Avenue Montaigne
July 21st, 2007
Cute comedy about a plucky country ingénue (Cécile De France) who arrives in Paris and finds work at a cafe that serves an area of theaters, galleries, and concert halls. Three storylines develop: an actress (Valerie Lemercier) who wants to play Simone de Beauvoir, a concert pianist who’s had enough (Albert Dupontel), and an aging art collector (Claude Brasseur) who, much to the consternation of his son (Christopher Thompson), is selling off his collection to afford a young mistress (Annelise Hesme). In the process, they all find love and happiness, or something like it. As watchable as it is forgettable. Also with Suzanne Flon and Sidney Pollack.
Fauteuils d’orchestre. Danièle Thompson, 2006. ***
Sketches of Frank Gehry
March 24th, 2006
Sidney Pollack’s first documentary is about his friend, the famous architect. Much better than “My Architect,” and much better than the Guggenheim show–the models don’t quite capture what the camera can. Interesting character. Amazing work. Julian Schnabel.
