Drama

Please note that we stock both DVDs imported from France (region 2), and local Australian releases (region 4). Region 2 DVDs require a multiregion DVD player to be viewed.

Region 4 DVDs are suitable for Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South America, Central America, Pacific Islands and Caribbean.

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A MAN ESCAPED
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Rated : PG
Director : Robert Bresson
Distributor : Madman
Release Year : 01/07/2009
Region 4 DVD - in French and German with English subtitles
Robert Bresson's critical and commercial triumph A MAN ESCAPED is a stunningly beautiful drama which is also one of the most tense and thrilling films ever made!

Based on the true story of a French activist who escaped his Nazi prison hours before he was due to be executed, Bresson's film centers on Fontaine, who is imprisoned by the Nazis in occupied France. Desperate to escape, Fontaine plans his liberation in painstaking detail: creating ingenious tools from objects in his sparse cell, carefully memorising the habits of prison life, discreetly communicating with his fellow inmates. But Fontaine's measured preparations are jeopardised when he is given a new cellmate, Jost, who is confusingly attired in both German and French military uniforms. Will he entrust his carefully laid plans to this potential stool pigeon, or will he eliminate the possibility of being discovered?

Leaving audiences squarely on the edges of their seats for its duration, A MAN ESCAPED is one of the most thrilling, tense and atmospheric films ever made, imbued with an aesthetic poetry which is entirely Bresson's own.

AO THE LAST NEANDERTHAL
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Rated : MA15+
Actors : Simon Paul Sutton, Aruna Shields
Director : Jacques Malaterre
Distributor : Hopscotch Entertainment
Release Year : 2011
Region 4 DVD - in French with English subtitles
AO: The Last Neanderthal is an epic, touching and stunningly shot odyssey that tracks the last living Neanderthal, Ao, in his heartbreaking quest to find survivors of his clan.

Marking the first feature from acclaimed documentary maker Jacques Malaterre (A Species' Odyssey, Homo Sapiens), through Ao's story, this unique film retraces the history of the dying Neanderthal species which disappeared 30,000 years ago, after a 300,000 year reign over the planet.

Ao (Simon Paul Sutton) is a nomad who, after the horrific massacre of his entire clan, travels across Europe in search of survivors. He lives in harmony with nature but is rejected by the groups he meets due to his ape-like features and colossal strength.

On his travels he falls in love with a Homo sapien woman, Aki (Aruna Shields), who has been imprisoned by her tribe. Together they must fight for their survival, and to protect their loved ones, but their biggest danger is the "Hyena-Men", a clan of the Homo sapiens that are out to exterminate Ao and his species.

LITTLE WHITE LIES
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Rated : MA15+
Actors : Marion Cotillard, François Cluzet, Benoit Magimel, Gilles Lelouche, Jean Dujardin, Laurent Lafitte,
Director : Guillaume Canet
Distributor : Roadshow Entertainment
Release Year : 2011
Region 4 DVD - in French with English subtitles
Guillaume Canet has assembled an outstanding cast of some of France's finest actors - headed by Academy Award-winning Marion Cotillard - to make an entertaining and acutely observed drama of manners. A group gathering is hosted every year by a couple at their beautiful beach house where they kick-off their summer vacation by celebrating the birthday of one of the gang. Fun fine wine and seafood mix with sun and sand as they all leave their city stresses and inhibitions behind. But this year is different. One of them is badly injured in a serious motorcycle accident just as they are about to leave Paris for their seaside reunion. His friends flock to his bedside where their unconscious pal is still alive but in intensive care. What to do Stay in Paris to be by his side or leave for their vacation having been assured that there is nothing they can do By the time they return he should be conscious and up for visitors. After some intense discussion they decide to head off for enjoyment and relaxation. Over the course of the next week all the tensions within this group erupt into full daylight.

MY FAVORITE SEASON
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Rated : MA15+
Actors : Catherine Deneuve, Daniel Auteuil
Director : André Techiné
Distributor : Madman
Release Year : 2009
Region 4 DVD - in English with English subtitles
The elderly Berthe goes to live with her daughter Emilie after it is determined that she can no longer take care of herself. Unhappy in the family’s Toulouse home, Berthe spends much of her time talking to herself, which she finds less exhausting than talking to other people. As Christmas approaches and Berthe’s health dwindles, Emilie and her estranged brother Antoine are reunited, drawn together thanks to their mother’s impending death.

Starring the inestimable Catherine Deneuve (THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, AFTER HIM) and French superstar Daniel Auteuil (HIDDEN, THE VALET), MY FAVOURITE SEASON is a heart-wrenching drama about the importance of family and the tie which binds humanity – love.

ENTER THE VOID
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Rated : R18+
Actors : Nathalie Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy
Director : Gaspar Noe
Distributor : Transmission
Release Year : 2009
Region 4 DVD - in English with English subtitles
Enter the Void is a French film written and directed by Gaspar Noe, labeled by No as a "psychedelic melodrama".[1] It stars Nathaniel Brown in his debut role, Paz de la Huerta and Cyril Roy, also in his first role on film. The story is set in Tokyo and focuses on Oscar, a young American drug dealer who gets shot by the police, but continues to watch over his sister Linda as a ghost. The camera follows Oscar from behind his head during scenes in which he is alive. After his death, the view hovers over Tokyo through walls and across buildings.

ANGELE & TONY
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Rated : M
Actors : Clotilde Hesme, Gregory Gadebois
Director : Alix Delaporte
Distributor : Madman
Release Year : 2010
Region 4 DVD - in French with English subtitles

The award-winning debut feature from writer/director Alix Delaporte is an arresting and intimate drama about two lost souls in search of human connection.

Angèle (Clotilde Hesme) is a young woman falling apart. Returned to the seaside town of Normandy after a two-year absence, she is fiercely determined to reconnect with her young son, yet also scared she’s unfit to take care of him. Tony (Gregory Gadebois) is a fisherman who lives with his widowed mother, trapped in emotional solitude.

The two meet via a personal ad; Angèle is forthright and rough, and her attempts to seduce him are met with surprise: Tony literally can’t believe his luck...

With her quiet, intimate approach, Delaporte allows the actors to shine, and the pitch-perfect, wholly naturalistic performances from Hesme and Gadebois elevate this absorbing and sensitive drama, as does the magnificent coastal scenery.

INCENDIES
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* Presented at the 2011 Alliance Française French Film festival! *
Rated : MA15+
Director : Denis Villeneuve
Region 4 DVD - in French and Arabic with English subtitles
Release Year: 15/09/2011
Running time: 125 min
When notary Lebel sits down with Jeanne and Simon Marwan to read them their mother Nawal's will, the twins are stunned to receive a pair of envelopes - one for the father they thought was dead and another for a brother they didn't know existed. In this enigmatic inheritance, Jeanne sees the key to Nawal's retreat into unexpected silence during the final weeks of her life. She immediately decides to go to the Middle East to dig into a family history of which she knows next to nothing. Simon is unmoved by the posthumous mind games of a mother who always distant and cold. However, the love he has for his sister is strong, and he soon joins her in combing their ancestral homeland in search of a Nawal who is very different from the mother they knew. With Lebel's help, the twins piece together the story of the woman who brought them into the world, discovering a tragic fate forever marked by war and hatred as well as the courage of an exceptional woman.

THE ROUND UP
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* Presented at the 2011 Alliance Française French Film festival! *
Rated: M
Director: Rose Bosch
Distributor: Madman
Release Year: 2011
Region 4 DVD - In French, German, Yiddish, with English subtitles

Paris, July 16, 1942.

1942. Joseph Weisman is 11 years old. On the morning of June 6, he must go to school with a yellow star stitched to his chest. The new anti-Jewish decree of the French government has come into force. Like all Jews in France, Jo learns that he is banned from parks, cinemas, fairgrounds and public gardens. Despite this, Jo and his family lead a happy life in Paris, until dawn on July 16, when this happiness is shattered. At 4am they are awakened by shouts and banging on doors as men in black uniforms burst into apartments. Jo and his family are hauled out of their beds and herded onto buses by French gendarmes.

