Films - Competition - Venice 2005

Two shepherds fall for each other, but their relationship becomes complicated when they both get married to their respective girlfriends.

Amidst the chaos of student and union protests, 20-year-old Parisian poet François finds himself in legal hot water for dodging a stint in the French military. While at a party, he falls in love with Lilie, a would-be sculptor.

The Virgin Mary delivers a message to an 11-year-old girl.

Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Sabina has a regular life. She is satisfied with her job and her love for Franco. But nightmares start disturbing her, at almost the same time she discovers that she's pregnant. Little by little she remembers her childhood in a severe middle-class family, but a big secret is still hidden in her heart. Determined to bring clarity and serenity to her life, she considers contacting her brother, a University teacher in the U.S.A., to try to understand what happened in their past. What is the secret? Will Sabina finally manage to free herself from the "beast inside her heart"?

Three female tourists have their eyes opened while visiting the poverty-stricken and dangerous world of 1980s Haiti.

Will and Jake Grimm are traveling con-artists who encounter a genuine fairy-tale curse which requires true courage instead of their usual bogus exorcisms.

A widower's transcontinental quest to find answers about his wife's death leads him to explosive secrets.

Olga's life is shattered when her husband abandons her. This prompts her to fall into a period of self-degradation and self-destructive behaviors.

A person's life is destined to be shorter than that of a city. Having spent her whole life in Shanghai, Qiyao has her moments of prosperity and her fair share of loneliness. She finally fades and disappears but Shanghai remains a metropolitan city. Shanghai in the 1930s is glamorous and seductive. A pretty young girl from an ordinary family, Qiyao is lucky enough to win the 2nd runner-up of the "Miss Shanghai" contest. Mr. Cheng, her admirer as well as a photographer who assists her to her success, knows the girl is going to live an extraordinary life. It turns out she is going to witness the decades of changes to her city. 1948, Officer Li, an official in control of the army, keeps her as his lover. During the time, she spends her life at the Parliament ballroom, accompanies him through dangerous situations, and tries to devote all of herself to a man she believes she can spend the rest of her life with. But one day, he disappears and does not return. She never gets to find out the reason for his disappearance. This happens often in Shanghai at the time. In 1956, Qiyao begins to live a plain and simple life that is totally different from her glorious days. Nobody knows her past and she appears to be a young single woman. Her only friend is the married Mr. Cheng whom she keeps at a distance. But the calmness is broken when a rich young man Ming shows up. Qiyao is satisfied with Ming in every way except for his lack of courage as a man. When Qiyao finally makes a decision to marry him, Ming leaves her and goes to Hong Kong for his family business. Qiyao is alone again, but with an unborn child. She marries a sick and dying man, simply to find her child a father. Mr. Cheng is the only person who understands that she does it to regain her dignity. In 1970, grateful that the divorced Mr. Cheng has never stopped loving her, Qiyao tries to get closer to him and wants to marry him. Mr. Cheng, however, devotes himself to popular campaign that sends educated urban men to the countryside to help the rural population. He leaves for Yunnan, thinking that it will only be a year, but does not come back until ten years later. One day, Mr. Cheng returns, introducing to Qiyao a young man who is addicted to the lifestyle of old Shanghai. Regardless of the age difference, Qiyao and the young man fall in love with each other. Unfortunately, the young man secretly plans to go abroad, leaving Qiyao alone in Shanghai, just as what his predecessors have done. Qiyao finally breaks down as she realizes no one is as loyal as she is to the city where her life begins and will end.

A driver and his master drive around Portugal, having philosophical conversations throughout the journey. An adaptation of Denis Diderot's "The Fatalist and His Master".

The marriage between Gabrielle and Jean begins to fray after the discovery of a letter that belongs to Gabrielle.

Garpastum is a Latin word meaning ball game. Set in 1914 in St. Petersburg, the brothers Andrey and Nikolai are passionate about the matches they play on the streets. They hatch a scheme to buy a playing field. But World War I has already begun and soon their lives and dreams will be shattered.

After being wrongfully imprisoned for thirteen years and having her child taken away from her, a woman seeks revenge through increasingly brutal means.

Luciano, fresh out of jail, was taken by his brother, Flórido, to serve in the home of wealthy Alfreda. He was surprised when she told him that her greatest desire was to see the Virgin Mary. Now comes this rich land owner with her sublime pretensions. Isn't it enough for her to have an Aston Martin and a Jaguar in the garage and ten different dresses per season? It was all professor Heschel's fault. Or someone else's. Anyway, to go beyond the promise is heresy. Alfreda said that she wouldn't rest until she saw the Virgin and made her some questions. Filipe Quinta, the Forger, says he has a solution. Meanwhile, Bahia, her husband, listens do music.

Wiktor, Polish ambassador to Uruguay, comes back home to attend his wife's funeral and face his old Russian friend, suspected of having an affair with Wiktor's deceased spouse.

The daughter of a brilliant but mentally disturbed mathematician, recently deceased, tries to come to grips with her possible inheritance: his insanity. Complicating matters are one of her father's ex-students, who wants to search through his papers, and her estranged sister, who shows up to help settle his affairs.

This down-and-dirty musical set in the world of working-class New York tells the story of a husband's journey into infidelity and redemption when he must choose between his seductive mistress and his beleaguered wife.

When his widowed sister-in-law and her son come to live with him after World War II, a simple farmer finds his life thrown into turmoil.

Beat Takeshi, a prominent actor, meets a lookalike named Kitano, who is a struggling actor, but after the meeting, Kitano's dreams take a violent, surreal turn.