Bertrand Tavernier

A French music lover befriends a once-great American jazz artist and attempts to save him from self-destruction in this moody drama. Saxophonist Dexter Gordon portrays Dale Turner, a fictional musician inspired by a number of famed jazz figures, including Bud Powell and Lester Young. Largely forgotten in his home country, Turner has moved to Paris in search of a more appreciative audience. He finds it in the form of Francis Borler (Francois Cluzet), a bebop aficionado who befriends the expatriate player. Borler soon becomes familiar with Turner's darker side, including his struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction, and depression. Fearing for the musician's life, the fan becomes his caretaker, an arrangement that leads to a brief improvement in Turner's health and fortunes but places great emotional strain upon them both. Director Bertrand Tavernier pays great attention to the visual and aural details of the jazz world, with outstanding musical supervision provided by Herbie Hancock. 'Round Midnight's greatest asset, however, is Gordon's Academy Award-nominated performance, informed by his own life experiences. His naturally fascinating presence combines with the film's obvious love of the music and its milieu to provide what many have hailed as one of the more authentic and affectionate presentations of the jazz world on the silver screen. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Blue Note Records was founded in the 1930s and has played a vital role in the development of jazz for more than 60 years. Important works by some of the greatest jazz musicians in history -- John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, and many others -- were recorded on the Blue Note label. The company's founders, Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, both loved jazz (especially jazz with a bluesy element) and had true respect for the musicians with whom they worked. Featuring appearances by many artists -- and memorable music recorded in the Blue Note studios throughout the years -- this documentary explores the evolution of the genre, while telling the story of a company that marked an important period in music history. ~ Alice Duncan, All Movie Guide

Amnesty International produced this film, which features more than two dozen greats of French cinema making pleas for the lives of political prisoners around the world. Each filmmaker speaks passionately on behalf of an individual whose life has been warped by political intolerance, imprisonment, torture or murder, as the lives of those prisoners or sufferers are documented onscreen. A variety of directors contributed shorts with this theme, and the ways in which the appeals are dramatized differ markedly from one to the next. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Based on pulp master Jim Thompson's Pop. 1280, Bertrand Tavernier's Coup de Torchon is a sardonic thriller that remains true to its source's spirit, even as it transposes the action from the American South to colonial West Africa. Lucien (Philippe Noiret) is the bumbling police chief of Bourkasa, a dusty outpost in rural Senegal. Badgered by local thugs, Lucien initially comes across as a pathetic oaf unable to stand up for himself. Things at home are scarcely better, as Lucien finds himself harried by his nagging wife, Huguette (Stéphane Audran), who is carrying on an affair with a man she claims to be her brother (Eddy Mitchell). Without warning, Lucien embarks on a nonchalant killing spree, murdering everyone who has ever mistreated him. As he sets about "cleaning the slate," Lucien intensifies his affair with ditsy Rose (Isabelle Huppert), all the while pining for the newly arrived schoolteacher, Anne (Irene Skobline). Remaining above suspicion even as bodies pile up, the seemingly witless Lucien gradually develops a twisted logic for his actions, animating his crusade with an evangelical purpose. By movie's end, Tavernier leaves little room for redemption, leaving the joyless Lucien mired in a moral quagmire of his own making. ~ Elbert Ventura, All Movie Guide

Hoping to provide an insider's view of the horrible conditions endured by residents (most of them North African immigrants) of Paris' notorious suburban housing projects, noted filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier and his son and co-director Niles Tavernier lived in one of them for several months. The inspiration for their action came from the Paris housing minister who -- in response to several French filmmakers' call for civil disobedience after the French government passed the controversial immigration sanction, the Debre Act in 1997 -- suggested that Tavernier move into a project and to experience life on the "other side of the tracks" for himself. The director and his son, who did most of the filming, chose the neighborhood known as Grand Pechers ("The Big Peach Trees) located in Montreuil outside of central Paris. It took the two helmers quite a while to earn the trust of the locals, but eventually they succeeded. Interviewing educators, residents and officials, including cops, the Taverniers paint an unforgettable portrait of poverty, racism, violence and an inspiring sense of determination and perseverance from people who outwardly have very little hope of improving their lives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In homage to one of France's great directors, this highly personal documentary features those that knew him best, including his daughter Ewa and fellow filmmaker Claude Chabrol as they offer their comments and analysis of his career and his fascinating life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This drama examines three amoral young people living in Paris. 18-year-old Nathalie (Marie Gillain) works in a clothing store and dreams of opening her own boutique in the United States. She shares an apartment with her boyfriend Eric (Olivier Sitruk) and his slow-witted pal Bruno (Bruno Putzulu); she pays the rent while they stay home and watch crime movies on television. All three are looking for a fast and easy way to make some money, so together they devise a plan. Nathalie will hang out in nightclubs, meet prosperous-looking men, and go home with them. Once she's inside their apartments, she'll let in Eric and Bruno, and they'll rob the place of cash and valuables. The plan works well at first, before things go wrong one night and Eric commands Bruno to kill their victim. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A detective tracking a serial killer who preys on young women finds his investigation complicated by a glamorous Hollywood starlet and a ruthless crime kingpin in director Bertrand Tavernier's adaptation of the James Lee Burke novel In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead. Jerzy Kromolowski, Mary Olson-Kromolowski, and Tommy Lee Jones collaborate on the screenplay for the film, which stars Jones, John Goodman, Peter Sarsgaard, Ned Beatty, and Tom Sizemore. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker Jean Renoir (1894-1979) had an extremely long career writing, directing, producing and acting in films, beginning in the silent era, right up until the time of his death, when most of his productions were influenced by the medium of television. He was one of the sons of the famous Impressionist painter August Renoir. This two part documentary was filmed to be released on British television in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of his birth. His influence on French filmmaking in particular was so great that he was sometimes referred to as le patron (which, among other things, means "the boss"), and no further identification was needed. The majority of his more noteworthy films were produced in the 1930s, and the film most people consider to have been his masterpiece, La Règle du Jeu or The Rules of the Game was so scathing in its criticism of 1939 French society that it provoked an outcry and he withdrew it from circulation, only releasing it again after his return to France some years after the Second World War. The documentary makers have coaxed Renoir's son to be interviewed, along with as many surviving contemporaries as could be found. In addition to numerous film clips, the documentary is fleshed out with interviews with more contemporary figures who discuss his importance in the history of cinema. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Bertrand Tavernier directed this gritty, unglamorous look at the grunge work police officers perform in attempting to uphold the law. Didier Bazace stars as Lucien Marguet, a drug squad cop who is dedicated to getting drugs off the street. Lucien is passionate about eradicating drugs, even though his small drug busts barely put a dent in the rampant drug use throughout the city. But still Lucien persists. He confronts HIV-positive prostitute Cecile (Lara Guirao) about her drug habit and criticizes his paper-shuffling boss Dodo (Jean-Paul Comart) for not making the big drug busts and concentrating, instead, on the small-timers. Tavernier takes his camera into the drab goings-on of a dedicated cop, and the fascination lies in the intensity of Lucien's appointed cause as he continues unappreciated and ignored. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Due to the fact that the French-Algerian War (beginning in 1954) brought down several governments and led to the creation of the Fifth Republic, a deeply divided France struggled over whether to retain Algeria as the southern outpost of France proper, and this conflict was never formally declared as a war. Feelings within France ran high over the conflict, as those who wished to retain the north African country in French hands viewed it not as a colony, but as part of France itself, and this lent ferocity to their actions; those who viewed it as a colony were puzzled by the whole affair and its divisive nature and were ashamed of their country's actions. Meanwhile, the Algerian freedom fighters themselves were deeply divided, with some merely wanting a "civilized" independence with good relations with France, and others wanting to punish their oppressors. Terrorism on both sides became commonplace, and the conflict is often considered to be France's "Vietnam." This documentary explores the conflict through the recollections of a some veterans living in Grenoble and uses their personal photographs with telling effect. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this 1987 film, director Bertrand Tavernier depicts French life in the Middle Ages as dreary, unromantic, and brutal. The story begins when a warrior leaves home to fight in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) between France and England. Before his departure, he gives his young son, François, a sword to safeguard his mother and her virtue. One day, after the boy opens a bedroom door to find his mother willingly submitting to a man, he uses the sword to kill the man and becomes traumatized with guilt and enmity toward his mother. Years later, François (Bernard Pierre Donnadieu) must go off to war as a chevalier, or knight. While he is away, his daughter, the gentle and loving Béatrice (Julie Delpy), sees to the needs of her little brother and her feckless mother. Although the castle in which they live is a sepulcher of shadows and stone, Béatrice maintains her spirits as she looks forward to the day when her father's voice will once again echo in the corridors. After four years of war in which he was held captive for a time by the English, he returns to the castle, a hardened warrior who has renounced God. Inside his twisted mind, he still carries the memory of that terrible day long ago, the day he discovered his mother was an adulteress. Giving the demons within him free rein, he begins to abuse everyone around him: He insults, bullies, and pillages the local village. He even forces his son Nils Tavernier to wear women's clothes and become the prey in a hunt. As he descends deeper into depravity, it is innocent Béatrice who suffers the most. Whether he has completely destroyed her, or whether she will rise up and destroy him, becomes the central focus of the film as it moves toward its conclusion. The dialogue is in French with English subtitles. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide