Jean-Pierre Cassel Movies

Filmmaker Lionel Bailliu expands his Academy Award-nominated short film Squash (2000) into a bitter and nail-biting commentary on the cutthroat nature of office politics with this feature debut concerning a shrewd businessman who takes his scheming employees on an ultra-competitive outing. Firm head Charles (Eric Savin) may be top dog today, but ambitious worker Jean-Claude (Benoît Magimel) is determined to make his way to the top no matter what the cost. Though his workmate Alex (Jérémie Rénier) is a nice enough guy, Jean-Claude is constantly digging for dirt on his fellow employees, and will not hesitate to exploit that information if it means the chance to get ahead. Now, as a humiliating game of one-upmanship emerges among the employees and Jean-Claude ponders just how to use the latest bit of incriminating information salvaged from Charles' loose-lipped secretary, Nicole (Marion Cotillard), the contentious office head announces a plan to take his workers on a high-energy outing that includes such potentially risky activities as rock climbing, white-water rafting, and navigating the treacherous stone underpasses of a seemingly bottomless subaqueous cavern. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Released in France as Jeu De Massacre, The Killing Game tips its hat to the "Op-Art" generation by offering two comic strip artists as its protagonists. Husband-and-wife cartoonists Jean-Pierre Cassel and Claudia Auger make the acquaintance of eccentric playboy Michel Duchaussoy. So avid a fan of the couple's work isDuchaussoy that he acts out the plotlines of their cartoons in his lavish mansion. When Cassel and Auger kill off one of their characters, Duchaussoy tries to murder Auger, then attempts to commit suicide. Packed away to a sanitarium, Duchaussoy is eventually released and reunited with the cartoonists, who have decided to avoid any future difficulties by purging all violence from their work! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This French drama about the relationship between an insanely jealous man and his wife took 30 years to make. Since its inception by the late director Henri-Georges Clouzot the film was plagued with bad luck. He began filming it in 1964. There are only two characters in the film and on the third day of shooting the female lead became gravely ill. Later during rehearsals with a new actress, the director had a heart attack. Though he lived until 1977, he never got around to finishing it. The script was passed on to producer Marin Karmitz by Clouzot's widow. Paul wanted to buy the beautiful resort hotel he worked at for 15 years. His happy and spirited wife Nelly goes along with it. She is already a mother and contented with her life. Paul, who incurred tremendous debts to get the hotel, is not so happy. He is stressed to the breaking point. After he suspects his wife of philandering he slowly goes insane. He also begins increasing his consumption of alcohol and sleeping pills. Their lives become a living hell. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When Catherine Lelievre (Jacqueline Bisset) hires mousy and taciturn Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire) as a housemaid, she thinks that she found a treasure. Mr. Lelievre (Jean-Pierre Cassel) seems to agree with her, pointing out that the maid just has yet to learn how to serve dinner correctly. Wealthy liberals, they treat her generously enough and expect diligence and reliability in return. However, Sophie didn't tell her new employers that she is dyslexic, and very soon she has terrible troubles with even such supposedly ordinary things as shopping lists. She befriends outspoken postal clerk Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert), who occasionally helps her with the above-mentioned lists and tells her all sorts of gossip about the Lelievre family. Mr. Lelievre, who suspects that Jeanne opens their mail, tells Sophie that Jeanne was charged with the murder of her four-year-old daughter and though she was later acquitted, he can't believe in her innocence. Thus he forbids Sophie to invite Jeanne to the Lelievre house, and the tension between Sophie and her employers increases. What could have been a thriller in the hands of a different director, in the case of Claude Chabrol has become another witty and observant social commentary about the eternal confrontation between the rich and the poor. Ruth Rendell's novel A Judgement in Stone was previously filmed in 1986 in Canada. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

Salvini (Jean-Pierre Cassel) is an orchestra conductor of some renown. While rehearsing for a performance of Verdi's Othello he has a psychological crisis, brought on by his recognition of the man playing tympani in his orchestra. Near the end of World War II, Salvini took a false identity and hid in a remote monastery. While there, he encountered Romualdi, a funny, blustering buffoon who thought of himself as a true musical genius. Salvani and an actress, who was also hiding nearby, had some mean-spirited fun with Romualdi, pretending that the man was in fact a genius, and encouraging him in his delusions. Seeing Romualdi years later, humbly playing the least prestigious position in the orchestra, gives him pause, and causes him to rethink his career. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This French sex farce is translated in English as The Trout. Joseph Losey directed and co-wrote the film, which stars Isabelle Huppert as Frederique, a young woman living on her family's rural trout farm. Frederique is trapped in a dull marriage to a rube. She decides to leave him and the trout farm for the city; she wants to make her living in the financial sector. She ends up in a cutthroat corporate world and meets up with the sophisticated Lou (the legendary Jeanne Moreau). Frederique finds herself trading sexual favors for corporate advancement and becoming more deeply involved in a complicated series of business dealings. Eventually, she longs for a return to her simpler life on the trout farm. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

In this gentle, tragic drama, Olivier (John McEnery) is a wealthy young man with a lively and attractive mother (Valentina Cortese), which is a pity, really, as he can't bear her, or the men she gets involved with. When he gets too upset with her escapades, he begins to break things, or runs off. Otherwise, he spends his time building a boat on the lawn with his friend David (Jean-Pierre Cassal), a poor fisherman whom he grew up with. Though hardly idyllic, the relative calm provided by their friendship is disrupted by Eleonor (Claude Jade), a cute and determined young woman who sets her sights on David. She wants to wean David from his friendship with Olivier and plays on David's long-dormant jealousy of Olivier's wealth and easy life. She also plays the flipside of the jealousy issue, claiming that Olivier has made passes at her. This film is in the French language. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Yet another entry in a long series of 1960s Italian sex comedies, this one has some clever moments in its study of four beautiful women (Ursula Andress, Marisa Mell, Virna Lisi, and Claudine Auger) who cheat on their husbands to relieve their marital discontent. Jean-Pierre Cassel also stars in this typical anthology written by Ruggero Maccari and Ettore Scola. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide