Jacques Bonnot Movies
- 1996
Corruption on the boxing circuit at the turn of the century provides the basis of this French drama. The story centers on a talented young fighter, a logger that Abel Ginoux and his Italian partner Zipolino, a crooked doctor, discover during a fight in a woodland town. The logger, Passe Partout, is in a fight with Ginoux's best fighter and ends up accidentally killing the pugilist. Ever the opportunist, Ginoux lures Partout into the ring to replace the late fighter. Partout proves to be the classic provincial innocent with high, rugged ideals and little knowledge about the modern world. Ginoux takes him to town for the first time and the logger is delighted to discover amenities such as electricity and silent films. He soon falls in love with the beauteous Camille who works in her late father's cafe with her mother. Her father made many of the films, most of which are boxing matches, because he believed that the presence of a camera rendered a fight unfixable. Ginoux forces Partout to make a difficult decision when he demands that Partout take a dive in the ring during a filmed match. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Bohringer, Karl Makinen, (more)
- 1995
- R
Not a strict adaptation of the oft-filmed Victor Hugo classic, director Claude Lelouch's ambitious epic instead focuses on the story of two men, a father and a son, whose life stories bear striking similarities to Hugo's character Jean Valjean. The father is Henri Fortin (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a chauffeur (in 1900) wrongly accused of his employer's murder. Like Valjean, he is subjected to a harsh and unfair prison sentence. While Henri vainly attempts to escape his unjust fate, his family suffers, with his wife forced to raise their young son alone. The film jumps ahead several decades to show the adult life of this son (also Belmondo), a former boxer turned furniture mover who agrees to help smuggle a Jewish lawyer (Michel Boujenah) out of France during the Nazi occupation. Along the way, the lawyer reads to the younger Fortin from Les Misérables, and Fortin begins to imagine himself in the role of Jean Valjean, on the run from the obsessive Inspector Javert. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Boujenah, (more)
- 1994
In this French romance, an escaped convict on the lam falls in love with a movie costumer. Paul Salomon is on the lam after he broke out of prison. He goes a winterbound resort town near the English Channel to retrieve a satchel full of loot. He is headed for Blighty. In the town, he stops in a clothing shop where he encounters Suzanne, another customer. Later he sees her in a restaurant and sits down at her table. He immediately tells her who he is and what he is doing. Suzanne disbelieves him and begins making up outrageous lies about her own life. She bases her "lifestory" on that of Helena the Russian violinist who is the protagonist of the film she is working on. Paul keeps telling the truth and she keeps embellishing until she finally realizes that he isn't lying. She falls for him and they passionately consummate their budding affair. Meanwhile a police chief is hot on Paul's trail. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mathilda May, Gérard Darmon, (more)
