Romain Duris turns in a creditable enough performance but otherwise this is a rather lacklustre mix of romance and engineering that veers way too much to the former than the latter. The narrative tries to run the twin threads of his younger years - where he builds a bridge and falls in love with "Adrienne" (Emma Mackey) with a contemporary one that sees him bidding in a competition to design the Parisian entry for the 1889 World Fair. His plan to build a 300m tower wins - it beat the Mètro - but pretty quickly he faces industrial issues, strikes, banking confidence colly-wobbles and to add to his complications, he re-alights on "Adrienne", by now married to the influential "Antoine" (Pierre Deladonchamps). There are a few scenes - especially when they are laying the foundations to the tower and when aligning the metal works, when the engineering elements impress and we get some clue as to his genius. The use of sand, water and sheer brute force to ensure millimetre accuracy is sometimes quite tensely portrayed here. Unfortunately, though, for the most part it's a rather uninspiring melodrama about his turbulent relationship and though it does offer an interesting explanation as to why the tower might look like the letter "A", it all just sinks into a rather mediocre sediment of mush. The production looks good, the costumes and settings are well presented, but the rest of it is unremarkable and I found myself wondering why I thought he wasn't Maximillian Schell and she wasn't Margot Robbie. One for the telly, I'd say.
Pierre, a professional dancer, suffers from a serious heart disease. While he is waiting for a transplant which may (or may not) save his life, he has nothing better to do than look at the people around him, from the balcony of his Paris apartment.
Told in four vignettes, this existential comedy relates the exploits of four aspiring criminals who hope to improve their lot, but find that they might not have what it takes for a life of crime.
Insurance executive Charles suspects his wife Hélène of playing the field, so he has a private detective locate his wife's lover, author Victor Pegala.
A weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.
Lyons, France. Michel Descombes is a watchmaker who lives alone with his teenage son Bernard. When the police visit and informs him that Bernard killed a man and is on the run with a girl, Michel realizes that he knew far less about his son than he thought.
Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.
In a small town in post-WWII France, 16-year-old Janine tries to improve her conditions by any means necessary. Three people—Michel, a married lover; Raoul, a fellow thief; Mauricette, a photographer she meets in prison—will help her learn from her mistakes.
Paris, France, 2001. Octave Parango, a young advertiser working at the Ross & Witchcraft advertising agency, lives a suicidal existence, ruled by cynicism, irresponsibility and debauchery. The obstacles he will encounter in developing a campaign for a new yogurt brand will force him to face the meaning of his work and the way he manages his relationship with those who orbit around his egotistic lifestyle.
In 1895, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was the most famous writer in London, and Bosie Douglas, son of the notorious Marquess of Queensberry, was his lover. Accused and convicted of gross indecency, he was imprisoned for two years and subjected to hard labor. Once free, he abandons England to live in France, where he will spend his last years, haunted by memories of the past, poverty and immense sadness.
After an abrupt and violent encounter with a French warship inflicts severe damage upon his ship, a captain of the British Royal Navy begins a chase over two oceans to capture or destroy the enemy, though he must weigh his commitment to duty and ferocious pursuit of glory against the safety of his devoted crew, including the ship's thoughtful surgeon, his best friend.