Noemie Lvovsky Movies

After spending some time with his diplomat father in Germany, a young French medical student returns by train to Paris to resume his studies. He is puzzled by the harsh treatment he receives from customs at the border but doesn't begin to understand why until he gets home and discovers a mummified head in his luggage. He suspects that someone at customs put it there, but is not sure. Instead of reporting the meandering body part, he decides to investigate it using the tools he has as a medical student. It appears to be the head of a Russian who died somewhere in Asia. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A hangdog, middle-aged painter falls in love with a tender young college student after he leaves his philandering wife and his children in this romantic French drama. To console himself, the fundamentally bohemian Phillippe finds comfort in the arms of various prostitutes, especially Valeria. It is while searching for her that he meets lovely Justine, the student. Sparks fly and they move into together. Things go well until Phillippe begins pining for his children. This makes insecure Justine terribly jealous and tumult erupts until the aging artist is able to discover the true source of his anxieties. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Following the international success of her first film Oblie-moi (1994) for which she was also the co-writer, Noémi Lvovsky has concentrated mostly on screenwriting until Petites, a "buddy film" for girls. Emilie, Stella, Ines and Marion come from different social backgrounds but share the same problems. Their escape is the group. As they grow older and get attracted to the opposite sex, each one picks out an ideal but inaccessible fiancé, chosen from the older boys at school. Life has its twists and turns, but the girls know that they will never be separated. A tender approach to the feelings of young women as only a woman can truly know, Petites is about the bittersweet experiences of growing up in a world which is not always friendly. The film is also a good representative of the New French Cinema by one of its several women directors. Petites was screened in the Spotlight on the New French Cinema section of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, 1998. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

Actor Yvan Attal follows up on his 1997 directorial debut of I've Got a Woman with this wry romantic comedy about a regular guy dealing with his wife's fame and career. Yvan (Attal) is a youngish sports writer who, through some improbable luck, finds himself happily married to the beautiful Charlotte (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a fantastically popular movie actress. All is going swimmingly for Yvan until a stranger plants the seeds of jealousy and doubt in his mind over his wife and her libertine profession. Meanwhile, Charlotte is in London, starring in a movie with a very seductive and sophisticated Terence Stamp. Soon misunderstandings pile upon misunderstanding until Yvan's marriage is on the verge of collapse. Can he keep his marriage together? This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

The stories of two desperate characters turn out to share an important link in this drama from French filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin. Nora (Emmanuelle Devos) is a woman in her mid-thirties who wants people to believe that her life is going just the way she wants. But a look below the surface shows this isn't quite the case; she's been divorced twice, her latest relationship is on the rocks, her ten-year-old son, Elias (Valentin Lelong), is becoming increasingly withdrawn, and her father (Maurice Garrel) is in poor health. When Nora learns that her father's digestive problems are actually cancer and he may only have a few days left to live, she desperately wants to turn to Ismael (Mathieu Amalric), her second husband. But Ismael is having a crisis of his own after a pattern of increasingly strange behavior has led him to an involuntary stay in a mental hospital. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A caustic apartment owner finds her attempts to evict the ragtag occupants of a 3,000 square foot rent-controlled apartment challenged in a most unexpected way in director Pascal Thomas' communal comedy. Thanks to a legal loophole known as "the Law of 1948," a cap was placed on some rental units around Paris preventing real-estate speculation. As long as the original resident still resides on the premises, the statue still applies. Though Marie-Antionette (Gisele Casadesus)'s name does indeed remain on the lease, the free-spirited grandmother rarely stays at the apartment for any extended length, leaving Francisca (Laetitia Casta), her husband Martin (Mathieu Amalric), and the couple's daughter the primary beneficiaries of the unique law. Of course with all of that room there's plenty of space for others to enjoy, and in addition to three of Francisca's best friends additional occupants include a senile grandmother (Carmen Durand) and egocentric independent filmmaker Adrien (Pierre Arditi). When acrimonious landlord Charlotte Falingard (Noemie Lvovsky) makes it her mission to clear out the apartment in order to turn a tidy profit, former law student Francesca stands firm in challenging the conviction by putting her education to good use. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Actress-cum-director Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi's sophomore feature, the comedy-drama Les Actrices (Le reve de la nuit d'avant), follows the trials and travails of Marcelline (Tedeschi), a tense and jittery stage thesp whose personal and professional life threaten to fall into pieces simultaneously. On a personal level, Marcelline hits the midpoint of her life, hears her biological clock ticking, and longs desperately for a child. At work, Marcelline's inability to find the core of her character, Natalia Petrovna, in a production of Turgenev's A Month in the Country only causes her emotional tension to double. In time, she regresses into such a basket case that she can barely respond to the stage director's query about whether she is right or left-handed. Marcelline's natty and overanxious mother (Marisa Borini, Tedeschi's mother in real life) weighs heavily on her as well, pressuring her constantly about the need to find an appropriate suitor before time runs out; instead, Marcelline finds herself drawn helplessly to Eric (Louis Garrel) a sexy young actor in the production - who, without her knowledge, nurtures reciprocal affections. This parallels the events that befall Petrovna in Turgenev's play, and indeed, at one point the spirit of Petrovna (Valeria Golino) appears to Marcelline for much-needed counsel. Meanwhile, as Marcelline weathers her own personal crises, one of her friends, Nathalie (Noemie Lvovsky) - the assistant to the play's director - struggles with her offstage lack of fulfillment as a wife and mother. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

A missing USB stick housing some volatile uranium secrets serves as the catalyst for insanity in director Ilan Duran Cohen's cartoonish, madcap caper. Eve (Evelyene Kirschenbaum) is a vocal coach who gives lessons out of her home. Constance (Jeanne Balibar), Anna (Caroline Ducey), and Julien (Julien Baumgartner) are two of her students. Constance's husband Hans has just been murdered by some unidentified characters seeking a USB stick that could be extremely valuable to both the Russians and the Mossad. Lately, Constance's shady sister-in-law Noemie (Nathalie Richard) has gone into partnership with local radiologist Reza (Frederic Karkosian), who moonlights as a terrorist. Both Noemie and Reza are sleeping with Julien. Meanwhile, a quick thinking French intelligence chief instructs agents Philippe (Lorant Deutsch) and Muriel (Marina Fois) to stake out Eve's lessons and press Constance for information. Who has the missing USB stick, and where are they hiding it? As the race to recover the information gets underway, everyone becomes a suspect. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The prostitutes at an early-20th century Paris brothel revel in their hopes and contend with customers who range from the hopelessly smitten to the frighteningly hostile in this visually sumptuous period drama from writer/director Bertrand Bonello (The Pornographer, On War). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi