Jacques Dorfmann Movies

A college student discovers that no good deed goes unpunished in the black comedy Cinq Minutes de Detente (aka A Five Minute Break). Phillippe (Jose Garcia) is a pre-law student at what is described as "a French University in North America." One day during gym class, Phillippe lets a stranger who claims to have a heart condition borrow his shoes for a few minutes. The man then walks across a tar roof, leaving prints from Phillippe's shoes, and shoots a man who's been sleeping with his wife, before returning the shoes to Phillippe. Soon Phillippe's shoes are matched to the crime and he finds himself behind bars. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Based on a best-selling novel, this drama, set amongst a remote Eskimo tribe in 1935, was -- at the time it was produced -- the most expensive Canadian motion picture ever made, with a budget of $31 million. Lou Diamond Phillips stars as Agaguk, the rebellious son of tribal leader Kroomak (Toshiro Mifune). The two men disagree strongly over the growing presence of white men in the area. Agaguk wants nothing to do with the interlopers, while his father has opened a fur trade with one of them, Brown (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu). Agaguk and Kroomak also clash over Igiyook (Jennifer Tilly), a beautiful woman whom both men want to marry, but Agaguk wins her hand. After he slays Brown in an argument, Agaguk is cursed and cast out of the tribe by his father. Agaguk takes Igiyook into the wilderness and struggles to survive there as she gives birth to a child, while Henderson (Donald Sutherland), a lawman, shows up to investigate Brown's death. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Based on an autobiographical novel by Marie Cardinal, this well-acted psychological drama details the tormented relationship between Marie (Nicole Garcia) and her mother, stemming from Marie's childhood on their estate in Algeria. The mother, Eliane (Marie-Christine Barrault) had lost a child before Marie was born, and was consumed with hatred for her husband who was carrying tuberculosis and may have been the cause of the child's death. That hatred was never resolved, and Marie grew up in a bitter and strained household. As both women grow older, Marie marries and raises a family while her mother sinks ever deeper into anger, frustration, poverty, and isolated despair. She vents her destructive emotions on her daughter and is completely resistent to her daughter's attempts to help her, to make her life better. At the beginning of the film, Marie has been hemorrhaging and collapses on the Metro - but instead of following the advice of her doctor (and uncle) and going through surgery, she goes into psychoanalysis, where her past slowly comes to light over a three-year period. The sessions with the psychologist and her on-going relationship with her mother unfold as the events in the film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A young, loving couple and their two children travel around the French countryside with an old-fashioned carousel in tow, setting it up in small towns and fairgrounds to earn a living. They are happy, supportive, and free-spirited, yet as time goes by, life on the road becomes more difficult -- it can be boring, and the family is sometimes eyed with distrust by the more conservative provincials and by the police. As the family begins to feel the effects of these aloof attitudes, their solidity is invaded by cracks and chinks until they are well on their way to losing their once-happy union. At that point, one of the children has a bad accident, causing the family members intense anxiety, and as a result, the perspective on their differences starts to change. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Jacco (Laurent Malet) and his buddy Freddie (Michel Montanary) are the shiftless louts who frequent a bar run by Madga (Annie Girardot). Magda is Jacco's mistress, and she looks out for him like a surrogate mother. When Jacco meets Magda's daughter Lise (Evelyne Bouix), he drops Magda and Freddie to concentrate on seducing the young woman. The weak-willed Lise is married off to a businessman by her domineering mother. When Freddie dies, Jacco finds himself all alone and crawls back to Magda -- and is supposedly wiser for his experience. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This powerful romantic drama examines the final period of a long and ultimately unhappy affair. Jean (Jean Yanne) is an unpleasant, domineering man. Though he still lives with his wife, their marriage has been over for a long time. For six years, Jean has had an affair with the much-younger Catherine (Marlene Jobert). The dynamic of their relationship is moving it toward disintegration also, but Catherine resists it. Scenes of alternating recriminations and reconciliations unveil the anatomy of their breakup. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This romantic tragedy concerns the Archduke Rudolf (Omar Sharif) and his mistress, the Baroness Maria Vetsera (Catherine Deneuve), and their untimely demise at Mayerling, the sight of the Austrian royal family's hunting lodge. Rudolf verbally spars with his father Emperor Franz-Josef (James Mason) about wanting to implement progressive policies for his country. Ava Gardner plays his mother Empress Elizabeth. Rudolf also contends with the fallout from a loveless marriage with Princess Stephanie (Andrea Parisy). Respectful of the centuries-old Hapsburg family rule over Austria, Rudolf soon feels he is a man born at the wrong time in a country that will not realize the need for social reform. The Prince of Wales (James Robertson-Justice), later to become Britain's King Edward VII, provides the only comic relief with his dialogue. The deaths remain a mystery, but director Terence Young suggests the two lovers made a suicide pact when they decided they could not live in a world without love where the prospects for peace were dubious at best. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide