Liliane David Movies
- 1962
In this curious and inventive drama, director and co-writer Claude Chabrol purloins the Hamlet story from a certain Elizabethan bard, and has his characters move along the same plot outlines. Yvan (Andre Jocelyn) is overcome by grief when his father, a noted businessman, dies and is buried in their small town. Yvan's anger boils up as he watches his mother flirt with his father's brother, and he only feels worse when the two get married. The small-minded, gossiping townspeople carry on behind his back and one day, when Yvan sees a theater marquee advertising "Hamlet" he decides to set out proving that his mother and his father's brother connived to poison his father. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- André Jocelyn, Alida Valli, (more)
The first feature film directed by Jean-Luc Godard and one of the seminal films of the French New Wave, Breathless is story of the love between Michel Poiccard, a small-time hood wanted for killing a cop, and Patricia Franchini, an American who sells the International Herald Tribune along the boulevards of Paris. Their relationship develops as Michel hides out from a dragnet. Breathless uses the famous techniques of the French New Wave: location shooting, improvised dialogue, and a loose narrative form. In addition Godard uses his characteristic jump cuts, deliberate "mismatches" between shots, and references to the history of cinema, art, and music. Much of the film's vigor comes from collisions between popular and high culture: Godard shows us pinups and portraits of women by Picasso and Renoir, and the soundtrack includes both Mozart's clarinet concerto and snippets of French pop radio. When Breathless was first released, audiences and critics responded to the burst of energy it gave the French cinema; it won numerous international awards and became an unexpected box-office sensation. ~ Louis Schwartz, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, (more)
- 1959
In this drama, the hero finds himself beaten by gang members whose operation involves capturing young women and selling them as prostitute/slaves. When the hero's own fiancee ends up involved, he does everything he can to save her. Fortunately the police intervene, with guns blazing, and the day is saved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hossein, Philippe Clay, (more)
