Luchini, Fabrice

Moliere

Bubbling with wit stellar performances and lavish cinematography MOLI RE stars multi-Cesar®-nominated French actor Romain Duris as Moli re a down-and-out actor-cum-playwright up to his ears in debt. When the wealthy Jourdain (Cesar®-winner Fabrice Luchini) offers to cover that debt (so that Moli re s theatrical talents might help Jourdain win the heart of a certain widowed marquise) hilarity ensues. Disguised as a priest Moli re becomes a guest in Jourdain s palace on the pretext of teaching Jourdain the craft of the stage which annoys his wife Elmire. But soon after the confrontation between Elmire and Moli re turns seductive. Too busy to notice Jourdain enlists the aid of a well connected and scheming acquaintance to help him pursue the young widow. Romantic yearning human foibles and laughs galore all characterize MOLI RE a delightful film that slyly captures your heart.System Requirements:Run Time: 121 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/ROMANTIC COMEDY UPC: 043396214651 Manufacturer No: 21465

Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales - Criterion Collection

Audiences love or hate the films of Eric Rohmer. The magnificent Criterion set of the French director's Six Moral Tales, his first film cycle, contains the films that first brought Rohmer to international attention--particularly My Night at Maud's, Claire's Knee, andLove in the Afternoon--in gorgeous film-to-dvd transfers, accompanied by a bounty of short films and other extras. Watching any of these films, even the short features that begin the series (The Bakery Girl of Monceau and Suzanne's Career), you will discover if Rohmer is for you. To some, his examinations of social mores and the psychology of love are absorbing, subtle, and sublime; to others, they're meandering, talky, and flat. But even his detractors must acknowledge that Rohmer draws out the twists of joy and anguish, brief and ephemeral, that haunt lovers as they grope towards security and happiness; and though his visual approach is rigorously simple, his images--thanks to cinematographer Nestor Almendros--are luminous.

The Bakery Girl..., only 23 minutes long, has all the basic elements: A man, infatuated with one woman, flirts with another, all the while comforting himself with self-serving rationalizations and a comic lack of self-knowledge. This film's simplicity makes it more charming and satisfying than the more awkward efforts of Rohmer's next two films, Suzanne's Career (about a student who idolizes a callous older boy and only too late realizes that the girl they've been mocking may have a better grasp on life) and La collectioneusse (about a love triangle at a countryside estate; oddly, though released two years before the next film, it's presented as the fourth in the series), though each has moments of insight and delight. The remaining three movies are masterpieces: In My Night at Maud's, a Catholic engineer (the superb Jean-Louis Trintignant, Three Colors: Red) wrestles with his morals and his desires while spending the night with the enigmatic and alluring Maud (Francoise Fabian, 5 x 2). Claire's Knee gently mocks Les Liaisons Dangereuse as a man about to be married is goaded by a female friend into pursuing an infatuation with a young nubile nymph. And the last of the series, Love in the Afternoon (also known as Chloe in the Afternoon) follows a husband whose unconsummated affair with an old friend almost capsizes his happy marriage. What's most remarkable about this series is that, though each has virtually the same plot, watching all of these films in close succession only highlights their intricate differences and the complex shadings of delusion and yearning. Rohmer's work grows more fascinating the more familiar his methods become. Some filmgoers consider "nuance" code for "boring," but anyone who finds the collision of hearts and minds more exciting than car crashes will find Six Moral Tales revelatory and rewarding. --Bret Fetzer

The multifaceted deeply personal dramatic universe of Eric Rohmer has had an effect on cinema unlike any other. Gently existential hyperarticulate character studies set against vivid seasonal landscapes Rohmer's audacious and wildly influential series defined a genre. A succession of jousts between fragile men and the women who tempt them the Six Moral Tales unleashed onto the film world a new voice one that was at once sexy philosophical modern daring nonjudgmental and liberating.Six-disc box set includes the films: The Bakery Girl of MonceauSuzanne's CareerMy Night at Maud'sLa collectionneuseClaire's KneeLove in the AfternoonFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 715515019125 Manufacturer No: CC1640DDVD

On Guard

The swordplay never ends in this dazzling, Dumas-like adventure of conspiracy and revenge, set around 1700 and presented here in its seventh filmed incarnation, directed by French New Wave titan Philippe de Broca (That Man from Rio). Daniel Auteuil plays Legardere, a callow swordsman who becomes friend to and bodyguard of the Duke of Nevers (Vincent Perez). When the latter is assassinated by his scheming cousin, Gonzague (Fabrice Luchini), Nevers's daughter, Aurore (Marie Gillain), is left in the care of Legardere, who raises her within the protective camouflage of a traveling troupe of actors. Years later, back in Paris, Legardere exacts a complicated retribution under Gonzague's nose, determined to give Aurore the life and inheritance she deserves. This exceptionally handsome film is an all-out adventure, but the witty de Broca is not one to settle for mere derring-do. The great Auteuil (The Girl on the Bridge) proves as funny as he is heroic. --Tom Keogh

Emmanuelle 4

Perceval

This unique retelling of the tale of Perceval is a great and glorious anomaly in Eric Rohmer's career. Adapted by Rohmer from the 12th-century book by Chrétien de Troyes, it marries ancient theater, medieval painting, music, and prose in a beautifully stylized film narrated in couplets by a chorus of singers and musicians playing traditional instruments, and often by the actors themselves. Fabrice Luchini glows with naïve innocence and wide-eyed wonder as the child-man Perceval, an ignorant but well-meaning young lord raised in isolation, who vows to become a knight after catching his first sight of what he believes to be godly beings. Fumbling through a whole new world of experiences on his quest, he takes his mother's advice to heart all too literally, leading to awkward, humorous, and sometimes tragic consequences, but he reaches the court of King Arthur, where he is knighted and begins his life of chivalry and good deeds. Rohmer builds his world on a huge circular set where bulbous metal sculptures stand in for trees, flat storybook castles look like giant cardboard toys, and the horizon is a backdrop painting. The story denies the expectations of modern storytelling, opting for an episodic series of lessonlike vignettes, culminating in a highly theatrical Passion play (featuring Luchini in the role of Christ). Perceval is a lovely and loving odyssey into the very nature of stories and storytelling, and one of the most original and unique visions in modern cinema. --Sean Axmaker

The Aviator's Wife

Full Moon in Paris

Louise (Pascale Ogier), a restless designer bored with sleepy suburban life outside of Paris, lives with her lover, Remy (Tcheky Karyo), a stable architect happy with a calm home life and a long-term relationship. The independent Louise decides to move back into her old Paris apartment during the week, losing herself in the bustle of dinner parties and nightclubs and single men, while spending her weekends back with Remy. Louise becomes briefly entangled with another man, a spontaneous musician who is the opposite of Remy, but in a neat twist on the formula, Remy himself drifts to another--at the suggestion of Louise herself. The fourth of Rohmer's Comedies and Proverbs is the most ironic and, in many ways, the most judgmental of his films. Willowy Ogier's kittenish sexuality and zest for life are wrapped in a self-absorbed determination that borders on indifference, but for the most part this is another wryly witty look at modern love from the master of the sophisticated romantic comedy. Fabrice Luchini plays Louise's best friend and conniving confidante, Octave, and Laszlo Szabo appears as a café patron who pontificates on the magical effects of the full moon. Ogier, who died shortly after the film's release, designed many of the handsome sets. Rohmer followed this with perhaps his most generous character study, the modestly magical romantic adventure Summer. --Sean Axmaker

Claire's Knee

Abrasive, self-deluded humor tinges the prickly exploration of sexual politics in French director Eric Rohmer's world and it often makes for less-than-comfortable viewing. Though Rohmer has made movies for several decades, his best-known films comprise a cycle loosely dubbed "The Six Moral Tales" (one short, one featurette, and four features), which also includes La Collectionneuse, My Night at Maud's, and Chloe in the Afternoon. Rohmer's comedies are full of the disillusion and jaded settling that come with age and adulthood, and he sharply contrasts cynicism against the naiveté and easy, innocent wisdom of youth. In Claire's Knee, Jean-Claude Brialy plays a diplomat named Jerome Montcharvin, who agrees to housesit a friend's rural but lavish country estate for a month. Jerome appears contented with life as he's recently become engaged to Lucinde, a woman he's known for six years. He takes refuge in the fact that she is his opposite, and placates his doubts by reminding himself that "a woman made for me would bore me." Into this summer idyll and Jerome's predictable, ordered life come two teenage girls who threaten his faithful but passionless ardor for his fiancée. To temper his awakening libido, Jerome pretends to "experiment" with the young women's affections and, in doing so, exposes himself as a cruel, callous man who is clueless as to his true nature. Though a close woman friend cautions him that "in love, there is will," he dismisses the possibility yet in the end performs an act of "pure will" with one of the teens, the lovely Claire, and brashly hurts that which he most desires. Claire's Knee was shot by the brilliant cinematographer, the late Nestor Almendros, and the color palette in the film is a masterpiece of style and scheme. It's a Monet on celluloid, and its visual prowess, combined with the provocative, unsettling theme, earned the National Society of Film Critics' Best Film prize in 1971. (Unfortunately, the first "reel" of the DVD transfer contains several noticeable scratches and the color is also faded and purple.) --Paula Nechak

Intimate Strangers

Les Nuits de la pleine lune [Region 2]

Louise (Pascale Ogier), a restless designer bored with sleepy suburban life outside of Paris, lives with her lover, Remy (Tcheky Karyo), a stable architect happy with a calm home life and a long-term relationship. The independent Louise decides to move back into her old Paris apartment during the week, losing herself in the bustle of dinner parties and nightclubs and single men, while spending her weekends back with Remy. Louise becomes briefly entangled with another man, a spontaneous musician who is the opposite of Remy, but in a neat twist on the formula, Remy himself drifts to another--at the suggestion of Louise herself. The fourth of Rohmer's Comedies and Proverbs is the most ironic and, in many ways, the most judgmental of his films. Willowy Ogier's kittenish sexuality and zest for life are wrapped in a self-absorbed determination that borders on indifference, but for the most part this is another wryly witty look at modern love from the master of the sophisticated romantic comedy. Fabrice Luchini plays Louise's best friend and conniving confidante, Octave, and Laszlo Szabo appears as a café patron who pontificates on the magical effects of the full moon. Ogier, who died shortly after the film's release, designed many of the handsome sets. Rohmer followed this with perhaps his most generous character study, the modestly magical romantic adventure Summer. --Sean Axmaker