Jean-Francois Derec Movies
- 2008
- PG
Jacques-Remy Girerd, acclaimed director of La Prophetie Des Grenouilles, returns to write and direct this animated fantasy adventure following a young girl as she encounters the Migou, a strange creature who teaches her about a sacred tree that is essential to all life on the planet. Young Mia lives on an island that is currently being transformed into a lavish resort by an unscrupulous real estate developer. Her father Pedro is one of the laborers charged with constructing the resort, though lately the project has been beset by a series of mysterious problems. Those problems become rather serious when Pedro winds up buried in a tunnel after a massive landslide, and Mia races though the jungle to aid in the rescue mission. Along the way, Mia encounters the Migou, a race of curious, identical creatures that can take any form they please. The Migou protect a tree that is crucial to the future of all living creatures on Earth, and that tree is in danger due to the development that Mia's father has been working on. In order to protect the tree, the Migou have been disrupting the development. When word of the landslide reaches the developer responsible for the project, he travels to the island with his son Alden determined to dispense with any obstacles that impede further progress on the resort. But Alden resents everything that his father stands for, and upon meeting Mia he vows to help rescue Pedro and protect the sacred tree - the same tree that his father has vowed to chop down at all costs, an act that will undoubtedly usher in a dark era of death and decay. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Garance Lagraa, Charlie Girerd, (more)
- 1998
British TV host Antoine de Caunes (Eurotrash) stars in this French comedy about gay clarinetist Simon. His mother and wealthy uncle know he's gay, so the uncle says he'll give him $2 million dollars and a house if he will get married. Simon, who can barely survive on his income as a piano-bar musician, turns down the offer -- but then he meets soprano songbird Rosalie (Else Zylberstein), who sings Yiddish favorites for senior citizens. After she takes Simon to meet her large family of Hassids, those wedding bells might yet chime. Filmed in Paris and New York with French, English, and Yiddish dialogue. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Antoine de Caunes, Elsa Zylberstein, (more)
- 1998
A former schoolteacher turned film distributor, Jean-Pierre Jackson made his directorial debut with this French comedy about two losers. When alimony payments catch up with Felix (Philippe Chevaillier), his furniture is seized. After a decade-long marriage, Raoul (Regis Laspales) leaves his wife. The two team for a job with Le Gai Vendangeur (The Jolly Vintner) as sales reps, but they score zero while tooling around Brittany in a silly station wagon decorated with an immense wine bottle atop the vehicle's roof. However, when they're joined by friendly, sexy Eliane (Cecile Bois), sales surge. The wine pours, and so does the money. Life is sweet, but it all turns sour when an affair begins between Felix and Eliane, much to Raoul's regret. The film's soundtrack includes Xavier Cugat. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Chevalier, Regis Laspales, (more)
- 1996
In 1917, the French army used a brutal technique in its attempt to prevent mutinies by its increasingly disaffected soldiers. After lining a unit up on parade, one randomly chosen soldier would be required to step forward and he would be shot, as an example to the others that refusal to fight would not be tolerated. He would go down on the record books as having been a traitor to his country. The general known as "the butcher of Hurlus" was particularly enthusiastic in his use of this technique. This film is an adaptation of Jean Amila's novel Le Boucher des Hurlus. The story, set in the aftermath of the war, concerns Michel (Stanislas Crevillen), a young man orphaned in this manner. He lives with his mother until she collapses under the wave of vituperation from the women in her community, who consider her murdered husband to have been a traitor. When he is sent to an orphanage, he discovers that many of the children in it are there for the same reason he is. Michel decides to escape his captivity and kill the general who ordered his father's death. He and the other children like him are able to get away from the orphanage, in the course of their journeys, they tour the grim battlefields of the recent war. Together, they return to Paris, determined to exact their revenge. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanislas Crevillen, Laure Duthilleul, (more)
- 1995
- R
Not a strict adaptation of the oft-filmed Victor Hugo classic, director Claude Lelouch's ambitious epic instead focuses on the story of two men, a father and a son, whose life stories bear striking similarities to Hugo's character Jean Valjean. The father is Henri Fortin (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a chauffeur (in 1900) wrongly accused of his employer's murder. Like Valjean, he is subjected to a harsh and unfair prison sentence. While Henri vainly attempts to escape his unjust fate, his family suffers, with his wife forced to raise their young son alone. The film jumps ahead several decades to show the adult life of this son (also Belmondo), a former boxer turned furniture mover who agrees to help smuggle a Jewish lawyer (Michel Boujenah) out of France during the Nazi occupation. Along the way, the lawyer reads to the younger Fortin from Les Misérables, and Fortin begins to imagine himself in the role of Jean Valjean, on the run from the obsessive Inspector Javert. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Boujenah, (more)
- 1995
In this French slapstick comedy, a boozy boxer, is again beaten to a pulp in the ring and decides to head for the Mediterranean resort of Norbonne where his brother owns a pizza wagon. En route he teams up with an aspiring con man, who has also been beaten up. As they travel southward, they meet many odd characters and have a variety of madcap adventures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Reno, Christian Charmettant, (more)
- 1993
This bright domestic drama captures a moment in time when, for a large number of idealistic and grateful French men and women, the promise of Russian communism was bright, and everything Russian was a source of joy and amazement. In the story, Irene (Josiane Balasko) was rescued from Auschwitz by soldiers from the U.S.S.R., and since that time she has enthusiatically considered Russia to be the source of hope in the world. Her more pragmatic husband (Maurice Benichou) has, by 1958, grown somewhat weary of her enthusiasm, which has led her to decorate their apartment with anything Russian she can get her hands on. Matters come to a head when she is befriended by three members of the Red Army Choir during their tour of Paris. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Josiane Balasko, Maurice Bénichou, (more)
- 1992
In his work as a notary, Hippolyte has registered prenuptial agreements entrusted to him by hopeful young couples and divorce settlements by unhappy older couples. He has often seen the spark of romance wither and die among his clients and the people in his life, and he is determined not to allow that to happen with his marriage. As a consequence, he is constantly making one dramatic scene after another, in order to ensure that his wife will prove her love with him. Once, he threatened to leave her just to see if it would upset her. On another occasion, he drove them in their car into a lake, to see how she would feel about dying with him. Despite these unsettling antics, Camille genuinely loves the fool, though she is intrigued by the anonymous love letters she has begun getting. Are they from Hippolyte? If not, should she agree to see their writer? This light romantic comedy was the only film directed by the playwright (La Cage aux Folles) and actor Jean Poiret (he was most frequently paired with Michel Serrault) before he died in March of 1992. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thierry Lhermitte, Caroline Cellier, (more)
- 1989
The conflict in question is World War II; even though hostilities have all but ceased, the Germans and the French are not precisely reconciled. German soldier Richard Bohlinger, absent without leave, is befriended by a couple of pre-teen boys (Antoine and Julien Hubert, sons of director Jean-Louis Hubert). Despite the fact that they seem to have found a lasting peace, the adult world doesn't see things the boys' way, and Bohlinger is put to death. Apres le Guerre is the second felicitous collaboration between director Hubert and veteran character-actor Richard Bohlinger; the first was the popular Le Grand Chemin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Antoine Hubert, Richard Bohringer, (more)
- 1988
In this mystery, Julien Lerner (Helmut Berger) is haunted by his nightmare of a woman being strangled to death at an aquarium. While traveling to work one morning, he sees the woman he dreamed about and follows her into a bar. He loses track of her but sees the man who murdered her in the dream. Julien becomes obsessed with the characters, quits his job and moves into a fleabag hotel to be near the prostitute Bichette (Sylvie Orcier). He goes from being a respectable businessman to becoming another one of the strange and mysterious characters in the seedy waterfront dive. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helmut Berger, Sylvie Orcier, (more)
- 1987
- R
Directed by French filmmaker Jean-Loup Hubert, Grand Chemin stars the director's young son Antoine Hubert. The lad plays a sickly eight-year-old who is shipped off to visit his country relatives while his mother has her baby. The boy's subsequent adventures run the gamut from delightful to terrifying, with a little "coming of age" (via a few glimpses of nudity) thrown in. Veteran French character actor Richard Bohringer, best known for his star turn in The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, plays a pivotal role. Grand Chemin was released in the U.S. as Grand Highway. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anémone, Richard Bohringer, (more)
