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Antonio Vivaldi: A Prince in Venice
France, 2006, 95 min.
Infamous in his lifetime not just for his music, but also for his non-conformity, Vivaldi’s genius influenced the shape of musical development long after his death. Made in cooperation with Virgin Music, this sumptuous, unconventional portrait of the composer offers a feast of riches for the eye and... more
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Avenue Montaigne
France, 2006, 106 min.
A series of interconnected stories serves as the basis for Danièle Thompson’s breezy, bittersweet and utterly charming Parisian comedy about the lives of the varied characters—rich and poor, famous and unknown—who populate a café on the chic Avenue Montaigne.... more
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Belle Toujours
France, 2006, 70 min.
Thirty-eight years after Buñuel’s Belle de jour, Henri (Michel Piccoli) and Séverine (Bulle Ogier), meet again by chance in an elegant concert hall in Paris. The two have obviously changed, yet Henri seems content to dwell in their perverse past. Oliveira’s elegant style and cunning narrative... more
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Beyond Hatred
France, 2006, 86 min.
After their gay son is murdered by a gang of skinheads, a close-knit French family tries to move toward understanding and even forgiveness in this devastating documentary. In classic vérité style, director Olivier Meyrou allows this immensely cathartic story to unfold at its own pace without unneces... more
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Change of Address
France, 2006, 85 min.
David, a shy, awkward horn player from the provinces, comes to Paris and meets a zesty blonde who becomes his roommate. After a brief intimate encounter, the duo quickly decide to remain ‘just friends,’ which makes way for David to fall for a shy young woman who he gives music lessons to. With a uni... more
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Don’t Worry, I’m Fine
France, 2006, 100 min.
Lili returns from vacation to discover her 19-year-old twin brother has fled from home after a violent fight with their father. Her worries about his welfare eventually send her to an anorexia hospital ward where a postcard from her long-lost twin finally arrives. Lioret’s delicate direction... more
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Fair Play
France, 2006, 99 min.
The competitive nature of office politics is given an innovative approach through the extracurricular activities of sports, in this brilliantly controlled and cynical tale that takes place entirely outside the office with colleagues rowing, jogging, playing squash, canoeing and even rock climbing th... more
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French California
France, 2006, 107 min.
Maguy (Nathalie Baye) is an idle rich woman. She lives in a luxurious mansion of the French Riviera among a bunch of odd friends and hired men. A dangerous desire game starts where no one knows the rules, creating a blazing and dangerous story of desire and power.... more
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The Girl is Mine
France, 2006, 91 min.
Perhaps a mother’s worst nightmare is that someone will take her child. This suspenseful tale revolves around Maud, who after searching 12 years for her abducted daughter, meets a child she believes is the lost girl, but must contend with another woman who claims the girl as her own.... more
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How Much Do You Love Me?
France, 2006, 95 min.
Veteran French farceur and master of the politically incorrect, Bertrand Blier, weaves this richly ironic tale that gives us a loser (Campan) who wins the lottery and hires a beautiful hooker (Bellucci) to live with him, and then has to face her gangster boyfriend (Depardieu).... more
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Murderers
France, 2006, 100 min.
Grandperret takes up the script left by the late Maurice Pialat to tell the story of two ordinary girls hitting the road to escape their tedious life, attracted in a spiral of violence. This modern tale is an accusation on the blindness of a society unable to protect its youth.... more
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Oh, La La!
France, 2006, 92 min.
Take a cast of memorably mismatched characters—an old actress forgotten in a retirement home, a pool-boy at the Ritz, Bettina Fleischer, the star of a popular TV series, and Raphaël, a disturbingly handsome young man and you get a bittersweet and whacky comedy that received a radiant reception at th... more
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One to Another
France, 2006, 105 min.
Jean-Marc Barr and Pascal Arnold’s quintessentially French drama, based on a true story, focuses on a quintet of sexually experimental friends led by a hunky, charming bisexual—who will try anything (and anyone)—and his sister, who is perhaps unnaturally close to him.... more
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OSS 117: Nest of Spies
France, 2006, 99 min.
A box-office sensation in France and set in 1955 Egypt, French comic favorite Jean Dujardin stars as secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, a.k.a. OSS 117—James Bond crossed with Maxwell Smart, Austin Powers and a bit of the The Naked Gun thrown in for good measure. The Audience Award Winn... more
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The Page Turner
France, 2006, 85 min.
Mélanie, a butcher’s daughter, has a passion for piano. Though failing to be accepted into a piano Conservatory, she meets a well-known pianist, Mrs. Fouchécourt, and is employed as her page-turner. Based on an ‘out-of-tune’ note of latent revenge, this disturbing encounter of two icy feminine chara... more
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Premonition
France, 2006, 100 min.
This adaptation of a novel by Emmanuel Bove is an existential drama, as well as a social satire of hypocrisy. Darroussin casts himself as a man trying to throw off the shackles of alienation and social conditioning in life of semi-hermit.... more
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Transylvania
France, 2006, 103 min.
In this picaresque gypsy musical road movie, Zingarina, a dark rebellious young pregnant woman goes to Transylvania with her best friend, in search of the man she loves. When her former lover brutally rejects her, she abandons her friend and all connections to her past in order to be able to fully b... more
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Twice Upon a Time
France, 2006, 92 min.
Alice, an immensely famous London stage actress, and Louis, a cult French film director, are two extraordinary personalities. They were the most strikingly glamorous couple of the ’70s, but haven’t seen each other since their abrupt, incomprehensible separation 30 years ago. This spicy reunion of a ... more
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