Michel Charrel Movies
Touted in many circles as a response to The Dreamers (2003) -- Bernardo Bertolucci's ode to Paris in May 1968 -- Philippe Garrel's Regular Lovers (aka Les Amants Réguliers) explores the same events cinematically but undertakes a wholly unique aesthetic and temporal approach. The director follows his central characters, a young man named François and his clique of friends, as they experience the aftermath of the events and grapple with their attempts to understand what has just occurred. Garrel's familiarity with The Dreamers came by default; his son, Louis, starred in that earlier work, and plays François in this film. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Louis Garrel, Clotilde Hesme, (more)
- 1977
Three loves have just three days to experience the thrill of a lifetime in director Max Pecas's erotic drama. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 1971
- R
Told with fondness and precision, and set in France at the time of the IndoChina War (which later became an American problem known as the Vietnam War), this controversial feature handles teen coming-of-age, sexuality and even incest with a gentleness that disappointed the prurient and shocked the conservative. This is one of director Louis Malle's finest films: others include The Fire Within and Au Revoir Les Enfants. Laurent (Benoit Ferreux) is 14 years old and anxious to lose his virginity. However, he has a very close family circle, and, between the family and school, he is too closely watched to get anywhere. He makes the most of an opportunity to neck with the girls at his older brothers' party and later almost gets to lose his virginity in a bordello, but his boisterously drunken brothers interrupt him. His real opportunity arises while his mother takes him for a rest-cure for his heart murmur at a very conventional spa. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lea Massari, Daniel Gélin, (more)
- 1969
- R
An international cast headlines this espionage comedy that centers on a world-wide hunt for stolen American defense papers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Lawford, Ira VonFurstenberg, (more)
Claude Chabrol directs the tense psychological thriller Que la Bête Meure (This Man Must Die). When his young son is the victim of a hit-and-run car accident, writer Charles Thenier (Michel Duchaussoy) is determined to find the killer. Obsessed with avenging his son's death, he carefully records his thoughts in a diary. He travels to Paris and meets actress Helene Lanson (Caroline Cellier), who is a prime witness to the accident. After they start up a love affair, he discovers that the driver of the car was her brother-in-law, Paul Decourt (Jean Yanne). Paul also owns the auto repair shop that fixed up the car after the accident. Believing Paul is the killer, Charles befriends his son Phillipe Decourt (Marc Di Napoli). As it happens, Phillipe also wants Paul dead for his own reasons. Charles manages to get invited to the family's seaside home in Brittany in order to finally get his revenge, but things don't work out according to plan. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michel Duchaussoy, Caroline Cellier, (more)
Stéphane Audran plays the title character, Hélène Desvallées, the bored wife of insurance executive Charles Desvallées (Michel Bouquet). Charles suspects Hélène of playing the field, so he has a private detective locate his wife's lover, author Victor Pegala (Maurice Ronet). Confronting Victor, Charles tries to adopt an air of indifference, but the conversation ends with the husband bludgeoning the author to death and then calmly disposing of the evidence. When Hélène is questioned about Victor's murder, she discovers on her own that her husband is guilty. Instead of turning him in, Hélène is so thrilled that Charles cares so deeply about her that she is more in love with him than ever before. The Unfaithful Wife was directed by Claude Chabrol, the then real-life husband of leading lady Stéphane Audran. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stéphane Audran, Michel Bouquet, (more)
This unusual comic tragedy is filmed both in color and black-and-white and concerns the residents of the mythical island of Goto. Goto III (Pierre Brasseur) is the pompous dictator who allows children to witness public execution and has criminals fight it out in a theater to resolve their differences. Everyone is assigned a menial position, leading to full employment but aimless pursuits and no chance of social advancement. A man scheduled to fight on stage runs to the dictator's wife and begs for mercy. The man is given a job in the stable but ends up killing the local flycatcher. He tells the dictator that his wife is having an affair with a lieutenant. The informer is given a gun and ordered to kill the lieutenant, but he shoots the dictator instead and assumes power. After the new dictator professes his love for the unfaithful woman, she jumps onto the stage rather than subject herself to his amorous advances in this bizarre story of social isolation and compliance. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pierre Brasseur, Ligia Branice, (more)
Belle de Jour dramatizes the collision between depravity and elegance, one of the favorite themes of director Luis Buñuel. Catherine Deneuve stars as a wealthy but bored newlywed, eager to taste life to the fullest. She seemingly gets her wish early in the film when she is kidnapped, tied to a tree, and gang-raped. It turns out that this is only a daydream, but her subsequent visits to a neighboring brothel, where she offers her services, certainly seem to be real. This illusion/reality dichotomy extends to the final scenes, in which we are offered two possible endings. Thanks to a question of copyright and ownership, Belle de Jour disappeared from view shortly after its 1967 release, not even resurfacing on videotape. When it was reissued theatrically in 1994, many critics placed the perplexing but mesmerizing film on their lists of that year's best films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, (more)
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