matti's - Rented List
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The Last Battle (1983)Le Dernier Combat
The sky is raining fish. Skyscrapers sit in mountains of sand. Bandits sleep in trunks of used cars. It's a world of the future. A world called Planet Earth. And he's one man just trying to survive. In Besson's haunting, beautifully realised vision of a post-apocalyptic world, few have held onto life, and fewer still to humanity. An unknown trauma has robbed mankind of their ability to speak, and they remain, mute, in the unexplained wreckage of what once was. The Man (Pierre Jolivet) is an isolated survivor wandering the hostile streets of a collapsed civilization. He lives in a long-abandoned office building, fighting off attacks from nearby thugs and gathering together disused car parts for a makeshift airplane, hoping to fly away from his sombre prison. Escape, however, offers little respite, as he leaves one dead city for another. In the midst of this new wasteland, "The Man" encounters his nemesis, "The Brute" (Jean Reno); a violent aggressor who becomes determined to destroy him. By chance he stumbles into a derelict hospital, and finds there an old doctor who is hiding from The Brute. Together, the two seek sanctuary from The Brute, and gradually, in the grey and sterile world, a friendship begins to grow. - Director:
- Luc Besson
- Cast:
- Pierre Jolivet, Jean Bouise, Fritz Wepper
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An ex-nun (Isabelle Huppert), trying to turn her hand to writing pornography, meets Thomas (Martin Donovan), a recovering amnesiac in search of his estranged wife. The two set out in search of Thomas' past but soon discover a trail of secrets leading to the dark, violent heart of his previous life and the pain that forced him to forget... - Director:
- Hal Hartley
- Cast:
- Isabelle Huppert, Martin Donovan, Elina Löwensohn
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Reinventing Marvin (2017)Marvin ou la belle éducation
Marvin (Finnegan Oldfield) is different. He is a quiet, sensitive and artistic fifteen-year-old with an unwitting attraction to other boys. This makes him victim to forceful bullying, both at school and within the confines of his impoverished home, making his situation unbearable. With the support of his teacher, Marvin discovers his thirst for theatre, and its transformative power of becoming someone else. Refusing to be victimised, Marvin moves to Paris to reinvent himself. As a theatre student, he swiftly befriends the right people including legendary actress Isabelle Huppert (playing herself), and with her help, begins to exorcise the ghosts of his childhood. Winner of the Queer Lion at the Venice International Film Festival, 'Reinventing Marvin' is a powerful, uplifting story of a young man's quest, against all odds, to be himself. - Director:
- Anne Fontaine
- Cast:
- Finnegan Oldfield, Grégory Gadebois, Vincent Macaigne
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Starring captivating performances from Oscar Nominee Isabelle Huppert and Kévin Azaïs, 'Souvenir ' is an understated yet powerful tale of love, redemption and second chances. Liliane was once "Laura" - a rising star in the singing world, who had her moment of glory when she came second to Abba in the 1974 European Song Contest. Today, everyone has forgotten her brush with fame and she now has a dull job in a pâté factory. However when she meets Jean, a curious, passionate and aspiring young boxer, her dreary life is transformed as he challenges her to make a remarkable career revival. - Director:
- Bavo Defurne
- Cast:
- Isabelle Huppert, Kévin Azaïs, Johan Leysen
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Let the Sunshine In (2017)Un beau soleil intérieur / Bright Sunshine In / Dark Glasses
Isabelle (Juliette Binoche) is a stylish and accomplished artist living in Paris. Divorced and looking to find true love at last, she meets a handsome, kind and intelligent younger man who she thinks might finally be the one. But when he calls their affair a mistake and returns to his wife, Isabelle must again face the issue of mid-life loneliness. Sifting through former lovers, new admirers, jealous friends and chance encounters, will she find a fulfilling match? Or will she discover a new path to happiness along the way? - Director:
- Claire Denis
- Cast:
- Juliette Binoche, Xavier Beauvois, Philippe Katerine
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Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas (2013)Michael Kohlhaas
16th century France: Michael Kohlhaas, a horse dealer and loving father, lives a happy and prosperous life in the peaceful countryside. But when a cruel, rapacious baron seizes his livelihood and defiles his family's honour he will take up arms and set out on a mission for vengeance that will send the kingdom up in flames... - Director:
- Arnaud des Pallières
- Cast:
- Mads Mikkelsen, Mélusine Mayance, Delphine Chuillot
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A Man Escaped (1956)Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut
Based on the true story of Resistance fighter Andre Devigny, who was imprisoned and sentenced to death by the Nazis during the Second World War, the film reconstructs his actual cell at the Lyons fortress of Montluc, and follows his meticulous plans for escape. This totally involving and thrilling tale of courage and faith is all the more authentic for its use of non-professional actors and Bresson's spare style. - Director:
- Robert Bresson
- Cast:
- François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock
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Mary Panton (Kristin Scott Thomas), an Englishwoman staying at a villa in Florence, Italy, in the late 1930s with the country gripped in Fascism. Sheltered by the goodwill of the British and American community there, Mary, with little money and few prospects for survival outside marriage, dithers over her uncertain destiny and dreams of independence. - Director:
- Philip Haas
- Cast:
- Kristin Scott-Thomas, Sean Penn, Anne Bancroft
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The Silence of the Sea (1949)Le Silence de la Mer
'Le Silence de la Mer' - Jean-Pierre Melville's debut film - is an adaptation of the novella of the same title by celebrated French Resistance author Vercors (the pen name of Jean Bruller). Clandestinely written in 1942 during the Nazi occupation of France and furtively distributed, it captured the spirit of the moment, and quickly became a staple of the Resistance. Melville's cinematic adaptation - partly shot in Vercors' own house - tells the story of a German officer, Werner von Ebrennac (Howard Vernon), who is billeted to the house of an elderly man (Jean-Marie Robain) and his niece (Nicole Stephane) in occupied France. Resisting the intruder, the uncle and niece refuse to speak to the German officer, who warms himself by the fire each evening espousing idealistic views about the relationship between France and Germany. These propagandised illusions are shattered, however, when a trip to Paris reveals the truth of what is really going on. - Director:
- Jean-Pierre Melville
- Cast:
- Howard Vernon, Nicole Stéphane, Jean-Marie Robain
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The White Knights (2015)Les chevaliers blancs
Jacques Arnault (Vincent Lindon) head of Move For Kids NGO, is planning a high impact operation: he and his team are going to exfiltrate 300 orphans of Chadian civil war and bring them to French adoption applicants. Francoise Dubois (Valerie Donzeili) a journalist, is invited to come along with them and handle the media coverage for this operation. Completely immersed in the brutal reality of a country at war, the NGO members start losing their convictions and are faced with the limits of humanitarian intervention. - Director:
- Joachim Lafosse
- Cast:
- Vincent Lindon, Louise Bourgoin, Valérie Donzelli
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In 1926 the tragic and untimely death of a silent screen actor caused female moviegoers to riot in the streets and in some cases to commit suicide - that actor was Rudolph Valentino. Ballroom dancer Valentino manipulated his good looks and animal-like grace into a Hollywood career. His smouldering love making, tinged with a touch of masterful cruelty, expressed sexuality which was at once both shocking and sensual. - Director:
- Ken Russell
- Cast:
- Rudolf Nureyev, Leslie Caron, Michelle Phillips
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West Cornwall, 1895. A once-glorious tin mine, on which the whole town has depended for generations, is on its last legs. A weather-beaten opera company arrives to give a performance of Beethoven's "Fidelio" in the town hall and finds itself tangled up in a scam to offload worthless shares in the mine. When the mine unexpectedly yields up new treasures, melodrama starts to spill over into everyday life, reputations crumble and any notion of fair play is abandoned. - Director:
- Bill Scott
- Cast:
- Jenny Agutter, Helen Bendell, Ben Dyson
- Formats:
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The Sicilian Clan (1969)Le clan des Siciliens
When aging Sicilian mobster Vittotio Manalese (Jean Gabin) springs master thief and hit man Roger Sartet (Alain Delon) from prison, he's not doing it for his health. Manalese pulls off the prison break so that Sartet will help him pull off his most ambitious heist yet - hijacking a New York-bound plane transporting 50 million dollars in jewels! But after the audacious crime, Sartet betrays Manalese's trust by romancing the old man's seductive daughter-in-law. The two crime partners become engaged in a tense game of cat-and-mouse...a no-holds barred battle of wit and bravado that will hold you captive and not let you go! - Director:
- Henri Verneuil
- Cast:
- Jean Gabin, Alain Delon, Lino Ventura
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In Dublin, two shop assistants share a room. One, Kate (Rita Tushingham) is a quiet, rather naive girl, the other, Baba (Lynn Redgrave) is vivacious and ebullient with an eye for the boys. But when the two befriend a quiet, middle-aged writer (Peter Finch, Network), he makes a beeline for the shy, and lonely Kate. A bittersweet story of an extraordinary romance. - Director:
- Desmond Davis
- Cast:
- Peter Finch, Lynn Redgrave, Rita Tushingham
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Stranger by the Lake (2013)L'inconnu du lac
Summer time. A cruising spot for gay men seeking nameless sexual encounters, is tucked away on the shores of a picturesque secluded lake in rural France. Franck is an attractive young male who falls in love with Michel, a striking, extremely potent but lethally dangerous man. Franck has witnessed this first hand, but his desire for Michel knows no bounds, this is a relationship he must have - at any cost. - Director:
- Alain Guiraudie
- Cast:
- Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick d'Assumçao
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