"Actor: Yves Jacques"

• Jesus Of Montreal | DVD | (27/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jesus of Montreal is a surprising and dazzling tragi-comic satire on modern life based around a group of actors who gather together to perform a new interpretation of the Passion Play. Awarded the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1989 Denys Arcand's film has been a major success throughout the world combining wild comedy with the absurd dramas of life around us.

• Jesus Of Montreal | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jesus of Montreal' is a surprising and dazzling tragi-comic satire on modern life based around a group of actors who gather together to perform a new interpretation of the Passion Play. Awarded the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1989 Denys Arcand's film has been a major succes throughout the world combining wild comedy with the absurd dramas of life around us.

• Les Diaboliques | DVD | (25/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Director Henri-Georges Clouzot cast his own wife Vera as the hapless victim in this acclaimed masterpiece of the macabre. A wife plans the murder of her tyrant husband with the help of his mistress yet when his body dissappears panic and confusion ensues... The Great Suspense Film That Shocked the World... And Became A Classic.

• Betty Fisher And Other Stories | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £2.79   |  Saving you £17.20 (616.49%)   |  RRP £19.99

  With Betty Fisher and Other Stories, writer-director Claude Miller follows the examples of Claude Chabrol and Pedro Almodóvar in adapting a Ruth Rendell novel to the screen. In this case the original novel, The Tree of Hands, has been translated seamlessly and stylishly to a Parisian setting. The plot interweaves a complexity of characters and stories, but the central thread concerns the eponymous Betty, a novelist whose young son dies while her disturbed mother Margot is staying with her. Margot, with terrifying directness, calmly abducts another child of similar age to replace the dead boy. From this loopy act there stems a whole series of consequences and side-effects involving a widening and socially diverse circle of people across the city. Miller lucidly traces his way through the intricate story with cool, ironic humour and a sure touch for the different social milieus. Once or twice the plot strains credulity--bringing three major characters together by chance for the showdown at Charles de Gaulle airport is just a little too convenient--but most of the time the social and emotional cross-currents are deftly navigated. As Betty, Sandrine Kiberlain gives an almost painfully vulnerable performance, as if she lacks several layers of skin, while Nicole Garcia makes her mother Margot into a monster of overriding, self-pitying egomania. Their scenes together carry the weight of a whole lifetime of ill-suppressed mutual aversion. As with Rendell's novels, it's endlessly fascinating to watch these people, but you feel very glad you don’t know them. --Philip Kemp

• The Decline Of The American Empire | DVD | (23/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  You've never seen a sex comedy quite like The Decline of the American Empire. That's because there's no sex in this comedy--just a lot of entertaining talk about it (and a few discreet flashbacks). The speakers are eight Montreal academics. For most of the film, the men--Rémy (Rémy Girard), Claude (Yves Jacques), Pierre (Pierre Curzi), and Alain (Daniel Brière)--fix dinner while talking about sex. The women--Dominique (Dominique Michel), Louise (Dorothée Berryman), Diane (Louise Portal), and Danielle (Geneviève Rioux)--work out while talking about sex. That evening, they all gather for dinner... and talk about sex. The Decline of the American Empire made the reputation of writer-director Denys Arcand, but his greatest success would arrive 17 years later with The Barbarian Invasions. In that 2003 Oscar-winner, Arcand revisits the lovably loquacious characters from the first film, all of whom are older, wiser--and just as obsessed with sex. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

• Offenbach: La Vie Parisienne | DVD | (14/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Offenbach's 1867 La Vie Parisienne is perhaps the quintessential French comic operetta: a broad satire on Paris society set against the backdrop of the 1867 Exposition and the descent of easily lampooned foreigners on to the city; sharp moments that Molière would be proud of; undercurrents of quick-fire farce, confusion, lust and mistaken identity; and a rich cast of characters racing inexorably to a can-can finale. This 1991 production by the Lyon National Opera presents a welcome opportunity to revel in a uniquely Gallic confection rarely seen outside France. It's also a chance to enjoy one of Offenbach's most inventive, melodic scores in which the starring musical role and many of the best tunes go to the orchestra, here conducted by Jean-Yves Ossonce. This is no accident: the operetta was originally created for a company of actors who relied on pastiche and the composer's help to get them through their "numbers". Not so these singers, of course. As Metella, the languorous courtesan who is responsible for the unravelling debacle, Helene Delavault is in meltingly good voice for her show-stopping rondeau, "A minuit sonnant commence la fete". Her sparring suitors Gardefeu (Jean-Francois Sivadier) and, particularly, Bobinet (Jacques Verzier) combine marvellous visual comedy with fluid singing and there is some dazzling vocal work from the supporting cast. It's a long piece, but hugely enjoyable. On the DVD: La Vie Parisienne has the usual, excellent booklet notes of ArtHaus DVD releases, which go some way to compensate for a disappointing lack of extras. Time, surely, to introduce some on-screen history or cross-references to other relevant works. The picture quality is good and sharp, although the 4:3 format does little justice to Carlo Tommasi's sweeping, stylish sets. The PCM Stereo soundtrack provides an adequate orchestral experience while managing to muffle much of the spoken dialogue. --Piers Ford