Michel de Re Movies

The internationally produced The Lacemaker (La Dentelliere) stars Isabelle Huppert as Pomme, a meek and mild French beautician whose life takes a fateful turn during a vacation to Normandy. Here Huppert becomes the lover of middle-class literature-student Francois (Yves Beneyton). The relationship sours when Francois takes her home to meet his parents, thanks in no small part to their differing social backgrounds. The Lacemaker was the film that solidified the stardom of Isabelle Huppert; she was showered with awards, most notably the British Film Academy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The members of a singles' dinner club meet once a week to talk about their difficulties and help one another out with their lives, with romance, and whatever seems appropriate. In this movie, their dinners are featured, and vignettes of the participants' lives put their encounters into a larger perspective. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a casino owner in Barcelona absconds with a gangster's fortune and is chased to Monte Carlo where he impersonates a millionaire. While there he weds a wealthy American widow. When the gangster learns of the marriage, he and the thief's ex-mistress team up and head for Monte Carlo where they plan on winning back the mobster's missing fortune. Meanwhile the thief thinks about murdering his bride for her money. Unfortunately, the vengeful gangster does it first and frames her new husband for the death. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Philippe Avron plays a bumbling burglar whose crime career is a textbook case of failure. One evening, Avron comes upon an abandoned nightgown. Upon donning the garment, he feels he has been transformed into an angel. Avron then joins a strange circus, whence he hopes to dispense goodwill to the other misfits of the world. As with the other works of director Albert Lamorisse (The Red Balloon) Lamorisse, it is virtually impossible to determine where reality leaves off and fantasy takes over in Circus Angel, a fact that was instrumental in the film's winning a "Best Special Effects" award at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "vice and virtue" of the title of this wartime drama directed by Roger Vadim are exemplified in the personae of two very attractive women: Juliette (Annie Girardot) and Justine (Catherine Deneuve). Juliette is a collaborator and Justine supports the resistance movement, yet when her husband is arrested on her wedding day, she goes to Juliette to ask for help. That simple plan is nixed by a series of unfortunate circumstances that send Justine to a brothel for German soldiers and make Juliette the mistress of a brutal Nazi officer. The symbolism in this tale harks back to two stories by the Marquis de Sade, one titled "Juliette" and the other, "Justine." Vadim seems to have been caught between creating symbolic characters versus creating believable women since as the story unfolds, Juliette is not exactly vice incarnate, nor is Justine a model of pristine virtue. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

While there is an element of science fiction to this political satire about Latin American dictatorships, that element is primarily used to promote the storyline and the message, and not as a value in itself. In a make-believe Spanish-speaking country of the Americas, a dictator (Zbigniew Cybulski) rules with the usual degree of corruption but as it turns out, his wife is the one who gives most of the orders. Two story strands are then woven together: a scientist has invented a way to replicate objects and, lo and behold, he discovers he can make a robotic duplicate of the dictator's wife. Meanwhile, an ardent, left-leaning revolutionary who happens to be a dead ringer for the dictator ends up taking over the tyrant's role when he is assassinated. So one has a robotic wife and a fake dictator now running a country which is none the wiser. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Sundays and Cybele (original French title: Les Dimanches de Ville D'Avray) stars Hardy Kruger as a former bomber pilot. Emotionally shattered by a tragic wartime incident, Kruger goes into semi-seclusion in a small Parisian suburb. He is drawn out of his shell by 12-year-old orphan girl Patricia Gozzi. The nuns in charge of Patricia bless the relationship, assuming that Kruger is the girl's father. A warm, chaste friendship develops between the older man and the bright-eyed girl, culminating in their mutual decision to spend Christmas together in a nearby woods. Unfortunately, nurse Nicole Courcel, suspecting that Kruger is a pedophile, calls the police--a move that can only result in disaster for all concerned. Based on a novel by Bernard Eschasseriaux, the exquisitely photographed Sundays and Cybele won the 1962 Best Foreign Film Academy Award. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Focusing more on the personalities of the characters involved, Michel Deville in his first solo directing effort, has created a "New Wave"-style, slightly strident, routine romantic comedy. Set in an apartment where budding thespians are about to put on a show, the narration slips from view as the casual, roaming eye of the camera catches the couples dancing, talking, and flirting with each other. Valerie (Anna Karina) is particularly determined to end up with the man she wants. Françoise Dorleac makes an early appearance here as one of the young women. She was Catherine Deneuve's sister, killed in a 1967 automobile accident. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide