As phony emotional showcases go, this one’s full of unintentionally comedic melodrama, rivaling cult favorite “The Room” at times as Amalric (reprising his role as the chronicallly unstable Ismael ...

It’s not just that the woman (Marion Cotillard) goes missing for 21 years — registered as “absent” yet presumed dead — only to return and subsequently announce to a social services worker, “My name is ...

Take one part Fellini’s “8 ½,” one part Almodovar’s “Volver”, stir them together with a strong, steady dose of nervy French idiosyncrasy, and what do you get? Well, it wouldn’t be something terribly ...

“Les Fantomes d’Ismael” or, “Ismael’s Ghosts,” kicked off the Cannes Film Festival yesterday afternoon. Well, maybe “kicked” is the wrong word. Rather, it gently nudged the festival, in what can be ...

The ghosts in Arnaud Desplechin’s film “Ismael’s Ghosts” are not supernatural spirits, but flesh-and-blood mortals whose absences haunt the film’s titular protagonist (Mathieu Amalric). But just ...

The cinematic cosmos of French director Arnaud Desplechin teems with literary allusions. He frequently makes films about a character named Paul Dedalus — a nod to the young hero of Joyce’s “Ulysses.” ...

In his great film “8 1/2,” Federico Fellini depicts a director who is struggling to make his next movie. At the beginning of the film, he dreams he is trapped inside of a locked car. Somehow, he ...

The opening film of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival is several movies at once, some more successful than others. Within its first half hour, “Ismael’s Ghosts” weaves together espionage, melodrama, ...

Over 21 years ago, director Ismaël's (Mathieu Amalric) girlfriend Carlotta (Marion Cotillard) disappeared, and no one has seen her since. This deeply affected not only Ismaël but also Carlotta's ...

It’s not just that the woman (Marion Cotillard) goes missing for 21 years — registered as “absent” yet presumed dead — only to return and subsequently announce to a social services worker, “My name is ...

The ghosts in Arnaud Desplechin’s film “Ismael’s Ghosts” are not supernatural spirits, but flesh-and-blood mortals whose absences haunt the film’s titular protagonist (Mathieu Amalric). But just ...