Helena Manson Movies

Alain Resnais's Mon Oncle D'Amerique is presented in the form of a "case history," replete with a pedantic narrator, played by real-life behavioral scientist Henri Laborit. Gerald Depardieu plays a plant manager whose behavior is inspired by the films of "macho" French film star Jean Gabin. Nicole Garcia portrays an actress who has patterned her conduct after stage and film luminary Jean Marais. And Roger-Pierre is a TV executive whose main influence in life is lovely cinema actress Danielle Darrieux. Though it may sound like a Woody Allen comedy, Mon Oncle D'Amerique eschews satire for the most part, treating both its subject matter and its subjects with intense seriousness. The film scored a hit with moviegoers and critics alike, and was honored with six French Cesar Awards. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This is a film which was made in Belgium in the early '60s and was never released. However, it somehow got included in the American Oscar category for "Best Foreign Film," and was finally released in its home country in 1971. It explores the issues of prejudice and superstition in the Belgian countryside through the troubles of a middle-aged farmer whose mother has been accused of being a witch. In French, this picture is based on a true story which took place in the late 1920s and early '30s. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The scene is the French Riviera. Based on eyewitness testimony, three identically dressed men are accused of kidnapping and murdering a child, but two of them can possibly be guilty. Is the innocent party Anthony Perkins, an American who has fled to France in the wake of a sex scandal? Is it Italian Renato Salvatori, whose bad reputation with women has preceded him? Or is it Jean-Claude Brialy, a French businessman whose sister uses her sexual wiles to clinch her brother's big business deals? We'll never know...because Two Are Guilty director Andre Cayatte, a longtime critic of the French justice system, contrives to have all three suspects killed by an out-of-control mob. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

French comedian Fernandel stars in this entertaining comedy based on a short story by O. Henry, The Ransom of Red Chief. Antoine (Fernandel) has the brilliant idea of kidnapping the son of a millionaire in order to raise the money he and his partner Paolo (Gino Cervi) need to buy their own auto repair shop. The kidnapping is quite successful but Antoine and Paolo soon discover that little Erick (Papouf) is more than just a handful. Even when Antoine dresses up as a Native American, Erick is not amused for long. The little boy is trouble incarnate, and soon the erstwhile kidnappers are ready to pay for his parents to take him back. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Max Ophuls' final film (and his only movie in color) is a cinematic tour-de-force masquerading as a biography, in this case a dazzling fictionalized life of the notorious 19th century dancer, actress, and courtesan. A still beautiful, but weary and disillusioned (and, as we later discover, ailing) Lola Montes (Martine Carol) is first seen as the featured attraction at a seedy American circus, appearing at the center of a series of various tableaux depicting the scandalous events for which she is known. With a strangely sincere yet sinister and manipulative ringmaster (Peter Ustinov) providing color commentary, some of it very ironic on two or more levels, the movie flows between these staged recreations in the circus and the events as recalled by the subject. In a series of dissolves, the film takes us through her girlhood with her mother, interrupted when her mother's lover (Ivan Desni) becomes attached to the daughter; her unhappy marriage and its aftermath; romances with composer Franz Liszt (Will Quadflieg), abduction by a Russian general (in the arms of Cossacks, no less); her affairs across the landscape of Europe with men great and notable; her thwarted aspirations as a dancer; and her romance with King Ludwig I (Anton Walbrook) of Bavaria, which led to her being made Countess of Landsfeld, and, later, to his abdication. The gracefulness of Ophuls' cyclical narrative, and the transitions between the recalled elegance of the locales, and the people with whom her romances and affairs took place, and the seediness of the circus -- where she is also compelled, in the course of performing, to perform as an aerialist -- were lost on viewers in 1955. And for many years the movie only existed in a version re-cut without the director's approval, in which the story was presented in linear fashion. It was only in the 1960's, long after Ophuls' death, that efforts were made to restore the original structure, and in 2008 the movie's original Technicolor luster was restored to its full depth and richness. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Twice during his long and fruitful career, French playwright Jean Anouilh tried his hand at film directing. The second of these endeavors was Deux Sous de Violettes, released in 1951. Co-adapted by Anouilh from a story by Monelle Valentin, the film stars Dany Robin as teenager Therese Desforges. Uncommonly beautiful, Therese is forced to fend off the advances of various lechers and satyrs. Eventually she gives in to a much-older man, and the result is an unwanted pregnancy. After losing the baby, Therese considers herself damaged goods, but salvation is at hand in the form of a young and patient swain who has truly loved her all along. Some comic relief is provided by Michel Bouquet as Therese's doggedly good-for-nothing brother. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Updated from Abbe Prevost's Manon Lescaut, this non-operatic version of the familiar tale stars Cecile Aubrey in the title role. Accused of collaborating with the Nazis during WW II, Manon Lescaut is rescued by Robert Desgrieux (Michel Auclair). Safely ensconced in Paris with Robert, Manon falls victim to the machinations of her dishonest brother Leon (Serge Reggiani). Once more Robert comes to her rescue then takes his love with him to Palestine. Director Henri-Georges Clouzot departs most radically from the Prevost original in the closing scenes, which concentrate on a group of Jewish war refugees. Obviously under the influence of American film noir, Clouzot takes great delight in concentrating on society's castaways in Manon. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The fabled international clown Grock plays himself in this uneven biopic. On the occasion of his retirement, Grock relates the story of his life in flashback. A bit of melodrama is thrown in with a highly suspect WW II adventure. The film concludes with Grock performing his classic piano routine, which was later emulated by Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton in Limelight. Ted Remy portrays the title character in the film's earlier passages. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When French-filmmaker Jean Renoir offered his 1934 version of Flaubert's Madame Bovary to the distributors, he was compelled to cut it severely. This was not due to the subject matter, but because Renoir's "director's cut" ran nearly 3 and a half hours! Though Renoir steadfastly defended his choice, Valentine Tessler was much too old for the part of Emma Bovary, a Frenchwoman whose life is ruined because she seeks escape from a boring bourgeois upbringing and an even more tiresome marriage. Renoir saw the character as "noble and elegant," which Flaubert most certainly did not; still, he was reasonably faithful to the source novel, even to the point of sometimes exasperating slowness. Madame Bovary was filmed several times, most famously by director Vincente Minnelli in 1949. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi