« Les Enfants Lachance »

France – Feature Film
Written, directed and produced by Coline Pagoda
Role: Suzie Lee

« Joyeux Anniversaire »

France – Short Film
Directed by Gulu Monteiro

 « Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist »

US
Morgan Creek/Warner Bros.
Directed by Paul Schrader
Written by Caleb Carr
Cinematography by Vittorio Storaro
With Stellan Skarsgård, Gabriel Mann, Clara Bellar, Billy Crawford, Julian Wadham and Ralph Brown
Genre: Horror
Setting: 1947 Kenya
Role: Rachel Lezsno – Red Cross doctor

Father Lankester Merrin, traumatized by the horrors of Second World War, looses faith. Facing the demon in Africa, he must fight to safeguard his beliefs.

PRESS:

« Schrader’s intelligent, quietly subversive pic emphasizes spiritual agony over horror ecstasy, while paying occasional lip-service to the need for scares. Performances are good to excellent. On the distaff side, Bellar has a smaller but more complex part than Izabella Scorupco did in the Harlin movie, and makes more of it. » « As a drama about faith, infused with metaphor and doubt, film achieves moments of real cinematic poetry. »
– Leslie Felperin – DAILY VARIETY – March 2005

« Dr. Rachel Lesno (Clara Bellar), a humane concentration-camp survivor who operates a clinic. »
– Stephen Holden – THE NEW YORK TIMES – May 20, 2005

« Merrin is attracted to a beautiful young medic Rachel (Clara Bellar). » « A far richer affair than its troubled production history might suggest. An intriguing piece of work in its own right, it surely deserves its belated chance to try to reach an audience. »
SCREEN DAILY – March 2005

« The interpretation is excellent. »
– Don Kaye – HORRORCHANNEL.COM – May 20, 2005

 » Exorcism aside, Dominion is well-acted. »
– Bruce Westbrook – HOUSTON CHRONICLE – May 19, 2005

« While I have nothing against the supporting actors in the Harlin version, they were horribly miscast. I never believed for one nano second that Scorupco, looking like a runway model on a dirt catwalk, was a medical professional administering to the destitute natives. On the other hand, Clara Bellar as the Holocaust-surviving doctor haunted by her past and trying to make something worthy of what’s left of her life, is totally believable, and there is no incongruous sexual attraction between her and Merrin thrown in here, thank goodness. »
– Staci Layne Wilson – HORROR.COM – May 19, 2005

« …Dr. Rachel Lesno (Clara Bellar), a Holocaust survivor running a clinic in the village. Both Mann and Bellar do good, grounded work here, with Bellar’s characterization more believable than Izabella Scorupco’s misconceived Beginning counterpart. »
– Michael Gingold – FANGORIA.COM

« In Schrader’s film, she is portrayed by Clara Bellar, a European actress who has worked with the likes of Eric Rohmer and is convincing as a woman dealing with the shameful memories of the lengths that she went to in order to save her skin during the war. In HarlinÕs version, the character is now played by sexbomb Izabella Scorupco, a former Bond Girl whose strikes an improbably glamorous figure in the middle of the desert and whose concerns about saving her skin seem to extend only to the late-night showers that she indulges in for no other apparent reason than to give the audience an eyeful. »
– Peter Sobczynski – EFILMCRITIC.COM – May, 21, 2005

« A milestone in movie history. Not a « director’s cut » but a different director and a different film. It’s a strong, true and intelligent film that kept me fascinated and fearful from beginning to end. »
– Roger Ebert – CHICAGO SUN-TIMES – May 19, 2005

 » A remarkable film. It’s a haunting work, filled with richness and texture, going far beyond what is expected of a mere continuation of an established classic. This is a film that plays on in your mind long after the credits have stopped rolling. »
– Erik Kristopher Myers – BLOODY NEWS – March 2005

Enough Trouble to Make Your Head Spin
by Laura M. Holsen – NEW YORK TIMES – February 22, 2004 Click here to read

GQ – March 2003 (Click here to read full article)

On Set Interview – Chud.com – February 2003 Click here to read

Watch Out, Satan!
by Dave Kehr – NEW YORK TIMES – November 1, 2002 Click here to read

« Le Pharmacien de Garde » aka « The Pharmacist »

France
Orly Films/Canal +
Written and Directed by Jean Veber
Cinematography by Laurent Fleutot
With Vincent Perez, Guillaume Depardieu, Clara Bellar, Pascal Légitimus and Gabrielle Lazure
Produced by Nicolas Vannier
Genre: Thriller
Setting: Paris
Role: Mathilde, a student

« Kill The Poor »

US
Mr. Mudd/InDiGent
Directed by Alan Taylor
Written by Daniel Handler (based on the novel « Kill The Poor » by Joel Rose)
Cinematography by Harlan Basmajian
Produced by Alexis Alexanian, Ruth Charny, Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich and Gary Winick
With David Krumholtz, Clara Bellar, Paul Calderon and Damian Young
Genre: Black Comedy/Urban Comedy
Setting: 1980 New York
Role: Annabelle Peltz, a stripper

A feature about love and money on the Lower East Side. When a marriage of convenience becomes the real thing, Joe (David Krumholtz) moves his pregnant French wife (Clara Bellar) to a tenement building on New York’s Lower East Side. The street is like a war zone with none of the nostalgic appeal that Joe remembers from tales of his immigrant grandparents arriving in the same neighborhood with a new life. This is the urban frontier filled with a wildly funny mixture of gentrifies, homeboys, dealers and local residents simply bent on staying a float.

World Premiere May 9, 2003 at the Tribeca Film Festival.

« A.I., Artificial Intelligence »

US
DreamWorks/Warner Bros.
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written by Ian Watson and Steven Spielberg (based on short story « Supertoys Last All Summer Long » by Brian Aldiss)
Cinematography by Janusz Kaminski
With: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O’Connor, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Robards, William Hurt, Robin Williams, Ben Kingsley, Meryl Streep and Clara Bellar
Produced by Bonnie Curtis, Jan Harlan, Kathleen Kennedy, Walter F. Parkes and Steven Spielberg
Genre: Sci-Fi
Setting: Future
Role: Fem-Mecha Nanny

AWARD:
The Gregersen Awards 2001 – Winner – Best Bit Part: Clara Bellar, A.I.

PRESS:

PREMIERE
Interview by Christian Jauberty – November 2001 (Click here to read full article)

STUDIO MAGAZINE
Interview by Juliette Michaud – November 2001 (Click here to read full article)

« There’s even a Mary Poppins type, a marvelous Clara Bellar as a machine who truly loves the little lad and who smiles at him as acid is poured over her. »
– Joe Viglione – THE BLACKLISTED JOURNALIST

CRITIC’S PICK « A work of brilliant artifice and profound intelligence. Mr. Spielberg accomplishes the improbable feat of melding Kubrick’s chilly, analytical style with his own warmer, needier sensibility, and the result is an exquisitely layered, complex movie – the riskiest, most ambiguous, most intellectually challenging fairy tale the director has made to date. »
– A. O. Scott – THE NEW YORK TIMES

« All this is heady, enormously stimulating stuff, the sort of thing one is no longer accustomed to confronting in mainstream Hollywood entertainment. What a general audience will confront is an unusually ambitious sci-fi film that touches upon such matters as what it means to be a human being, the definition of family and the notion of creation both in scientific and religious terms. Viewers gagging on the glut of cinematic junk food should welcome this brilliantly made visionary work bursting with provocative ideas. »
– Todd McCarthy – DAILY VARIETY – June 13, 2001

« Sleepy Time Gal »

US
In Official Competition at 2001 Sundance Festival
Directed by Christopher Münch
Written by Alice Elliott Dark and Christopher Münch
With: Jacqueline Bisset, Seymour Cassel, Martha Plimpton, Justin Theroux and Clara Bellar
Produced by Ruth Charny
Genre: Drama
Setting: 1980 San Francisco
Role: Mushroom Girl

« La Ballade de Don »

France – Short Film
Written and directed by Jean Veber

« This Space Between Us »

US
Slinging Star Pictures
Directed by Matthew Leutwyler
Written by Matthew Leutwyler and Peter Rudy
With Jeremy Sisto, Poppy Montgomery, Clara Bellar, Alex Kingston, Erik Palladino and Garry Marshall
Genre: Satire/Comedy
Setting: Contemporary San Francisco
Role: Zoe Goddard, a museum worker

STORY:

Filmmaker Alex Harty (Jeremy Sisto), has always considered himself a « tortured artist »-but it’s not until his wife dies in a car accident that he learns the term’s true meaning. Still saddled with grief two years after her death, Alex’s once-promising career has come to a standstill. After assaulting a smarmy studio exec (Garry Marshall) with a Mont Blanc pen in Los Angeles, Alex returns to his hometown of San Francisco with little more than his beloved Mercury Comet, and a tape recording of his wife’s last phone message. Once in the Bay Area, Alex re-acquaints himself with a wide array of characters, including a photographer who’s stalking her ex-boyfriend (Poppy Montgomery), a San Francisco socialite who fancies herself as a patron of the arts (Alex Kingston), and the now grown-up French girl (Clara Bellar) who spent her childhood summers as his neighbor. Several misadventures culminate in Alex reaching a clearer understanding of his grief, one that allows him to break through his « torture » and return to his art.

2000 Santa Monica Film Festival – Best Comedy

PRESS:

« There’s no shortage of gorgeous, eccentric women to greet his return. First, and finest, is French art-lover Zoe (stunning Clara Bellar) whose mailbox he runs over in Marin County. »
– Ken Eisner – DAILY VARIETY

« The First 9 1/2 Weeks »

US
Lions Gate Films
Written and Directed by Alex Wright
With: Malcolm McDowell, Clara Bellar, Paul Mercurio and Frederic Forrest
Genre: Psychological Drama
Setting: Contemporary New Orleans
Role: Emily Dubois

Matt Wade (« Strictly Ballroom »s Paul Mercurio), a bright and young New York City investment banker is sent by his boss (Academy Award nominee Frederic Forrest) to Louisiana during the height of Mardi Gras in order to land a $500 million dollar account of eccentric Cajun billionaire Francois Dubois (played by Academy Award winner Malcolm McDowell), an arrogant man paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. But when he arrives at the Dubois Estate, Matt gets involved with Emily Dubois (Clara Bellar) and (possibly) a satanic cult. The carnality of Mardi Gras is all consuming as Matt discovers a world of sin, pleasure and deceit. The events in and around New Orleans change him forever and give a new slant on the American Dream.

« Romance and Rejection » aka « So This is Romance »

UK
Bloomsbury Films
Written and Directed by Kevin W. Smith
With Reece Dinsdale, Victoria Smurfit, Clara Bellar, John Hannah, Frank Finlay, Susannah York and Maryam d’Abo
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Setting: Contemporary London
Role: Sarah

Composer Mike (Reece Dinsdale) hopes to create symphonies. Instead, he dashes off jingles for TV commercials and gets rhapsodic over memories of ex-girlfriend Helen (Victoria Smurfit). Mike’s carefree buddy Tony (John Hannah) is a painter who alternates alcohol and a stressful relationship with tempestuous Moira (Rowena King). Soon Mike’s life takes several unexpected twists and turns. First, he falls in step with a French female, Sara (Clara Bellar). The attraction is mutual, so the two depart together on an idyllic vacation. Next, Mike locates his mother (Susannah York), who 35 years previous had left his father (Frank Finlay). Mike’s misadventures are chronicled in a narration delivered by Dinsdale.

Premiered at the 1997 London Film Festival.

« Les Randonneurs » aka « Hikers »

France
Lazennec Films
Directed by Philippe Harel
Written by Eric Assous and Philippe Harel
With Benoît Poelvoorde, Karin Viard, Vincent Elbaz, Philippe Harel, Géraldine Pailhas, Clara Bellar, Marine Delterme and Zinedine Soualem
Produced by Adeline Lecallier
Genre: Comedy
Setting: Contemporary Paris
Role: Eve, a movie star

« The Waiting Game » aka « Farewell to Flanders Fields »

US
Nichol Moon Films
Written and Directed by Chris Ver Wiel
With Tom Wood and Clara Bellar
Genre: Fantasy/Drama
Setting: Fantastical/after death
Role: Eden Richet, a violinist facing her destiny after her suicide

There has been an accident. Lovers Eden Richet (Clara Bellar) and Nathan Faulkner (Tom Wood) have died. The ‘Waiting Game’ begins at that moment of death where the « spirit » rises above the body and waits. The couple finds themselves alone, for a moment in death. Then, from behind, there appears a light. To the light they think. It is God. However, they are soon to discover that the light is by no means God, but a very mysterious train. Their destination? One of three doors: Heaven, hell of home. Seven notes from Eden’s violin set in motion a series of events, which allow eleven very different passengers to discover that one can find life, even in death. The group becomes one to solve the conundrum and in searching for the answer find themselves. They discover how precious the « gift » really was. Through Eden’s music they have discovered that life is not measured by how much one is loved but instead by how much one loves. Love. A simple, unconditional act which will allow each passenger to choose their destiny for the first and only time in their lives. A choice that can only be uncovered with the death of ‘self’.

