Acclaimed filmmaker Andre Techine's (Wild Reeds) exquisite new film stars Emmanuelle Beart (8 Women) as a young widow who flees war-torn Paris

Acclaimed filmmaker Andre Techine's (Wild Reeds) exquisite new film stars Emmanuelle Beart (8 Women) as a young widow who flees war-torn Paris

In this romantic comedy fantasy, an angel (Emmanuelle Beart) with a heavenly body falls into the swimming pool of Jim Sanders (Michael E. Knight). Hung over from his bachelor party, his encounter with the angel has Jim questioning his upcoming marriage to Patty (Phoebe Cates), the daughter of a wealthy cosmetics mogul (David Dukes). After he helps the injured celestial being, Jim must protect her from his lecherous friends and his curious fiance. Beart's beauty and performance is the highlight of the film even though she does not speak. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide.

Manon of the Spring (Manon des Sources) has also been released as Jean de Florette II in the US, as it is a sequel to Claude Berri's Jean de Florette. Both films are drawn from the same source: Filmmaker/novelist Marcel Pagnol's 1952 rural romance, also titled Jean de Florette. Manon (Emmanuelle Beart), now fully grown, is a shepherdess who prefers to keep her distance from the local villagers. She is determined to uncover the truth behind the death of her father (played by Gerard Depardieu in Jean de Florette) and to wreak vengeance on the men she holds responsible. The more sympathetic of the two men, Ugolin (Daniel Auteil), is in love with Manon, but this does not weaken her resolve. She causes the village's water supply to diminish, blaming this action upon Ugolin and his duplicitous co-conspirator Cesar (Yves Montand). The upshot of this vengeful behavior ends in tragedy for all concerned. The joint winners of eight French Cesar awards, Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring were released to the U.S. i

A widow (Emmanuelle Beart) fleeing Nazi-occupied Paris with her children finds herself relying upon the survival skills of a disagreeable teenager (Gaspard Ulliel) who leads them to an abandoned home in a mysterious forest. Though she tries to maintain her bourgeois composure, the dislocation of war proves almost too great for her to bear. -

In 1950s France, a wealthy family gathers for the holidays at their isolated country mansion. But when the patriarch of the family is found murdered, the reunion is thrown into chaos. The killer must one of eight women in the house: his domineering wife (Catherine Deneuve), miserly mother-in-law (Danielle Darrieux), spinster sister-in-law (Isabelle Huppert), sophisticated sister (Fanny Ardant), teenage daughters (Virginie Ledoyen and Ludivine Sagnier), the loyal housekeeper (Firmine Richard) or the sultry maid (Emmanuelle Beart). All eight women have motive and all are keeping a secret. So who did the deed? -