Patrick Poivey Movies
- 1998
A black street sweeper and a white bank executive lose their jobs on the same day in Paris, and Wantani: Un Monde Sans Mal follows what happens to them as we study their respective fates. The banker has trouble finding a new job but lies to his wife about his problems, while continuing to spoil his daughters. Eventually, he falls in with a group of racist thugs at a local bar and starts to tag along with them as they attack blacks and Arabs out on the streets after dark. The street sweeper, however, is left homeless by his firing, and is soon forced to take shelter at a local church when local employment agencies and social service organizations allow him to fall through the cracks. Despite all this, he and his family maintain their dignity as they band together with other poor immigrants to keep body and soul together. Independent filmmaker Med Hondo shot this feature on digital video; it became controversial after Hondo publicly contested the French ratings board's restrictive designation for the film, which cited its violence. Hondo, however, argued that the violence of the film was merely an honest reflection of the realities the film was meant to criticize. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Poivey, Coumba Awa Tall, (more)
- 1994
This French political thriller demonstrates that justice does not always win out when faced with a corrupt government system. The setting is modern Paris during a time when it was suffering a series of terrorist attacks. Guyot works for Air France as a hologram engineer. He has a dark and mysterious past. One night while driving close to an airport, his best friend is shot by two policemen for no apparent reason. He takes it to the authorities who claim they acted in self-defense. When he discovers that the only eyewitness, an illegal African immigrant, was hastily deported. Believing that Internal Affairs has launched a biased investigation, Guyot takes off to Africa in search of the witness. He finds him and records his testimony, but while creating a hologram that would prove the killer's identity, he is killed. One honest, but world-weary cop close to retirement, decides to take a stand and crack the case. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Poivey, Inês de Medeiros, (more)
- 1984
- R
This technically impressive throwback to the early days of film noir stars Richard Berry as Bruno, a young actor who seems to get blamed for everything. Spotting a gorgeous female shoplifter (Victoria Abril) in trouble, Bruno decides to help her and gets arrested in her place. While lamenting his fate in prison, he is blamed for an escape attempt in which a psychotic guard (Richard Bohringer) is shot. When Bruno's sentence is lengthened, the guard makes his life a nightmare until the terrorized prisoner must lash out in the ultimate rebellion against (and surrender to) his inescapable fate. Director Denis Amar's moody film is strong on atmosphere but weak in characterization, despite an impressively sadistic turn by Bohringer, and the movie leaves the viewer flat rather than moved. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Berry, Richard Bohringer, (more)
Maurice Pialat's character study eschews traditional plot development in its examination of the power of sex and passion to overturn class restrictions and social conventions. Isabelle Huppert is Nelly, a middle-class Parisian housewife, married to possessive husband Andre (Guy Marchand). When she meets street thug Loulou (Gerard Depardieu), her middle-class respectability is thrown out the window and she leaves Andre for Loulou. Loulou, who has no job and resorts to robbery to survive, is more than willing to live off Nelly's money. But Andre won't give her up and, in the mind-set of a middle-class bourgeois, tries to convince her to return. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Gérard Depardieu, (more)
