Wittenberg University

The Story of

Adele H.

A profoundly beautiful movie (The New York Times) this haunting film is based on a true story of desire, devotion...and madness. Isabelle Adjani stars as Adele, daughter of Victor Hugo and filled with the same brilliant writing talent as her famous father. However Adele is driven not by literary aspirations but by love. Impelled by a need that will not be denied she has run away from home to follow her handsome womanizing lover (Bruce Robinson) across an ocean to wintry Halifax Nova Scotia. Wild with desire she will risk everything to renew their brief affair. And if she can t win him back there will be a terrible price to pay.

In the late 17th century, a viola player, Monsieur de Sainte Colombe, returns home to find that his has wife died. In his grief he builds a small house in his garden and  moves in, dedicating his life to music. One day a young man, Marin Marais, comes to see him with a request, he wants to be taught how to play the viol.

3

Amélie

2001

In French, English subtitles

4

Au revoir, les enfants

(Good-bye Children)

1971

In French, English subtitles

Amélie, an innocent and naive girl in Paris, with her own sense of justice, decides to help those around her and along the way, discovers love.

Julien, an 11-year-old Catholic boarding-school resident during the Nazi occupation of France witnesses the courage of his instructors, who defy the German's anti-Semitic policies and quietly enroll Jewish children into the school under assumed names.  The refugee children are betrayed by a hostile ex-employee of the school.

5

L'Auberge Espagnole

(The Spanish Apartment)

2002

In French with English subtitles

6

Bon Voyage

2003

In French with English Subtitles

A young Parisian, not sure what his life is about, decides to spend a year in Barcelona studying economics – leaving behind his unhappy girlfriend (Audrey Tatou from Amélie) but joining an international mix of students in a hectic, crowded apartment.  He learns more about life than economics!

In this World War II comedy, the fate of the free world hangs in the balance at the posh Hotel Splendide in Bordeaux. Cabinet members, journalists, physicists, and spies of all persuasions gather in order to escape the Nazi occupation of Paris. Murderous intrigues, scientific secrets and love affairs flourish.

7

Chocolat

1989

 In French, English subtitles

8

Les Choristes

(The Chorus)

2004

In French, English subtitles

Not to be confused with the Miramax film, Claire Denis's "Chocolat" documents French colonialism in Cameroon through the eyes of a young French girl.  Relationships between her bored mother Aimée, her traveling father Marc, and their servant Protée are already uneasy, but when a plane crashes nearby, bringing more white people into the home, the undercurrents of racism and forbidden passion erupt into devastating scenarios that threaten the entire community.

The new teacher at a severely administered boys' boarding school works to positively effect the students' lives through music. A beautiful film that has won several academy awards.

9

Le Colonel Chabert

1994

In French, English subtitles

10

Cyrano de Bergerac

1990

In French, English subtitles

Colonel Chabert (Gerard Depardieu) is severely wounded in war to the point that the medical examiner has signed his death certificate. When he regains his health and memory, he goes back to Paris where his "widow" has married the Count Ferraud who is financing his rise to power using Chabert's money. Chabert hires a lawyer to help him get back his money and his honor.

A dashing officer of the guard and romantic poet, Cyrano de Bergerac falls in love with Roxane. His one fault in his life, he feels, is his large nose and he believes that Roxane will reject him. Using hisrazor-sharp wit, he resorts to writing letters to her on behalf of one of his cadets, Christian, who is also in love with Roxane.

11

Dangerous Liaisons

(Les liaisons dangereuses)

2003

In French, English subtitles

12

Diabolique

 1955

In French, English subtitles

This visually sumptuous adaptation of the classic French novel of seduction, betrayal, and revenge stars the great Catherine Deneuve as the scheming Madame de Meurteuil, who--to get back at a man who spurned her for a younger woman--persuades her equally amoral friend Valmont to seduce the young woman in question. Thus begins one of the most intricate and hypnotic plots every orchestrated; this version starts with cars, costumes, and music from the early 20th century, then rapidly becomes more modern.

Legend has it that Henri-Georges Clouzot beat out Alfred Hitchcock to secure the rights to this novel, which proved to be a veritable blueprint for an icy masterpiece of murder, mystery, and suspense. The sickly wife of a callous boarding school headmaster gets together with his mistreated mistress to plot and carry out his murder.  However, the corpse disappears, and a nosy detective starts sniffing around the grounds as threatening notes taunt the women. --Sean Axmaker

Gaz Bar Blues

In French, English subtitles

M. Brochu, "Le Boss", manages his gas station as best he can despite repeated hold ups, competition with the self-service stations cropping up nearby, and the tense relationship he has with his sons who are not eager to take over the family business of “ Gaz Bar Champlain”.  Despite these problems, he still has his regulars, who come to the station daily to hang out, laugh, and gossip.

Set in mid-19th century northern France,  the story tells of exploited coal miners who eventually rally and strike, bringing danger on themselves and repressive action by the mine’s owner.  This film is a rendition of Emile Zola's 1885 novel of the same name.

15

The Horseman on the Roof

(Le Hussard sur le toit)

1995

In French, English subtitles

16

Jean de Florette

1987

In French, English subtitles

In 1832, war and cholera ravage Provence.  Angelo, a young Italian officer hunted by the Austrian secret police, meets Pauline de Theus (Juliette Binoche) and gallantly tries to help her find her husband.   In a country torn apart by chaos, their only chance of survival is each other.

Jean, a city tax-collector, comes to the countryside with his wife and daughter to tend the land he has inherited, seeking the “authenticity” of country life. However, his neighbor has his sights set on that land, and thwarts Jean’s efforts by concealing a valuable spring.  The story continues in the sequel, Manon of the Spring.

17

Jean de Florette /Manon of the Spring

1987

In French, English subtitles

18

Joyeux Noel

(Merry Christmas)

2005

In French, English subtitles

Marcel Pagnol’s two part saga comes together on one DVD.  Families and destinies become strangely intertwined in this tale of greed where water plays a leading role.

On Christmas Eve, 1914, as German, French, and Scottish regiments face each other from their respective trenches, a musical call-and-response turns into an impromptu cease-fire, trading chocolates and champagne, playing soccer, and comparing pictures of their wives. But when Christmas ends, the war returns...--Bret Fetzer

Lacombe Lucien

This is the tale of a young boy during WWII who wants to join the Resistance but is shunned by them because of his youth.  So instead he joins the Gestapo.  At the same time, he falls in love with a young Jewish girl. Suddenly he has both the unsympathetic Resistance and the Gestapo hot on his trail. Not a pretty picture of either side.

In occupied France, German-run Continental Films calls the shots in the movie business. Assistant director and Resistance activist Jean Devaivre works for Continental, where he can get "in between the wolf's teeth and avoid being chewed up". Fast-living screenwriter Jean Aurenche uses every possible argument to avoid working for the enemy. For both, wartime is a battle for survival.

21

Lancelot of the Lake

1974

In French, English subtitles

22

The Last Metro

(Le dernier métro)

1981

 In French, English subtitles

This masterpiece is a remarkable act of mythic revisionism. Stripped bare of its enduring romance, the Arthurian legend becomes an uncomfortably familiar vision of powerful men capable of ignobility. Lancelot, a ruthless opportunist, returns from his futile mission of the Holy Grail, only to callously rekindle his affair with Guinevere. The Arthurian ideal turns out to have little chance in the real world. --Tom Keogh

Marion Steiner (Catherine Deneuve) manages the Theatre Montmartre during World War II in the stead of her Jewish husband, director Lucas Steiner. He has purportedly fled France but is really hiding out in the basement of the theater. The one hope of saving the Montmartre is a new play starring the dashing Bernard Granger (Gérard Depardieu), who brings more than just talent to Marion’s life.--Keith Simanton

23

Love Me if You Dare

(Jeux d’enfants)

2004

In French, English subtitles

24

Madame Bovary

1991

In French, English subtitles

As adults, best friends Julien and Sophie continue the odd game they started as children-- a fearless competition to outdo one another with daring and outrageous stunts. How far will they go?

Gustav Flaubert's celebrated novel of obsessive ardor relates how a woman's selfish quest for happiness ends up obliterating all she holds dear.

--Andrew Wright

25

This sequel to Jean de Florette tells the story of Jean’s daughter. As an adult, she discovers that their neighbor was responsible for her father’s tragedy.  In revenge, she sabotages the spring, cutting off the water supply to the entire village.   But there is an ironic twist; families and destinies become strangely intertwined in this tale of greed where water plays a leading role.

In a bet with Julius Caesar that her people are still great, Cleopatra vows to build a palace within three months.  Numerobis, the chosen architect, calls upon an old friend to help him out: the druid Panoramix who brews a magic potion that gives supernatural strength.   This riotous adventure full of puns will keep you laughing until the end.

27

Monsieur Ibrahim

2003

In French, English subtitles

28

Murmur of the Heart

(Le souffle au cœur)

1971

In French, English subtitles

It's the early 1960s, and an adolescent Jewish boy, mostly left to his own devices by an ineffectual father, makes friends with the worldly wise Persian man (Omar Sharif) who runs a small neighborhood grocery. The kid's fumbling experiences with sexual curiosity are the reliable stuff of many a French movie, but the unlikely friendship of young Jew and old Muslim make for an offbeat through-line. --Robert Horton

Laurent Chevalier is growing up in bourgeois surroundings in Dijon, France in the mid-1950s. He gets drunk, he smokes, he has sex, he is smothered by his mother, he is ignored by his father, a priest makes a pass at him, he gets rheumatoid fever, etc. There's enough scandalous behavior in this film to make 100 made-for-TV movies, and yet this is a very happy and oddly innocent tale.

29

My Father's Glory

(La Gloire de mon père)

1991

In  French and English – Subtitles in English, French and Spanish

30

My Mother's Castle

(Le Château de ma mère)

1991

In  French and English – Subtitles in English, French and Spanish

A young boy's life in turn-of-the-century France. Marcel, witnesses the success of his teacher father, as well as the success of his arrogant Uncle Jules. Marcel and family spend their summer vacation in a cottage in Provence, and Marcel befriends a local boy who teaches him the secrets of the hills in Provence.

Sequel to "My Father’s Glory". Despite his mother's failing health, Marcel's family carts their belongings on foot to reach their beloved hills, until a friend gives them a special key that lets them clandestinely follow the canal, along a path bordering private estates.  All would have gone well, had it not been for the grumpy one-legged guard, and his ferocious dog, Masher....  

The night of August 24, 1572, is known as the Massacre of St. Bartholomew.  In France a religious war is raging. In order to impose peace a forced wedding is arranged between Margot de Valois, sister of the immature Catholic King Charles IX, and the Hugenot King Henri of Navarre. Catherine of Medici maintains her behind-the-scenes power by ordering assaults, poisonings, and instigations to incest.

During medieval times, Martin Guerre returns to his hometown after being away at war for a very long time. Nobody recognizes him and the townspeople suspect him of being an imposter.  Even his wife is unsure of his identity.  When suspicions lead to trial, will she stand by him?

 33

Ridicule

1996

In French, English subtitles

34

Le Sexe des étoiles

1993

In French, NO subtitles

To get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles.   In the periwigged and opulent France of Louis XVI, this unwitting nobleman soon discovers that survival at court demands both a razor wit and an acid tongue.

Camille a douze ans et vit avec sa mère Michèle. Entre sa passion pour l'astronomie et son nouveau petit ami Lucky, elle espère, chaque seconde, le retour de son père Henri-Pierre qui a quitté la maison il y a cinq ans. Un jour, le père adoré revient sous les traits de... Marie-Pierre…

 35

Story of Women

(Une affaire de femmes)

1990

In French, English subtitles

(2 copies)

36

Total Eclipse

1995

In English

This compelling true story relates the events leading up to the last woman to be executed in France by guillotine.  Marie, a free-spirited working-class housewife, performs illegal abortions in France during World War II.  But  the political situation in France at the time, combined with the patriarchal society it cultivates, are catching up with her...

This biographical account of the tempestuous,

taboo-shattering love affair between poets Verlaine and Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio)-- begins in 1870 when the newly married Verlaine is 24 and Rimbaud is 17. The volatile combination of their reckless passions is a recipe for disaster--and l'amour fou-culminating in a two-year prison term for Verlaine after he shoots Rimbaud in the wrist.

37

Les Triplettes de Belleville

2003

In French with English Subtitles

38

A Very Long Engagement

2004

In French, English subtitles

An orphaned boy, Champion, is raised by his grandmother. Her gift of a tricycle starts a craze for cycle-racing that culminates in the Tour de France. Alas, Champion and a handful of other top competitors are mysteriously kidnapped by a pair of crooks. Supported by her faithful sidekick, her fat and flatulent dog Bruno, his grandmother sets off to rescue her beloved Champion.  (ANIMATED)

A young woman named Mathilde (Tautou, Amélie) separated from her lover by World War I refuses to believe he's been killed and launches an investigation into his fate--an investigation that spins in all directions, creating dozens of miniature stories that shift to and fro in time. --Bret Fetzer

39

La  Vie en rose

2007

In French, English subtitles

40

The Visitors

3 Movie Set

1993 – 2006

In French, English subtitles

This film is depicts the life of the legendary international singing icon, Edith Piaf, whose voice and talent captivated the world. Starring award-winner Marion Cotillard (A Very Long Engagement) in an astonishing performance,  the film is a portrait of a remarkable artist born into poverty who survived using the only gift she had: her voice. Piaf’s tragic life was a constant battle to sing and survive to live and love with no regrets.

A heroic knight from the Middle Ages, Thibault, and his bumbling servant, Andre find themselves in modern day Chicago through an act of sorcery.  The knight meets up with his great-great-great-great granddaughter, Julia and her scheming fiancé, Hunter. The two men’s attempts to cope with modern life wreak hilarious havoc all around them in this three-film series.

41

In French, English subtitles

In the aftermath of World War 2, France recruited men from North Africa. In the mid-1970's, the French government relaxed its immigration policy to allow the families of Algerian men to join them. Inch'Allah Dimanche provides us with a deeply moving memoir of the sense of isolation and vulnerability that the immigrant family experienced upon their arrival at a time when racial integration was virtually non-existent. Zouina is a woman who is torn from her home in Algeria. With her three children and her abrupt mother-in-law, she rejoins her husband in a foreign and unaccommodating land. But Zouina takes secret excursions with her children on Sundays, the one day that her husband and mother-in-law are out of the house. Through these little adventures, she comes to terms with the difficulties of immigration, change, and adaptation to a new culture.

From the creator and director of Cirque du Soleils hit show K (Robert Lepage) comes this visually dazzling, playfully surreal and wryly comedic look at the human quest for meaning. Reminiscent of a French-Canadian Woody Allen, Lepage himself stars in the dual roles of Phillippe and Andre, brothers from Quebec at odds after the loss of their mother. Featuring a fantastic score and breathtaking special effects, Far Side of the Moon is a whimsical and irreverently hilarious look at the effects of gravity on the human soul.

43

Les Fous de Bassan

1987

In French, French subtitles only

44

Wolves in the Snow

2002

In French, English subtitles

In an island community off of Quebec’s Gaspé peninsula, the inhabitants of a small fishing village confront the forces of nature that wreak havoc on their community.  The uneasy balance of innocence and religious superstition of the isolated community is threatened by the return of one of their own who comes to attempt a reconciliation with his past. He challenges the old traditions, and urges young people to leave the island, aggravating forbidden desires and threatening a violence that will unravel them all.

Wolves in the Snow is an intense drama set against the backdrop of Montreal.  The story begins with the news that Antoine has been cuckolding Lucie for years. A violent marital argument ensues resulting in Antoine's death. After lying about Antoine's whereabouts, Lucie discovers his secret life of gangsters, money laundering and violence. Followed, threatened, and badgered by the gangsters, Lucie becomes trapped by her deceit. The body of Antoine disappears, other corpses appear, and the money, very quickly, becomes only the pretext of an alarming turn of events, in which Lucie learns how to lie, to live, and perhaps also to love again.

45

46

In French, English subtitles

Caught up in the political revolution sweeping France in the early 1970s, Fernando (Stefano Accorsi) and Marie (Julie Depardieu) reject the comforts of their bourgeois life and dedicate themselves full time to radical activism. This comes as a shock to their precocious nine year-old daughter, Anna (Nina Kervel), who struggles to understand her parents’ newfound ideals. Brilliantly told from Anna’s perspective, this critically-acclaimed film by Julie Gavras captures the coming-of-age moment when children realize the contradictions of adulthood and have to make their own choices.

