February 2012

Une bouteille à la mer

Tal is a young French woman who has settled in Jerusalem with her family.  She is 17 and has the reached the age of her first adult experiences - her first love, her first cigarette, her first terrorist attack.  When a suicide bomber blows up a café near to where she lives, she writes a letter to an imaginary Palestinian in which she asks pointed questions and refuses to accept that Israel and Palestine must go on being divided by hatred.  She puts the letter in a bottle and asks her brother to throw it into the sea, near to Gaza.  A few weeks later, Tal receives a reply from someone named Gazaman... [More...] Release date: 8th February 2012

JC comme Jésus-Christ

A Palme d’Or at 15, a César at 16, this year JC must take his bac.   But Jean-Christophe Kern, alias JC, is an adolescent unlike any other.  A cross-between Jean-Luc Godard and Justin Bieber, at 17 he divides his time between munching his breakfast treats in front of the telly after school and pursuing a career worthy of Stanley Kubrick... [More...] Release date: 8th February 2012

La Vérité si je mens! 3

Things are looking up for Eddie, Dov, Yvan and their friends.  Not for them the grim prospect of trying to eke out an existence in the less fashionable precincts of Paris.  They are now happily ensconced in the flourishing district of Aubervilliers.   They are still the happy band of friends they have always been; if anything, their friendship has been strengthened by their previous escapades.  But a storm is coming and the old friends risk being torn apart by an ill wind that will test their resources and mutual loyalties to the limit... [More...] Release date: 1st February 2012

Elles

Anne, a journalist on a top women’s magazine, is compiling a report on student prostitution.  Alicja and Charlotte, two Parisian students, talk openly to her about their experiences as prostitutes, without shame or regret.  Far from being shocked at what she is told, Anne finds herself in sympathy with her interviewees.  Before she knows it, her whole life is turned on its head... [More...] Release date: 1st February 2012

Sur la planche

In Tangier, four young women, all aged about twenty, work so that they can survive by day and live by night.  For them, time, space and sleep are rare.  From dawn to night, their pace of life is one long frantic chase... [More...] Release date: 1st February 2012

January 2012

Les Papas du dimanche

When he finds out that his wife has been cheating on him, Antoine walks out on his family and moves in with his old school friend Léo.  With the help of Léo and his wife Léa, Antoine soon comes to terms with his present predicament.  His one regret is that he can only see his children every other Sunday and so he feels that he has become an amateur parent.  But, dismal as things first appear, Antoine soon finds he has something to smile about... [More...] Release date: 25th January 2012

Café de Flore

It is never easy to say goodbye to someone one has grown to love.  It can take a whole lifetime, perhaps even two...  Between Paris in the 1960s and present-day Montreal there unfolds an epic love story that is as dark and troubling as it is luminous and full of hope.  Its main protagonists are Jacqueline, a young Parisian mother, and Antoine, a Canadian disk jockey... [More...] Release date: 25th January 2012

Les Chants de Mandrin

After the execution of Louis Mandrin, a well-known outlaw and popular underworld hero of the 18th century, his former partners in crime decide to chance their luck with a smuggling operation in the provinces of France.  Well-armed, the smugglers arrange markets on the outskirts of the villages, where they sell tobacco, fabrics and other precious commodities.  They write songs in honour of Mandrin, which they then print and distribute among the poor folk of the kingdom... [More...] Release date: 25th January 2012

La Folie Almayer

Somewhere in Southeast Asia, on the banks of a turbulent river, a European clings to his dreams of fortune for the sake of his daughter.  His is a story of passion, madness and perdition... [More...] Release date: 25th January 2012

Sport de filles

Owing to her natural affinity for horses, Gracieuse has the potential to be a great rider, and she knows it.  When her employer sells the horse that has been promised to her, she is so disgusted that she leaves her job and finds employment on another stud farm.  The farm’s owner, Joséphine de Silène, has no time for sentiment and cynically exploits his trainer, Franz Mann, a one-time champion whose experience is highly sought after by rich horse riders.  Gracieuse soon finds herself pitted against Mann as she struggles to realise her dream, to obtain her own horse and prove her worth as a rider... [More...] Release date: 25th January 2012

L’Oiseau

Anne has no friends, no children, no lovers.  Her life is a solitary sham.  Then, one day, a little bird flies into her lonely apartment... [More...] Release date: 25th January 2012

