Michel Duchaussoy Movies

This French historical drama is a retelling of the story of St. Bernadette, the young 19th-century girl who was ostracized and persecuted after she saw a vision of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes. Though she became a popular folk figure, the local politicians attempt to commit her to an asylum. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A long parade of actors and actresses pop up in an unconnected series of skits, vignettes, and sight gags in this comedy anthology by Jean Curtelin. Among the sketches performed is one with Jean Carmet playing a man from the sticks woefully burdened with the challenge of getting through a dog food commercial on less than one tank of intelligible French. Another skit shows a silent duel between an airport custodian and an automatic door, while another with the renowned Michel Galabru sets up a strange teacher-student exchange. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In spite of spending three hours developing the story of French peasant Charles Saganne (Gérard Depardieu), the sweep of this epic skims over the qualities that transformed Saganne from an ordinary officer to a great military leader. Saganne was first sent to a garrison town in North Africa before Colonel Dubreuilh (Philippe Noiret) assigned him to other missions, finally giving him a chance to exercise his innate ability to lead men. After a tragic hiatus in Paris where he fails to promote the colonialist cause, he returns to the Sahara and outshines his past accomplishments, leading a ragtag band of Arab dissidents in some brilliant military maneuvers -- for which he won the French Legion of Honor. His newfound recognition also attracted a society maven who became his wife, and after his tour of duty has ended Saganne moves with her to the village where he was born. But the year is 1914 and Saganne's peaceful village idyll was not meant to endure -- he is again called off to war, and to his destiny. Even though the costuming, landscape, battles, and charisma of Depardieu as Saganne and Noiret as Colonel Dubreuilh are outstanding, and several subsidiary characters deliver emotionally compelling vignettes, the protagonists as an ensemble have not been scripted with much depth of character -- making the three-hour epic seem a bit too long in the end. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Bachs, a clerk in a music store, has written a musical comedy. He is overjoyed to find someone who believes that it can be produced. In this comedy, the scheme concocted by the producer, who has no money of his own, is to cast rich people in leading roles with the hope that they will then sponsor the production. However, while they can be seduced, these spoiled scions of the moneyed classes are not so easily fooled. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Leo (Sven-Bertil Taube) is a screenwriter. He goes to Paris and gets an assignment: to change an already written screenplay into something appropriate for Scandinavian audiences and to develop a romantic liaison in the story between an astrological Leo and a Virgo. He travels to an island off the coast of Sweden and diligently sets out to change the screenplay. However, he is soon distracted by the arrival of his own "Virgo," the airplane stewardess he had ogled on his return flight. Chances for the script's timely revision look slender, but there is a happy ending. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The fantasies and dreams of two over-the-hill actresses are intertwined with their realities, as the two roommates struggle to survive their day-to-day lives in the expensive and difficult world of Paris. In the end, their struggles are eased when the widow of a man they had both been married to gives them a small legacy. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Not quite in the same league as the runaway hit The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, this 1974 sequel is still amiable and enjoyable on its own terms. Once more, innocent violinist Pierre Richard (the tall blonde man of the title) is up to his neck in espionage. Enemy spy boss Jean Rochefort, sore at how Richard inadvertently bollixed up his last caper, demands that the hapless musician be killed. In true "Good Soldier Schweik" fashion, Richard manages to avoid annihilation, never dreaming that anyone means him harm. Mireille Darc is back as Richard's "play horsie with me!" girl friend. The Return of the Big Blond has some of the ambience of the 1965 spy spoof That Man from Rio, especially in its colorful Brazilian backdrops. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Losing her young lover makes Helene (Annie Giradot) feel old, so she heads off to a health resort she has heard does wonders for people. The treatments really do make her and the other guests feel better, and for a while that is enough. She cavorts nude on the beach with the head of the clinic (Alain Delon), made unself-conscious by an excess of vitality. However, she stumbles upon the clinic's dark secret: the clients' rejuvenation comes at the expense of Portuguese youths, who arrive at the clinic to work in the gardens and are never seen again. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this French romance by documentary director Frederic Rossif, a young woman whose life has lost its savor after she has had an abortion, finds new reason for living as she embarks on a seaside romance with a married, bird-watching professor. The romance flowers in seaside walks and long discussions in which they read quotations from favorite authors. When they are not alone together, they encounter colorful locals. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Celine (Bernadette Lafont) is a free-spirited woman who marries a dull, middle manager named Philippe (Michel Duchaussoy) in this comedy drama. The union results in her being pegged as a household ornament for her husband by her husband's coworker. She makes friends with a woman who shows her how to juggle the couple's living expenses to get whatever material goods she desires. When the couple entertains the coworker and his wife, the drunken men suggests they swap wives. Celine strips the man and makes him look at himself in a mirror to prove he is not desirable. Celine turns to painting and writes papers on the inequity between genders as she asserts her independence and gradually frees herself from her husband's claustrophobic world. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this thriller a beautiful girl approaches a journalist in a Parisian bar. Her clothing is in tatters and she seems dazed. She tells him that someone has drugged her and that she needs a place to rest. The gentlemanly journalist obliges and takes her home. The following day, she has fully recovered and they stroll through town. The woman believes that someone is following her, and she suddenly disappears. Later the writer reads the paper and learns that her body was found in a car wreck. He is highly skeptical and tries to find her. Sure enough, he learns that the death was a ruse staged by her stepfather who wanted to collect on her insurance policy. The journalist saves the young woman from her step-parent, and the two fall in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide