Jean Douchet Movies

Henri Langlois was, in many respects, the ultimate film fan. In 1936, at the age of 22, Langlois became (along with Jean Mitry and Georges Franju) one of the founders of the Cinémathèque Française, a theater and museum devoted to preserving the history of the motion picture. Initially a tiny operation financed by private funds, the Cinémathèque, with time, grew into Europe's most important film archive, collecting and preserving prints of rare films from all over the world and protecting many rare gems of the French cinema from destruction during the Nazi occupation of World War II. Langlois' enthusiasm for sharing the treasures of his collection with others helped spawn a film-crazy generation who created the French New Wave of the '50s, and in time, the French government acknowledged the importance of the Cinémathèque's work by financing their endeavors. In 1968, the French minister of culture, André Malraux, responded to Langlois' difficult personality and sloppy bookkeeping by pulling the government's financing of his projects, which led to an international outcry leading to the shutdown of the Cannes Film Festival by activists and film buffs. The Cinémathèque's funding and Langlois' leadership were later restored, and in 1973, his work in film preservation was honored with a special Academy Award. Henri Langlois: The Phantom of the Cinémathèque is a documentary which chronicles the life, times, and passions of the legendary archivist and includes interviews with his friends, contemporaries, and colleagues -- including Claude Berri, Claude Chabrol, Jack Valenti, and Daniel Cohn-Bendit. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Playing like a combination of Todd Solondz, John Waters, and a dysfunctional and incestuous generic television sitcom, director François Ozon's blacker than night psychological family comedy touches on many aspects that would frighten off most casual viewers on concept alone. From the opening scene of a father gunning down his family (albeit experienced audibly while the camera remains fixed on an external shot of the exceedingly proper and mundane suburban home) to mother/son sex, and even moments that border on bestiality, Sitcom gleefully and unapologetically attempts to dismantle the denial-prone status quo while constantly dwelling on self-conscious shock tactics and riffs on such nuclear family stereotypes as the indifferent father and the obsessively proper mother figure. And while Ozon's tactics hit the marks at times early on, as the film grows increasingly debaucherous it becomes more and more difficult to assess the method to the suburban nightmare madness the film portrays. By the time the surreal climax involving one of the human characters' literal transformation into the catalyst that set the opening scene's tragedy into motion rolls around, it feels uncharacteristically out of place and forced within the admittedly already absurd context of the previous 70 minutes. As repulsive as some of the more sordid details of the deteriorating family values may be, the majority of the film keeps the viewer involved and interested until the apparent lack of direction and outcome sends it careening out of control and spiraling into a nonsensical conclusion. Had Ozon anchored himself to reality, so to speak, he may have crafted a not altogether flawless, but effective comment on the banality of the sugar-coated denial that makes up the majority of television sitcoms and its disturbing transcendence into real life. As it stands however, the film is effective and entertaining for the most part, though its ambiguously confusing ending distills the jarring impact that this otherwise effective satire may have held. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In this downbeat drama from France, Benoit (Xavier Beauvois) is an upper class art student who is shocked to discover that he's been drafted into the Army. Eager to avoid military service, Benoit feigns illness, consults a psychiatrist for depression, and even tells the draft board he's gay, all to no avail. In a fit of desperation, Benoit attempts suicide, only to learn in the hospital that he has tested positive for HIV. Now that he has a real reason to be depressed, Benoit sinks into an emotional downturn and ends up in jail, where he is introduced to Omar (Roschdy Zem), who suggests that he can make big money fast by smuggling drugs. With nothing better to do, Benoit goes into business with Omar, and with his ill-gotten gains, he travels to Italy, where he meets a beautiful young woman named Claudia (Chiara Mastroianni). Benoit and Claudia quickly fall in love, but the lure of the drug market soon proves more powerful than Benoit's feelings for his girlfriend. Director and star Xavier Beauvois won the Jury Prize at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival for his work on this film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Director Jean Eustache has included two identical stories told in contrasting ways in this very short festival feature. In the story, a young man who has heard that a hole in the men's room wall will allow him to see into the women's bathroom finds the tale very exciting. Even the fact that he has to lie face down on the men's room floor to see into the ladies' side does nothing to deter him. The first version is as told by an actor to a film director and his friends, and it initiates a philosophical discussion on the meaning of sexual excitement (and related issues). The tale is then acted out by Jean Noel Picq. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A sextet of French filmmakers collaborated on Six in Paris (originally Paris vu Par...) Jean Douchet directed the film's first episode, "Saint Germain-des-Pres," the story of the up-and-down relationship between a male model (Jean-Francois Chappey) and an American coed (Barbara Wilkin). Jean Rouch's "Gare du Nord" is a haunting twist-of-fate tale involving a suicidal handsome stranger (Gilles Queant). Written and directed by Jean-Daniel Pollet, "Rue Saint-Denis" unites an experienced prostitute (Micheline Dax) with a garrulous customer (Claude Melki). "Place de l'Etoile," a Chekhovian guilt trip involving salesman Jean-Michael Rouziere and shabby, supposedly dead street person Marcel Gallon, was Eric Rohmer's contribution. Jean-Luc Godard's "Montparnasse-Levallois," photography by American documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles, finds Joanne Shimkus in an imaginary menage a trois. Six in Paris is topped off by Claude Chabrol's "La Muette," wherein a family man (played by Chabrol himself) comes to grief when he purchases a pair of earplugs. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi