Philippe Clay Movies
Drawing from the influences of Georges Méliès, Jean Vigo, Buster Keaton, and Franz Kafka, noted German filmmaker Veit Helmer directs this atmospheric, darkly comic film about attendants at a public swimming pool. Lonely Anton (Denis Lavant) watches over his bathhouse located in the midst of a barren industrial moonscape. He spends much of his time pining for a life on the ocean and thinking of ways to trick his sightless father into believing that their run-down establishment is actually thriving. Anton's narrow world comes crashing down when his wife spurns him after her father is killed in one of Anton's pools because of his devious brother Gregor's misdeeds. Gregor hopes to raze the place in order to put up some slick development project, but Anton and the pool's bizarre assortment of regulars band together to save the historic building. Soon Anton finds himself struggling valiantly to save both his dad's prized bathhouse and to win back the woman he loves. Tuvalu was screened at the 1999 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denis Lavant, Chulpan Khamatova, (more)
- 1998
In this off-beat French comedy-drama, a quirky band of classical musicians prepare to play at a nobleman's New Year's Eve gala. It was bass player Roberto (Pierre Lacan) who initially scored the gig. He then calls together his four long-time partners and a local clarinet player. They were hired to play chamber music and Viennese waltzes and to be directed by Roberto's former mentor, the famous conductor Svarowvski (Henri Garcin). The maestro will have his work cut out for him though, for the four players, while each fine musicians on their own, are of totally different temperaments and don't always work well together. Their flautist Therese (Marie-Christine Laurent) will be performing the night before she is scheduled to have her baby; cellist Lionel (Marc Citti) is a kleptomaniac; volatile and hypersensitive viola player Martial (Serge Renko) constantly raves about one issue or another; while 20-year-old violinist Diane (Clementine Benoit) suffers from an inferiority complex. Their clarinetist (Wilfred Benaiche) is devoted to his mother and brings with him a secret. Their aristocratic host (Philippe Clay) can't hear conversation, but still possesses an uncanny musical ear. Plucky Arab woman Fatiah (Sonia Mankai) attends him. Their ordeal begins on December 26 when the musicians gather at the nobleman's chateau to begin a long week of rehearsals. Les Cachetonneurs played at the 1998 Chicago Film Festival. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Lacan, Marc Citti, (more)
- 1998
Roger Planchon directed this French-Spanish biographical drama about artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Regis Royer). Accepted at the Beaux-Arts painting classes in Paris, Lautrec loses his virginity to an artist's model and then falls into an affair with painter Suzanne Valadon (Else Zylberstein). When she leaves him, Lautrec turns to absinthe, contracts venereal disease, and dies at age 37. Although little of his art is seen in the film, some scenes are designed to parallel both his pictures and the images of the Impressionists. Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival and the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Regis Royer, Elsa Zylberstein, (more)
- 1995
A prize-fighter spends 16 years in prison for killing his wife during a blind rage. Upon his release, he wanders the grim streets of an empty French housing project in search of his now teen-age daughter. His quest forms the basis of this gripping French drama. Krim is the fighter and Yasmine his estranged daughter. Krim finds his old apartment block, but it is abandoned and slated for destruction. He is terribly disappointed, for all Krim wants right now is to be happy and to have his daughter back. He sends messages back to his friend and mentor in prison telling him how wonderful it is to be out of jail. His friend, Eugene, a lifer, isn't fooled for a second and is very angry at Krim for lying to him. Meanwhile, Krim stumbles across Nora, a teen-age drug addict, who could be his long-lost daughter. Eventually, he locks her in an abandoned flat and helps her get off the junk cold-turkey. It is a terrible scene, but he succeeds and the two begin a new kind of relationship. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hammou Graia, Elisabeth Rose, (more)
- 1982
