The French Collection: Volume 1 - Juliette Binoche

A collection of three films starring French actress, Juliette Binoche. 'Three Colours: Blue' (1993) is the first part of Krzysztof Kieslowski's trilogy based on the ideals embodied in the French national flag.

Julie (Binoche) has her world turned upside down when her husband and daughter are killed in a car crash.

She sells their home and moves to a Parisian suburb, attempting to build a new life for herself.

But her efforts to start afresh are dragged down by memories from the past and fear of the present.

In 'Code Unknown' (2000), Jean (Alexandre Hamidi) is walking along a Paris street, following a meeting with his brother's girlfriend Anne (Binoche), when he contemptuously throws an empty paper bag into the open hands of Romanian beggar Maria (Luminita Gheorghiu).

Music teacher Amadou (Ona Lu Yenke) witnesses this, and when he demands that Jean apologise to Maria, the two get caught in a scuffle which results in both Amadou's arrest and Maria's deportation.

Michael Haneke's film takes this brief moment and follows the paths of all its main characters over the subsequent weeks, tracing the subtle ways in which different lives intertwine in modern-day Europe. 'The Night Is Young' (1986) is a thriller which has petty thief and street hustler Alex (Denis Lavant) plotting to steal a new miracle cure for an AIDS-like virus on behalf of his gangster friend Marc (Michel Piccoli).

This attracts the notice of a mysterious American woman who also wants the serum.

Binoche plays Marc's mistress, Anna, whom Alex develops an attraction to.