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1999 Madeleine is the first step in an ambitious project by the French filmmaker Laurent Bouhnik to make one film per year between 1999-2009, recounting the turn of the century in an interweaving narrative pattern. Episode one is about Madeline, a lonely woman obsessed by religion and cleanliness. Her solitary existence leads her to place an advertisement for a man willing to share his life with a 'single, working 35-year-old.' She is a woman of our times who is caught between the paradoxes of modern life and individual needs for communication. The world offers her opportunities to satisfy material needs but, unfortunately, this is to the detriment of her spiritual needs.
Director
Writer
Status
Released
Original Language
FR

Several interconnected chapters follow a variety of Parisian couples navigating love, desire, and relationships. Isabelle, frustrated by a year of celibacy, rejects her friend Zoé’s offer to "borrow" her husband and instead impersonates their mutual friend Amélie, who cannot bring herself to sleep with her close friend Boris. Meanwhile, the lonely Achille is stunned when his alluring new neighbor appears at his door in a negligee, proposing an affair. Elsewhere, middle-aged Emmanuelle struggles with an overwhelming attraction to every handsome man she encounters, threatening her marriage, while a young couple wrestles with jealousy. Each chapter delves into the unpredictability of love with humor and poignancy.


Mathieu
Lu, a conformist woman in her forties, learns that her 15-year partner has been having extramarital affairs. Starting from scratch, she gets involved in an unexpected relationship with a young womanizer.