Marie Daems Movies
- 1998
- Add Those Who Love Me Can Take The Train to QueueAdd Those Who Love Me Can Take The Train to top of Queue
Patrice Chereau (Queen Margot) directed this French drama about a train trip to an artist's funeral. Friends of painter Jean-Baptiste Emmerich (Jean-Louis Trintignant, seen in flashbacks) gather at a Paris railroad station for a four-hour journey to Limoges, where Emmerich wanted to be buried. The dozen travelers include art historian Francois (Pascal Greggory) and his lover Louis (Bruno Todeschini), who develops an interest in teenage Bruno (Sylvain Jacques). Traveling parallel with the train is a station wagon with Jean-Baptiste's body, and this vehicle is driven by Thierry (Roschdy Zem), husband of Catherine (Dominique Blanc), who's on the train with their daughter. Francois plays a taped interview with Jean-Baptiste, revealing his sexual appeal to both men and women. Lucie (Marie Daems) is convinced that she was his main love. Also on board is his nephew, Jean-Marie (Charles Berling) and Jean-Marie's estranged wife, Claire (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), After the funeral in "Europe's largest cemetery," the storyline continues in the mansion of Jean-Baptiste's brother, Lucien (also played by Trintignant). With hand-held camerawork for almost two-thirds of the film, the production involved two extra cars connected to a real scheduled train, headed one way in the morning and returning in the afternoon, with cast and crew logging some 12,000 kilometers over two weeks. Source music runs the gamut from James Brown to Jim Morrison. The title refers to the dying words uttered by the painter -- which actually are the last words spoken by filmmaker Francois Reichenbach who died in 1993 (and appropriated here by his friend, co-scripter Daniele Thompson). One of Francois Reichenbach's best-known films (and subject of an entire book) is the documentary Medicine Ball Caravan (aka We Have Come for Your Daughters,1971), a curious effort to duplicate the success of Woodstock (1970) by simply inviting a large number of musicians, hippies, and counterculture types aboard a cross-country train and filming the result. Shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pascal Greggory, Jean-Louis Trintignant, (more)
- 1990
Without undue melodrama or moral judgment, this evocative French drama paints a painfully realistic portrait of a woman who inexorably destroys her life with her constant fixation on her own needs. She is Camille Valmont, a woman whose lust for fame eclipses every other aspect of her life. By the time she succeeds, she has lost her good husband and two young children. The courts grant her visitation rights with the children every other weekend. Even then, she is so consumed by her career that she rarely avails herself of the rights. Then her career begins to go into a slump. Camille becomes so desperate for money that she must take any job available to get by. One day she gets a short stint working as a Rotary Club hostess in Vichy. Unfortunately, it is on a visitation weekend. To do both, she takes the children with her, something the courts have forbidden her to do. Just before she is to go on stage, her ex-husband calls to tell her that he is coming for the children. She panics, steals a rental car and takes off with the children, neither of whom care much for her, in a desperate, if misguided bid to get closer to them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nathalie Baye, Joachim Serreau, (more)
- 1977
The 14-year-old younger sister of a 20-year old girl who died in a horrible accident remembers her sister in a series of flashbacks and compares them to what she is able to discover about the older girl, who was considered by the family to be a bit of a black sheep. This sentimental drama about upper-class life was based on the novel by Claire Gallois. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aude Landry, Serge Reggiani, (more)
- 1976
Richard Jordan plays Paul, a disillusioned American in search of the meaning of life. After his ex-wife attempts suicide, Paul retreats to Hong Kong. Here he tries to assuage his angst by becoming involved with several local lovelies. Still unsatisfied, Paul leaves the British protectorate, once more trying to find himself. Director Pierre Rissient co-wrote the existentialist script of One Night Stand with Michael White; the film was financed in France, lensed in Hong Kong, and performed in English. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Jordan
- 1962
Gentle Art of Murder is comprised of a trio of short crime tales: "The Spider's Web," "The Fenyrou Case" and "The Mask." An international all-star cast appears in these filmed playlets, wherein each perfect murder turns out to be less than perfect. The stories are linked by "bookend" scenes in which an aspiring wife murderer goes to a movie house and watches the three cautionary tales unreel. Nearly three hours long, Gentle Art of Murder holds both the audience--and the would-be killer--in thrall. The film's original title was Crime Does Not Pay, though it bears no relation to the MGM short-subjects series of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edwige Feuillère, Pierre Brasseur, (more)
