A Girl Cut in Two

• directed bt claude chabrol

A SECRET follows the saga of a Jewish family in post-World War II Paris. Francois, a solitary, imaginative child, invents for himself a brother as well as the story of his parents past. But on his fifteenth birthday, he discovers a dark family secret that ties his family s history to the Holocaust and shatters his illusions forever. Adapted from Philippe Grimbert`s celebrated truth-inspired novel MEMORY.Leopold, a smug, still-hunky 50-year-old businessman, picks up and seduces fresh-faced, carrot-topped 19-year-old Franz who swiftly moves into his bachelor pad. Their cozy relationship soon sours as Leopold, a kind of gone-to-seed Dirk Bogarde, turns cranky and argumentative. When Franz's buxom blond girlfriend surfaces, and then Leopold's elegant and enigmatic ex, things get funnier, steamier and a lot more complicated. Set in Germany in the '70s, and brilliantly ad! apted from a play by the great R.W. Fassbinder, by one of France's most daring and innovative new directors, WATER DROPS ON BURNING ROCKS is fraught with intimations of violence, betrayal, and sexual shenanigans run amok.{Nominated Palme d'Or, Claude Miller-- Cannes Film Festival 2003}

{Winner! Silver Hugo Best Female Performance, Ludivine Sagnier-- Chicago Int'l Film Festival 2003}

{Winner! Best Supporting Actress, and Most Promising Actress, Julie Depardieu-- César Awards, France 2004}

Ludivine Sagnier stars as Lili, the love and muse of an idealistic young filmmaker in this modern adaptation of Chekov's classic play The Seagull.

The story revolves around Mado, a movie-star past her prime who owns an elegant chateau in the serene French countryside. Mado's lover Brice is a successful director who continues to cast Mado in his films. Her son Julien, an aspiring filmmaker, despises his "sell-out" mother, but at the same time yearns for her appro! val. Lili, Julien's girlfriend, is intent on escaping the lowl! y life o f a poor country girl and dreams of stardom. When Julien screens his new DV art-film starring Lili, the delicate peace in their house begins to unravel.

An excellent ensemble cast of actors including Ludivine Sagnier (Swimming Pool), the striking young actor Robinson Stévenin, the up and coming Julie Depardieu (Les Destineés), Nicole Garcia (Alias Betty), Jean-Pierre Marielle (Tous les Matins du Monde) and Bernard Giraudeau (Ridicule).Inspired by The Seagull, Claude Miller's La Petite Lili takes place in present day Brittany. While Chekhov’s play was set in a theatrical milieu, longtime Truffaut associate Miller (Alias Betty) sets his film in a cinematic one (a là Day For Night). The title character is an aspiring actress (Ludivine Sagnier, Swimming Pool), who is seeing experimental filmmaker Julien (Robertson Stévenin). She would prefer to be working with an established commercial director like Brice (Bernard Giraudeau, Ri! dicule), who is involved with his leading lady--Julien's mother, Mado (Nicole Garcia). By the conclusion, Lili will have achieved her goal, but at what cost? Well, unlike The Seagull, La Petite Lili isn't a tragedy, so no one character will make out too badly. And as in François Ozon's Water Drops on Burning Rocks, itself based on a play (by Rainer Werner Fassbinder), Sagnier and Giraudeau make for a strangely compelling screen couple. --Kathleen C. FennessySWIMMING POOL - DVD MovieIn terms of alluring female nudity, Swimming Pool shows a lot, but it's what remains concealed that gives this erotic thriller a potent, voyeuristic charge. With his Hitchcockian handling of secrets and lies, prolific French director François Ozon reunites with his Under the Sand star, Charlotte Rampling, to tell a seductive tale of murder and complicity, beginning when British mystery novelist Sarah Morton (Rampling) seeks peace and relaxati! on at her publisher's French villa, only to find his brash, se! xually l iberated daughter Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) arriving shortly thereafter to disrupt her solitary reverie. What begins as mutual annoyance turns into something more sinister and duplicitous, alternating between Julie's predatory sex with men and Sarah's observant, perhaps jealous fascination. These two women, generations apart, share in Ozon's delicate dance of trust, curiosity, and gradual understanding, until a twist ending that forces you to reevaluate everything you've seen. Only then will the mysteries of Swimming Pool be fully and tantalizingly revealed. (Note: The unrated version contains full-frontal nudity that's been edited from the rated version. In both versions, the overall plot is not affected.) --Jeff Shannon

THE FRENCH ART OF SEDUCTION
Four Enticing Gems from the Land of Ooh La La

La Vie Promise
A Film by Olivier Dahan

Isabelle Huppert stars as Sylvia, a weary prostitute who re-connects with her e! stranged teenage daughter. Fleeing the French Mediterranean, they head north. Desperate not to see her daughter repeat her own mistakes, Sylvia tries to re-discover her once promising past.

"La Vie Promise reminds us that Isabelle Huppert is is contestably one of the very great screen actresses."
-Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

La Petite Lili
A film by Claude Miller

Ludivine Sagnier (star of Swimming Pool), is the love and muse of an idealistic young filmmaker in this modern adaptation of Chekov's classic play The Seagull. Beginning with its steamy opening scene, this provocative reinvention of Chekov is "a first-rate piece of cinema!" (Chicago Tribune)

"A work of whimsy, passion and visual lushness!"
-Hollywood Reporter

La Desenchantee
A film by Benoit Jacquot

Judith Godreche plays an enchanting young Parisian gir! l whose boyfriend, in the middle of a petty argument, dares he! r to bed the ugliest man she can find, to test her love for him. Taking a simple premise and a beautiful young woman, Benoit Jacquot has created a masterpiece of French cinema.

"A very sexy movie!"
-Detroit Free Press

Seaside
A film by Julie Lopes-Curval
Winner of the prestigious Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Seaside is set in a once-fashionable seaside resort town, and revolves around the beautiful Marie. Marie, bored with her life and her clumsy boyfriend, begins to look for romance elsewhere.

"An excellent cast makes Seaside pleasurable viewing!"
-New York Post

The story of jacques mesrine frances public enemy no. 1 during the 1970s. After nearly two decades of legendary criminal feats -- from multiple bank robberies and to prison breaks -- mesrine was gunned down by the french police in paris. Studio: Southport Music Box Corpo Release Date: 03/29/2011 Starring: Vi! ncent Cassel Mathieu Amalric Run time: 95 minutes Rating: Ur Director: Jean-francois Richetblockbuster exclusive dvd