Jean-Paul Dubois Movies
Imprisoned by his past and unable to cope with the loneliness that permeates every aspect of his life, an HIV-afflicted 58-year-old man seals himself up from the world in order to embark on an inward journey in director Jacques Nolot's existential drama. Pierre is desperate to move past the suffering and overcome an unshakable case of writer's block. After ingesting some psychotropic substances in hopes that it will help to clear his mind, Pierre learns that an old friend who had ostensibly stood him up for a lunch appointment has in fact died. In the following days, this desperate lost soul will be forced to contend with the law, meet with a few long-lost friends, and make one last effort to fulfill his greatest fantasies with the help of a kindly gigolo. Perhaps Pierre's primary problem is that he was born of the wrong gender. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Nolot, Jean-Paul Dubois, (more)
- 2003
Directed by Gérard Krawczyk, Fanfan la Tulipe is a remake of the classic 1952 swashbuckling satire by French director Christian-Jaque. Set in the 18th century, Vincent Perez plays the title role of the seductive swordsman Fanfan, who flees his home in order to avoid a forced marriage. A gypsy girl named Adeline (Penelope Cruz) tricks him into joining the army of King Louis XV (Didier Bourdon) by telling him that if he fights, he will get to marry one of the king's daughters. In addition to producing, Luc Besson co-wrote the adapted screenplay. Fanfan la Tulipe premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Perez, Penélope Cruz, (more)
- 2001
- R
- Add Dark Portals: The Chronicles of Vidocq to QueueAdd Dark Portals: The Chronicles of Vidocq to top of Queue
Vidocq (1775-1857) was a noted French detective who was one of the great trailblazers of modern criminal investigation; he's been credited with establishing the first private investigation firm, and pioneered a number of scientific techniques that are still being used today. Vidocq was also a master of disguise and a former thief with no small sense of adventure, and his exploits have been fodder for a number of novels, plays, and motion pictures in France; Vidocq is a high-tech retooling of his legend that employs cutting-edge digital technology to bring a new visual dazzle to his story. Vidocq (Gerard Depardieu) dies an unexpected death while battling his arch-nemesis the Alchemist, and Boisset (Guillaume Canet), an opportunistic journalist, sets out to write his life story, convincing Nimier (Moussa Maaskri), Vidocq's partner, that he had made arrangements with the great man himself to collaborate on such a book before his death. Boisset begins interviewing Vidocq's cohorts, but it seems someone is following the reporter, as his interview subjects have a habit of dying sudden and violent deaths shortly after sharing their stories. As it turns out, the deaths are tied into a case Vidocq investigated, in which a number of people were killed by lightning -- lightning that was conjured up by none other than the Alchemist. Shot on high-definition digital video equipment to allow special effects artists greater latitude to manipulate the images, Vidocq also features Ines Sastre, Andre Dussollier, and Edith Scob. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Guillaume Canet, (more)
- 1999
In Oscar-winning director Sam Karmann's feature debut, full-time novelist Simon (Jean-Pierre Bacri) slowly slides off the deep end. Bored and thoroughly self-absorbed, he spends more of his time playing with a revolver and performing oral surgery on himself than on his writing. In a series of morosely defiant voice-overs, Simon ridicules everything from his grown children who he thinks he never should have bothered with fathering to his wife who is having an affair with an ears, nose, and throat specialist. In his tedium, he becomes obsessed with his psychologist's watch, supposedly the very watch that John F. Kennedy had on his wrist the day he was assassinated. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Bacri, Nicole Garcia, (more)
The grim post-World War I era in Europe is grist for director Bertrand Tavernier's mill in Life and Nothing But. Philipe Noiret portrays a French major who is supervising the gruesome task of counting and identifying the corpses still strewn over the battlefield. Noiret is obsessed with the notion that, by doing his job above and beyond the call of duty, he can somehow make up for the carnage in which he participated a few years earlier. The major's mission is intercut with short vignettes involving the families and loved ones of the dead, and with the efforts by another officer to find a suitable candidate for an Unknown Soldier testimonial. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Noiret, Sabine Azéma, (more)
- 1986
In this caper comedy, Gilbert was young once, though one would never know it to see him now. He is middle-aged, middle-class, and has an extremely boring job through which he supports his wife and child. It's a pretty odd job, though: he operates the incinerator in the basement of his bank which destroys old, soiled bank notes. That's hard, cold cash to everyone else. Then Serge, a childhood buddy, shows up, Serge was also in a rock band with Gilbert but has now become pretty much a full-time scoundrel. The nature of Gilbert's job leads the old buddy to try and ensnare Gilbert in a scheme to make off with millions of untraceable bills. Unfortunately for Serge, he just can't keep his mitts off of anything, including Gilbert's wife. When Gilbert finds out about it, this throws a big monkeywrench into their theft plans. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Jugnot, Marianne Basler, (more)
Arthur Penn takes a crack at subverting the espionage film genre in Target. Walter Lloyd (Gene Hackman) is a quiet and unassuming lumberyard owner in Dallas, Texas. Chris (Matt Dillon) has dropped out of college to pursue a career as a race car driver. But all mundane tasks come to an end when Walter's wife Donna (Gayle Hunnicutt) is kidnapped while on a European trip. Walter flies to Paris with Chris to see what can be done. Once in Europe, Chris is shocked to discover that his dad was once a top CIA agent. Together, the two visit all of Walter's old CIA contacts in an effort to locate Donna. Finally, Walter discovers that Donna has been kidnapped by a rogue spy seeking revenge for an incident that happened eighteen years earlier. Now Walter must apply his old and vicious CIA tricks to save his wife from an old and vicious CIA operative. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Hackman, Matt Dillon, (more)
- 1982
When Patricia Caron (Nicole García) watches a television debate, she is shocked to hear her long-dead husband described as a war criminal and a torturer. Her husband Marcel (Jacques Perrin) had died more than two decades earlier when French troops fought in Algeria -- and although she had been married only a short time before he went off to his death, she was certain that he could never have tortured anyone. Irate and determined to clear her husband's name, she takes the television speaker to court -- where once the case progresses, there are flashbacks to the war and the activities of Captain Marcel Caron. As the court case drags on, director Pierre Schoendoerffer has hewn to acceptable topics and avoided the controversy surrounding the French army's behavior in Algeria. (French forces took over Algiers in 1830 and ruled Algeria as a colony for 132 years. In 1954, Algerian independence fighters started an armed revolt; in 1957, French troops were sent to quell the revolt, but by 1961, French insurgents were fighting alongside Algerians against the loyal French army and were defeated. Finally, on July 3, 1962, France granted independence to Algeria. The French sensitivity to their conduct in this war was still running high when this film was released.) ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Perrin, Nicole Garcia, (more)
- 1982
When a nurse who is already morose has a patient die under her care, she is so overwhelmed by this death that she starts out on a search for the patient's relatives and friends. What she does find in the end, is a group of petty thieves and misfits who live in the area of the city's docks and had worked out a robbery with the patient who died in the hospital. The nurse senses that the down-and-out group shares her forlorn, depressed outlook, and she sympathizes with them to such an extent that she becomes willing to defend them at any cost -- an attitude that could be dangerous to her health. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miou-Miou, Paul Crauchet, (more)
- 1980
The pushes and pulls of an emerging post-war society are behind the antagonisms in this routine, slow-paced story set in a Jesuit school in 1952. A somewhat old-fashioned priest has his own ideas about how to train the boys in his charge and at the same time, the director of the school is faced with serious financial and moral decisions. The one boy who tends to follow the priest's viewpoints is, in the end, too troubled to live up to his expectations and in a dramatic turn-around, the priest becomes victimized. A sliding moral scale not only allows the victimization to occur but raises larger questions about ethics and one's adjustment to a changing world. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruno Cremer, Jean Bouise, (more)