- 1960
In this routine crime drama, popular French actor and comic Michel Simon is cast as Pierrot, an elderly gangster who does not fit the stereotype -- he is soft-hearted. After a petty criminal betrays his cohorts by taking off with the loot from a big robbery, he is caught and sent to jail. Now he has served his time, and Pierrot is given the task of retrieving the stolen cash. The tyro criminal tries to use a pretty young woman who has fallen in love with him as a red herring for Pierrot's investigation. Everything backfires though, and Pierrot is left considering what to do with the loot, and with the criminal who does not yet realize he loves his attractive accomplice and could have a good life with her if he opts for walking the straight and narrow. Michel Simon was struggling to get back to work during this period, a few years after some bad dye in make-up had left his face and part of his body paralyzed. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Simon, Dany Saval, (more)
- 1959
The two romantic leads in this standard but well-acted political drama renew a famous pairing that began with The King and I in 1956. Deborah Kerr is Lady Diana Ashmore, caught at the wrong side of the Hungarian-Austrian border in 1956, and Yul Brynner is Major Surov, a Russian commander who works at the border crossing. With the outbreak of the 1956 rebellion, the Budapest airport is shut down and Diana, along with other international travellers, are forced to reach Vienna by bus. Along for the ride is one of the Hungarian dissenters hunted by the police, Paul (Jason Robards, Jr. in his screen debut). Diana and Paul are in love and she is determined to protect his secret. Major Surov suspects a rebel is hidden on the bus, but he does not know which passenger is the guilty one. As interaction continues at the border, Diana is attracted to the Major and his complex character, even against her will. Their developing relationship and strong personalities carry the story from start to finish. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, (more)
- 1957
In this romantic French drama, a young country girl heads for the City of Light to find romance and good fortune. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1951
Longtime French film favorite Arletty is decidedly the star of L'Amour, Madame. Cast as "herself," the actress is required early in the proceedings to share her railroad sleeping car with star-struck young Francois (Francois Perier). It's all very innocent, of course, and the two part as good friends when they reach their destination. But the boy's publicity-hungry mother (Mirielle Perrey) blows the incident all out of proportion, and before long the couple is being linked romantically in the newspapers. This misguided publicity stunt blows up in the mother's face, but the young man emerges from the experience a better and more successful fellow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arletty, François Perier, (more)
- 1950
Veteran French character comedian Francois Perier is almost the whole show in Mon Phoque et Elles. Almost, because Perier is obliged to share many of his scenes with another stellar comedian, who bills himself only as Moustache. No, it isn't the same Moustache who played minor roles in such films as How to Steal a Million. This moustache is a trained seal, and a most endearing one. The plot concerns the efforts of a seal-loving man (Perier) to protect his pet from the evil machinations of the film's heavies. Incidentally, the French word for "seal" has a double meaning, leading to several risque verbal exchanges. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- François Perier, Marie Daems, (more)
- 1949
Au P'tit Zouave is an old-fashioned yarn, given some credence by the sincere performances of the leading actors. The title refers to a seedy café, where the less-than-elite meet to eat, drink and palaver. Most of the characters are the sort of clichés one might find in a dive of this nature, but at least they look and talk like "real people" rather than play-actors. Everyone in "Au P'tit Zouave" is profoundly affected by the arrival of sinister stranger Deny (Francois Perrier). At 104 minutes, the film might have been twice as effective at half the length. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dany Robin, François Perier, (more)
- 1949
As the title of this French documentary indicates, Ce Siecle a 50 Ans examines the 20th Century at its halfway point. Utilizing the archives of several European film reserves, director Denise Tua offers a fascinating mosaic of the people and events that shaped the years 1900 to 1950. Complementing the vintage film clips are three dramatized sketches, delineating the romantic customs of three different points in time. These sketches are inadequately performed, and can easily be ignored. Ce Siecle a 50 Ans both preserved and provided celluloid material for scores of future documentaries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- François Perier, Geneviève Page, (more)
