Carole Bouquet

This romantic comedy concerns Kate Swallow (Carole Bouquet), who works in a French department store to help support her husband Alec (Jonathan Pryce), an egocentric novelist who insists on peace and quiet when he writes. Kate has literary aspirations herself, but Alec complains that the clacking of the keys on her laptop is too much of a distraction for him (he prefers to write longhand). Alec's editor Vanni Corso (Christopher Walken) has high hopes for his next book, which needs to sell well if his company is to pull itself out of the red. While Vanni is interested in Alec's novel, he also becomes interested in Alec's wife, and Kate becomes quite taken with Vanni as well. In time she leaves Alex to pursue a relationship with Vanni and work on her own book. Kate's novel turns out to do quite well indeed, but there's trouble in paradise when Vanni tells her he's not so sure her second novel is going to go anywhere. Business Affair was loosely based on the real-life literary and romantic travails of author Barbara Skelton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

French philosopher/semiotician Roland Barthes once asked "Why and how do singers find their emotions in their voices?" This passionate German-French documentary explores and pays tribute to that mystery via a montage of interviews and musical performances by three of the world's greatest opera divas: soprano Martha Modl, mezzo soprano Rita Gorr and soprano Anita Cerquetti. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The shocking story of a young man sentenced to a brutal juvenile home comes to the screen in this drama based on an autobiographical novel by Auguste Le Breton set in the early Thirties. Yves Treguier (($Emile Berling}) is a fourteen year old who has run away from home and is picked up by police for vagrancy. Yves is sent to an "educational home" for orphans and juvenile felons; the home is more like a prison than anything else, and adults who oversee the youngsters in their care are more interested in discipline and hard labor than in attempting to teach their charges. Many of the boys at the home have become hardened prisoners who greet new inmates with violence or sexual abuse, but Yves is fortunate enough to share his cell with Blondeau (Guillaume Gouix), an older boy with a gentle spirit. Blondeau was simply abandoned by his wealthy mother, and has bittersweet memories of music lessons and reading poetry. While Blondeau has become resigned to his fate, Yves's spirit has not been broken, and he isn't in stir long before making plans to escape. After two attempts to run away fail, Yves is warned that a third offense will result in him being transferred to a prison for adults, but despite the long odds against him, Yves believes that he has a slim chance of escape but no chance at all if he stays on the inside. Les Hauts Murs (aka Behind The Walls) was the first theatrical feature from director Christian Faure, who previously distinguished himself working in television. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Francis Palluau's directorial debut Bienvenue Chez les Rozes (Welcome to the Rozes) is a comedy about a hostage situation. Gilbert (Lorant Deutsch) and MG (Jean Dujardin) escape from prison and end up hiding out at the home of Daniel and Beatrice Roze (André Wilms and Carole Bouquet), who are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary. MG takes everyone hostage in order to get money owed to him from the theft that put him in jail, and the Rozes do not seem to be perturbed at all by the evening's turn of events. Clemence Poesy rounds out the cast as Magali, the daughter of Daniel and Beatrice. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Like his more famous loin-clothed tree-swinging, yodeling counterpart, Bingo Bongo was raised in the jungle by apes. This Italian comedy follows his lively adventures after he is captured, caged and sent back to civilization. There he begins working with a pretty anthropologist who teaches him all he needs to know about speaking, eating correctly and falling in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide