Jean-Claude Dreyfus Movies

Audrey Tautou, who rose to international stardom with the title role in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's worldwide smash Amélie, reunites with the director for this drama, set during the darkest days of World War I and its immediate aftermath. Mathilde (Tautou) is a pretty but frail young women who was left with a bad leg after a childhood bout with polio. Mathilde lives in a small French village with her Aunt Bénédicte (Chantal Neuwirth) and Uncle Sylvain (Dominique Pinon), and is engaged to marry Manech (Gaspard Ulliel), the son of a lighthouse keeper who is fighting with the army near the German front. Manech is one of five soldiers who have been accused of injuring themselves in order to be sent home; in order to discourage similar behavior among their comrades, Manech and the other soldiers are sentenced to death, and the condemned men are marched into the no man's land between the French and German lines, where they are certain to be killed. Mathilde receives word of Manech's death, but in her heart she believes that if the man she loved had been killed, she would know it and feel it. Convinced he's still alive somewhere, Mathilde hires a private detective (Ticky Holgado) shortly after the end of the war, and together they set out to find the missing Manech. Jodie Foster appears in a supporting role as a Polish expatriate living in France. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A conflicted hitman recently who has reconnected with his childhood soul mate finds his quest for redemption becoming increasingly complicated when the girl steals an important briefcase in director Ra'up McGee's stark crime drama. Jean-Pierre is looking to get out of the life of crime when he begins to rekindle his romance with the girl who captured his heart as a child and never let go. Though the love shared between the pair continues to burn brighter than ever despite their many years apart, the sudden disappearance of both the girl and a mysterious briefcase soon forces the reluctant criminal back into the underworld as he is forced to walk the fine line between protecting the woman he longs for and falling back into a life of crime. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Having finished his acclaimed cinematic quartet "Contes des quatre saisons," legendary filmmaker Eric Rohmer takes DV camera in hand to recreate this idiosyncratic period piece adapted from the Grace Elliot memoirs. Concerned with faithfully evoking 18th century France, Rohmer uses two strategies -- using only eyewitness accounts of the times and avoiding all external settings, arguing that Paris now is a completely different city than it was during revolutionary times. The story revolves around Grace Elliot (Lucy Russell), a Scottish aristocrat stranded in Paris during the French Revolution. She is once again thrown together with Philippe Egalite, the cousin to the king, the Duke of Orleans, and Grace's former lover. Their friendship remains complicated and uncertain, and is made all the more complex by the rush of events around them. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Unlike the more familiar animated Pinocchio by Disney, there are no song interludes here, and characters added to the story by Disney (such as Jiminy Cricket) are not included. Producer Francis Ford Coppola and director Steve Barron, (known for the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film) closely adhere to Carlo Collodi's 1883 novel and use the visually timeless setting of a Czechoslovakian village. Jim Henson's puppet studio skillfully brings this Pinocchio to life. Long ago, in his youth, Gepetto (Martin Landau) loved but did not court Leona (Genvieve Bujold), who married Gepetto's brother instead. In that earlier time, he carved her initials with his onto a tree. Now his brother is dead, and though he still feels for Leona, he is still too shy to woo her. Instead, the old puppet-maker goes into the forest and cuts down a tree in order to make a puppet just for himself. The tree is the same one he carved his initials into when he was younger, and it has the magic of his love in it. Soon after the puppet Pinocchio is made, he comes to life. Aside from being made of wood, he begins to live the life of a perfectly normal little boy. He even goes to school. Lorenzini, an evil magician who runs a children's puppet show, hears of Pinocchio and wants to use him in his show. Lorenzini lures children to his show, only to later turn them into donkeys. Donkeys are useful creatures, and Lorenzini makes a lot of money selling them. Through many trials and tribulations, the puppet-boy earns the right to become the human boy Pinocchio (Jonathan Taylor Thomas). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This visually inventive French sci-fi/fantasy tale began winning a cult following practically from the moment it was released. Krank (Daniel Emilfork) is a foul, monstrous creature who lords over the inhabitants of a small island; Krank's emotional being is every bit as ugly as his physical personage, largely because he does not have the ability to dream. However, he has developed a machine that can drain the dreams of others from their heads, and he devotes himself to kidnapping children from a nearby harbor town so that he can steal their pleasant dreams. Denree (Joseph Lucien) is one of the children who has been spirited off to the island; Krank discovers that he's an even bigger problem than he imagined when his big brother One (Ron Perlman), a harpoon-wielding mountain of a man, sets out on a rescue mission. Once he arrives on Krank's island, One encounters a brain in a fish tank that has learned to talk, a group of clones who can't decide who is the original, a pair of Siamese twins, an octopus that guides a group of orphaned thieves, and a girl named Miette (Judith Vittet) who says she can guide One to Denree. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This gentle French comedy has a meandering plotline as it traces the exploits of a young man recognized as a the son of a star. The main protagonist is 23-year old Harvey who works as the guide for a group of Georgian singers who have a Paris gig. He is interested in Dinara, the 18-year old interpreter for the group. While in a restaurant, they encounter Marco Garciano who tells them he played the small lad in Crin blanc, a classic French film. He is really a half-time chauffeur and con-artist. Marco tells Harvey that he is the son of Gascogne, the father of the New Wave, and close friend and inspiration to many directors between 1958 and 1962. Marco tries to prove his point by taking Harvey and Dinara to meet some former French film impresarios. They see Alexandra Stewart and Bernadette Lafont. They also meet Claude Chabrol while he eats lunch. They meet many more including director Michel Deville. All they meet are convinced that Harvey is indeed Gascogne's son. Many of the female stars claim to be his mother. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This French family film is filled with action, animals, adventure, and suspense. The story is told from a child's viewpoint. One day, while playing in his secret tree house in the forest, 11-year old Antoine spies upon bank robbers stashing 40-million francs worth of loot. One of the robbers is the father of his newest best friend Lisa, a 10-year old Canadian visitor. Not wanting to rat on her father, Antoine instead moves the money to a different spot. Neither he, nor Lisa have a lot of respect for their frequently absent fathers. They find adults to be inherently hypocritical. Both kids do share a love of animals though. Together, they decide to run away to Biarritz, a resort town, and start spending a little money. The thieves are livid when they discover their stash is missing, particularly Max, and they try, unsuccessfully to catch the kids. Antoine is assisted by his muscular governess Clemence as he and Lisa suffer through numerous narrow escapes while spending their ill-gotten gain. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

It is a commonplace that past actions affect our present circumstances. This ambitious movie attempts to show how truly distant actions from former lives affect the subsequent lives of the protagonists. In the story, beginning in Roman times, a wanderer (Gerard Lanvin) miraculously tames some wild bees for a group of lepers, who are killed shortly after that by Roman soldiers. In modern times, a group of gypsies enjoy their communal life, full of dancing and merriment, and have a strong affinity for horses. At the same time, a genial female con-artist (Beatrice Dalle) is putting her boyfriend on a plane. When a handsome gypsy (the wanderer in his former life) meets the con-artist (one of the lepers in her former life), it is love at first sight. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Is Nosfer Arbi a vampire? Or is he just a very emaciated, very strange and possibly quite lonely young man from an Arabic country with an obsession with death? On the other hand, why is the previously cheery Parisian teenager Nathalie Belfond throwing fits and speaking in Arabic? Her strange behavior began with the appearance of a caped and cadaverous man outside her window. Mr. & Mrs. Belfond have their hands full trying to sort this mess out, in this extremely unusual and award-winning comedy which puts a new wrinkle on the vampire mythos. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Jazzman-turned-director Alain Corneau brings his extensive musical savvy to All the Mornings of the World. Jean-Pierre Marielle stars as legendary 17th-century baroque composer and cellist M. de Saint Colombe. Believing the only "true" music is that which is written down, Sainte Colombe is vehemently opposed to performing in public. This stance is challenged by the composer's protégé, Marin Marais (Gerard Depardieu), a man of more commercial sensibilities. Leisurely and luxurious, All the Mornings of the World deservedly swept France's Cesar Awards (the Gallic equivalent of the Oscars). Watch for Gerard Depardieu's real-life son Guillaume Depardieu as the younger Marin Marais. All the Mornings is better known by its original French title, Tous les Matins du Monde. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This follow-up to the 1986 hit comedy follows the pattern of most sequels by failing to live up to the original. In his search for a jacket containing a wining lottery ticket, a white policeman makes contact with African immigrants living in Paris. He is followed by a black journalist and a big black mamma who has fallen in love with the white man. The highlight of the film is the performance of Black comic Eric Blanc, providing hilarious impressions of white people. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi