Danielle Darrieux Movies
French actress Danielle Darrieux studied the cello at the Paris Conservatory, but the direction her life took was more towards acting than music. Danielle made an impressive film debut as a headstrong teenager in La Bal (1931), but didn't crack the consciousness of international filmmakers until her heartrending portrayal of the doomed Baroness Marie Vetsera in Mayerling (1937). The success of this film led to Danielle's American contract with Universal pictures; studio executive Joe Pasternak cannily concocted what film critic Leonard Maltin has labelled a "winsome" image for the actress in her first US film, The Rage of Paris (1938). Electing to return to France after her American debut, Danielle found herself working under the scrutiny of the new Nazi regime. She made the best of things, continuing to star in films and entertaining the occupation troops as a singer. Unfortunately, this latter activity caused Ms. Darrieux to be labelled a collaborator by the French underground, which at one point targetted the actress for execution. After the war, there were some awkward moments for Danielle, but the death sentence was allowed to lapse. She returned briefly to the US in the early '50s, appearing as a French chanteuse in Rich, Young and Pretty (1950) and as James Mason's duplicitous lady friend in Five Fingers (1952). Most fans feel that Danielle did her best work in the latter part of her career, notably in director Max Ophuls' Madame De... (1953) and Jacques Demy's Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). The actress sang in concerts and cabarets in the '60s, and in 1970 replaced Katharine Hepburn the Broadway musical Coco. In the '80s, Danielle Darrieux scored a significant success in a Paris staging of the film musical Gigi, playing the role originated in the 1985 film by Hermione Gingold. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 2007
By the Pricking of My Thumbs director Pascal Thomas returns to the written word of Agatha Christie for inspiration, and the result is a lively whodunit centering on a deadly family gathering and the exquisite sleuthing skills of hyper-perceptive crime-fighter Superintendent Bataille. For the past twenty-odd years, elderly dowager Camilla Tresillian (Danielle Darrieux) has maintained a quiet existence in her sprawling mansion, where her every need is attended to by professional caretaker Marie-Adeline (Alessandra Martines) and stern-eyed personal maid Barrette (Carmen Durand). The familiar silence of Camilla's world is suddenly interrupted, however, when a series of relatives including her spendthrift nephew Guillaume (Melvil Poupaud) and his second wife Caroline (Laura Smet) are summoned to her mansion for a long overdue family gathering. Much to the Guillaume's dismay, his first wife Aude (Chiara Mastroianni) is also on the guest list, as is worldly adventurer Thomas Rondeau (Clement Thomas), who has always carried a torch for the pretty divorcée. Likewise, notorious ladies man Fred Latimer (Xavier Thiam) turns up casting a longing gaze at Caroline, and as the rest of the guests begin to arrive it becomes increasingly apparent that they all anticipate a hearty inheritance from their increasingly frail host. When Judge Trevoz (Jacques Sereys), a special guest of Camilla's, becomes the first victim in a painstakingly planned double homicide, it begins to appear as if Guillaume's greed has finally gotten the best of him. As with most well executed crimes, however, the truth is a far cry from initial appearances and fortunately Superintendent Bataille just so happens to be vacationing in the region. Now, as the clue-sniffing sleuth and his policeman nephew interrupt Camilla's party in hopes of ferreting out a killer, it quickly becomes apparent that everyone in the mansion has a motive for murder. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- François Morel, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
- 2006
Augustin Dos Santos, the cheerfully eccentric struggling actor played by Jean-Chretien Sibertin-Blanc in Augustin and Augustin, Roi du King-Fu, returns to the screen in this comedy from France. Augustin brings his one man show to a retirement home, where he learns one of the residents is Odette St. Gilles (Danielle Darrieux), who was a noted singer and actress in her youth. Despite her advanced age, Odette is as alert as ever, and she expresses great admiration for Augustin's performance. A few days after the show, Augustin wrangles a commission from French representatives of a Swedish glass-making concern to provide entertainment during a visit from the home office's top brass. Augustin has been asked to whip up a show that's "typically French," and when he decides his own material doesn't quite fit the description, he asks Odette for help. Odette suggests they stage an adaptation of the correspondence between Madame du Deffand and Julie de Lespinasse, and Augustin agrees, hiring out-of-work television actress Bettina Fleischer (Arielle Dombasle) as Odette's co-star and half-bright thug Franck (Christophe Vandevelde) as their love interest. However, it doesn't take long for Augustin to discover working with Odette is more of a challenge than he expected. Oh La La! (aka Nouvelle Chance) received its world premiere at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Arielle Dombasle, (more)
French filmmaker Josée Dayan directs the erotic drama Les Liaisons Dangereuses, based on the 18th century novel by Choderlos de Laclos and updated by screenwriter Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. A co-production of France and Canada, this French-language television miniseries is reimagined with a swinging '60s setting. Madame de Mertueil (Catherine Deneuve) and Vicomte de Valmont (Rupert Everett) are a couple of wealthy and seductive aristocrats. Advancing in years, Mertueil grows jealous when she learns that her old flame Gercourt (Andrzej Zulawski) is planning to marry the much younger Cécile Volanges (Leelee Sobieski). The bored rich couple plot a scheme to have Valmont seduce Cécile before the wedding. Valmont also goes to visit Rosemonde (Danielle Darrieux) in Saint Tropez, where he meets the married woman Marie Tourvel (Nastassja Kinski). Featuring a musical score by Angelo Badalamenti and period costumes by Jean-Paul Gaultier. Les Liaisons Dangereuses premiered on U.S. television on WE: Women's Entertainment in March 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Rupert Everett, (more)
- 2000
A screwball comedy that covers one week in the lives of a group of Parisians, Ca Ira Mieux Demain relies on chance encounters between its characters to propel its plot. Included amongst the characters are two girls, Annie (Sophie Guillemin) and Marie (Isabelle Carre); Marie's mother Elisabeth (Jeanne Balibar); the bourgeois and anal-retentive Sophie (Nathalie Baye) and her husband Xavier (Jean-Pierre Darroussin); and the put-upon Franck (Didier Bezace), who is constantly being harangued by his wife, Celine (Nathalie Besancon), about his unhealthy eating habits. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nathalie Baye, Jeanne Balibar, (more)
Noted French filmmaker Demy's wife Agnes Varda helmed this intensely personal tribute to her late husband. It is her third such tribute and is the only one to look deeply into Demy's vision as a director and his filmmaking techniques. To do so, she uses perfectly preserved film clips from each of the director's works and interviews with those who knew and loved him. Those interviewed include actress Catherine Deneuve, actress Anouk Aimee, actor Michel Piccoli, composer Michel Legrand, his own children and others, including female fans whose lives where influenced by his work. Also included are intimate home movies of him during a visit by Francois Truffaut and the late Jim Morrison. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Based on a popular novel with the English title Devil in the Flesh by Alexandre Jardin, this little drama tells the story of Virgile (Thomas Langmann), a sixteen-year old boy who has grown tired of being a virgin, and decides to seduce Carla (Kristin Scott-Thomas), an older woman. Rather to his surprise, despite his callowness, she proves to be quite willing. One highlight of the film is the performance of veteran screen actress Danielle Darrieux as Virgile's grandmother, L'Arquebuse. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Langmann, Kristin Scott Thomas, (more)
Scene of the Crime (Le Lieu du Crime) begins with a quote from Great Expectations. Thirteen-year-old Nicolas Giraudi, picking flowers in a cemetery, is surprised by escaped criminal Wadeck Stanczak, who orders the boy to bring him some money. Displaying no signs of fear, Giraudi does what he is told, and as a "reward" his life is spared by the convict. Later on, Stanczak gets stinking drunk at a road house managed by Giraudi's mother, Catherine Deneuve. Fascinated by Stanczak, Deneuve arranges for the fugitive to take a room at a local hotel. On the day that Giraudi is to receive his first communion, his mother plans to run off with Stanczak. The climactic set-to between criminals and police has the negatory effect of separating Giraudi from his mother; on a more positive note, however, the boy has been drawn closer to his father Victor Lanoux, whom Deneuve despised. The dreamlike, new wave-ish Scene of the Crime is a lot more complex than this skeletal synopsis would suggest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Wadeck Stanczak, (more)
- 1986
In a standard tale of intrigue and foul play, Michel Sauvage (Lambert Wilson) has just gotten away with murder and is now marrying rich heiress Ariane (Ingrid Held) in hopes of taking all she's worth. Unfortunately for Michel, the murder victim's hard-fisted, tippling neighbor Madam Krantz (Danielle Darrieux in a great comic performance) has just blown into Paris with the intention of tracking down the killer. On one hand, Michel has to defend himself from her prying, and on the other, protect his wife's fortune from the increasingly attractive and avaricious Helene, Ariane's half-sister (Dominique Sanda). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dominique Sanda, Lambert Wilson, (more)
- 1983
Françoise Canavaggia (Danielle Darrieux) heads back to Toulon in 1963 with murderous plans for the people who now inhabit the villa that had once been hers. After arriving in Toulon, Françoise meets up with her sister and a niece, both adding to her tendency toward self-analysis. But with images of the present and past mixed with memories and fantasies of the past -- and excerpts from speeches by Petain and De Gaulle combined with psychological and philosophical ramblings -- director Paul Vecchiali has created complexities that many an audience will never figure out. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Hélène Surgère, (more)
- 1979
A discontented concert pianist causes all sorts of heartbreak with his egotistical and womanizing antics, and all the people in his life attempt to force him to grow up in this French comedy/drama (with English subtitles). ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Rochefort, Nicole Garcia, (more)
In this caper comedy, Jean Gabin plays Lambert, an escaped convict in search of some robbery money he hid a long time ago. He and a companion, disguised as priests, take a plane into Rome. On the way their plane is hijacked, and, in order to get to their money, they must stop the hijacking. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
- 1975
It is difficult enough for Marion (Danielle Darrieux) to be an actress who is rapidly approaching the has-been stage; after all, she was once a great tragedienne. She must also cope with the insistent attentions of a young man (Richard Fontana) who is infatuated with her. This pleases neither the boy's fiancee nor Marion's longtime companion, a theatrical impresario (Jean Le Poulain). In this musical comedy, the actress tries many methods for getting rid of the boy; one that backfires miserably is her pretense of being a drunken old harridan. This only convinces the lad that she really needs his help. Finally, she weans him from her by getting him hooked on a much more demanding mistress: she gives him stage training. This done, she can send him back into the impatiently awaiting arms of his fiancee and resume her own life. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Jean Le Poulain, (more)
- 1969
This situation comedy finds a married couple from Paris longing for the bucolic existence of a simple country life. The father (Jean Richard) is talked into the move by his wife (Danielle Darrieux), who believes the move will enhance their social status. After they decide to buy and old mill, they spend a small fortune trying to make improvements to the aging structure. They even sell their Paris apartment to finance the renovation, only to feel isolated in the quiet of the country. The building of the dream house turns into a nightmare as both soon long to return to life in the city. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Richard, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
- 1968
Alice (Danielle Darrieux), a widowed Frenchwoman, goes on a vacation to Italy. Upon her return, she relates the particulars of her holiday. Within a 24-hour time frame, Alice gets on the wrong boat, winds up in Switzerland where she whiles away the hours at a casino, meets a handsome young German army deserter named Thomas (Robert Hoffman), spends the night with her new acquaintance, pays his sizeable gambling debts, and helps him elude the authorities. When they part, Thomas promises Alice that he'll give up gambling, but as the 24 hours draw to a close, Alice is heartbroken to discover that she's misjudged the insensitive Thomas. This melancholy fable was based on a short story by Stefan Zweig. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Robert Hoffman, (more)
- 1968
This sexual psychodrama was the first film to receive an X-rating in the US. Written and directed by Romain Gary and starring his wife Jean Seberg, it is the chronicle of a nymphomaniac who feels compelled to have sex with every man she meets. As the sordid tale begins she is engaged in group sex with Peruvian Carnival participants. Other sexploits with men, and women ensue and as she goes from encounter to encounter, the true tragic nature of her insane obsession is revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Seberg, Maurice Ronet, (more)
- 1967
Julia Danielle Darrieux is a woman who marries a younger man in this pre-World War II drama. The newlyweds settle down and run a store inherited by the bride. With storm clouds of war on the horizon, the woman's brother-in-law makes a small fortune dealing in guns and ammunition, and when war finally breaks out, Julia is left alone when her husband answers the nation's call to build up the military. She has a premonition about her husband's death as others only think of how they too can profit from the human misery of war. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Jean-Pierre Moulin, (more)
- 1966
Comedian Soupy Sales makes his feature film debut in this silly outing as a janitor cleaning up at Cape Kennedy. He has been specially assigned to make sure that none of the nuclear warheads there get dusty. It's not easy because spies run around spreading dust. One day the janitor stumbles into an experiment and ends up with some very strange abilities: he can fly and women cannot stay away from him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Soupy Sales, Tab Hunter, (more)
- 1965
Bruno (Michele Piccolo) returns for some strange reason to the small French town where he was an informant to the Nazis in this plodding drama. Sophie (Emmanuelle Riva) is a single woman who falls for Bruno partially out of fear of becoming an old maid, but Bruno falls in love with the sister of a man he turned over to the SS. Danielle Darrieux plays Helene, the wife of a man who was arrested because of the informer Bruno. After Bruno is exposed, he is tracked down to an old submarine station where he cowers like a trapped animal. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Michel Piccoli, (more)
- 1964
Dany Carrel and Danielle Darrieux star in this adaptation of a novel by Jean-Pierre Ferriere. Attending the funeral of her husband, a widow notices a stranger present. The stranger turns out to be a woman who was involved with a drug deal her deceased husband was making. Now the stranger is after some missing heroin and uses her boyfriend to try to find out where it might be. The unfortunate widow, however, is not as much a victim as she seems. French director Jacques Poitrenaud of Du Grabuge Ches Les Veuve/Trouble Among Women would go on to act in such films as Autour de Minuit/'Round Midnight and Un Dimanche a la Campagne/A Sunday in the Country. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux, Dany Carrel, (more)
- 1964
In this French comedy, a toy inventor travels to the factory of his childhood friend, now an industrial magnate, and tries to persuade him to lend financial backing to his newest invention. Unfortunately their reunion is marred by the reopening of old emotional wounds, but fortunately, the inventor's wife smooths things over. Later she discovers love letters written to her adolescent daughter. Trouble ensues when the toymaker begins suspecting his old pal, the industrialist, of writing the letters. He then blackmails his pal with the letters. When his daughter finds a new boyfriend, the inventor abandons his extortion scheme. The two old pals then reconcile and go into business together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
- 1963
This light comedy finds a troubled attorney the focus of a woman's murder plot. He answers newspaper ads of women seeking companionship only to meet up with a wife who is willing to have her husband murdered for his infidelities. When the attorney poses as a millionaire, he finds more than his share of trouble, as a rush of female suitors play up to him in an attempt to kill him to get their hands on his money. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Meurisse, Michèle Morgan, (more)