A popular novelist researches unlikely sources to find characters for her next bestseller. The successful novelist is interrogated in the police station about the disappearance of her ghost-writer. A serial-killer escapes from a prison in Paris. A missing school teacher leaves his wife and children. In the road, the annoying and stressed hairdresser Hughette is left in a gas station by her fiancé Paul while driving to the poor farm of her family in the country. A mysterious man offers a ride to her and she invites him to assume the identity of Paul during 24 hours to not disappoint her mother. Who might be the unknown man and what is real and what is fiction? Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0889652/plotsummary

47

My Best Friend

2006

In French, English subtitles

48

In Bruges

2008

In French and English, with subtitles in English, French, and Spanish

Catherine refuses to believe that her business partner, the unlikeable François, has a best friend, so she challenges him to set up an introduction. Scrambling to find someone willing to pose as his best pal, François enlists the services of a charming taxi driver to play the part.

Colin Farrell and Academy Award-nominee Ralph Fiennes star in this edgy, action-packed comedy, filled with thrilling chases, spectacular shoot-outs and an explosive ending. Hit men Ray and Ken have been ordered to cool their heels in the storybook city of Bruges, Belgium after finishing a big job. But since hit men make the worst tourists, they soon find themselves in a life & death struggle of comic proportions against one very angry crime boss!

The Class (Entre les murs)

2008

In French, Spanish and English with English and Spanish subtitles

  

50

Battle of the Brave

2004

In English with subtitles in English

Set against a sweeping historical fresque, the epic tale of a great love story thwarted by fortune and men's will. 1758-1761: a turbulent period bridging the collapse of New France and the establishment of the British regime. An "era of passions." This tragic love story of a young peasant girl, Marie-Loup Carignan (Godin-Vigneau), from the lower Saint Laurent River and a dashing adventurer is based on fact. As their passionate destiny advances inexorably, driven by fate, it mirrors another story that's already been written: France's abandonment of Canada.

51

Tell No One

(Ne le dis à personne)

2006

In French and English with English subtitles

  

52

Le Roi des Aulnes

2006

In French with English subtitles

  

Based on Harlan Coben s International best selling novel, Tell No One tells the story of pediatrician Alexandre Beck who still grieves the murder of his beloved wife, Margot, eight years earlier. When two bodies are uncovered near where Margot's body was found, the police reopen the case and Alex becomes a suspect again. The mystery deepens when Alex receives an anonymous e-mail with a link to a video clip that seems to suggest Margot is somehow still alive and a message to Tell No One .

53

Kilomètre Zéro

2005

In French and English with English subtitles

  

54

Quills

2000

In English

The first Iraqi film to be chosen to compete in the Palme d'Or competition at Cannes, KILOMETRE ZERO is a darkly humorous story about a Kurdish soldier and an Iraqi taxi driver who join together to return the body of a fallen soldier to his family, on the other side of the country.

Rush gives a tour-de-force performance as history's most infamous sexual adventurer, the Marquis de Sade. A nobleman with a literary flair, the Marquis lives in a madhouse where a beautiful laundry maid (Winslet) smuggles his erotic stories to a printer, defying orders from the asylum's resident priest (Phoenix). The titillating passages whip all of France into a sexual frenzy, until a fiercely conservative doctor (Caine) tries to put an end to the fun, inadvertently stoking the excitement to a fever pitch.

55

Continental (Un film sans fusil)

2007

In French with English subtitles

  

56

La Piste

2006

In French with English subtitles

57

La Haine

1996

In French with English subtitles

58

Les Misérables

1998

In English

59

The Closet

(Le Placard)

2001

In French with English subtitles

60

The Grocer’s Son

(Le fils de l’épicier)

2007 

In French with English subtitles

61

I’ve Loved You So Long

(Il y a longtemps que je t’aime)

2008

In French with English subtitles

 

62

Molière

2007

In French with English subtitles

63

The Valet

(La Doublure)

2006

In French with English subtitles