Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu Movies
- 1983
The Death of Mario Ricci is a Swiss/French/West German coproduction, filmed on location in Switzerland. Gian-Maria Volonte stars as a TV newscaster who journeys to a remote alpine village to interview a famed malnutrition expert. Upon his arrival, Volonte learns that there's an ongoing investigation in the village concerning the mysterious death of an Italian immigrant. Inexorably, the journalist becomes involved in the investigation, and with equal inexorability the chain of evidence leads to the malnutritionist. The Death of Mario Ricci is consistently lovely to look at, though dramatically it's as hollow-centered as a piece of Swiss chocolate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Jean-Michel Dupuis, (more)
- 1982
The Return of Martin Guerre is set in France during the Hundred Years' War. Imagining herself a widow, Nathalie Baye is astonished when her husband Gerard Depardieu returns after nine years. He looks like her husband and sounds like her husband, and certainly has a working knowledge of the couple's prior relationship. Still, neither Baye nor her neighbors can shake the notion that Depardieu is an imposter--especially since he's a much nicer and more responsible person than the man who marched off to war so long ago. Matters come to a head when the local magistrate sentences Depardieu to hang for his own murder. Return of Martin Guerre was the principal source for an American film, Sommersby (1993). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Beaune, (more)
- 1979
- R
Laura (Bibi Andersson) has long been divorced from her theater-critic husband Alfred (Anthony Perkins), though they still see one another from time to time. One day, while working at the icon museum she directs, Laura strikes up a conversation with Sylvia (Sandra Dumas). The two take a shine to one another immediately, and soon they are in bed together. This begins to lead to problems, because Sylvia is young and still lives at home with her parents, who are beginning to suspect something has been going on. Ex-husband Alfred chimes in, saying that Laura should be more careful. By this time, Alfred and Sylvia have also become lovers, as Laura soon discovers. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bibi Andersson, Anthony Perkins, (more)
- 1976
Francois (Jean-Paul Belmondo) was framed as a drug-trafficker by none other than the head trafficker himself and spent seven years in prison for his supposed crimes. Now an ex-con, the vengeful Francois carefully arranges things so that the kingpin's own henchmen murder him, as they believe that they are also about to fall victim to the mobster's ruthless schemes. Flashbacks show that Francois had a rewarding, though tumultuous life before his imprisonment. Now he has a new girlfriend, and a new life, in this movie based on a book by Marceau. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bernard Blier, (more)
Director Roman Polanski casts himself in the lead of the psychological thriller The Tenant. Trelkovsky (Polanski) rents an apartment in a spooky old residential building, where his neighbors -- mostly old recluses -- eye him with suspicious contempt. Upon discovering that the apartment's previous tenant, a beautiful young woman, jumped from the window in a suicide attempt, Trelkovsky begins obsessing over the dead woman. Growing increasingly paranoid, Trelkovsky convinces himself that his neighbors plan to kill him. He even comes to the conclusion that Stella (Isabel Adjani), the woman he has fallen in love with, is in on the "plot." Ultimately, Polanski assumes the identity of the suicide victim -- and inherits her self-destructive urges. Some critics found the movie tedious and overdone; others compared it to Polanski's early breakthrough, Repulsion. The film was based on Le Locataire Chimerique, a novel by Roland Topor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, (more)
