around a woman, telling her how to take care of her business. As it turns out, she's got better sense than any of the men around her. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A young man learns just how much is truly fair in love and war in this purposefully outrageous comedy-drama. Paul (Thomas Dutronc) is a naïve student who has recently begun attending college in Paris. Paul has developed a furious crush on a fellow student and has spent two weeks trying to work up the nerve to speak to her -- only to see Fabio (Said Taghmaoui), one of his classmates, move in and lay claim to the girl, with seemingly no effort. Amazed, Paul asks Fabio what the secret is, and soon Fabio is giving Paul a crash course in the not-so-fine art of seducing women. A few months later, Paul has mastered Fabio's teachings and can bed nearly any woman he wants...but he soon finds he doesn't much care for them now, and has picked up a few other bad habits along the way. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Hector Babenco injected autobiographical details into this tale of an Argentine teen's first romance. Living with his parents, 17-year-old Juan (Walter Quiroz) hangs out with several intellectuals who would like to photograph the human soul. The girlfriend of the group's financier is Ana (Maria Luisa Mendonca), and Juan is attracted to her, despite the knowledge that she spent two years at a clinic because she was "crazy." Juan sees Ana when he can and trains as a door-to-door salesman, but when the German photographer on the soul project gives him a viewfinder, it changes his life, putting him on the path to his later success as a Hollywood director. Shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Director Catherine Breillat, who courted international controversy with her film Romance, once again pushed the envelope with this disturbing (if somewhat less explicit) look at adolescent sexuality. Anaïs (Anaïs Reboux) is a 12-year-old girl with a weight problem and a downbeat disposition growing up in a family which offers her little in the way of understanding and affection. Anaïs has a typically adolescent love/hate relationship with her slimmer and prettier 15-year-old sister, Elena (Roxane Mesquida); she's at once fascinated by her sister (and the boys who follow her around), and hates her for the love and attention she receives from others. While the family spends the summer at the beach, Elena attracts the attentions of Fernando (Libero de Rienzo), a college student from Italy who makes no secret of his attraction to Elena's budding sexuality. Anaïs, on the other hand, is forced to make do with a sad game in which she pretends that a ladder and a diving board at a neighborhood swimming pool are two suitors vying for her affections. Anaïs shares a room with Elena, and finds herself a fascinated, if troubled, witness as Fernando uses both charm and deceit to rob her sister of her virginity, while Elena is too naïve to see through the lies Fernando is spinning -- and enjoys having Anaïs as an audience for her steadily advancing sex play with Fernando. Anaïs is more aware than her older sister of Fernando's insincerity, but she finds Elena isn't eager to believe her. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two women try to pass along what they've learned about life, love and work to a handful of kids with unexpected results in this French comedy. For years, Blanche (Josiane Balasko) and her husband ran a diner in a small village in France, with their daughter Louise (Sylvie Testud) coming aboard to help once she was grown. After Blanche's husband passes on, she and Louise decide to keep the place open, though a rival eatery owned by Lucie Chevrier (Catherine Hiegel) sees an opportunity to finally get the edge on their competition. Good-hearted Blanche and Louise hear that a group of foster children in need of parents have been left with nowhere to stay, and they agree to take in the kids. Blanche and her daughter go out of their way to the youngsters about the importance of a solid work ethic; however, this lesson is put to the test when local truck drivers go on strike, and their leader, Pierre (Eric Cantona) tries to convince everyone (including the children) not to work for a while. Writer and director Gerard Krawczyk adapted La Vie Est A Nous (aka It's Our Life) from the novel L'eau des Fleurs by Jean-Marie Gourio. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This French drama, set in 1986, focuses upon the friendship between two Arab boys, one a normal boy raised in France, and the other a trained assassin on a mission for the fundamentalist organization that trained him. Laid has been indoctrinated and trained in a secret guerrilla training camp. Though only eleven, he is more a holy warrior than he is a little boy. Because he is so serious and calm, Laid is chosen to perform an assassination in Paris. Though he speaks fluent French, he needs to know more about how little French boys behave. Karim, who was raised in Paris, is forcibly borrowed from his father. Karim is the antithesis of Laid. He is fun loving, Westernized, and enthusiastic. Laid is intrigued and they become friends. The friendship changes history when the assassination plan fails in a surprising way. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Due to there being an excess of girls in her family, the seventh daughter (Amina) is given a boy's name (Ahmed) and is treated that way by everyone including her father. However, when she grows to an age where she tries to shave and grow a mustache, contemplating taking a wife, these palpable impossibilities clue the family into the fact that she isn't, perhaps, entirely sane. On his deathbed, her father (Francois Chattot) attempts to rectify things by renaming her with a girl's name (Zahra) and telling her to go out and live as a woman. Still pretending to be a man, and moving freely in that manner, she travels across Morocco to find a situation in the house of a blind Consul (Miguel Boss) and she runs afoul of his romantically possessive sister. There, the contradictions in her present and past come home to roost in the most tragic possible way. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

All of Europe was affected by the Great Depression of the 1930s, but some parts were hurt less badly than others. France, for instance, was relatively prosperous. In this grim drama, a sturdy Polish boxer and his family have settled into a mining town in northern France because that's where the work is. Like European "guest workers" in the 1990s, the Polish immigrants then were frequently treated badly by the locals. In this drama, the romantic aspirations of the boxer's son are thwarted by the concerted efforts of the local men and his own family's preference that he marry another Polish girl. After his romance fails, the son becomes a union activist and sacrifices a great deal to try to gain higher wages for the miners, but the contract he works out is reneged on by the duplicitous owners. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide