The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq

Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - London's Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night's end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.

Julia Child and Julie Powell – both of whom wrote memoirs – find their lives intertwined. Though separated by time and space, both women are at loose ends... until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible.

Estranged siblings reunite after years apart, forced to confront unresolved tensions and reevaluate their strained relationships with their emotionally distant parents.

Social media sensation Magalie, known for posting shocking content, suffers a serious accident while filming one of her videos. She retreats to the mountains, accompanied by her assistant. Her peace is disrupted when a journalist begins blackmailing her.

Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor-in-chief of French fashion bible Elle magazine, has a devastating stroke at age 43. The damage to his brain stem results in locked-in syndrome, with which he is almost completely paralyzed and only able to communicate by blinking an eye. Bauby painstakingly dictates his memoir via the only means of expression left to him.

Paris, France, early 19th century. The legendary convict François Vidocq lives in disguise trying to escape from a tragic past that torments him. When, after an unfortunate event, he crosses paths with the police chief, he makes a bold decision that will turn the ruthless mastermind of the Parisian underworld against him.

Nour, a 14-year-old boy, is enjoying the summer holidays in the South of France. He is the youngest of four brothers. They live together in a council estate, caring for their mother who is in a coma. Nour dreams of escaping to a faraway place. When he crosses paths with Sarah, an Opera singer teaching summer classes, he finds the opportunity to come out of his shell and explore new horizons.

Marc, a bipolar and paranoid filmmaker, cannot tolerate seeing his current project picked apart by his producers. The clips he’s been able to sneak a look at lead him to fear the worst. With his editor as an accomplice, he manages to spirit away the rushes to his aunt’s place in the Cévennes, to finish the film as he envisions it. Instead, its completion is constantly postponed, as he creates endless diversions and impasses, which alternate between the comic and the downright disturbing.

Aimless young Alexandre juggles his relationships with his girlfriend, Marie, and a casual lover named Veronika. Marie becomes increasingly jealous of Alexandre's fling with Veronika and as the trio continues their unsustainable affair, the emotional stakes get higher, leading to conflict and unhappiness.

Suzanne Simonin describes her life of suffering in letters. As a young woman she is sent to a convent against her will. Since her parents cannot afford the dowry required for a marriage befitting her rank they decide she must instead become a nun. Although a kind and understanding Mother Superior helps her to learn the convent’s daily routine, Suzanne’s desire for freedom remains unabated. When the Mother Superior dies, Suzanne finds herself faced with reprisals, humiliation and harassment at the hands of the new Abbess and the other Sisters. For many years, Suzanne is subjected to bigotry and religious fanaticism. (Berlinale.de)

Tony is a macho middle-aged school bus driver in the provinces with no friends or relations. A sudden heart attack throws him into a tailspin. Tony's convinced he's going to die. When his cardiologist warns him : We all need others. Alone, we're nothing. Tony decides to reconnect with the daughter he abandoned twenty years earlier, when she was just a baby. Still a coward, he's unable to screw up the courage to actually confront her directly. So he decides to sign up for a dance class she's teaching in Paris. Incognito, of course. To get to know her gradually… in a desperate attempt to give some meaning to his empty life. In the process, he has more than a few dance steps to learn!

Pierre, a devoted father in his 50s, raises his two sons alone. When Louis, the youngest, leaves home to attend the Sorbonne in Paris, Fus, slightly older and not as successful academically, becomes more and more secretive. Driven by a fascination for violence, he gets entangled in far-right extremist groups, at the very opposite of his father’s values. Between them, there is love and hate, until tragedy happens.

Paul is preparing to leave Tajikistan, while thinking back on his adolescent years. His childhood, his mother's madness, the parties, the trip to the USSR where he lost his virginity, the friend who betrayed him and the love of his life.

Jake and Mati are two outsiders in the northerly Portuguese city of Porto who once experienced a brief connection. A mystery remains about the moments they shared, and in searching through memories, they relive the depths of a night uninhibited by the consequences of time.

A struggling writer finds a shortcut to fame, but a blackmailer threatens to ruin his perfect life.

Lui, a struggling author with a heart condition, and his wife Elle, a retired psychiatrist, find their idyllic life shattered when Elle begins to succumb to the effects of dementia.

Based on Michel Houellebecq's controversial novel, Atomised (aka The Elementary Particles) focuses on Michael and Bruno, two very different half-brothers and their disturbed sexuality. After a chaotic childhood with a hippie mother only caring for her affairs, Michael, a molecular biologist, is more interested in genes than women, while Bruno is obsessed with his sexual desires, but mostly finds his satisfaction with prostitutes. But Bruno's life changes when he gets to know the experienced Christiane. In the meantime, Michael meets Annabelle, the love of his youth, again.

Drinking, dancing and... killing me. It's the new life my neighbour Jose has decided to live. What better way to escape boredom than coming to kill me every thursday? His wife, Lucie, prefers to go to a shrink. To each their own therapy.

Every year, Bruno makes a tour of all the wine stands, without setting foot outside the Show’s premises and without ever finishing his wine trail. This year, his father suggests they finish it together, but a real wine trail, across the French countryside. Accompanied by Mike, a young, quirky taxi driver, they set off in the direction of France’s major wine regions. Together, they are going to discover not only the wine trails, but also the road that leads back to Love.

In a provincial suburb, three neighbours come to terms with the consequences of the new world of social media. Marie, who lives off her husband’s family allowance, is afraid of losing her son’s respect because of a sex tape. Bertrand can’t say no to advertising calls and is fighting to protect his daughter, who is being bullied online. Christine, after losing everything because of her addiction to TV series, wonders why her rating as an Uber driver is not taking off. These three lone fighters are incapable of finding a solution to their problems on their own — until they join forces to declare war on the tech giants.

It is a story of a depressed, isolated man stuck in a tedious but well-paying programming job.

After several years absence, a former porn star has decided to make a comeback during an erotica trade fair. But, between a failing personal life, a body that is no longer in the flower of youth, and the profound changes the milieu has gone through, doubt sets in.

A mild-mannered banker is forced to masquerade as a notorious gangster and pimp.

A misanthropic Parisian street punk learns some difficult lessons after being captured for assaulting and robbing a man in this interesting French drama. This has not been the first time young Denis Lavant has been in trouble, and this time the judge sentences him to the Coral, an experimental open community founded in 1975 by Claude Sigala, in the wilderness of the Camargue. There he encounters a group of inmates just as neurotic and messed up as he is.

The story of a friendship between Victor, owner of a magazine, and Bruno, a car thief.

Michel Houellebecq travels to Guadeloupe to take part in a look-alike contest, whose jury is chaired by Blanche Gardin. But unforeseen events will plunge our duo into the heart of a bizarre intrigue.

For his last day at the office, Grégoire introduces his new ninth grade intern to the rest of his computer graphics team, which currently works on a groundbreaking aquarium/swimming-pool project. It might be the last opportunity for Grégoire to say goodbye to his colleagues before his retirement.

Passengers on a low cost flight from Djerba to Beauvais have their patience tested to destruction when their departure is delayed for eight hours because of a fault with the plane's air-conditioning. In the end, they are so fed up that they will do almost anything to get back home.

Provocative French writer Michel Houellebecq meets Gérard Depardieu at a sea water therapy centre in Cabourg. Together, they try to survive the health regime to which they are subjected by the establishment. But events quickly derail their routine… Just Great is a joyful comedy elevated by two extraordinary performances.

A rich industrialist is brutally kidnapped. While he physically and mentally degenerates in imprisonment, the kidnappers, police and the board of the company of which he is director negotiate about the ransom of 50 million euro.

Summer 1944, France. Racine is a carefree 19-year-old first-aid worker, his secret desire is to be able to sleep with Isabelle, the girl he's in love with. One evening they are about to take the plunge, but a resistance fighter comes to ask for help. Racine goes up to the maquis to impress the young girl and joins a group of fifteen immature boys. But up there, nothing goes as planned. The war catches up with them, brutally marking the end of an innocence and Racine finds himself caught in the crossfire.

Tony, a promising young motorcycle racer, is forced to do perilous drug runs to save the mother of his child from a dangerous mobster.

A grizzly cat-and-mouse game between imprisoned serial killer, Marc Douelec, and Sarah Lisbourn, a police officer who is preoccupied with the murder investigation that surrounds the death of her mother. Douelec is behind bars for the crime but refuses to reveal the location of his victim’s body in favour of tormenting Lisbourne.

An artistic erotic short film which has only a few lines of dialogue. Five women are enjoying themselves by a river.

Could a nineteen-year-old girl change the course of history simply by faith? From ordinary farm girl to extraordinary hero, the life of Joan of Arc was one of conviction and courage. Fifteenth-century France was devastated by an ongoing war in which women did not fight. Yet Joan heeded the counsel of angels and transformed into a military leader, something her country needed but many feared. In this BYUtv original special, discover the stalwart spirit, military prowess, and enduring influence of Joan of Arc.

“Kill the Roach” is a dance step improvised by a child in front of his father. They find themselves in the heart of old Paris on a square in Montmartre. While the father tries in vain to seduce passers-by with his mime skills, his son, out of compassion, takes his place by dancing with gestures close to break-dancing. The public is won over. Finally, an incident makes them meet a singer who will allow them to perform on stage during an innovative show, mixing mime, singing and break-dancing.