15 Movies Starring Isabella Rossellini

Blue Velvet

Blue Velvet

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1986-10-30

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

120 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.8 (120411 Reviews)

Director:

David Lynch

Fullplot:

College student Jeffrey Beaumont returns to his idyllic hometown of Lumberton to manage his father's hardware store while his father is hospitalized. Walking though a grassy meadow near the family home, Jeffrey finds a severed human ear. After an initial investigation, lead police Detective John Williams advises Jeffrey not to speak to anyone about the case as they investigate further. Detective Williams also tells Jeffrey that he cannot divulge any information about what the police know. Detective Williams' high school aged daughter, Sandy Williams, tells Jeffrey what she knows about the case from overhearing her father's private conversations on the matter: that it has to do with a nightclub singer named Dorothy Vallens, who lives in an older apartment building near the Beaumont home. His curiosity getting the better of him, Jeffrey, with Sandy's help, decides to find out more about the woman at the center of the case by breaking into Dorothy's apartment while he knows she's at work. What Jeffrey finds is a world unfamiliar to him, one that he doesn't truly understand but one that he is unable to deny the lure of despite the inherent dangers of being associated with a possible murder. Still, he is torn between this world and the prospect of a relationship with Sandy, the two who are falling for each other, despite Sandy already being in a relationship with Mike, the school's star football player.

Tough Guys Don't Dance

Tough Guys Don't Dance

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1987-09-18

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

110 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

4.7 (936 Reviews)

Director:

Norman Mailer

Cast:

Writer:

Norman Mailer (novel)

Norman Mailer (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Writer, ex-con and 40-something bottle-baby Tim Madden, who is prone to black-outs, awakens from a two-week bender to discover a pool of blood in his car, a blond woman's severed head in his marijuana stash, and the new Provincetown police chief, Captain Luther Regency, shacked up with his former girlfriend Madeleine. As his father Dougy helps him try to unravel the mystery, he is dogged by the psychotic Capt. Regency, who has it in for Tim as a car-crash that he was involved in with Madeline has left her unable to have children. Flashing-back to the past, Tim remembers the time when he encouraged Madeline to swing with a Li'l Abnerish couple from down South, the fundamentalist preacher Big Stoop and his Daisy Mae-ish wife, Patty Lareine, whose ad Tim had come across in 'Screw' magazine. It's on the trip back that the car crash occurs, since Madeline is incensed that Tim has so enjoyed Patty Lareine's charms. Except for his father Dougy, who is dying of cancer, Tim suspects everyone, including his ex-wife Patty Lareine, multi-millionaire prep-school pal Wardley Meeks III, - and himself - of murder. Patty Lareine had left Big Stoop, married Wardley, left him in a messy divorce which netted her a rich cash settlement, and in turn married Tim, whom she fancied. Patty Lareine disappears, and Tim goes on his fatal bender that has left his memory in shards after receiving a letter from Madeline informing him that her husband is having an affair with his wife. Tim remembers his assignation in the local tavern's parking lot with the blond porn star Jessica Pond, while her effete husband Lonnie Pangborn watched from the sidelines, distraught. It was Jessica's head in the Hefty bag with his grass, but soon, another head turns up in his marijuana stash, that of Patty Lareine. We eventually learn that she and her ex- Wardley, a bisexual skewed towards the gay side, had been involved in a massive marijuana deal, a deal that also involved Jessica Pond and Lonnie Pangborn, who are also missing. Will Tim be able to get to the bottom of the mystery and save himself from another stretch in stir? As his father Dougy reminds him, "Tough guys don't dance," and Tim has been doing everything but the Charlston in his attempt to keep ahead of the forces closing in on him. Will he unravel the case and reclaim his lost manhood? And what does an old witch trial and the unspeakably lumpen sleazoids down at the garage at the outskirts of town have to do with all this?

Death Becomes Her

Death Becomes Her

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1992-07-31

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

104 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

6.4 (72504 Reviews)

Director:

Robert Zemeckis

Fullplot:

Helen, a writer, and Madeline, an actress, have hated each other for years. Madeline is married to Ernest, who was once Helen's fiance. After she recovers from a mental breakdown, Helen vows revenge by stealing back Ernest and plotting to kill Madeline. Both rivals have secretly drunk a miracle cure for aging; they accidentally discover, when each tries to eliminate the other, that they have become immortal and that "life" will never be the same again.

Fearless

Fearless

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1993-10-15

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

122 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.2 (16587 Reviews)

Director:

Peter Weir

Cast:

Writer:

Rafael Yglesias (novel)

Rafael Yglesias (screenplay)

Fullplot:

After a terrible air disaster, survivor Max Klein emerges a changed person. Unable to connect to his former life or to wife Laura, he feels godlike and invulnerable. When psychologist Bill Perlman is unable to help Max, he has Max meet another survivor, Carla Rodrigo, who is racked with grief and guilt since her baby died in the crash which she and Max survived.

Immortal Beloved

Immortal Beloved

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1995-01-06

Languages:

English

Countries:

UK, USA

Runtime:

121 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.5 (17748 Reviews)

Director:

Bernard Rose

Fullplot:

The life and death of the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven. Beside all the work he is known for, the composer once wrote a famous love letter to a nameless beloved and the movie tries to find out who this beloved was. Not easy as Beethoven has had many women in his life.

The Funeral

The Funeral

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1996-11-01

Languages:

English, Italian

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

99 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.6 (6618 Reviews)

Director:

Abel Ferrara

Genres:

CrimeDrama

Fullplot:

New York City, the 1930s. A powerful crime family is caught in a lethal crossfire between union organizers and brutal corporate bosses. Against this turbulent backdrop, the family's three street-hardened brothers and the women they love are about to be plunged into a deadly confrontation with their enemies, with each other, and with their own dark heritage of violence, madness and murder.

The Odyssey

The Odyssey

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1997-05-18

Languages:

English

Countries:

Italy, UK, Germany, Greece, USA, Turkey

Runtime:

176 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

(9917 Reviews)

Fullplot:

This lavish small-screen adaptation of Homer's ancient epic--replete with Maltese and Turkish locations, state-of-the-art special effects, and many bronzed muscles gleaming with sweat--chronicles the voyage home of a Trojan hero, Odysseus King of Ithaca, and includes many more scenes of his faithful, beautiful wife Penelope dodging leering suitors at home than Homer ever composed!

Left Luggage

Left Luggage

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1998-03-30

Languages:

English, Hebrew, Yiddish

Countries:

USA, Netherlands, Belgium, UK

Runtime:

100 min

Rated:

UNRATED

IMDB Ratings:

7.4 (2485 Reviews)

Director:

Jeroen Krabbè

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Carl Friedman (novel)

Edwin de Vries

Fullplot:

While escaping from Nazis during the WWII, a Jewish man dug suitcases full of things dear to his heart in the ground two. The war deprived him of his family, and afterwards he endlessly turns over the soil of Antwerp to find the suitcases, which makes him look obsessed. He keeps checking old maps and keeps digging, trying to find, in fact, those he lost. His daughter Chaya is a beautiful modern girl looking for a part-time job. She finds a place as a nanny in the strictly observant Chassidic family with many children, although her secular manners clearly fly in the face of many commandments. One of the reasons she is accepted is that mother of the family is absolutely overburdened by the household, so she stays despite the resistance of the father, normally - an indisputable authority in the family. She develops a special bond with the youngest of the boys, four-year old Simcha, so far incapable of speaking. She teaches him while walking in the park, and it seems that during the upcoming Passover Seder, Simcha will be able to chant parts of the Haggadah. The old repulsive superintendent of the building is a constant wet blanket for the entire family and now for Chaya. However, as opposed to the observant Jews, she cannot be a victim and is not going to put up with his anti-Semitic tricks, so she fights him, thus exciting the children's admiration and family head's wrath. Unfortunately, walks with Simcha end in a tragedy: after sneaking to the park, he drowns in the pond, and some Chassids hold Chaya responsible. A beautiful, warm picture filled with compassion and humanism, making understandable even the behavior of the superintendent - a mean pathetic anti-Semite: he is so terribly lonely that has only his dog to talk to.

Don Quixote

Don Quixote

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2000-04-09

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

120 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.2 (1258 Reviews)

Director:

Peter Yates

Cast:

Writer:

Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra (novel)

John Mortimer (teleplay)

Fullplot:

Adapted from the work of Miguel de Cervantes, this is the story of a hidalgo, fanatic for chivalry novels, who loses his sanity and believing to be a knight named Don Quixote de La Mancha, decides to go on imaginary adventures along with his friend, the simple farmer Sancho Panza, who becomes his squire. On their journeys, they rescue dames in distress in honorable acts and fight giants among other perils, with Don longing to be with the love of his life, lady Dulcinea, and Sancho waiting to be rewarded with an island where he's about to become a governor.

Roger Dodger

Roger Dodger

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2002-11-22

Languages:

English, German

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

106 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

(14632 Reviews)

Director:

Dylan Kidd

Genres:

ComedyDrama

Fullplot:

Set against the bright lights of Manhattan, a tale which takes a comic, urbane look at the modern male ego at war in the singles scene trenches. Roger Swanson is a hopelessly cynical advertising copywriter with a razor-sharp wit who believes he has mastered the art of manipulating women. But Roger's seemingly foolproof world of smooth talk and casual sex begins to unravel when he is paid a surprise visit by his teenager nephew, Nick. Hoping to settle, once and for all, the issue of his virginity, Nick begs Roger to school him in the art of seducing women. Welcoming the challenge, Roger guides Nick through the city's wild nightlife for an all-night crash course, only to realize that he--the adult--still has something to learn about what women, and men, really want.

Monte Walsh

Monte Walsh

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2003-01-17

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

117 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

7.2 (1416 Reviews)

Director:

Simon Wincer

Genres:

Western

Cast:

Writer:

Michael Brandman (teleplay)

Robert B. Parker (teleplay)

David Zelag Goodman (teleplay)

Lukas Heller (teleplay)

Jack Schaefer (novel)

Fullplot:

Monte Walsh and Chet Rollins are long-time cowhands, working whatever ranch work comes their way, but "nothing they can't do from a horse." Their lives are divided between months on the range and the occasional trip into town. Monte has a long-term relationship with prostitute Martine Bernard, while Chet has fallen under the spell of the widow who owns the hardware store. Camaraderie and competition with the other cowboys fill their days, until one of the hands, Shorty Austin, loses his job and gets involved in rustling and killing. Then Monte and Chet find that their lives on the range are inexorably redirected.

The Saddest Music in the World

The Saddest Music in the World

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2005-05-12

Languages:

English, Spanish

Countries:

Canada

Runtime:

100 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.2 (4873 Reviews)

Director:

Guy Maddin

Cast:

Writer:

Kazuo Ishiguro (original screenplay)

George Toles

Guy Maddin

Fullplot:

It's the winter of 1933 in Winnipeg. In honor of Winnipeg being named the sorrow capital of the world for the Depression era for the fourth year running by the London Times, Lady Helen Port-Huntley, the legless owner of Winnipeg's Port-Huntley Beer, is hosting and judging a contest to see which nation has the saddest music in the world, the winner to take home a $25,000 prize. Seeing as to the current Prohibition in the United States, Lady Port-Huntley has ulterior motives for the contest. Father and son, streetcar conductor Fyodor Kent and New York based musical producer Chester Kent, who both have a past connection to Lady Port-Huntley (Fyodor, a WWI veteran and former doctor, has fashioned for her an unusual pair of artificial legs apropos to her business), want to represent Canada and the United States respectively in the contest. Despite Lady Port-Huntley's hatred for the Kent's, she does allow them to do so if only to advance her own priorities. As the contest takes place, the Kents, who also include Fyodor's other son/Chester's brother, Roderick Kent (who wants to represent Serbia in the contest, as his missing wife is Serbian), deal with their collective sorrow and family dysfunction, the latter issue which involves Chester's current girlfriend, an amnesiac named Narcissa.

My Dog Tulip

My Dog Tulip

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2011-05-06

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

83 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.9 (1201 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

J.R. Ackerley (book)

Paul Fierlinger (screenplay)

Sandra Fierlinger (screenplay)

Fullplot:

The story of a man who rescues a German shepherd and how the two become fast friends.

Keyhole

Keyhole

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2012-02-22

Languages:

English, French

Countries:

Canada

Runtime:

94 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

5.4 (1072 Reviews)

Director:

Guy Maddin

Cast:

Writer:

George Toles (screenplay)

Guy Maddin (screenplay)

Fullplot:

In a house haunted with memories, gangster and father Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) arrives home after a long absence towèing the body of a teenaged girl and a bound and gagged young man. His gang waits inside his house, having shot their way past police. There is friction in the ranks. Ulysses, however, is focused on one thing: journeyèing through the house, room by room, and reaching his wife Hyacinth (Isabella Rossellini) in her bedroom upstairs. His odyssey eventually becomes an emotional tour, as the strange nooks and crannies of the house reveal more about the mysterious Pick family.

Enemy

Enemy

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2014-02-06

Languages:

English

Countries:

Canada, Spain, France

Runtime:

91 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (74013 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Josè Saramago (novel)

Javier Gullèn

Fullplot:

Adam Bell is a Toronto area History college professor. He is a rather somber man, largely because he is stuck in a routine, which includes a relationship with his live-in girlfriend, Mary. While watching a rental movie, he spots an actor in a bit part that looks like him. He becomes obsessed with finding out about this double of his. He learns that the actor's stage name is Daniel Saint Claire, whose legal name is Anthony Claire. Claire is a Toronto based actor with only a few on-screen credits, and is married to a woman named Helen who is currently several months pregnant. Adam then becomes obsessed with meeting Claire, who he learns upon first sighting that they look exactly the same, from the facial hair to a scar each has, but Claire who outwardly is more "put together" than Adam. Their lives become intertwined as Claire himself ends up becoming obsessed with Adam, but in a slightly different way.

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