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Lourdes
Jessica Hausner's latest movie takes place in Lourdes as the title would suggest. Lourdes is both a place of pilgrimage and of mystery. It is there that in order to escape her isolation, wheelchair-bound Christine makes a life changing journey to Lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the Pyrenees Mountains.
Cast: Sylvie Testud, Léa Seydoux, Bruno Todeschini, Gilette Barbier, Gerhard Liebmann, Irma Wagner
David Golder
Golder has refused to help his colleague of many years, Marcus. As a result of this, Marcus, bankrupt, commits suicide. Following the funeral, Golder travels to Biarritz where he has a huge, opulent house. His wife and daughter reside there in luxury, spending Golder's cash like water. On the train, he suffers a heart attack. Seriously ill, he is forced to re-evaluate his life.
Cast: Harry Baur (David Golder), Jacques Grétillat (Marcus), Paule Andral (Gloria), Jackie Monnier (Joyce), Jean Coquelin (Fischl), Jean Bradin (Alec), Gaston Jacquet (Hoyor), Camille Bert (Tubingen), Léon Arvel, Jeanne Bernard, Paul Franceschi, Charles Go
From Paris with Love
Produced by Luc Besson, this is Pierre Morel's second film after Taken. A personal aide to the U.S. Ambassador in France, James Reese (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) has an enviable life in Paris and a beautiful French girlfriend, but his real passion is his side job as a low-level operative for the CIA. All James wants is to become a bona fide agent and see some real action. So when he's offered his first senior-level assignment, he can't believe his good luck - until he meets his new partner, special agent Charlie Wax (John Travolta).
Cast: John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Kasia Smutniak and Richard Durden
Father of my children
Cannes Film Festival 2009 – Special Prize Un Certain Regard. Grégoire Canvel has everything a man could want. A wife he loves, three delightful children and a stimulating job. He's a film producer. Discovering talented filmmakers and developing films that fit his conception of the cinema-free and true-to-life is precisely his reason for living, his vocation. It fulfils him and Grégoire devotes almost all his time and energy to his work. He's hyperactive, he never stops, except at weekends...
Cast: Chiara CASELLI, Louis-Do de LENCQUESAING, Alice de LENCQUESAING, Alice GAUTIER, Manelle DRISS, Eric ELMOSNINO, Sandrine DUMAS, Dominique FROT
Spy(ies)
Vincent works as an airport luggage handler. With his co-worker, Gerard, Vincent occasionally steals from suitcases before they're unloaded. While rummaging in the suitcase of a diplomat, Gerard is killed when a perfume bottle inside explodes. The owner of the suitcase, a Syrian diplomat, disappears. Vincent is caught by the DST (French Intelligence Agency) and they offer him a deal—to avoid prison, he must collaborate with the French and British Secret Service in order to catch the man responsible for the explosion.
Cast: Guillaume Canet, Stephen Rea, Hippolyte Girardot, Alexander Siddig, Archie Panjabi, Vincent Regan, Géraldine Pailhas
Farewell
Moscow, 1981. Convinced that the Soviet regime is adrift, Sergei Grigoriev, a colonel with the KGB, decides to betray his country. He provides sensitive information to the DST through Pierre Froment, a French engineer in Moscow.
Cast: Guillaume Canet, Emir Kusturica, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ingeborga Dapkunaite
Micmacs
It took Jean-Pierre Jeunet quite some time to start writing again: five years since 'A Very Long Engagement'. It has been well worth the wait. In true Jeunet style ingenuity and humour are present throughout the film despite its serious subject matter. Indeed, a satirical analysis of the world's arm trade probably wouldn't immediately strike you as slapstick. Jamel Debbouze was originally cast for the film but left after three weeks of filming. He was quickly replaced by Danny Boon, an actor who displays his magnificent skill again. Danny Boon is supported by a strong cast who all seem to have had their role made to measure. Don't go expecting a repeat of Amelie or les Ch'tis - the genre is totally different but better for it. Released nationwide on 26th February 2010.
Cast: DANY BOON, ANDRE DUSSOLLIER, OMAR SY, DOMINIQUE PINON, JULIE FERRIER, NICOLAS MARIE, MARIE-JULIE BAUP, MICHEL CREMADES, YOLANDE MOREAU and JEAN-PIERRE MARIELLE
A Prophet
Condemned to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena cannot read or write. Arriving at the jail entirely alone, he appears younger and more fragile than the other convicts. He is 19 years old. Cornered by the leader of the Corsican gang who rules the prison, he is given a number of 'missions' to carry out...
Cast: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup
OSS 117 - Lost in Rio
Jean Dujardin returns as suave, sophisticated and utterly clueless French spy Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, France’s answer to James Bond. Armed with an arsenal of weapons including classic good looks, matchless charm and unrivalled stupidity, OSS 117 is the man to call when villains need to be found, peace needs to be brokered and women seduced. A massive hit in France, OSS 117: Lost in Rio is sure to disperse the winter blues.
Cast: Jean Dujardin, Louise Monot, Alex Lutz
Mascarades
Comedian, scriptwriter and director Lyes Salem plays tracksuited, moustached Mounir Mekbek, who is down on his luck, mocked by his neighbours, and saddled with a narcoleptic sister, Rym, who is fast approaching spinsterhood.
Cast: Lyes Salem, Sarah Reguieg, Mohamed Bouchaïb, Rym Takoucht, Merouane Zmirli, Mourad Khen
Séraphine
Winner of seven French Academy Awards including Best Picture, Séraphine is the heart-stopping true story of one of the twentieth century's greatest artists. Yolande Moreau who is Séraphine, also received the Best Actress award for her incredible performance. She reaches deep into her soul to portrait a simple woman brought up by nuns who without any education or training finds herself discovered in 1912, by Wilhelm Uhde, one of the most famous art collectors of the time.
Cast: Yolance Moreau, Ulrick Tukur
The Sea Wall
Widely praised following its world premiere as a Special Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival, director Rithy Panh's (RICE PEOPLE) celebrated period epic set in the rich landscape of French colonial Indochine is a highly successful adaptation of Marguerite Duras' acclaimed and semi-autobiographical novel "Un Barrage Contre le Pacifique", featuring a leading performance by BAFTA Award Winner and recipient of the European Film Academy's 2009 Achievement in World Cinema, Isabelle Huppert.
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Gaspard Ulliel, Astrid Berger-Frisbey
Welcome
Welcome is an emotionally affecting drama about intersecting lives, unlikely friendships and the hope of new beginnings. Bilal (Firat Ayverdi), a 17-year-old Kurdish refugee, has spent the last three months of his life travelling across Europe in an attempt to reunite with his girlfriend who recently emigrated to England. The journey has been difficult, but the end is in sight when Bilal finally reaches the far north coast of France, where he can literally see the white cliffs of Dover across the English Channel. But it is here that his journey comes to an abrupt halt as local authorities, and the immigration laws they are enforcing, prevent him from going any further.
Cast: ,Vincent Lindon, Firat Ayverdi, Audrey Dana
Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno
In 1964, Henri-Georges Clouzot chose Romy Schneider and Serge Reggiani, as the lead actors of L'ENFER (INFERNO). This enigmatic and original project, about a hotel manager who becomes possessed by the demons of jealousy, was given an unlimited budget and touted to be the cinematographic event of the decade. However, three weeks into filming, drama unfolds and the project aborted. The images, said to be incredible, were never shown. Decades later, having uncovered some of the original rushes and screen tests, directors Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea have succeeded in recreating a new film from the remnants and brought it to fruition. Part original, part documentary and part reconstruction, HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT'S INFERNO shows L'ENFER as it was shot, and tells the emotional story of an ill-fated film project and of Henri-Georges Clouzot, who had been given free reign to his filmmaking genius.
Cast: Romy Schneider, Serge Reggiani, Bérénice Bejo, Jacques Gamblin