The setting for this story is Rahatlcoum, a Roman colony in North Africa, but the "colonists" watch television, have gay bars, trade unions, and traffic problems -- something like the "Flintstones" in an Afro-French incarnation, slipping around on Monty Pythonesque dialogue. A gay Jules César's (Michel Sarrault) expensive vacation causes the population to grumble and gripe, they would rather have mechanic Ben Hur Marcel (Coluche) take Jules' place as their exalted leader. Once she gets out of jail, Cleopatra (Mimi Coutellier) declares that old Ben is actually her long-lost half-brother, and lo and behold, Marcel of the chariot taxis is named the new pharaoh, Aminemphet. French critics loved this film and American critics hated it, leading one to suspect that being French helps considerably in responding to its humor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Coluche, Michel Serrault, (more)
- 1974
- PG
Shanks is not so much a movie as an hallucinatory experience. World-renowned mime Marcel Marceau plays a dual role as a mute puppeteer and an eccentric inventor. The inventor dies, passing along his secrets for reviving corpses to the puppeteer. With the help of an enigmatic little girl, Marceau activates several dead bodies and goes on a robbery spree. Costarring with Marceau are fellow mime artists Tsilla Chelton and Phillipe Clay. Shanks had cult potential, but was released with a surprisingly lackluster ad campaign--all the more surprising in that the film was directed by that master huckster William Castle (whose last film this was). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
The wealthy old lady (Françoise Rosay) in this French comic crime caper is largely unaware of the machinations of her servants and relatives to arrange to be the beneficiaries of her will. She is completely in the dark about their many unsuccessful efforts to bring her life to a premature conclusion. Her nurse (Anny Duperey) has ambitions along these lines and is in love with the woman's disinherited nephew (Bruno Pradal). She seems a better sort than the chauffeur (Philippe Clay) and some of the old lady's other relatives, who would stop at nothing. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1967
San Antonio (Gerarnd Barray) is a suave French police inspector who pretends to turn criminal in order to infiltrate a gang lead by Eastern block scientists. Highlights include two parachuting enemies who battle each other in a free-fall as they plummet to the ground. Jean Richard provides comedy relief as the detective's sidekick in this routine spy actioner. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Barray, Jean Richard, (more)
- 1967
Truck drivers hauling supplies are caught in the battle between the French and Arabs in this routine adventure drama. Jonathon (Lang Jeffries) is held prisoner by revolting Arabs and falls for the pretty blonde widow Lucia (Estelle Balin). The two are part of a group that is held captive and faces death when the fighting begins. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lang Jeffries, Philippe Clay, (more)
- 1965
In this adventure, a secret society, the Sons of the Panther, stop a ring of jewel thieves from stealing diamonds from a downed plane in Africa. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Liselotte Pulver, (more)
- 1960
This undistinguished action film by Maurice Cloche is set in Los Angeles and with ample corpses and nudity, unfolds the tale of a series of murders -- the victims are all prostitutes. A real thin-man detective by the name of Al (Philippe Clay) gets involved in the case and slowly starts to ferret out evidence. Between the women in his life and his weakness for scotch, Al is busy but he still finds the time to kill off a few bad guys and stack up the clues that lead him to a bogus funeral parlor and a brutal procurer. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Clay, Dario Moreno, (more)
- 1959
In this drama, the hero finds himself beaten by gang members whose operation involves capturing young women and selling them as prostitute/slaves. When the hero's own fiancee ends up involved, he does everything he can to save her. Fortunately the police intervene, with guns blazing, and the day is saved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hossein, Philippe Clay, (more)
John Van Druten's stage comedy Bell Book and Candle starred Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer on Broadway. The 1958 filmed version stars James Stewart and Kim Novak, fresh from their successful teaming in Hitchcock's Vertigo. Novak plays Gillian Holroyd, a genuine, bonafide witch. Falling in love with publisher Sheperd Henderson (Stewart), Gillian casts a spell on him, obliging him to dump his fiancee and rush to her side. All of this goes against the grain of Gillian's mentor Mrs. De Pass (Hermione Gingold), who does her best to counterract the love spell. Meanwhile, Gillian's wacky warlock brother Nicky (Jack Lemmon) courts disaster by coauthoring a book on black magic with pompous, bibulous novelist Sidney Redlitch (Ernie Kovacs). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Kim Novak, (more)
