Released Date:
2008-02-01
Languages:
French
Countries:
France, USA
Runtime:
112 min
Rated:
PG-13
IMDB Ratings:
(86074 Reviews)
Director:
Julian SchnabelRonald Harwood (screenplay)
Jean-Dominique Bauby (book)
Forty-three year old Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby - Jean-Do to his friends - awakens not knowing where he is. He is in a Berck-sur-Mer hospital, where he has been for the past several weeks in a coma after suffering a massive stroke. Although his cognitive facilities are in tact, he quickly learns that he has what is called locked-in syndrome which has resulted in him being almost completely paralyzed, including not being able to speak. One of his few functioning muscles is his left eye. His physical situation and hospitalization uncomfortably bring together the many people in his life, including: Cèline Desmoulins, his ex-lover and mother of his children; Inès, his current lover; and his aged father who he calls Papinou. Among his compassionate recuperative team are his physical therapist Marie, and his speech therapist Henriette. Henriette eventually teaches him to communicate using a system where he spells out words: she reads out the letters of the alphabet in descending order of their use in the French language, and he blinks his functioning left eye when she reaches the appropriate letter. Although frustrating at start, he learns to communicate effectively but slowly using this method, so much so that with the help of Claude, a full time translator, he decides on the monumental and seemingly impossible task to keep to his pre-injury commitment of writing a book, changing its focus to life in his current state.
Released Date:
2005-10-12
Languages:
French
Countries:
France
Runtime:
93 min
IMDB Ratings:
7.2 (1307 Reviews)
Director:
Stèphane BrizèStèphane Brizè
Juliette Sales
The fifty years old Jean-Claude has a boring life, working in a notary office of his own and as court official evicting tenants or seizing properties, or spending the Sundays afternoons in the retirement home with his sour, rude and bitter father. When he has a minor heart problem, his doctor advises him to exercise, and Jean-Claude begins to have tango lessons in a studio in front of his office. He meets the charming forty and something years old Franèoise, who is also having classes for her wedding party, and she recalls she was her neighbor in her childhood. They become close and love flourishes between them, changing their lives.
Released Date:
2008-11-21
Languages:
French
Countries:
France
Runtime:
150 min
Rated:
NOT RATED
IMDB Ratings:
7.1 (5010 Reviews)
Director:
Arnaud DesplechinArnaud Desplechin (scenario and dialogue)
Emmanuel Bourdieu (scenario and dialogue)
Jacques Asher (inspired by: "La Greffe")
Jean-Pierre Jouet (inspired by: "La Greffe")
The Vuillard family gathers: Junon and Abel, a daughter Elizabeth and her son Paul, Henri and a girlfriend, Ivan, his wife Sylvia and their young sons, and cousin Simon. Six years before, Elizabeth paid Henri's debts and demanded he never see her again or visit their parents' home. Paul, at 16, has mental problems and faces a clinical exam. Junon learns she needs a bone marrow transplant if she's to live beyond a few months: thus the dètente bringing all together. Two family members have compatible marrow, but the spats, fights, cruel words, drunken toasts, and somewhat civilized bad behavior threaten all; plus Junon may simply refuse treatment. Do we know ourselves?
Released Date:
2009-04-02
Languages:
Cantonese, Mandarin, German, Japanese, English, Ukrainian
Countries:
France, China, Germany
Runtime:
134 min
IMDB Ratings:
7.2 (4858 Reviews)
Director:
Florian GallenbergerFlorian Gallenberger
Erwin Wickert (book)
After 28 years building and managing a vast Siemens plant in Nanking, John Rabe is ordered by the new Nazi regime to close it down. Before he can pack, the Japanese army, lead unofficially by a bloodthirsty imperial uncle, lays siege to the city. Rabe accepts, as prominent representative of Japans' major European ally, to head the Western ex-pats society's plan to start and run an international zone, like worked in Shangai. Rabe however wants it to save his workers and their close ones, over 200,000, and sacrifices all his personal interests.
Released Date:
2009-11-04
Languages:
French
Countries:
France, Italy
Runtime:
104 min
Rated:
PG
IMDB Ratings:
6.2 (3043 Reviews)
Director:
Alain ResnaisChristian Gailly (novel)
Alain Resnais (adaptation)
Laurent Herbiet (adaptation)
A wallet lost and found opens the door to romantic adventure for Georges and Marguerite. After examining the ID papers of its owner, it is not a simple matter for Georges to turn the red wallet he found in to the police. Nor is it that Marguerite can recuperate her wallet without being piqued with curiosity about whom it was who found it. As they navigate the social protocols of giving and acknowledging thanks, turbulence enters their otherwise quotidian lives.
Released Date:
2009-03-25
Languages:
French
Countries:
France
Runtime:
90 min
IMDB Ratings:
5.7 (600 Reviews)
Director:
Lucien Jean-BaptisteGenres:
ComedyLucien Jean-Baptiste (screenplay)
Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar (screenplay)
Released Date:
2009-11-18
Languages:
French
Countries:
France, Belgium
Runtime:
125 min
IMDB Ratings:
6.7 (1623 Reviews)
Director:
Lucas BelvauxGenres:
DramaStanislaff Graff, a rich industrialist with a wife and a lover, is kidnapped brutally from his limousine on the eve of his visit to China as part of the entourage of the French president. The kidnappers demand a fifty million euro ransom. In order to prove they are serious, they cut off one of his fingers. What follows is a terrifying sparring match between kidnappers, police and the board of the company of which Graff is the director. The main question for the board: is a human life worth more than fifty million euros? Will they be able to get that amount of money together in time anyway? While they decide this he degenerates physically and mentally in imprisonment. In the meantime, the press dredges up the businessman's past with revelations that are especially painful for his wife.
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