Jacques Dufilho Movies

In this drama, three generations of the same family work together on a farm in rural France. Elderly Noel (Jacques Dufilho) takes pride in having worked this land nearly all his life. His son Marc (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) now carries most of the responsibilities of the farm (as well as the debts), and he's starting to buckle under the strain. And Marc's son Nicolas (Eric Caravaca) hasn't decided what to do with his life; he has little interest in farming, but he isn't sure where his real talents lie. One day, after helping his cows give birth to new calves, Marc gets word that he must destroy all his cattle to prevent the spread of Mad Cow Disease. This proves the last straw for Marc, and he commits suicide. Noel doesn't handle his son's death well and ends up in a retirement home, while Marc's wife gets a job as a cashier and Nicolas looks for work (with little success) while searching for a beautiful and mysterious woman to whom he gave a ride. Eventually, Nicolas gets an idea -- with the help of Noel and the rest of his family, he'll reopen a small house on the hillside and support themselves by working the land that adjoins the property. C'est Quoi La Vie? won the Grand Prize at the 1999 San Sebastian Film Festival, while Jacques Dufiho was given the award for Best Actor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Celebrated blind poet Rene Kermadek (Claude Rich) is married to his former student Sibilla (Valeria Cavalli), who provides his only true connection to the world. Although Sibilla is a faithful and devoted wife, he suspects her of cheating on him -- currently with matador Manuel Fernandez (Gregoire Colin). Since she never succeeds in convincing him of her love, he plans his suicide. A multiple winner at Montreal's 1997 World Film Festival, this film was shot on locations in Switzerland, Spain, Italy, India, and Germany, the English title being Homer - Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

The small port town in Brittany in this movie has its charms, but they are largely invisible to the children growing up there. In the first place, they are deeply disturbed at the sudden death of an elderly woman who is one of their favorite teachers under what appear to them to be suspicious circumstances. They launch an investigation and start a little newspaper to report their findings in, as a result of which the workings of their little town are made extremely clear. When "suspects" refuse to cooperate with them, they persecute him (or her) with pranks until they do. Naturally, their teacher's replacement has her work cut out for her, but she eventually accomplishes this by taking an interest in her predecessor and the student's investigations. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

French/Israeli filmmaker Moshe Mizrahi wrote and directed this adapation of the fanciful comic novel by Albert Cohen. Set in 1938, it tells the farcical story of a band of five French speaking Greek Jews who seek to have their status as self-appointed ambassadors of a Palestinian Zionist state recognized by the League of Nations in Geneva. The five are played by veteran French comic actors Pierre Richard, Bernard Blier, Jacques Villeret, Jacques Dufilho and Jean-Luc Bideau. The film follows their rambling odyssey from their native Greek island to Marseilles to Geneva, where they involve a Polish Jewish immigrant (played by actor/singer Charles Aznavour in their scheme. Among the five would-be ambassadors, Richard has the showiest part as the blustery title character. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Based on a popular novel by Pierre-Jakez Helias, Horse of Pride is set in a hardscrabble peasant community in Brittany. Covering the years 1908 through 1918, the film concentrates on the lives, customs and aspirations of the community's populace. The visuals are complemented not by dialogue but by "voice of God" narration. This is a wise stylistic choice, since the central theme of the film is the perpetuation of Brittany's culture via oral, rather than written, history. Horse of Pride is an unusually straightforward effort from the normally ultrastylistic director Claude Chabrol. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For Werner Herzog's 1979 remake of F.W. Murnau's classic 1922 silent horror-fest Nosferatu, star Klaus Kinski adopts the same makeup style used by Murnau's leading man Max Schreck. Yet in the Herzog version, the crucial difference is that Nosferatu becomes more and more decayed and desiccated as the film progresses. Essentially a retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Nosferatu the Vampyre traces the blood-sucking progress of the count as he takes over a small German village, then attempts to spread his influence and activities to the rest of the world. All that prevents Dracula from continuing his demonic practices is the self-sacrifice of Lucy Harker, played by Isabelle Adjani. Director Werner Herzog used the story to parallel the rise of Nazism. The film was lensed in the Dutch towns of Delft and Scheiberg. Nosferatu the Vampyre was filmed in both an English and a German-speaking version; the latter runs 11 minutes longer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Le Crabe Tambour (The Crab Drum) stars Jacques Perrin as the title character. An officer in the French navy, Perrin has earned his nickname through his habit of beating his chest a la King Kong after consuming a crab dinner. Stories of this eccentric but courageous warrior remain in circulation long after his involvement in the Indochinese and Algerian wars. Two of his former comrades in arms, Jean Rochefort and Claude Rich, have long suffered guilt pangs for not having stood by "Le Crabe Tambour" when he needed them most. Accompanied by a third veteran, Jacques Dufilho, the men decide to stage a reunion with the dying Perrin. This triangular character study (the title character is seen only in flashback) won several French film industry awards when it was originally released in 1977; still, it didn't pick up a US distributor until 1984. Director Pierre Schoendoerffer co-adapted the screenplay for Le Crabe Tambour from his own novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A pair of elderly men, friends for 40 years, find their relationship stressed when they set up housekeeping together in order to save money. Exploring similar ground to that covered in Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple, which spawned a movie and a television series, Ce Cher Victor explores the tragic and dramatic aspects of the story. The two friends, meek, sensitive Anselme (Bernard Blier) and blustering Victor (Jacques Dufilho) are swiftly driven apart by circumstances. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Against the backdrop of impending war, an enterprising pimp and his seven working girls arrive in Borntown, northern Quebec, in the Christmas season of 1938. The entrepreneurs give a lavish reception right in the mine, which is the reason for the town's existence (and their presence). Afterwards, the usual difficulties of starting a new business come to the fore, with the additional difficulty of hell-and-brimstone sermons from the local priest (Jacques Dufilho). This film is in French. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Chut is an exclamation in French, rather stronger than "darn." It is the sort of thing one might say on being caught in a lie, or after hitting one's finger with a hammer. Unlike similar terms in English, this one carries a certain sense of self-mockery. In this French comedy, Fritz (Jacques Dufiho) is a con-man who has reason to say "chut," when he discovers that his phony corporation is being investigated by the police. He hopes to recover the phony stock certificates from his victims and return their money without their getting wise. His partners in the venture have other ideas, as do the police, so the chase is on. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide