Henri Nassiet Movies
- 1973
In this French film, a mime has ambitions of performing on a grander scale than he has usually been able to achieve. To fulfill his vision, he needs a grant from the Ministry of Culture. The bureaucrats in this film are shown in a grey-faced variation on the white-faced makeup of mimes. Just as he is about to go onstage for his big performance (complete with ballet dancers as back-ups) he receives word that his wife has been injured in a car accident. He finds out at the hospital that his wife has died, and he runs into the street in mime-face, and unwittingly gives the mime performance of his life, showing his grief. One highlight of this film is the insight it gives into the little-known world of mimes. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Féodor Atkine, Marianne Eggerickx, (more)
- 1970
After laboring in obscurity for several years, French filmmaker Claude Sautet finally struck a responsive chord with moviegoers in Les Choses de la Vie. The plot isn't much: the hero, businessman Michel Piccoli, must choose between his wife and his mistress, two women whom he loves with equal fervor. It is what Sautet does with the material that lifts the film above the ordinary. The director puts the central character's plight in context with his ongoing concerns over his job, his income, and his relationship with his family. In Choses de la Vie Sautet has nothing but the warmest feelings for his characters, which results in more three-dimensionality that might normally be expected in so banal a plotline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider, (more)
Bay of the Angels (La Baie des anges) stars Jeanne Moreau as a middle-aged Parisian gambling addict who leaves her husband and children and heads for the roulette tables of Nice. There she meets young and handsome Claude Mann--a meeting which coincides with Moreau's first winning streak. She latches onto Mann in the belief that he's a good luck charm, and remains with him even when she starts losing heavily. Mann, emotionally drained, walks out of the relationship. The film ends with Mann entreating Moreau to return with him to the bourgeois existence that she'd escaped in the first scene. Bay of the Angels was directed by Jacques Demy, just before he achieved international fame with his musical films Young Girls of Rochefort and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Moreau, Claude Mann, (more)
- 1961
This modest, unpretentious French film is a streamlined version of the true story previously cinematized as The Song of Bernadette (1943) Daniele Ajort plays the simple 19th-century French peasant girl who insists that she has experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary. Once this sighting becomes common knowledge, Bernadette's very existence becomes a religious and political hot potato. Thousands of people flock to the grotto at Lourdes where Bernadette claims she has seen the Holy Mother, believing that the waters therein contain recuperative powers. Bernadette dies under a cloud of controversy, but is ultimately elevated to sainthood by the Vatican. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Jean Gabin carries this conventional political drama set in pre-World War II France. He is Emile, a retired politico with a long memory, a curmudgeon who is not yet prepared to stand on the sidelines and watch others wield power. Flashbacks fill in the details about his earlier career -- and why he wants to block the new cabinet proposed by a politician he knew in his former days of government service. A bit long at almost two hours, director Henri Verneuil worked often enough with Gabin in his films to elicit a strong portrayal. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1956
The Russian Czar's special courier, Jurgens, is entrusted with an important message destined for the Czar's troops and he sets off across the Tartars' land with Page in this 19th century setting. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Curd Jürgens, Geneviève Page, (more)
- 1952
La Pocharde (The Drunkard) stars Pierre Brasseur as Pitrre, a tosspot lawyer practicing in a tiny French community. When a family man is murdered, suspicion immediately falls upon the victim's ailing wife. Pulling himself together, Pitrre undertakes the woman's defense in court. The plot thickens when a jealous woman from another town enters the scene. This, coupled with the incessant jabbering of the town gossip, nearly scuttles Pitrre's defense strategy, but he still has a few tricks up his tattered sleeves. La Pocharde is based on a novel by Jules Mary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Brasseur, Monique Melinand, (more)
- 1949
An established film favorite in both her native Sweden and Hollywood, Viveca Lindfors made her French film debut in Singoalla. Lindfors plays the title character, a wild-eyed gypsy lass who falls in love with a nobleman (Michel Auclair) The plot thickens when the nobleman's son (Johnny Chambot) likewise lusts for Singoalla. Director Christian-Jacque exhibits his customary lack of restraint, which in this instance is a plus rather than a minus. Filmed in French, Swedish and English versions, Singoalla was also released as The Wind is My Lover and The Mask and the Sword. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Viveca Lindfors, Michel Auclair, (more)
- 1948
This French WW II film chronicles the invasion of France by scores of English paratroopers who have come to bedevil the Nazi troops before D-Day. Much of the story centers on the preparation of the troops and upon the planning of the invasion. The rest follows the paratroopers as they team-up with French fighters and fulfill their missions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Blanchar
- 1943
Fire in the Straw (Le Feu de Paille) was the final directorial effort of French filmmaker Jean Benoit-Levy before he left his wartorn native country in favor of a teaching post at the New School for Social Research. Based on Henri Troyat's award-winning novel Grandeur Nature, the film details the progress of 12-year-old Christian Vautier (Jean Keller), who rises to fame as a movie star. Christian's father Antoine (Lucien Baroux), himself a failed actor, is gratified by his son's popularity, though he knows it's only a matter of time before the boy falls out of public favor. The film paints a fairly bleak portrait of show business, which in France at least seems to be in the hands of sycophants, fly-by-night opportunists and backstabbers. Filmed in 1940, Fire in the Straw was released in the US three years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucien Baroux, Orane Demazis, (more)
- 1939
Filmed during the war, this little-known Fernandel vehicle finally attained an American release in 1951. The star plays Lavarede, an obnoxious braggart and spendthrift who falls heir to his uncle's fortune. But there's a condition to the will: in order to claim his uncle's millions, Lavarede must first spend three months travelling around the world with but five sous to his name. Reportedly, the film ran into censorship problems with the provisional German government. Whatever the case, existing prints of Les Cinq Sous de Lavarde are obviously incomplete, with co-star Josette Day's role sliced into near-nonexistence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Josette Day, Fernandel, (more)