« Les Parapluies de Paris »

France – Short Film
Written and Directed by Dominique Guérin

« Vive le 1er Mai »

France – Short Film
Written and Directed by Didier Rouget

« Oranges Ameres » aka « Bitter Oranges »

France/Italy/Spain
Canal +
Directed and written by Michel Such
With Sabrina Ferilli, Clara Bellar, Bruno Todeschini, Lilah Dadi, Raoul Billerey and Annick Blancheteau
Setting: 1945 Algiers
Genre: Political Drama
Role: Angele, a revolutionary young woman

A love story that takes place in Algiers, 1945, at the end of Second World War, between a gorgeous French-Maltese woman and an Algerian man, while at the same time hatred grows between their two communities.
Recognizing no boundaries to her love, Angele (Clara Bellar) manages to foment riots, rages and tragedy in colonial Algeria. Angele, an Algerian colonist with impeccably French origins, has fallen in love with Said (Lilah Dadi), the assistant in her brother-in-law’s bakery shop. Said is conscious of his Arab origins and traditions, and Angele has her work cut out for her if she wants to persuade him to marry her. Once she does, all hell breaks loose, as neither her European-origin peers nor Said’s conservative Arab family approve of the union. When word of the proposed marriage gets out, strikes, violence and murder quickly follow, ruining not only Angele’s life, but the lives of those around her.

AWARDS:

1997 Lumieres Awards (French Golden Globes) – Most Promising Young Actress – Nominated
1996 Geneva Film Festival – Best Young Actor of European Cinema – Nominated (representing France)

« Rebecca »

France – Short Film
Written and Directed by Crystel Amsalem

« Chére Madeleine »

France – Short Film
Written and Directed by Maxime Héraud

« Fausto » aka « A La Mode »

France
Miramax
Directed by Rémy Duchemin
Written by Richard Morgive
With Ken Higelin, Jean Yanne, Florence Darel, Bruce Myers and Clara Bellar
Setting: 1962 Paris
Genre: Comedy
Role: Rachel, a tailor

« Les Rendez-vous de Paris » aka « Rendezvous in Paris »

France
Films du Losange/Canal +/Artificial Eye
Written and Directed by Eric Rohmer
With: Clara Bellar, Antoine Basler, Mathias Megard and Serge Renko
Setting: Contemporary Paris
Genre: Comedy of Manners
Role: Esther, a student

A hugely entertaining and absorbing trilogy of short stories each of which explores the misunderstandings and mis-conceptions that often dog twenty-something love affairs.

With a fine cast of exceptional young actors each story unfolds perfectly. In all three parts, Paris is more than just the backdrop.

Rohmer shoots it lovingly, often with a 16mm hand-held camera and the city positively participates in the film, almost as an extra star.

PRESS:

« Esther (Clara Bellar), the kind of radiantly lovely young woman who can dependably be found in Mr. Rohmer’s films. »
– Janet Maslin – NEW YORK TIMES – August 9, 1996

« Clara Bellar is one of these young women whose sweet beauty is uncommonly pleasant to the eye, whom the camera purely loves and who is an accomplished actor at a very young age. »
– Jeff Millar – HOUSTON CHRONICLE – November 26, 1996

« Of all the actresses who’ve graced Eric Rohmer’s movie fables over the decades, none so perfectly espouses the classically furrow-browed Rohmerian beauty as Clara Bellar, a star of this month’s lovely, cinema verité-ish Rendezvous in Paris. » « She is both beguiled and beguiling in the role. »
– Graham Fuller – INTERVIEW MAGAZINE – August 1996 (Click here to read full article)

« Paris’s loss may be London’s gain »
– Geoff Andrew – TIME OUT – February 1996 (Click here to read full article)

« The neatest section, about a girl suspecting her boyfriend of infidelity, is the first, and it’s heroine, played by the sympathetic and engaging Clara Bellar, is the find of the film. »
Review by Mansel Stimpson – WHAT’S ON – February 7-14, 1996 (Click here to read full article)
Interview by David Clark – WHAT’S ON – February 7-14, 1996 (Click here to read full article)

MADAME FIGARO by Patricia Boyer de la Tour – March 1995 (Click here to read full article)

« Pussycat »

UK – Short Film
Written and Directed by Arne Steckmest

« Flora »

France – Short Film
Written and Directed by Benjamin Barouh

« Offre d’Emploi »

France – Short Film
By Harold Pinter
Directed by Pierre-Alain Lods

« New Summer of Love »

UK – Short Film
Written and Directed by Benjamin Barouh