L’Amour dure trois ans

Literary critic by day, columnist by night, Marc Marronnier is convinced that love never lasts for more than three years.  His own experiences bear this out.  Having recently divorced, he published a pamphlet in which he puts a compelling case for his thesis.  Then he meets Alice... [More...] Release date: 18th January 2012

Ma première fois

Zachary is an independent 20-year-old who wins women’s hearts as easily as he fails his exams.  Sarah is 18, top of her class but emotionally insecure.  On the face of it, they have nothing in common.  But, for six months in their final year at school, they become infatuated with one another.  It is to be the one great romance of their lives, but will it end happily...? [More...] Release date: 18th January 2012

Et si on vivait tous ensemble?

Annie, Jean, Claude, Albert and Jeanne have been firm friends for more than forty years.  They have each lived full and happy lives, but when their memories begin to falter and the prospect of moving into a retirement home rears its ugly head, they decide to take a stand against convention.  Not for them the prospect of fading away in miserable anonymity.  They will live together and share their declining years, come what may.  After all, life only begins at 75! [More...] Release date: 18th January 2012

Ici-bas

1943, towards the end of the Occupation.  Sister Luce is an exemplary nun and nurse at a hospital in Périgueux.  Her meeting with a priest involved with the resistance will have a profound impact on her.  It is the start of a passionate affair that will cause her to break her vows and leave her convent.  But Lucie is too quick to give into her passions and disappointment soon follows.  Betrayed, she feels she has been abandoned by both God and man.  One morning, postal workers working for the resistance intercept an anonymous letter addressed to the German commandant... [More...] Release date: 18th January 2012

Dubaï flamingos

Vincent lives in Dubaï.  When his wife Livia goes missing, he is immediately concerned and sets out to look for her.  She may have gone off with another man, or there may be a more sinister explanation.  In a car park, he comes across a young woman in tears.  They strike up an instant rapport and together they begin to scour the region between the city and the desert, a place where dreams and reality melt seamlessly into one another... [More...] Release date: 18th January 2012

Dans la tourmente

Without the knowledge of his employees, the owner of a factory in Marseille is planning to relocate to another region, pocketing two million euros along the way.  When Franck, one of his staff, discovers what is afoot, he is understandably outraged.  With the support of his longstanding friend Max, he decides to go on the offensive... [More...] Release date: 11th January 2012

Parlez-moi de vous

At 40, Mélina has the best-known voice in France.  The host of a night time radio show, she has set herself up as the nation’s agony aunt, cheerfully and cheekily unravelling the personal crises of her listeners.  Everyone knows her voice, but no one knows her face.  In real life, she is something of a recluse.  Anxious to find the mother she has never seen, Mélina tracks her down to a large family living in the suburbs.  She makes up her mind to approach her, without revealing her identity... [More...] Release date: 11th January 2012

10 jours en or

Marc Bajau travels the length and breadth of the country for a well-known clothing label.  He enjoys the freedom this life affords him and the opportunity to meet new people wherever he goes.   But just as he is about to set off for his latest promotion, his most recent amorous conquest walks out on him, leaving him to take charge of her six-year-old son Lucas.  And so begins Marc’s most eventful trek across France, ten golden days that will change his life forever... [More...] Release date: 11th January 2012

L’Orpheline avec en plus un bras en moins

Eléonore is an attractive young girl, about twenty years in age, who has lost both her parents and an arm in a terrible accident.  At present, she lives in an orphanage in Burgundy.  Judge London, a local magistrate, takes an interest in her and invites her to stay at his château, with the intention of adopting her as his own daughter.  Unbeknown to her mysterious protector, Eléonore is in love with Robinson, who works as an illusionist at nightclub belonging to the shady entrepreneur Renaud Duraquet... [More...] Release date: 11th January 2012

Une nuit

Simon Weiss is a Parisian cop who watches over the city’s hotspots each night, imperturbable in the execution of his duty.  He has settled into a comfortable routine and knows exactly what is required of him, but all that changes one unforgettable night.  Caught in the firing line between his police superiors and Paris’s criminal fraternity, Weiss must take on businessmen, gangsters and fellow police officers if he is to survive his worst nightmare... [More...] Release date: 4th January 2012

Une vie meilleure

Yann and Nadia are a couple who are deeply in love.  They finally get to realise their dream of running their own business when they open a restaurant on the banks of a lake.  But their happiness is short lived.  Having been forced to take a job in another country, Nadia must leave her son in the care of Yann... [More...] Release date: 4th January 2012

Un jour mon père viendra

Chloé finally has everything she could want to be happy.  She is soon to marry the man of her dreams, a former tennis champion who is now a successful businessman.  The only thing she lacks is the ideal father to lead her to the altar on her wedding day.  Who is it going to be - Bernard, a glacially cold aristocrat, or Gus, a good-natured swindler? [More...] Release date: 4th January 2012

Beau rivage

Michel Matarasso is a cop, based in Nice, who no longer has any enthusiasm for work, or indeed for life in general.  He finally manages to get himself relieved from his professional duties and he appears content to spend the time that is left to him by ruminating in gloomy solitude.  It is just when he least expects it that a woman enters his life and shatters his newfound calm.  She is Sandra Bandini, a suicide case... [More...] Release date: 4th January 2012

Louise Wimmer

After a painful separation, Louise Wimmer is keen to put her past life behind her.  On the eve of her fiftieth birthday, she lives in her car and has just one objective - to find an apartment so that she can make a fresh start.  With her only assets being her car and her seductive voice, Louise is willing to do whatever it takes to get her life back... [More...] Release date: 4th January 2012

December 2011

Let My People Go!

Everyone knows that Ruben is Jewish, gay, half-French, half-Finnish, an ungrateful son and disappointing lover, a thief who can’t help himself, and possibly a murderer to boot.  The only person who doesn’t know who Ruben is is Ruben himself.   When he comes to a major turning point in his life, Ruben cannot make up his mind which way to go.  Should he follow his people or his heart...? [More...] Release date: 28th December 2011

Corpo celeste

Having grown up in Switzerland, Marta returns to her home village in Calabria with her mother and sister.  Try as she might, she feels like a complete strange in this devastated region of southern Italy.  She is thirteen years old, the age at which she is to be confirmed as a Catholic.  Perhaps the catechism will provide the means by which she will be accepted into this community... [More...] Release date: 28th December 2011

Il Gioiellino

Leda is the pride of the Italian economy, a vast commercial empire run by the Rastelli family which spans five continents.  Under pressure from the laws of global commerce, the Rastellis must resort to all manner of skulduggery so as not to lose their pre-eminent position in the world market - forgery, political influence, corruption...  The Rastellis are a family of entrepreneurs whose fraudulent activities may well bring about their downfall... [More...] Release date: 28th December 2011

La Délicatesse

Nathalie has everything she could want to be happy.  She is young, beautiful and is enjoying the perfect romance.  When her husband is suddenly taken from her, Nathalie’s life suddenly falls apart.  She gets through her present crisis by committing herself to her work.  She could not be a more dedicated employee.  Then, some years after the fateful day she lost her husband, she is taken by the sudden urge to kiss one of her colleagues... [More...] Release date: 21st December 2011

Le Havre

Marcel Marx was once a renowned writer.  These days, he lives in exile in the town of Le Havre, where he works as a shoeshine boy.  It is not the most remunerative of professions, but it brings him close to people and he is content with his life, which he divides between his work, his wife Arletty and the corner bar where he takes his daily tipple.  Then one day, Marcel’s happy routine is suddenly disturbed when his path crosses that of an African child immigrant... [More...] Release date: 21st December 2011

La Clé des champs

Two solitary children come across a small undisturbed lake which exerts a sudden and intense control over them.  It is a magical place, a strange wilderness inhabited by unfamiliar living things, as though in a dream.  As the two children succumb to the mysterious charms of this lonely spot, they get to know one another better and find themselves transformed by what they experience... [More...] Release date: 21st December 2011

Ne nous soumets pas à la tentation

A couple who have lived together so far without incident fall prey to a young woman who seems determined to ruin their lives.  Behind the familiar tale of adultery there lurk dark motives and a very sinister reckoning... [More...] Release date: 21st December 2011

Les Tribulations d’une caissière

Life is far from being a bed of roses for Solweig, a humble supermarket cashier.  No matter how bad her day is, she can find relief by writing about it in her daily blog.  One snowy evening, she meets Charles, her prince charming.  Without realising that Solweig comes from a completely different milieu to his own, the stranger cannot help falling in love with her... [More...] Release date: 14th December 2011

Des vents contraires

Paul’s life is upended on the day his wife Sarah suddenly goes missing.  After a year of fruitless searching, Paul is left a broken man.  His only hope is to start all over again, to move with his two children to Saint-Malo, the town where he grew up.  Some unexpected encounters are about to send Paul in the most unlikely direction... [More...] Release date: 14th December 2011

17 filles

In a small town by the sea, 17 teenage girls at the same school make a group decision that will prove incomprehensible to everyone else in the town.  They will all get pregnant at the same time... [More...] Release date: 14th December 2011

De l’huile sur le feu

Once upon a time in Belleville there were two restaurants situated opposite one another - the Berbère King, owned by the Chouffry family, and the Empire of the Dragon, run by the Zi family.  The two restaurants manage to coexist quite happily until one dark day when Samir Chouffry accuses Mr Zi of having eaten his dog... [More...] Release date: 14th December 2011

Hollywoo

Jeanne is the French dubber for an American actress who stars in a hit television series.   When that actress decides to give up acting, Jeanne fears that her own career may also be over.  Her only hope is to head off to Los Angeles and try to persuade the disillusioned star to go back to her day job... [More...] Release date: 7th December 2011

Livide

In Brittany, one Halloween night, Lucie Clavel and two friends decide on impulse to indulge in a spot of house breaking.  The house they select for their amateur burglary belongs to Deborah Jessel, a mysterious old woman who was once a classical dance instructor.  In the course of an evening that proves to be both tragic and fantastic, Lucie will uncover Deborah’s dark secret... [More...] Release date: 7th December 2011

La Fin du silence

After a fierce family row at an isolated house in the Vosges, Jean, the youngest son, is expelled.  To learn how to kill, Jean joins up with a party of huntsmen.  The following night, the car belonging to Jean’s mother is set alight.  The obvious culprit, Jean goes missing in the woods... [More...] Release date: 7th December 2011

Dernière séance

Sylvian is a young man who has dedicated his life to a local cinema that is now threatened with closure.  He lives in the cinema’s basement and is both projectionist and ticket seller, as well as the one who decides which films to screen.  Every night, he leaves his comfortable little world to perform a murderous ritual... [More...] Release date: 7th December 2011

Carnage

In a public park, two eleven-year-old boys get into a fight in which they both get badly injured.  Naturally, the parents of each child consider that their little treasure is the victim of a malicious assault.  When the parents confront one another, what begins as a mild dispute rapidly escalates into something far more serious.  Who knows where the ensuring carnage will end... [More...] Release date: 7th December 2011

November 2011

Les Lyonnais

From his boyhood, Edmond Vidal has always had a sense of family loyalty.  This explains why he is still devotedly attached to his childhood friend Serge Suttel, with whom he experienced his first taste of crime and prison life.  It was with Serge that Edmond formed one of the most notorious criminal gangs of the early 1970s.  Now in his late fifties, Edmond tries to forget this period of his life... [More...] Release date: 30th November 2011

The Lady

It is a love story almost without precedent, involving a man, Michael Aris, and an exceptional woman, Aung San Suu Kyi, who sacrificed her own personal happiness for the good of her people.  In spite of the traumas these two people experienced - their separation, their ill-treatment by Burma’s brutal political regime - nothing could lessen their love... [More...] Release date: 30th November 2011

Americano

When he learns of the death of his mother, Martin returns to his home town in California.  Here, he meets up with an old family friend who takes him to his mother’s apartment in an area he got to know well when he was living with her.  The ensuing emotional crisis drives him to Tijuana, where he hopes to find a young Mexican woman who occupied an important part in his mother’s life... [More...] Release date: 30th November 2011

Je m’appelle Bernadette

Between February and July 1858, the virgin mother appeared to a small girl on eighteen occasions in the Grotto of Massabielle.  That girl was Bernadette Soubirous, one of the poor folk of Lourdes.  Through her miraculous encounters, she would bring about something of a revolution, shaking the established order of Second Empire France with her message of universal love and prayer. [More...] Release date: 30th November 2011

Or noir

In the 1930s, the discovery of oil in Arabia will have far-reaching consequences.  Not only will it fuel the rivalry of two powerful emirs, it will also assist the rise of a dynamic young price who is destined to unite the tribes of a vast desert kingdom... [More...] Release date: 23rd November 2011

L’Art d’aimer

At the exact moment that one falls in love, one becomes aware of a very distinctive music, an ethereal sonata that seems to speak of eternity and promise all the delights of paradise.  This peculiar air is different for everyone and can enter our consciousness  at the most unexpected of moments... [More...] Release date: 23rd November 2011

Les Adoptés

Having survived numerous catastrophes, a family of women has learned to weather the storm and cope with life’s upsets, without the need for male support.  Naturally, this happily self-sufficient little community is shaken when one of their number falls in love - with a man... [More...] Release date: 23rd November 2011

L’Ordre et la morale

The setting is the island of Ouvéa in New Caledonia, April 1988.  When thirty policemen are taken hostage by a group  of Kanak separatists, the French government sends in a battalion of 300 soldiers to restore order.  Police chief Philippe Legorjus attempts to negotiate with the leader of the hostage takers in a bid to avoid a bloody skirmish... [More...] Release date: 16th November 2011

Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro

Despite having lost his job, Michel leads a contented life with his beloved Marie-Claire.  They have been together for thirty years and are still in love.  They are proud of what they have achieved as trade union and political activists.  But their perfect life is senselessly disfigured one day when two masked men break into their house, snatch their wedding rings and run off with their credit cards... [More...] Release date: 16th November 2011

Nuit blanche

In the course of a drugs raid, a cop manages to lay his hands on a large bag of cocaine.  He does not know that, during the operation, he is spotted by one of the traffickers.  The result: his son is taken hostage by a ruthless group of gangland thugs.   Vincent is given an ultimatum: if he wants to see his son alive again he must hand over the bag of cocaine, at a nightclub run by his gangster opponents... [More...] Release date: 16th November 2011

The Woman in the Fifth

Tom Ricks, an American novelist in his forties, moves to Paris in the hope of patching things up with his estranged  daughter.   But nothing goes quite as planned.  His resources depleted, he must stay at a shabby hotel and work as a night watchman.  Just when he thinks he has touched rock bottom, a mysterious and sensual woman named Margit suddenly enters his life... [More...] Release date: 16th November 2011

Jeanne captive

In the autumn of 1430, Joan of Arc is taken prisoner by a powerful nobleman of Northern France and sold to the English.  As the young woman languishes in her prison cell, awaiting her trial and probable execution for heresy, several men pay her a visit, hoping to understand just who she is - a messenger from God, a disciple of the Devil, or merely a poor mad child...? [More...] Release date: 16th November 2011

Mon pire cauchemar

Agathe leads a comfortable bourgeois existence, with her son and husband.  Patrick lives alone with his son in the back of a van.  She manages a prestigious art foundation.  He just about gets by with state handouts and odd jobs.  Their paths would never have crossed had it not been for the fact their children have become the best of friends... [More...] Release date: 9th November 2011

Toutes nos envies

Claire and Stéphane are two Lyon-based lawyers who could hardly be more different.  She is young and enthusiastic, committed to helping those unfortunates who find themselves in debt.  He is older, wiser, but disillusioned with his work and his life.  Under Claire’s influence, Stéphane discovers a new lease of life and at last finds a cause that is worth fighting for... [More...] Release date: 9th November 2011

On ne choisit pas sa famille

César Borgnoli is an Italian car dealer who faces financial ruin.  As a last resort, he appeals to his sister Alex to help him save the family business.  Alex agrees, but on condition that he assists her in her bid to adopt a Thai orphan.  César must pass himself off as the husband of Alex’s girlfriend Kim to persuade the Thai authorities to part with the little girl on whom Alex and Kim have set their heart... [More...] Release date: 9th November 2011

Celles qui aimaient Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner is probably the most important person in Judith’s life, even if he died over a hundred years ago.  Without his music, it is doubtful that she would be able to cope with the humdrum life in which she feels she is forever trapped.  Inspired by what she discovers about Wagner, she imagines his colourful life through the prism of her own... [More...] Release date: 9th November 2011

Forces spéciales

During an assignment in Afghanistan, star reporter Elsa Casanova is taken hostage by the Taliban.  Aware that Casanova is likely to be executed, a special forces unit is sent to rescue her.  In a landscape that is as hostile as it is beautiful, a desperate race against time ensues in which hardened soldiers attempt to snatch the unfortunate journalist from her murderous captors... [More...] Release date: 2nd November 2011