Marie-France Pisier

French sex symbols Romain Duris and Louis Garrel join screen icons Guy Marchand and Marie-France Pisier in writer-director Christophe Honore's four-character chamber drama Dans Paris (Inside Paris). Duris plays Paul, a young man in his early thirties who splits with his girlfriend. Feeling depressed, he opts to move into a flat with his brother Jonathan (Garrel, who also narrates) and their father (Marchand). The ladykiller Jonathan slyly attempts to talk Paul into a shopping trip to lift his spirits, but ends up venturing out alone and engages in rendezvous with several women. Meanwhile, the boys' stylishly-dressed and gorgeous mother (Pisier) turns up and adds one more complexity to the network of relationships in the house. Honore laces his drama with comedic touches and crafts the film in the gentle mode of early sixties French pictures by Truffaut, Godard and others. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A man discovers he's no longer as close to his ear as he once was in this absurdist comedy. Jeff (Sacha Bourdo) is minding his own business when a phonograph record tossed from a passing car accidentally cuts off his ear. The ear falls into traffic, gets stuck on the windshield of another vehicle, and begins a long, strange journey, passing from car to car and hand to hand across the country. Jeff, however, can still hear whatever his separated ear is picking up, and is trying to follow the sounds in hopes of catching up with his former body part. However, a doctor (Marie-France Pisier) warns him he only has a few hours to find his ear, otherwise reattachment will be impossible; in the meantime, Jeff's former girlfriend wastes several of his precious minutes with a discussion about the notion of giving their relationship another try. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An ambitious project of Chile-born, Paris-based Raul Ruiz, this psychological drama brings to the screen the famous classic of Marcel Proust with fidelity to its interior monologues and streams of consciousness. Proust (Marcelo Mazzarella), on his deathbed in his small apartment on Rue Hamelin, is looking through old photos and remembering his life, as real characters intermingle with fictional ones from his novels. The period is 1914-18, when WWI is raging. Hidden in Paris, thanks to his asthma, Marcel Proust wanders into the night. He finds an aging courtesan in Cafe de la Paix, which is deserted by the curfew. Charlus, the seducer of young boys, is at the Palais des Felicites where he meets his lovers. Gilberte returns alone to Tansonville to evade the confiscation of her chateau by the Germans after the death of her husband at the front. Famous violinist Morel is hiding in a decrepit hotel. The demoralizing effects of war affect all the characters, hastening their decadence or transforming them into caricatures. In the whirlpool of the grotesque specter of war, Marcel finds refuge in his childhood memories to escape the atrocities around him. Death and decadence, the evanescence of human existence, and the relations between space and time are some of the main themes explored in this film, which reflects the works of Marcel Proust in every detail. Raul Ruiz has on his side a very good screenwriter, Gilles Taurand, and an impressive cast: Catherine Deneuve and John Malkovich, who have collaborated with Ruiz before, Emanuelle Beart, Vincent Perez, Pascal Greggory, and the Italian man of theatre, Marcello Mazzarella. Shown in competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Gonul Donmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

The story of this gay comedy reminds one of the fashionable boulevard theatre of 1950's Paris whose major theme was bourgeois adultery. A couple would invite another couple to dinner, and half way through the second course it would be revealed that the husband was having an affair with his best friend's wife. Pourquoi pas Moi? also starts off with a dinner party, but today revelations come with a difference -- and it is no big deal. Nico, Eva and Ariane are gay and just about to confess it to their parents. Camille, who lives with Ariane, has already told her mother. ~ Gonul Donmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

This gentle French comedy has a meandering plotline as it traces the exploits of a young man recognized as a the son of a star. The main protagonist is 23-year old Harvey who works as the guide for a group of Georgian singers who have a Paris gig. He is interested in Dinara, the 18-year old interpreter for the group. While in a restaurant, they encounter Marco Garciano who tells them he played the small lad in Crin blanc, a classic French film. He is really a half-time chauffeur and con-artist. Marco tells Harvey that he is the son of Gascogne, the father of the New Wave, and close friend and inspiration to many directors between 1958 and 1962. Marco tries to prove his point by taking Harvey and Dinara to meet some former French film impresarios. They see Alexandra Stewart and Bernadette Lafont. They also meet Claude Chabrol while he eats lunch. They meet many more including director Michel Deville. All they meet are convinced that Harvey is indeed Gascogne's son. Many of the female stars claim to be his mother. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This Italian comedy was filmed in Sarasota, Florida and features the exploits of a would be gigolo and a violinist. Dodo, a Frenchman, is the gigolo, and Jesus is the Italian violinist who pursued his girlfriend to Florida to marry her. When Jesus finds that his gal is helping to support Dodo he is appalled. Suddenly the girlfriend mysteriously disappears. In her wake the two become fast friends and decide to both pursue a career in getting women to support them. At one point, Jesus loses his life savings to a con artist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

On a summer day of 1846, George Sand hosts a large party at her country house in Nohant. Among the celebrities present are the painter Eugene Delacroix, the opera singer Pauline Viardot, and Viardot's lover, the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. As Sand's longtime affair with composer Frederick Chopin is close to an end, Sand's daughter Solange tries to use the situation to win the heart of the ailing musical genius. Filmmaker Andrzej Zulawski irreverently depicted his famous characters as shallow, petty, selfish opportunists, while Chopin is portrayed as a tragic, misunderstood genius. Ultimately a story about destiny, the film seems a personal reflection of Zulawski's experiences, for both he and Chopin were Polish expatriates in France. The film is highly theatrical and occasionally hilarious, but despite its ups and downs, the movie's highlight is Chopin's music, brilliantly performed by Polish pianist Janusz Olejniczak. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

Andre Delvaux directed this stylish, yet ultimately empty adaptation of a historical novel by Marguerite Yourcenar. Gian Maria Volonte leads the cast as Zenon, a Belgian doctor and alchemist in the 1500s. Zenon travels across Europe for many years hiding from the Inquisition, which eventually catches up with him when he returns to his native Brugge in disguise. The narrative is bolstered by some fine acting by Volonte and a notable supporting cast including Sami Frey, Marie-Christine Barrault, Marie-France Pisier, and Anna Karina, as well as excellent cinematography by Charlie Van Damme and Walter van den Ende. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

This suavely-fashioned film with an all-female cast focuses primarily on three women and the man who goes in and out of their lives. One member of this trio is a saleswoman (Marie-France Pisier) with an open relationship that suddenly closes when she learns that her lover has been unfaithful. It seems that he has dallied with a book-dealer (her nemesis) who ultimately does not propose as much of a threat to the disillusioned saleswoman as a certain actress (Clementine Celarie). Along with these three are several other females who interact with the main protagonists. Set up more in the manner of a stage play with changing scenes and acts, this drama is still unusual for its all-distaff cast. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this plodding drama about a man searching for his friend's wronged lover, there is neither high action nor high suspense to keep -- or even reach -- a quick-paced storyline. A shallow womanizer (Jean Rochefort) plays the trumpet in an orchestra conducted by his steady and stable friend (Philippe Noiret). One day a woman bursts into the womanizer's dressing room and tries to shoot him down for what he did to her sister. As he goes into hiding for his own safety, he asks the orchestra leader to find out who he wronged, and try to help him correct the problem. The rest of the film concerns that search, and its resolution. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The French/German Ace of Aces stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as a dauntless World War One flyboy. Nearly 20 years after cessation of hostilities, Belmondo attends the 1936 Berlin Olympics as manager of the French boxing team. Through a series of plot twists too incredible to relate, Our Hero finds himself shepherding a group of Jewish refugees to safety. Alas, his sense of direction isn't so hot, and the refugees end up at Hitler's mountain retreat! Originally titled L'As De As, Ace of Aces is a black comedy in the Mel Brooks tradition. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide