Nadine Trintignant Movies

Sullen teenage orphan Johnny Miles (Josh Albee) is wrongfully accused of stealing from his foster parents. Running away from home, Johnny forms a bond with another youthful "runaway"--this one a leopard who has escaped from a nearby wild-animal compound. Both fugitives are sheltered by a harsh but lovable kennel owner, Angela Lakey (Dorothy McGuire), who senses that neither boy nor leopard are as bad as they're cracked up to be. Assuming the responsibility of caring for the animal, Johnny risks being captured by the authorities--and while his punishment will be relatively benign, the leopard might well be destroyed. Adapted from a novel by Victor Canning, The Runaways premiered April 1, 1975, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jane Lambert (Jacqueline Bisset) is a middle-aged novelist whose marriage has ended in part because of her inability to bear children. She falls for Bernard (Vincent Perez), the self-centered businessman who is not yet 30. Jane ignores her career and follows her heart as she and Bernard begin a passionate love affair. Several months into the romance, Bernard begins to withdraw his affections for Jane and reveals he is seeing another woman. Jane tries to kill herself when Bernard tells her of his desire to have children. She eventually recovers and buries herself in her work as she begins a heartbreaking, romantic novel based on her ill-fated love affair. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Poignant and with several delicately wrought moments, this otherwise by-the-book tearjerker is about a little brother and big sister looking for their long-lost father. Nadine Trintignant (wife of Jean-Louis Trintignant) co-scripted and directs her two children, nineteen-year-old Marie as the eponymous sister and five-year-old Vincent as the brother, also by the same name. After their mother dies, Marie and Vincent are forced into the care of an iron-willed, iron-fisted Aunt Jeanne (Lucienne Hamon) whose militaristic view of life soon drives them to run away. The two set out for Antibes knowing that their father captains a private yacht in that port. Along the way they meet up with a kind writer who takes care of them for the night, a slightly off-the-wall man who gives them a ride, and a few other characters. It certainly looks like the long-awaited meeting with their father will really happen. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The very modest lawyer (Jean-Louis Trintignant) in this case of murder finds much more than he is looking for and then must decide what to do with the unwelcome information. He is defending a woman who is accused of killing her lover. It turns out that the lover was actually killed during a holdup, and was a member of a gang which did bullying favors for local politicians; and the trail doesn't end there. This French film is directed by Trintignant's wife, Nadine. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

An unhappily married man with two children watches a beautiful woman kill herself when she ties herself inside a car and drives off a cliff. Jean (Jean-Louis Trintignant) tries to save the woman but is too late. After hanging out with his bohemian friends, he writes a letter to the local newspaper saying that he killed the woman. Jean is galvanized by the sensationalism of the headlines and becomes intoxicated with thoughts of murder. He does away with the pretty model and girlfriend of his painter friend (Robert Hossein) in a similar manner. Soon the painter grows suspicious of Jean and believes he is the one who has sent the letters to the paper in this story of a little man who gains self importance by murder. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

The French-made Of Flesh and Blood plays like "Dostoyevsky Meets Roger Corman." Robert Hossein finances his participation in a card game by stealing parts from a jeep. He cheats at cards, and has his hands broken as a consequence. Understandably unnerved by all this, Hossein murders an old woman. THEN...he becomes involved with passerby Renato Salvatori, who is fresh from an affair with Anouk Aimee. Three gold stars to anyone who can figure out the significance of all this. Maybe Of Flesh and Blood made more sense in its original French-language version Les Grands Chemins. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This controversial spy-romance tale by Jean-Luc Godard was banned from release in France for three years because it refers to the use of torture on both the French and Algerian sides during the Algerian struggle for independence. The story focuses on Bruno Forestier (Michel Subor), a young, disillusioned man who becomes involved in politics, yet in spite of the fact that he stands up to torture and commits murder because of this involvement, he does not have deep political beliefs. Also featured is his lover Veronica Dreyer (Anna Karina, then-wife of director Jean-Luc Godard appearing in her first film) as a motivating factor in Bruno's behavior. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi