90% (3) The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie 102 min, PG, [Comedy] [Luis Buñuel] [22 Oct 1972]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 79%, Rotten Tomatoes: 98%, Metacritic: 93%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. Another 6 wins & 9 nominations.
Actors: Bulle Ogier, Delphine Seyrig, Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur
Writer: Luis Buñuel (scenario), Jean-Claude Carrière (with the collaboration of)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: French, Spanish Country: France
Plot: Several bourgeois friends planning to get together for dinner experience a succession of highly unusual occurrences that interfere with their expected dining enjoyment.
Rotten Tomatoes: In typical Luis Buñuel fashion, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie surrealistically skewers the conventions of society. Buñuel applies his surrealist touch to a mundane event: a dinner party that may never come to pass. A group of well-to-do friends attempt to gather for a social evening, but are thwarted at every turn. The initial problem seems to be a simple scheduling mistake, but the obstacles become more and more bizarre. At one point, the guests are interrupted at the table by an army on maneuvers. Later they learn that they are merely characters in a stage play and so cannot have dinner together. These misadventures are combined with symbolic dreams of the various characters, some of which also involve interrupted dinners. Wicked social satire and one of Buñuel's funniest films. Winner of the Academy Award for "Best Foreign Film" in 1972. ~ John Voorhees, Rovi
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77% (3) Le Pont du Nord 129 min, [Adventure, Crime, Drama] [Jacques Rivette] [24 Mar 1982]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, Metacritic: 61%, External Reviews
Actors: Bulle Ogier, Jean-François Stévenin, Pascale Ogier, Pierre Clémenti
Writer: Bulle Ogier (scenario), Pascale Ogier (scenario), Suzanne Schiffman (scenario), Jacques Rivette (scenario), Jérôme Prieur (dialogue)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: French Country: France
Plot: A woman recently released from prison and a strange young female street urchin keep running into each other on the streets of Paris and finally become companions in a very strange and very weird mysterious adventure that includes a secret map of Paris, and murky figures from the criminal world.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this unreal walk through the streets of Paris, Marie (Bulle Ogier), a woman convicted of robbing a bank is just out from prison when she runs into Baptiste (Pascale Ogier) a young paranoid needing companionship, and the two team up for awhile. Marie's former boyfriend (Pierre Clementi) supplies them with a strange map of the city, suspicious because he keeps files on political figures that may be somehow linked to the map. A gangster nicknamed "Max" begins to track Marie and the already paranoid Baptiste, causing Marie to examine the map as though it held the clue to which sides of the city were "safe" and which were not. As the two women attempt to outsmart Max and unknown gangsters, they try to figure out the map - a task made all the more difficult by Baptiste's tendency to violent rushes of adrenaline and Marie's overworked imagination (a dragon at the North Bridge is a threat until Baptiste screams him down). Between the dragon and their own demons, Marie and Baptiste face frightening odds against coming out of this misadventure intact. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
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62% (3) Venus Beauty 105 min, R, [Comedy, Drama, Romance] [Tonie Marshall] [03 Feb 1999]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 64%, Rotten Tomatoes: 59%, Metacritic: 64%, External Reviews
Awards: 8 wins & 3 nominations.
Actors: Bulle Ogier, Jacques Bonnaffé, Nathalie Baye, Samuel Le Bihan
Writer: Tonie Marshall (screenplay), Tonie Marshall (dialogue), Jacques Audiard, Marion Vernoux
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: French Country: France
Plot: Madam Nadine manages with pride the "Vénus beauté" Salon which offers relaxation, massage and make-up services. The owner and her three beauticians: Samantha, Marianne and Angèle are pros. Contrary to her friend Marianne, who still dreams of the big day, Angèle no longer believes in love. Marie, the youngest of the three employees, discovers love in the hands of a sixty year-old former pilot, who risks everything...
Rotten Tomatoes: In this visually stylish comedy, Angele is an attractive woman just edging into middle age who is looking for companionship without commitment. Her co-worker Samantha has more boyfriends than she knows what to do with, and Marie, the youngest of the group, is still learning the ropes of love.
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86% (2) Celine and Julie Go Boating 193 min, Unrated, [Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery] [Jacques Rivette] [18 Sep 1974]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, Rotten Tomatoes: 96%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 win.
Actors: Bulle Ogier, Dominique Labourier, Juliet Berto, Marie-France Pisier
Writer: Juliet Berto (scenario), Dominique Labourier (scenario), Bulle Ogier (scenario), Marie-France Pisier (scenario), Jacques Rivette (scenario), Eduardo de Gregorio (dialogue), Henry James (Film-within-film based on stories by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: French Country: France
Plot: A mysteriously linked pair of young women find their daily lives preempted by a strange boudoir melodrama that plays itself out in a hallucinatory parallel reality.
Rotten Tomatoes: A story about story-telling, Jacques Rivette's self-referential classic centers on the fanciful world of two women literally lost in the stories they tell each other. Celine (Juliet Berto) and Julie (Dominique Labourier) go from sharing a story about a haunted house to being part of a story about a haunted house -- or is it a real haunted house that has been called up by the story? The film blurs the line between the telling of the story and the story itself, as Celine and Julie, like Alice in Wonderland, become part of a surreal, drug-induced parallel universe; also like Alice, they ultimately become the heroines of the story that first imprisoned them. Rivette celebrates the magic of stories, and more broadly of imagination, adventure, and friendship, as essential elements of life; the themes are familiar from his other movies, but the tone is more playful. This enigmatic and fanciful film is not for all tastes, but, for its many devotees, it is one of the most distinctive and imaginative movies ever made. ~ Leo Charney, Rovi
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85% (2) L'amour fou 252 min, [Drama, Romance] [Jacques Rivette] [15 Jan 1969]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 80%, Rotten Tomatoes: 91%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 win & 1 nomination.
Actors: Bulle Ogier, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Josée Destoop, Michèle Moretti
Writer: Jacques Rivette (screenplay), Marilù Parolini (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: French Country: France
Plot: During the rehearsals for the production of the tragedy Andromaque, the leading actress and her director, a couple behind the scenes, can't find a way to leave their personal problems at home. And life imitates fiction, creating a real tragedy for this couple when the man finds comfort with other women while the actress prefers to stay focused on her work, as if nothing is happening with her partner.
Rotten Tomatoes: A director and his actress lover rehearse for a tragic play. Complications set in when their life at home affects their performances at work. The director professes his love for the woman while seeking comfort in the arms of other women in the stage production. The sensitive woman tries to overcome her nature and her lover's indiscretions to succeed in the often callous world of show business. Art imitates life in this slow-moving feature that is over four hours in length. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
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71% (1) The Salamander 125 min, [Comedy, Drama] [Alain Tanner] [27 Oct 1971]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 win & 2 nominations.
Actors: Bulle Ogier, Jacques Denis, Jean-Luc Bideau, Véronique Alain
Writer: John Berger, Alain Tanner
External Links: Wikipedia IMDb Language: French Country: Switzerland, France
Plot: Two men, arty though somewhat staid, are drawn to the spirited and quixotic Rosemonde, a young working-class woman whom they meet because they're writing a teleplay about a minor but curious event in which either her uncle was wounded while cleaning his rifle or she shot him. Pierre is a free-lance journalist hired to write the script; he's short of time so he asks a Bohemian poet friend, Paul, to help. Pierre wants facts and tracks down Rosemonde for interviews that lead to other explorations; Paul only wants to imagine her and needs little more than her name to do so. But he does meet her, and she entangles him, too. Did she cause the shooting? Is she venomous or innocent?
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67% (1) Don't Forget You're Going to Die 118 min, [Drama] [Xavier Beauvois] [03 Jan 1996]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 67%, External Reviews
Awards: 3 wins & 1 nomination.
Actors: Bulle Ogier, Chiara Mastroianni, Roschdy Zem, Xavier Beauvois
Writer: Xavier Beauvois, Emmanuel Salinger, Anne-Marie Sauzeau, Marie Sauzeau, Zoubir Tligui
External Links: IMDb Language: French Country: France
Plot: Benoit (Xavier Beauvois) has planned out his life. Unfortunately he has forgotten the military duty. After he is called to duty he tries everything to get around. He goes to a psychiatrist who gives him medicine against depression. As this doesn't work out he tries suicide. The story gets even worse as he is told by a military doctor that he is HIV positive. Benoit tumbles down into the drug scene. Then he goes to Italy and meets Claudia (Chiara Mastroianni). Things seem to improve, but only for a short time...
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