13,000 Jews are crammed into the Winter Velodrome in Paris. This is the biggest round up in history and perpetrated by collaborating French police. The imprisoned Jews endure five days without water, food or healthcare. Dr Sheinbaum (Jean Reno) whom has been rounded up with all the others does what he can for the welfare of those around him. Annette Monod (Mélanie Laurent), a protestant Red Cross nurse, is appalled by the racism of her country’s government of collaborators and attempts to provide aid to the Jews as their ordeal continues.

HEARTBEATS
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Rated: M
Director: Xavier Dolan
Actors: Xavier Dolan, Monia Chokri, Niels Schneider
Distributor: Madman
Release Year: 2011
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles
Francis (Xavier Dolan) and Marie (Monia Chokri) are best friends and seemingly have it all – youth, good looks and style in abundance. One night they meet Nicolas (Niels Schneider), newly arrived in Montreal from the country, and they both fall instantly for this beautiful young man.

As one rendezvous leads to another, from dinners to trips to the countryside, each of the two friends slides deeper into fantasies around the same object of desire. Soon, they find themselves on the precipice of a love duel that threatens the friendship they once thought indestructible.

HEARTBEATS is the second feature from 21-year-old Xavier Dolan, following his acclaimed 2009 debut, I Killed My Mother, who wrote, directed and starred – amongst a host of other creative roles – in this stunning, award-winning film celebrating all the joys and follies of young love.

I KILLED MY MOTHER
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Rated: M
Director: Xavier Dolan
Distributor: Madman
Release Year: 2011
Region 4 DVD - In French with English subtitles
Sixteen year-old Hubert Minel doesn't love his mother. He haughtily regards her with contempt, and only sees her tacky sweaters, kitsch decorations and the breadcrumbs that get stuck on the corner of her lips when she munches. In addition to these irritating surface details, there is also his parent's cherished mechanisms of manipulation and guilt. Confused by this love/hate relationship that obsesses him more and more each day, Hubert drifts through the mysteries of an adolescence both marginal and typical - artistic discoveries, illicit experiences, the opening-up to friendship, sex and ostracism.

CARLOS THE JACKAL
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* Presented at the 2011 Alliance Française French Film festival! *
Rated: M
Director: Olivier Assayas
Actors: Edgar Ramirez
Distributor: Madman
Genre: Drama / Crime
Release Year: 2011
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

The Man Who Hijacked the World

From Olivier Assayas, director of Irma Vep and Summer Hours, comes an explosive new work of astonishing scope; an epic portrayal of the notorious revolutionary and terrorist, Ilich Ramírez Sánchez: Carlos the Jackal. Born in Venezuela and politicised in Europe, Sánchez took the moniker “Carlos the Jackal”, and for two decades was one of the most wanted terrorists on the planet. Best known for his infamous 1975 attack on the OPEC headquarters in Vienna, where he took more than 60 people—including the Oil Ministers of many member nations—hostage, Carlos managed to weave his way into the complexities of international politics with his attacks in Europe and the Middle East throughout the ’70s and ’80s Spanning 20 years, Assayas’ exciting, sexy, and globe-spanning portrait of the notorious international terrorist mastermind, Carlos the Jackal electrified audiences at its premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, and earned star Édgar Ramírez a Golden Globe® nomination. This release consists of the 150 minute theatrical feature.

WHITE MATERIAL
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Rated: M15+
Director: Claire Denis
Actors: Isabelle Huppert, Christophe lambert
Distributor: Aztec International
Genre: Drama
Release Year: 2011
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles
A contemporary story set in an unnamed African country torn by a rebellion. In a rural province, birthplace of one of the rebel chiefs, Maria, a fierce and fearless white woman, refuses to abandon her coffee crops, or to acknowledge the danger to which she is exposing her family. For Maria, to leave is to surrender: a sign of weakness, of cowardice. On this plantation which has already supported three generations of whites, André - her ex-husband and father of their teenage son - is frightened by her blind, stubborn pride. Without her knowing, he resolves to arrange the family’s escape to France. Andre does not realize he is betraying Maria by placing her destiny in the hands of the local mayor, a man he believes to be his friend. André is not aware, is not even capable of imagining that the mayor is involved in the conflict, that he opposes the rebels and that he has more on his mind than saving this poor, drifting white family, entirely cut off from the reality of the country. Neither Maria nor André suspects that their home, that the plantation itself, is the refuge for a rebel officer, a desperate man with a heavy price on his head. Nor that a small army of lawless child soldiers is hiding in the dense jungle that surrounds them on all sides.

PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER
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Special price for a limited time only !
* Presented at the 2011 Alliance Française French Film festival! *
Rated: M
Director: Bertrand Tavernier
Actors: Melanie Thierry, Lambert Wilson, Gaspard Ulliel
Distributor: Palace Films
Genre: Drama / Romance
Release Year: 2011
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

Passion Destroys Everything

France 1562. Under the reign of Charles IX, war is raging between Catholics and Protestants. The beautiful young Marie de Mézières, heiress to one of the kingdom's greatest fortunes, pines for the Duc de Guise—known as Le Balafré, or "Scarface". But in an effort to cement their position at court, her father, the Marquis de Mézières, gives Marie in marriage to a man she has never met, the Prince de Montpensier.

All of France is a bloody battlefield, and the Prince is summoned to join Charles’ War against the Protestants, so he must send his young bride to the safety of one of his most secluded castles, Champigny. There, his friend and former tutor, the Comte de Chabannes, is charged to complete the Princess' education so that she can take her place at court once the war is ended. But soon after Montpensier joins Marie, fate and the changing course of the war lead both Guise and the Duc d'Anjou—the future Henri III—to Champigny. In turn, Anjou falls in love with the Princess, to whose charms Chabannes has also succumbed. Immediately, a violent, passionate rivalry develops between these four men—with Marie as the prize.

BETTY BLUE (37.2 LE MATIN)
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Rated: R18+
Actors: Beatrice Dalle, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Vincent Lindon, Dominique Pinon
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Distributor: Umbrella Entertainment
Release Year: 05/2011
Region 4 DVD - In French or English, with English subtitles
Defining youthful passion and sexuality for a whole generation the original French cult classic Betty Blue (37º2 le matin), from acclaimed filmmaker Jean-Jacques Beineix, is considered a landmark in modern cinema, with star Beatrice Dalle an indisputable icon and pin-up of late 20th century cinema.

A controversial portrayal of obsessive love and sex Betty Blue tells the tale of aspiring novelist Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade, Queen Margot) who earns a living as a handyman. When Betty, a sultry, unpredictable temptress enters his life and steals his heart away Zorg is suddenly taken on a rollercoaster ride of passionate sex and emotional blackmail that literally turns his life upside down. As Betty pushes the limits of their relationship to the brink of destruction with her flighty tantrums and turns of jealousy, Zorg desperately clings to the fragments of what brought them together in the first place and suggests they take a sojourn to a dreamy rural town for some romantic therapy before calamity reigns and life irreparably spirals out of control.

THE MOON IN THE GUTTER
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Rated: M
Actors: Gerard Depardieu, Nastassja Kinski, Dominique Pinon
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Distributor: Umbrella Entertainment
Release Year: 05/2011
Region 4 DVD - In French or English, with English subtitles
A scorching tale of revenge and romance from acclaimed French auteur and cult filmmaker Jean-Jacques Beineix (Betty Blue), The Moon In The Gutter is based on the pulp-noir novel by David Goodis (Shoot The Piano Player). Gerard (Gerard Depardieu, Jean de Florette) is an imposing stevedore who is devastated and left distraught by the rape and resultant suicide of his sister. He lingers in the dark shadows of the city streets and contemplates his revenge, obsessed with finding the attacker and delivering justice once and for all. During his search he encounters the attractive Loretta (Nastassja Kinski, Tess) and forms a formidable relationship much to the chagrin of his girlfriend, Bella. A dilemma of choice clouds his judgment as he nears the discovery of the perpetrator of his sister's crime.

DIVA
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Rated: M
Actors: Frederic Andrei, Richard Bohringer, Gerard Darmon, Dominique Pinon
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Distributor: Umbrella Entertainment
Release Year: 05/2011
Region 4 DVD - In French or English, with English subtitles
Acclaimed French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Beineix (Betty Blue) set the international cinema scene abuzz with his debut feature, an innovative cult thriller about a hapless messenger surviving a farrago of missteps and misadventure over his obsession for a beautiful American opera singer. When young messenger Jules (Frederic Andrei) makes an illegal recording of a famed opera singer's live performance he becomes inveigled in a madcap chase, pursued by a gang of Taiwanese music pirates and mistaken by a team of ruthless assassins. His life is turned upside down as he survives the thrills and spills of the unpredictable and unforgettable Parisian underworld. An ingenious mix of comedy, romance and action DIVA is considered one of the most influential thrillers of the last twenty years. As stylish as ever DIVA remains a pivotal film that helped launched the Cinema Du Look movement and announce Beineix as a bold new talent in world cinema.

SARAH'S KEY
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On sale !
Rated: M
Actors: Kristin Scott Thomas
Director: Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Distributor: Universal
Release Year: 03/2011
Region 4 DVD - In French or English, with English subtitles
Based on the best-selling novel by Tatiana de Rosnay, Sarah's Key is a touching, gripping and beautifully told drama featuring Kristin Scott Thomas in a Cesar-nominated performance.

Paris, 1942. The Starzynski family - Wladyslaw, Rywka, ten-year-old Sarah and little Michel - occupy an apartment in the Jewish quarter. One day, their morning routine is broken by a sharp pounding on the door and by a group of French policemen announcing their intention to take the family away. Upon seeing the policemen, the resourceful Sarah locks Michel in a hidden cupboard, making him promise that he will not try to escape...

Paris, present day. Julia Jarmond (Kristin Scott Thomas) is an American journalist living in the French capital with her husband, Bertrand (Frederic Pierrot), and their teenage daughter. While Bertrand excitedly prepares the renovation of the Parisian apartment his grandparents own, Julia is busily researching a story she is writing on the notorious Vel d'Hiv round ups of 1942. After learning that Bertrand's family acquired the apartment during the war, Julia's inquisitive nature forces her to uncover the truth.

LOVE ME NO MORE
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Rated: M
Actors: Albert Dupontel, Marie-Josée Croze
Director: Jean Becker
Distributor: Universal
Release Year: 03/2011
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles
Antoine, 42, has had enough—of his career as a publicist, his friends, his family, his life. He insults a customer and resigns from his job. To top it off, he tells his wife Cécile that he doesn't love her anymore, says goodbye to his two children and leaves Paris. Relieved.

On the road, he's pleasant and even generous with a hitch-hiker. He winds up in Ireland, where he finds his father, whom he hasn't seen for thirty years. Will their meeting make it possible to explain Antoine's unpleasant behavior?

AN ORDINARY EXECUTION
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Rated: M
Actors: Andre Dussollier, Marina Hands, Edouard Baer
Director: Marc Dugain
Distributor: Universal
Release Year: 2011
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles
Based on his own hugely successful novel of the same name, Marc Dugain‘s debut feature, An Ordinary Execution, is an encounter between the aging Joseph Stalin (Andre Dussolier) and a young doctor, Anna. Anna (Marina Hands), who has extraordinary healing powers, is brought in to treat the escalating physical woes of the dictator‘s old age after his own doctor has been "purged". Seen entirely through Anna‘s eyes, he lays bare his philosophy of terror– rambling, plotting, intimidating.

Ingeniously shot to reflect the grimness of oppression, and filled with tension and mystery, An Ordinary Execution is a compelling examination of the police state and a piercing insight into the mind of the last days of a dictator.

CLOSE TO LEO
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Rated: M
Actors: Yaniss Lepert, Pierre Magnard, Marie Bunel
Director: Christophe Honore
Distributor: Force Entertainment
Release Year: 2002
Region 4 DVD - In French or English, with English subtitles
CLOSE TO LEO concerns family...namely Leo's. At 21, he's the eldest of four. His youngest brother Marcel is just 11. The family loves Leo and accepts his homosexuality, but when they learn of his HIV-positive status, they face a situation that will eventually test all bonds. The family worries that Marcel is too young to deal with this challenging news, so they exclude him from family discussions of Leo's health. Nevertheless one night after dinner Marcel overhears a troubled conversation about his beloved older brother and it terrifies him. Marcel knows something is wrong and wants to hear the truth. Facing the prospects of an arduous medical regimen, Leo takes matters into his own hands and decides not to take "the cocktail". Now he must explain himself to Marcel and face his own uncertain future.