Bakary Sangaré

Accompanied by a child, the mathematician Galileo observes the firmament with a telescope. Ten years ago, the philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned in Rome for having supported the idea of an infinite and centerless universe, based on the work of Copernicus. By dint of observations and calculations, Galileo seeks proofs for his hypothesis of a cosmic system where the Earth is "an ordinary celestial body, one among thousands". From Padua to Venice, the mathematician shakes certainties by confronting the power of a Church which wishes to maintain its absolute power in the "crystal spheres" where Ptolemy has hitherto locked up the world.

David, who gets by doing odd jobs, meets Lena, who has just moved up to Paris, and falls in love. But soon after, his life is brutally interrupted by the sudden death of his sister. Beyond the shock, and the pain, David now finds himself alone with his young niece Amanda to care for.

7/10
9.6%

The action is set in Naples, opening a door onto an imagined maritime world stretching towards the Orient. Faced with two authoritarian fathers, two sons, both of whom are thwarted lovers, turn to the crafty Scapin, who is driven by a mad desire for revenge. The character is a double of Scaramouche, the Italian actor of the adventurous life whom Molière admired: “to tell you the truth, there are few things that are impossible for me, when I put my mind to them” declares the buffoonish servant whose name, as Denis Podalydès points out, derives his from the Italian scappare which means “to escape”, “to scamper off”. Scapin is beaten with a stick at one point but also gets his own back and, against a background of ransom demands and paternal contradictions, he comes up with an avalanche of stratagems and other tricks, which Molière excels in depicting.

Power and corruption—and the men who rule with them—are ruthlessly scrutinized in this multilayered French work set in a shadow realm of arms dealers and blood ties. Part Shakespearean family tragedy, part political noir, it recalls such American paranoid thrillers of the 1970s as All the President’s Men and Marathon Man, revealing protagonists who work in the shadows, the unseen kings of the contemporary jungle.

6.3/10

Based on a novel by Jean-Claude Izzo, this melancholic movie focuses on three sailors being the last remaining crew members on their ship which is aground in the harbor of Marseille. After the owner has sold the "Aldébaran", only the Lebanese captain Aziz, the Greek Diamantis and the Turk Nelim are stuck on the boat for a lack of prospects. Aziz doesn't want to return to his wife, Diamantis tries to find a girl he left at the age of 20 and Nelim, young and foolish, just wants to have fun...

5.3/10

Two seemingly happily married French couples are forced to contend with a number of issues.

6.3/10

In Africa, two occidentals, a man and a woman, with totaly different minds, are obliged to make a long trip together in a cab.

When an elderly man reveals that his son Hammala is the illegitimate son of a purported witch, the ugly side of social customs rears its head. Shunned by the community, an ashamed Hammala leaves the village, only to return four years later, despite his outcast status.

7.3/10

Samba (Bakary Sangare) has returned unannounced to his home village, bringing with him a suitcase full of money. Despite his protests that this is money that he earned in the city, the villagers have their doubts. In fact, he held up a gas station and unintentionally killed its attendant, and is in hiding here. Meanwhile, he has married a woman (Mariam Kaba) with a child who left her husband and built a house for her. He is building a bar with his remaining money, but he encounters a situation which makes him believe that he will be exposed to the police, and runs away, leaving a pregnant, very ill wife behind, much to the disgust of the villagers and Samba's own family.

7/10