Jacques Charrier Movies

In this family drama, set in 1895, an 11-year old must spend the summer at his grandmother's house. Also there are his two female cousins. His grandmother keeps them well entertained with her fascinating stories. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Thomas (Jacques Charrier) is a sailor who has deserted from the Navy in this gentle French drama. He has found refuge in a seaside bordello. Romantic difficulties blossom as he and Flora (Catherine Rouvert), one of the house's prostitutes, fall in love with each other. When he hurts her, however, the denizens of the house agree that he must leave ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A group of anarchistic Croatians cross borders to carry out their assassination plots in order to create political chaos. There are no heroes, only a collection of despicable humans. A lesbian couple rapes and terrorizes a roomful of women who are ordered to disrobe and perform unwanted sex acts at gunpoint. The target of the murderers is Serbian King Alexander II of Yugoslavia, but the thinly disguised plot takes a back seat to the nudity and exploitation in this film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this anthology, six French filmmakers each contributed a vignette, offering their take on the history of prostitution. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In the film directorial debut of Antoine Bourseiller, Marie (Daniele Delorme) is a barmaid and single mother to a child fathered by a black man. She is cautious to commit to another man until she nearly falls for Axel (Jacques Charrier), a younger man who has dreams of social-climbing ambition. The affair is doomed to failure when Marie becomes mistrustful and Axel is consumed with advancing his career. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this French drama, a struggling writer is taken in by a successful author and his wife who allow him to use their Bavarian chateau so he can write his stories about Germany. The young writer is a bitter man, jealous of the couple's happiness. He decides he will destroy it, so when the older writer goes off on a business trip, the young man tries to seduce his wife. She rejects him. The conniving young man then learns that she has a lover. He ends up taking a picture of the couple illicitly holding hands. The older man returns and the younger one confronts him with the damning photos. The husband flies into a jealous rage and stabs his wife; he then calls the cops. The young writer suddenly feels great guilt, but despite his attempts to publicly take responsibility for the crime, no one listens, no one cares. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The seven major sins receive treatment from some of France's greatest directors in this lively portmanteau. "Anger" by Dhomme, chronicles a single horrific day when every bowl of soup in France is found to contain a fly. This causes a devastating nationwide revolt. "Envy" by Molinaro tells the story of a chambermaid whose dream of sleeping with a millionaire comes true. Unfortunately, she goes back to work and finds herself still consumed with jealousy. De Broca's "Gluttony" provides one of the film's most enjoyable episodes as it follows the exploits of a voracious family heading off for a funeral. "Lust" by Demy is set at a Parisian sidewalk cafe and eavesdrops upon the lusty conversation between two young men, one of whom has x-ray eyes that enable him to see through women's clothing. "Laziness" by Godard features real life matinee idol Constantine as a movie star who finds himself too sluggish to respond to the starlet trying so hard to seduce him. "Pride" by Roger Vadim tells the satirical tale of a philandering wife who changes her mind and stays with her husband after learning that her happy home is being threatened by another woman. Finally in Chabrol's "Greed," young men who have pooled their meager resources to buy a prostitute, fight for the chance to be with her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this French variation on Mark Twain's Man with a Million story, a man's life is completely changed by the acquisition of a new car. Marcel, a Chaplainesque factory worker, sets out to buy an old motorcycle and ends up getting a new Cadillac convertible (the "beautiful American" of the title) for $100. He loses his job and suffers other misadventures, but is then amazed at how people treat him when they learn he owns the prestigious vehicle. Amusing little farce makes a few telling points about the pretensions of the very rich. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide

This is the first film directed by the well-known Jean-Pierre Mocky who at this stage in his young life had something in common with the age group in question -- two youths out on the night circuit, looking for women. Freddy (Jacques Charrier) and Joseph (Charles Aznavour) have high hopes as they set out one evening in search of, if not the perfect woman, at least someone in the ballpark. Alas, most of the women they meet fall short of their minimal expectations, except in one case. It looks as if one of the pair will miss the brass ring again. Mocky has created a great Parisian night scene, adding some sharp nuances in the mating habits of young French men. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Les Tricheurs (The Cheats) was director Marcel Carne's first film after a two-year absence from the screen. On the surface, the film is a gallic variation of an American "j.d." film, with young, aimless teenagers being led astray by jazz music rather than Rock 'N' Roll. But there's much more to the story than that: Carne's youthful characters are not so much people as symbols of the postwar relaxation of worldwide manners and mores. In anticipation of the "hippie flicks" of the 1960s, the main characters indulge in a great deal of sex, but abstain from true love and commitment, citing these things as irrelevant in a world full of instant gratification. Of the cast, Pascale Petit stands out as a trendy young girl whose willingness to follow the crowd leads to tragedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide