Daniel Vigne Movies
French filmmaker Daniel Vigne is best known for his medieval drama The Return of Martin Guerre (1982). Making his directorial debut in 1972, he has since become noted for the extraordinarily meticulous care that he puts into his work. As a result, Vigne's films are few and far between. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This unique French offering is a compilation of 30 short films focused on AIDS. The mini-films were based on over 3,000 ideas put in by French school children and were made by filmmakers on a voluntary basis. Most of the vignettes deal with heterosexuality and AIDS, but one deals with drug-usage, and one with homosexuality. It took four production houses three years to create this inspirational and informative film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anémone, Daniel Gélin, (more)
- 1991
- R
Three forms of sexual dysfunction provide the basis of this anthology. The first episode centers on a married couple who can only make love in the presence of a stranger. The second centers on a crazed woman with a constant compulsion to masturbate. The third centers on a voyeur who is planning to marry a woman he doesn't love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- R
Axel Corti directed this historical drama starring Timothy Dalton as King Vittorio Amadeo, a 17th-century Italian monarch who becomes obsessed with the wife of one of his courtiers (Valeria Golino). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Dalton, Valeria Golino, (more)
- 1989
Adrien (Remi Martin) does not see eye to eye with his patrician father about much. It is 1912, and the old man still believes in the old rules which strait-jacket "men of class." He believes that the elite have the right to conquer where they can, that they should refrain from publicizing their improprieties, and he is rabidly pro-military. Adrian, kicked out of his military school for his own improprieties (and hiding that from his father), is naturally drawn to Vicky (Maruschka Detmers) a beautiful divorced woman and friend of the family who is staying at their mansion. The family tutor, a man of ordinary background (with some ideas which seem radical in this household) is similarly smitten. On the basis of their shared attraction, the two men form a friendship. Meanwhile, the object of their affection finds it diverting to toy with them. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maruschka Detmers, Remi Martin, (more)
- 1985
- PG13
Basically an updated take on "Bringing Up Baby," this screwy French comedy centers on the travails of a paleontologist (Gerard Depardieu) whose delight at finding the skeleton of the first French woman is dampened by the presence of an aggressive advertising executive (Sigourney Weaver) who is determined to exploit the find to sell her perfume. Both of the rivals also compete to earn a generous grant from an aging philanthropist (Dr.Ruth Westheimer). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Sigourney Weaver, (more)
- 1982
The Return of Martin Guerre is set in France during the Hundred Years' War. Imagining herself a widow, Nathalie Baye is astonished when her husband Gerard Depardieu returns after nine years. He looks like her husband and sounds like her husband, and certainly has a working knowledge of the couple's prior relationship. Still, neither Baye nor her neighbors can shake the notion that Depardieu is an imposter--especially since he's a much nicer and more responsible person than the man who marched off to war so long ago. Matters come to a head when the local magistrate sentences Depardieu to hang for his own murder. Return of Martin Guerre was the principal source for an American film, Sommersby (1993). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, (more)
- 1973
Italians have Sicily, famous for having a criminal underground as a shadow government, and the French have Corsica which is much the same. In this film, Fanto (Michel Constantin) is a gang leader who feels compelled to enact his revenge on those who have betrayed him. This in turn leads to a gang war and the death of many of his friends. He feels remorse for having caused these deaths. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Constantin, Marcel Bozzuffi, (more)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame meets the Phantom of the Opera in this lively episode, set beneath the streets of Paris. Duncan (Adrian Paul) discovers that Ursa (Christian Van Acker), a deformed and simple-minded Immortal whose life Duncan has saved in the past, is living a toad's existence in the Parisian sewers. At the same time, over-the-hill opera singer Carolyn (Dee Dee Bridgewater) hopes to dupe poor Ursa into helping her dispose of one of her rivals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrian Paul, Alexandra Van Der Noot, (more)
