Set in the insular world of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, TWO LOVERS is a classic romantic drama, with Joaquin Phoenix giving a raw and vulnerable performance as Leonard, a charismatic but troubled young man who moves back into his childhood home following a recent heartbreak. While recovering under the watchful eye of his parents (Isabella Rossellini and Moni Monoshov), Leonard meets two women in quick succession: Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), a mysterious and beautiful neighbor who is exotic and out-of-place in Leonard’s staid world, and Sandra, the lovely and caring daughter of a businessman who is buying out his family’s dry-cleaning business.
Leonard becomes deeply infatuated by Michelle, who seems poised to fall for him, but is having a self-destructive affair with a married man. At the same time, mounting pressure from his family pushes him towards committing to Sandra.
Leonard is forced to make an impossible decision - between the impetuousness of desire and the comfort of love - or risk falling back into the darkness that nearly killed him.
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw, Moni Moshonov, Isabella Rossellini
Directed by James Gray
Script: James Gray, Ric Menello
Producer: Donna Gigliotti, James Gray, Anthony Katagas
Billionaire Nerio Winch is found dead, drowned. An obviously suspicious death as Nerio is the founder and majority shareholder of the powerful and sprawling W Group. Who will inherit this financial empire? Officially, Nerio had no family. But he had a secret he kept well-hidden: a son, Largo, adopted nearly thirty years before from a Bosnian orphanage. The only problem is this young heir has just been thrown in prison deep in the Amazon. Accused of drug trafficking, he claims he's innocent. Nerio murdered. Largo in prison. What if these two events were part of a plot to take control of the Winch empire?
Cast: Tomer Sisley, Kristin Scott Thomas, Karel Roden
Directed by Jérôme Salle
Script: Philippe Francq, Julien Rappeneau
POTICHE is a free adaptation of the 1970s eponymous hit comic play. Catherine Deneuve is Suzanne Pujol, a submissive, housebound 'trophy housewife' (or "potiche,") who steps in to manage her wealthy and tyrannical husband (Fabrice Lucchini)'s umbrella factory after the workers go on strike and take him hostage. To everyone's surprise, Suzanne proves herself a competent and assertive woman of action. But when her husband returns from a restful cruise in top form, things get complicated. Gérard Depardieu plays a former union leader and Suzanne's ex-beau who still holds a flame for her. Acclaimed writer-director Francois Ozon who had previously directed Ms. Deneuve in "8 Women," twists the original play on its head to create his own satirical and hilarious take on the war between the sexes and classes.
Casting: Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini, Karin Viard
Directed by: François Ozon