Jacques Denis Movies

In this cynical comedy, an renowned, out-of-work, unpublished "underground" writer from formerly Communist Poland is driven to unusually desperate measures in order to get his work published. Stan (Jiri Menzel) has been living in the attic apartment of his ex-wife's home, which he shares with a journalist friend (Andre Dussolier). One day, he has an accident which convinces his ex-wife and her current husband (Anna Romantowska and Pierre Arditi) that he's suicidal, and they hastily contact a media representative to see if some sort of publicity can't be arranged so that Stan's work can be published and they can benefit, if not from the money, then from their association with him. The organization they contact says that they will be happy to publish his writings, if he will commit suicide live, on television, in St. Peter's square, while the Pope is delivering an address. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this confusing, surreal, and slow-paced drama that swings back and forth from strange to farcical, Robert (Alain Delon) meets Donatienne (Nathalie Baye) on a train. She tells him a story about a woman and a man who meet on a train and subsequently spend a night - only one night - in a glorious sexual encounter before they part forever. He is so taken with her that he ends up in her mountain chalet, not just for one night, but for many - drinking beer and forgetting about his wife in Paris. Donatienne then has sexual relations with all the men in her neighborhood - and the film steps fully into a bizarre world in which neither Robert nor Donatienne can honestly relate to each other. The mystery about what is going on is revealed in the end, but by then the film - verbose, inscrutable, and artificial - may have alienated more than one viewer. On the other hand, the performances of Delon and Baye stand out against this flawed backdrop, an achievement recognized at the 1984 Cesars when Delon won the Best Actor award for his role as Robert. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The Boy Soldier is set in the 1930s and is based on a novel by Yves Gibeau, a book that has the unusual distinction of being banned in military precincts in France. In the film, a young fellow, Simon Chalumet (Lucas Belvaux) is sent to a military school by his overbearing father, an ex-soldier who has little sympathy for his son's more gentle temperament, or for his interest in films. In spite of various forms of harassment meant to whip the young men into shape, Simon does survive the years of harsh treatment with his own interests and basic nature unscathed. Reality intrudes in the end, when Simon is sent to the front and faces war and combat for the first time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Using a variety of formats ranging from fictional segments to documentary interviews, the present-day situation of working women is explored. Among the vocations of the women whose lives are highlighted are judo-instructors, truck drivers, and this film's film editor. The fictional story depicts the apparently happy and apparently ordinary marriage of a young couple who share housekeeping and shopping duties. When the film finally shows what they are saying however, their conversation consists almost totally of quotations from Fredrich Engels' book Family, Private Property and the State, and they suffer from fairly traditional gender stereotypes. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

French filmmaker Claude Miller's This Sweet Sickness is based on a suspense novel by Patricia Highsmith, of Strangers on a Train fame. In the original, the murder-protagonist was a psychotic, pure and simple (if such words are appropriate here!) In Miller's version, the "hero," David, is a pathetic creature, motivated by humiliation and sexual inadequacy; thus the emphasis is not on his heinous crimes but on his warped personality. The director's noirish decision to stage much of the action in the dark, or the rain, or both, is a function of David's deep depression. As in his other films, Miller uses water as an omen of evil; you've seldom seen a more foreboding swimming pool than the one in This Sweet Sickness. The film was originally released as Dites-lui que je l'aime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The revolutionary upheaval of 1968 rocked Europe, and led to many changes. For a while, it was possible to think that the radical idealism of the youth protests would finally take form in the world. In this film, eight people in their late tweties and early thirties try to keep the radical flames burning. From a man continuing his mystic quest to a Robin Hood-like grocery worker, each of them seeks an alternative to the mainstream vision. One of them is married, and his child Jonah, born that year, will be 25 in the year 2000. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this French-language Swiss film, an up-and-coming young engineer briefly finds love with a waitress from Italy. However, he is married and is running for an elective post in his region of the country. When his feeling of coziness with the relationship exceeds his discretion, he allows word of it to get out, and that loses him the election. In addition, the waitress feels that he has been having a relationship with a woman in his imagination rather than with her and decides to end the affair. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

French film critic Bertrand Tavernier made his directorial debut in The Clockmaker. The title character, played by Tavernier's "alter ego" Philipe Noiret, is benumbed by the nihilistic activities of his son Sylvain Rougerie. Arrested on charges ranging from arson to murder, Rougerie offers the standard-issue explanation: the establishment is full of pigs who deserve to be "offed". Noiret must ask himself if his son's behavior is the result of stifling under the bourgeois lifestyle that Noiret has always championed. The Clockmaker is based on the Georges Simenon story L'Horlonger de Saint-Paul, which was also the French title of this film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Swiss-made film closely examines the character of a non-conformist, a subject of unending interest to the reputedly highly conformist Swiss. A TV journalist reads of a lawsuit, dropped for lack of evidence, in which a girl is accused of deliberately shooting (and wounding) her uncle. For some reason, this piques his interest, and the journalist even goes so far as to talk a novelist friend of his into joining him in researching the incident. As their research and interviews proceed, it becomes clear that they have no interest in the actual truth of the incident, but are more concerned to dig deeply (each in his own way) into the characters of the girl and her uncle. One memorable scene has the girl, while serving as a shoe store salesperson, fondling the legs of her customers. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide