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Director Claude Miller was a protege of Francois Truffaut, and the French master's influence is clear in this low-key thriller, based on the novel THE TREE OF HANDS by Ruth Rendell. Betty (Sandrine Kiberlain), a reclusive best-selling author and mother of a young son, is having a hard enough time dealing with a visit from her eccentric and self-involved mother, Margot (Nicole Garcia), who suffers from a blood disorder that occasionally makes her violent. Betty has the scars from her childhood to prove it. When Betty's son is suddenly and tragically killed, Margot doesn't seem very sympathetic. This story is intertwined with the story of Carole (Mathilde Seigner of WITH A FRIEND LIKE HARRY), the neglectful and abusive mother of Jose (Alexis Chatrian), who is about the same age as Betty's son. When Margot, in a deranged effort to help her daughter, kidnaps Jose, Carole's good-natured African boyfriend, Francois (Luck Mervil) is a prime suspect, and goes looking for the real kidnapper to clear his name. Miller deftly weaves an engaging and suspenseful tale in which characters of different classes and cultures pass through each other's lives. While some of them behave atrociously, Miller never forgets their essential humanity.DVD Features:Region 0Keep CaseLetterboxed - 1.66Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - FrenchAdditional Release Material: Making-of TrailersInteractive Features: Scene Access Interactive Menus
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
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This sly, comic take on the world of French cinema centers on a big-name actor (Michel Blanc) who discovers too late he's been replaced in his life and work by a sinister, effective double. Very much an insider's film, this work features a host of Gaellic actors playing themselves (as well as their ubiquitous doubles).DVD Features:Region 1Keep CaseInteractive Features: Scene Access Interactive Menus
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
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In this sensuous cinematic adaptation of Pierre Louys' masterpiece of erotic literature, a group of wealthy people congregate on an island to reenact the Aphrodite legend.
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
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Samy (Ricardo Darin) is a neurotic writer who gets paid to cram all of his trials and tribulations into scripts for his weekly Argentinean television show, though his true aim is to write a novel. Nearing 40, though, he feels as if he will never realize his dreams. Feeling at an all-time low, he drops out and away from everything--including the show and his family. Enter Mary (Angie Cepeda), a beautiful whirlwind, who just may have the power to turn Samy`s life around...
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
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In his second feature film, director Ziad Doueiri (WEST BEIRUT) takes on themes of race, religion, youth, and sexual bravado. Based on a controversial novel purported to be a 19-year-old Arab`s actual diary, this hormonally charged coming-of-age story is set in a dingy, ethnically mixed slum of post-9/11 Marseilles. When we meet Chimo (Mohammed Khouas), he is a self-described loser intent on hanging around with his slacker friends instead of pursuing his talent as a writer. But when Lila (Vahina Giocante)--a 16-year-old Catholic seductress--moves into the ghetto with her crazy, perverted aunt (Edmonde Franchi), she stirs something in Chimo and his depressing community with her angelic face, blonde hair, and impressively lewd language. While Lila will do no more than taunt the rest of the local men with her assets, she singles out Chimo and initiates him into a world filled with sexual desire. In fact, it is on their very first meeting that Lila offers Chimo a peak up her skirt, an invitation made even more appealing by her proclivity for not wearing underwear.By turning a thing as simple and seemingly innocent as a bike ride into a sexual escapade, Lila helps Chimo to see the world in a new way. As Chimo narrates his way through Lila`s relentless advances and elaborate sexual fantasies, tension between him and his friends builds to a chilling, inevitable climax that reveals everyone`s true colors. From one of its strangely breathtaking opening shots (the camera pans upward as the gloomy alley between two soiled apartment buildings is interrupted by a clothesline`s bright hues) to its last, LILA SAYS draws the viewer in with camerawork as seductive and beautiful as its title character.
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
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