Jean-Pierre Cassel Movies

Le Soleil en Face is a somewhat glib drama about a serious matter -- death. In this case, the death of a writer. Marat (Jean-Pierre Cassel) is a retired novelist living in ease and comfort in his own villa in southern Portugal. His writing has essentially dried up, but he has a good life with his wife Genevieve (Stephane Audran) and two attractive nieces who take care of him -- one is actually his lover. This idyll crashes to the ground when Genevieve finds out that Marat has incurable cancer, and at first, she tries to keep the diagnosis a secret but is not successful. The results are disastrous. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Victor (Jean-Pierre Cassel) and Suzanne (Genevieve Cluny) are a couple at odds about commitment in this light, fast-paced comedy-drama by Philippe de Broca. Suzanne needs more reassurance from Victor about the future of their relationship. He is a painter with an inspired creative side who finds it difficult to understand Suzanne's point of view. They are happy together; what is the problem? So when a friend comes into the picture and proposes to Suzanne, Victor suddenly realizes that Suzanne was right. Without a formal commitment, the suddenly insecure man does not like the view from the opposite shore. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The film is based on a true story of a young actor, Robert Hugues Lambert, who was hired to play the role of aviation hero Mermoz in occupied France during WW II. But his career came to a brutal end when his homosexuality was discovered and he was sent to a Nazi camp. The Vichy government's directive to bring to screen edifying films based on national myths, such as Charlemagne or Joan of Arc, led one producer to decide to make a film about Mermoz, an airmail pioneer who perished at the height of his fame, crashing in 1936. This symbolic figure was also an activist in an extreme rightwing party, the vice-president of a movement known as 'The Crosses of Fire.' Lambert, a relatively obscure theatre actor was hired for his physical resemblance. Another actor was hired to complete the film, but the sound crew managed to smuggle a microphone through the barbed wires to get a recording of Lambert's voice. The film had its premiere in Paris, but Lambert was shipped to Auschwitz, never to return. Based on this story, Jean Claude Grumberg wrote a fictional comedy about making a film during the Occupation. He decided that only a comedy could narrate the way most French people went about their business with their heads in the sand during the Occupation, seeking refuge in derivative comedy. The film's light tone, however, changes dramatically at the end when Lambert is taken away. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

Anna (Aurore Clement) is a film director whose job takes her all over western Europe. In each place she either already has some intimate connection, or readily makes one. People seem drawn to her, but inevitably insist on sharing their inmost secrets and discontents with her, despite her obvious and profound lack of interest in these revelations. This does not deter Anna from continuing to meet people, and she genuinely connects with them occasionally, as when she sees her mother briefly in Brussels. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The seven major sins receive treatment from some of France's greatest directors in this lively portmanteau. "Anger" by Dhomme, chronicles a single horrific day when every bowl of soup in France is found to contain a fly. This causes a devastating nationwide revolt. "Envy" by Molinaro tells the story of a chambermaid whose dream of sleeping with a millionaire comes true. Unfortunately, she goes back to work and finds herself still consumed with jealousy. De Broca's "Gluttony" provides one of the film's most enjoyable episodes as it follows the exploits of a voracious family heading off for a funeral. "Lust" by Demy is set at a Parisian sidewalk cafe and eavesdrops upon the lusty conversation between two young men, one of whom has x-ray eyes that enable him to see through women's clothing. "Laziness" by Godard features real life matinee idol Constantine as a movie star who finds himself too sluggish to respond to the starlet trying so hard to seduce him. "Pride" by Roger Vadim tells the satirical tale of a philandering wife who changes her mind and stays with her husband after learning that her happy home is being threatened by another woman. Finally in Chabrol's "Greed," young men who have pooled their meager resources to buy a prostitute, fight for the chance to be with her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this French satire, a meek little bank (Jean-Louis Trintignant) clerk finds fame and fortune when he begins getting lessons from an impoverished novelist (Jean-Pierre Cassel) . Soon the clerk is wowing the Parisians with his ability to make the women swoon, and for his talent at attracting money. The film is also known as The French Way Is. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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

Directed by Philip Sebton, Mister Frost chronicles the life of serial killer Mr. Frost (Jeff Goldblum), who, after stashing 125 tortured corpses in and around his property, is caught by a British detective (Alan Bates) and brought to a mental institution. Strange things begin to happen immediately after his arrival--the egotistical Dr. Reynhardt (Roland Giraud) suddenly loses confidence, an angelic young boy goes insane, and people see images of Satanic eyes in their rear-view mirrors. Meanwhile, the only person Frost (Goldblum) will speak to is psychiatrist Dr. Sarah Day (Kathy Baker), who questions why the police could not find any official records of his existence. He tells her that he is, in fact, none other than Satan himself. According to an angry Frost, the world has tossed aside the notion of pure evil, opting instead to use psychological explanations to aid them in understanding why terrible things happen to good people. Frost's mission on earth is to remind man that the devil does exist, and is still bargaining for immortal souls. He believes if he can convince a psychiatrist (Baker), to murder him because she believes he is the devil, it will not only help his cause, but act as a resounding personal victory. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

A situation that once (believe it or not) served as the premise for a Dick Van Dyke Show is taken several steps farther in the Italian Nudo di Donna. Nino Manfredi plays a prudish husband who is appalled to discover that his wife once posed nude for a painting. His shock is intensified when word gets around that the artist's model was a prostitute. The rest of the film consists of Manfredi's hilariously frantic efforts to get to the bottom of things (as it were). Nude di Donna was released in the US with the cumbersome title Portrait of a Woman, Nude. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Oh! What a Lovely War is an every-man-for-himself adaptation of Charles Chilton's 1963 play, as staged in London by Joan Littlewood. The tragedy of World War I is redefined in bawdy music-hall terms, beginning with a verbal free-for-all involving the Crowned Heads of Europe. The war is presented as the "new attraction" at the Brighton Amusement Pier, complete with syrupy cheer-up songs, shooting galleries, free prizes and a scoreboard toting up the dead. Throughout the proceedings, the camera concentrates on a middle-class family, whose five sons end up as cannon fodder. The final image is a veddy proper British picnic on a graveyard. Of the many fleeting satiric images parading past the camera, one of the most indelible is the sight of several generals playing leapfrog as the world all around them goes to hell in a handbasket. The awesome all-star cast includes Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Maggie Smith, John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave, Jack Hawkins, John Mills, Susannah York, Dirk Bogarde and Phyllis Calvert. We haven't seen this many Englishmen in one place since the last Wimbledon match. The whole affair was supervised by Richard Attenborough, making his directorial debut (a question: why was he up to the challenge of this musical extravaganza, yet seemed helpless in the face of 1985's A Chorus Line?). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This large, sprawling comedy directed by Robert Altman concerns a variety of romantic and personal intrigues that intersect against the backdrop of Paris's annual "Pret-a-Porter" fashion extravaganza. With 31 principal characters and a number of cameos from well known models, designers, actors and actresses, there's far too much going on to describe the film in a limited space, but Julia Roberts and Tim Robbins get stuck in a hotel room together, Danny Aiello wears a dress, Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni reignite their old passion (or at least try to), Stephen Rea humiliates a number of female journalists, Kim Basinger often looks dumbfounded, and Lyle Lovett plays a Texan (talk about imaginative casting!). Originally called Pret-a-Porter, this underwent a last-minute title change when the distributor discovered very few Americans understood what the French phrase means, with the English translation taking its place. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide