Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu

The life of the fabled Gallic leader Vercingetorix is brought to the screen in this epic international production. Young Vercingetorix came of age in 60 B.C., as soldiers of the Roman Empire ran roughshod over Gaul and his father was captured and executed by Romans. A wise and philosophical druid, Guttuart (Max Von Sydow), tells the angry Vercingetorix that he should seek justice by winning freedom for Gaul from the Romans. As an adult, Vercingetorix (Christophe Lambert) becomes a brave and insightful warrior, and at first joins forces with the charismatic Julius Caesar (Klaus Maria Brandauer). But in time Vercingetorix is betrayed by the great leader, and soon he raises an army of his own to defeat Caesar and bring Guttuart's prophesy to life. Ines Sastre also appears as Epona, the love of Vercingetorix's life. Vercingetorix was filmed on location in Bulgaria in both French- and English-language versions. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Also known as A Certain Desire, this French murder melodrama stars Sam Waterston and Marisa Berenson. Waterston plays Gerry Morrison, an Interpol agent assigned to solve the murder of a Bordeaux wine heiress. Jeanne Barnac Berenson is one of the suspects, who in the course of the investigation is revealed to be a lesbian, in love with the widowed Marlene Bell-Ferguson (Lauren Hutton). Pretty soon, Morrison has exposed virtually all the secrets of those closest to the murder victim. Indeed, with so much else going on, the solution of the mystery is almost an afterthought. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this conventional detective-thriller, Dominique (Thierry Lhermitte) is the sidekick of the gangster Malaggione (Bernard Pierre Donnadieu), and when he falls in love with Sylvie (Pascale Rocard) -- a good-hearted, relatively naïve woman -- he promises he will do only "one last job" and then quit. In the meantime, detective Bertrand (Daniel Auteuil) is hot on the gangster's trail and coerces information out of Sylvie that is supposed to lead to Malaggione's arrest -- but Malaggione escapes and hunts down Dominique, who confesses to "talking" in order to save Sylvie from blame. The ending is fairly predictable, as Dominique, Sylvie, the detective, and the gangster must come to some final accounting when their paths begin to cross. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this 1987 film, director Bertrand Tavernier depicts French life in the Middle Ages as dreary, unromantic, and brutal. The story begins when a warrior leaves home to fight in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) between France and England. Before his departure, he gives his young son, François, a sword to safeguard his mother and her virtue. One day, after the boy opens a bedroom door to find his mother willingly submitting to a man, he uses the sword to kill the man and becomes traumatized with guilt and enmity toward his mother. Years later, François (Bernard Pierre Donnadieu) must go off to war as a chevalier, or knight. While he is away, his daughter, the gentle and loving Béatrice (Julie Delpy), sees to the needs of her little brother and her feckless mother. Although the castle in which they live is a sepulcher of shadows and stone, Béatrice maintains her spirits as she looks forward to the day when her father's voice will once again echo in the corridors. After four years of war in which he was held captive for a time by the English, he returns to the castle, a hardened warrior who has renounced God. Inside his twisted mind, he still carries the memory of that terrible day long ago, the day he discovered his mother was an adulteress. Giving the demons within him free rein, he begins to abuse everyone around him: He insults, bullies, and pillages the local village. He even forces his son Nils Tavernier to wear women's clothes and become the prey in a hunt. As he descends deeper into depravity, it is innocent Béatrice who suffers the most. Whether he has completely destroyed her, or whether she will rise up and destroy him, becomes the central focus of the film as it moves toward its conclusion. The dialogue is in French with English subtitles. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide

Joss Beaumont (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a French spy given the assignment of killing an African dictator, and when he arrives in Africa to do so, he is captured and put in prison. The political winds had changed - the dictator is now an ally - and the best way to handle the agent is to keep him in jail. Naturally at odds now with his former bosses and with an ax to grind for his own incarceration, the agent escapes after two years in prison and heads back to Paris where he announces that he is going to finish his assassination job during the coming diplomatic visit of the African leader. Once aware of his intent, the French government sets up one trap after another, but to no avail - the agent remains free and there is no doubt that he has the full capacity to do exactly what he says. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Julien (Jerome Zucca) is a left-leaning student whose politics and love interest end up clashing as the young man makes a long, epic journey through his years at a private school in Paris when Algeria is fighting France for its independence, up to his time spent as a courier for Algeria's National Liberation Front (known by their French acronym, the FLN). While at school, Julien already had a conflict with his good friend Gilles (Philippe Caroit) and the right-wing politics that Gilles embraces. This relationship will come to have a crucial bearing on the future, as Julien continues on his path. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this run-of-the-mill crime drama, Bernard Giraudeau is Daniel Chetman, someone who wants to leave the life of violence he knew in his neighborhood -- and cannot do so because his nemesis, a strutting street gangster now involved with organized crime, continues to terrorize the inhabitants of Chetman's turf. After much spilled blood, a parade of ugly underground types, and various sexual scenes, Chetman reduces the forces of evil to a reasonable level of opposition -- but who knows if the neighborhood will be different in the end. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide