Claude Faraldo
In 1850, on the isolated French island of Saint-Pierre, a murder shocks the natives. Two fishermen are arrested. One of them, Louis Ollivier, dies in custody. The other, Neel Auguste, is sentenced to death by the guillotine. The island is so small that it has neither a guillotine nor an executioner. While those are sent for Auguste is placed under the supervision of army Captain.
A story about a man and his dog, this film is a wrought urban drama about the gritty realities of life on the street. Middle-aged Michel wanders the streets of Paris aimlessly until he happens upon an abused dog. When the police threaten to take the animal away, he reluctantly turns to his former lover who works with the city. The results prove to be disastrous for the brittle Michel.
Stephane, the wife of an older, prominent magistrate, coldbloodedly shoots a male visitor in her upscale home, then claims she was defending herself against a rapist. Victim turns out to be Wadek Aslanian, a gangster who's viewed as a modern-day Robin Hood. Paul, the lawyer hired by Stephane's husband, learns more than he really cares to know about his client, thanks to a series of anonymous letters. The notes provide a road map through the sordid areas of Stephane's past, allowing Paul to discover her history as an ex-prostitute, a porno movie performer -- and a frequent cohort of Aslanian. Naturally, Stephane's husband knows nothing about her past. Just as naturally , nothing that Paul discovers keeps him from falling in love with this mysterious woman.
Mathieu is called on by the French government to investigate murders in the Asian community of Paris. With Chinese and Vietnamese engaged in a bloody slaughterfest, the key to the mystery lies with the orphan girl who Mathieu helped to escape during the fall of Saigon in 1975. Now a beautiful young woman, Mathieu is reunited ten years later with the refugee, and together they attempt to solve the case. He uncovers a CIA plot that has carried over from the last days of the Vietnam War and that is related to the Paris murders.
In the Médoc, a young woman is found drowned. An accident, her influential family of winegrowers maintains. Or rather murder, as the American inspector Morrison suspects. If so, why? What secrets this family keeps?
Paul and Rene, two men in their forties weary with life. One a widower, the other is divorced and pays alimony to his ex-wife. They live together, go on vacations together. This last vacation has been a washout and so is their return.
Film montage of documents shot between 1895 and 1900 by the operators of the Lumière brothers.
Experiencing something of a mid-life crisis after his beloved son marries and moves out, a factory worker makes some drastic changes in his life, moves in with the boy and his wife, and sets them all on the path to a communal lifestyle.
