Louis Lalanne Movies

This 1990 French film presents idyllic episodes from the childhood of novelist and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974). Together, the episodes present a portrait of an ordinary family with an extraordinary ability to love. Set in Provencal in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the film first introduces members of the family, including Marcel (Julien Ciamaca). When he is still a preschooler, his father Joseph, a teacher, takes him to classes to watch over him. Marcel, however, learns along with the other children and starts to read out loud in class. Astonished, Joseph (Philippe Caubère) writes a sentence on the blackboard and asks, "What does that say?" Marcel, reading the words, says, "The father is proud of his little boy." This little scene establishes the tone and meaning of the film. Flashing ahead seven years, the camera then follows the Pagnols after they leave Marseilles for a summer vacation in the Provencal countryside, there to bask in the simplicity of rural life. From then on, it is not what happens to the family that engages audiences; it is how it happens -- with a quiet exuberance and joie de vivre. Besides Marcel and his father, the vacationers include his mother, Augustine (Nathalie Roussel), a beautiful and kindly homemaker; Marcel's little brother Paul (Victorien Delamare); and his Uncle Jules (Didier Pain) and Aunt Rose (Thérèse Liotard). After they arrive at their cottage, 11-year-old Marcel wastes no time wading into the greenery in search of adventure. What he finds is another adventuresome boy, Lili de Bellons (Joris Molinas), a native of the region. They become friends and fellow explorers, capturing cicadas, climbing rocks, and even invading an eagle's cave. Sometimes they just have fun shouting to hear an echo boomeranging back. At meal times -- often outdoors -- fresh fruit and good-natured repartee satisfy appetites. For spectator sport, the diners listen to the occasional religious arguments between Uncle Jules, a God-fearing Catholic, and Joseph, a God-doubting agnostic. Augustine and Aunt Rose avoid the polemics, for they have more important matters on their minds: keeping house, watching children, and planning the next day's menu. And then the film takes a turn toward real drama. Uncle Jules, full of tales about his prowess as a hunter, persuades Joseph, full of ignorance about guns and hunting, to go on a bird hunt. Woe is Papa, Marcel thinks. When the day of the great hunt arrives, Marcel secretly follows Joseph and Uncle Jules into the woods, setting the stage for the film's climactic moment. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi

Inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Idiot and intended as "a homage to the great writer," this film is set in modern France rather than 19th century Russia. This is a story of Léon (Francis Huster), who has been recently released from a mental asylum and claims to be a descendant of a Hungarian prince. On his way from Hungary to France, he meets Mickey (Tchéky Karyo), a hood who has committed a successful bank robbery and plans to take brutal revenge on the brothers Venin for what they did to his girlfriend Mary (Sophie Marceau). Léon can hardly understand what Mickey is up to but he follows him everywhere and soon falls in love with Mary. This odd love triangle resolves in a tragic ending. The frantic pace of the film's action can be compared to that of a runaway, hell-bound train. The colors and sounds go out of control, and violence abounds -- all of which is intended to convey to a viewer the craziness of the time. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

Elements of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream are mixed with a few doses of Bell, Book and Candle in the French Rendez-Moi Ma Peau. A contemporary witch decides to switch the personalities of two wildly divergent mortals. The comic complications involve the "uptight" character's attempts to adapt to a freewheeling lifestyle, and vice versa. Some potent satirical points are made, but for the most part we're in this for the laughs, and nothing but the laughs. Director Patrick Schulmann doubled as the film's screenwriter, then trebled as musical composer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The original "grumpy old men," Jean-Marie (Jean Gabin), Baptiste (Pierre Fresnay), and Blaise (Noel-Noel) raise havoc in this entertaining comedy by director Gilles Grangier. The trio of irritable, temperamental grouchy men abandon their village to go take up residence in a senior citizens' home. They have a great time playing tricks on others and venting about the inadequacies of modern youth. Each elderly eccentric has his moment in the spotlight, as their story unfolds in an episodic manner. In the end, the retirement-home staff become convinced that taking care of these characters lies above and beyond the call of duty. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi