Pierre Dux Movies

Flo is just thirteen and is away from home on vacation. Her mother Clo, her sister Jo, and her relative Do, are all very liberated women, very wealthy, and very determined to have their way. When they catch sight of Guillaume de Burlador (Pierre Arditi), a handsome, well-educated and somewhat needy young man, they lure him into their peculiar ménage by offering him the job of becoming Flo's tutor. What they really want is to take him to bed in the crudest possible way. Unfortunately for the young man he is a true romantic and wants to be wooed in addition to having lots of hot sex. Since this feminist bedroom comedy turns many conventions on their ear, it is completely in keeping with the spirit of the piece that all the bedroom scenes, while occasionally quite erotic, take place between people who are fully clothed. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this French melodrama, the unexpected, untimely death of her husband leaves Jeanne (Annie Girardot) struggling to come to terms with the implications of her new life and take care of her three children. Filmed in French, this movie is available with English subtitles or dubbing. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

Michel Gerfaut (Alain Delon) makes his living playing poker. But when he stops to help an injured motorist on the side of the road one night, he unwittingly gets involved in a sinister arms deal cover-up. The capable Gerfaut goes on holiday, bringing his longtime girlfriend, Béa (Dalila Di Lazzaro), to Trouville to meet his mother (Simone Renant). He soon finds himself the target of killers hired by the pompous Emmerich (Pierre Dux) and his ruthless underling, Leprince (Michel Auclair), who suspect he's working for their competitors. Gerfaut unsuccessfully tries to get help from a policeman friend, but the police are tied in with the crooked military aeronautics company. Backed into a corner, Gerfaut strikes back against his attackers, eventually taking the fight right to Emmerich's doorstep. Three Men to Kill, based on the well-regarded novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette, was directed by Jacques Deray, who also co-wrote the script with frequent collaborator (Borsalino et al) Delon, who also produced, and Christopher Frank. Delon and Frank later adapted Manchette's Pour la peau d'un flic for the actor's directorial debut. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

A grandfather (Jean Gabin) kills a gangster who comes looking for his grandson at the family farm. The boy was involved in hiding heroin for the mob, but the grandfather finds the dope before the gang can retrieve it. He buries the dead goon in the back yard and drives his car into the stream. Soon other members of the gang come to the farm to search for the hidden drugs. The heroic grandfather systematically eliminates the criminals as he acts as judge, jury and executioner in his one man war on drugs and organized crime. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Z is one of the most politically insightful films ever made, exposing government hypocrisy and cover-up in the wake of a political assassination. Zei (Yves Montand) is a scientist who is scheduled to give a speech against the use of the atomic bomb. On the way to the event, he is attacked outside the auditorium by a group of right-wing extremists with political ties to the government as the police stand by and do nothing to intervene. He recovers long enough to make the speech but is later clubbed again and must undergo several surgeries, then dies during one of the procedures. A newspaper reporter finds a witness to the event and a judge willing to hear the case despite government protests. The ensuing trial reveals a government conspiracy, but the results of the trial are thrown out when a new government is formed by a military coup, which results in the intolerance that outlaws long hair, the Beatles, and any peaceful protests. Director Costa-Gavras used actual trial transcripts of the investigation into the May 22, 1963, assassination of Greek pacifist leader Gregoris Lambrakis, which proved a government conspiracy in his death. Yves Montand gives the best dramatic performance of his life, and Irene Papas stars as his wife, Helena. Z won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film of 1969, was 14th in terms of box-office success, and hit an international nerve in the age of social unrest, government cover-up, and political assassinations. All those involved worked on the film for a reduced rate with an option for royalties based on earnings at the theater window. The letter Z in the Greek alphabet means "he is alive." ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

In this French comedy, a toy inventor travels to the factory of his childhood friend, now an industrial magnate, and tries to persuade him to lend financial backing to his newest invention. Unfortunately their reunion is marred by the reopening of old emotional wounds, but fortunately, the inventor's wife smooths things over. Later she discovers love letters written to her adolescent daughter. Trouble ensues when the toymaker begins suspecting his old pal, the industrialist, of writing the letters. He then blackmails his pal with the letters. When his daughter finds a new boyfriend, the inventor abandons his extortion scheme. The two old pals then reconcile and go into business together. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on the Francoise Sagan novel Aimez vous Brahms?, Goodbye Again stars Ingrid Bergman as Paula Tessier, a successful Parisian interior decorator (with a personal wardrobe by Christian Dior) and Yves Montand as her roving-eye lover, Roger Demarest. Worried that she'll be left in the lurch by the unfaithful Montand, Bergman enters into an affair with the much-younger Philip Van Der Besh (Anthony Perkins). Once he realizes that he's lost Paula to Philip, Roger offers to mend his rakish ways. She takes him back, and they are married; soon afterward, however, Roger goes back to his old skirt-chasing habits. Variety noted that Goodbye Again has "strong appeal for a middle-aged distaff audience"; nowadays, they'd call it a chick flick. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lino Ventura stars in this French espionager as a secret agent known only as "The Gorilla". While it's never fully explained how our hero earned this simian nickname, it is perfectly clear that The Gorilla is much sought after by the police and the criminal underworld. The cops suspect that the Gorilla is himself a crook, while the bad guys simply want to remove him from the face of the Earth. The main plot involves stolen plans for a new guided missile; in trying to retrieve these plans, the Gorilla runs afoul of counterfeiters and drug dealers, in addition to his usual enemies. Le Gorille vous Salue Bien (The Gorilla Greets You) was the first in a profitable series of spy flicks starring Lino Ventura as the title character. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

American actress Betsy Blair, who in 1955 scored a significant success as Ernest Borgnine's vis-a-vis in Marty, spent most of the rest of her film career in Europe. One of her earliest French film efforts was Recontre a Paris (Meeting in Paris), in which Blair stars as a wealthy American girl on holiday in the City of Light. When her father cuts off her allowance, our heroine is forced to alter her lifestyle significantly. This is the sort of film in which the poor are all colorful, robustly romantic and meticulously democratic. Before the final fade-out, Blair has found true love in the form of Robert Lamoreaux. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Caroline (Maria Casales) and Isabelle (Simone Signoret) are half-sisters with a long history of mutual animosity. Jacques (Jacques Berthier) is Caroline's lover, who jilts Caroline for her pianist half-sister Isabelle while Isabelle recuperates from a nervous breakdown. The envious Caroline tries to win Jacques back by forcing Isabelle into another emotional collapse. There may be a happy ending resulting from all this, but one would never know it from the murky photography and overwrought acting. Of the stars, Simone Signoret comes off best, making the most of a difficult and contradictory role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Like his earlier Monsieur Vincent, Maurice Cloche's Docteur Laennec is a lovingly rendered biography of a famed humanitarian. In this instance, the subject is the inventor of the stethoscope, who was forced to battle the hidebound medical hierarchy of his time to prove the far-reaching importance of his creation. Cloche wastes little time on Dr. Laennec's private life, adopting instead an episode retelling of his medical accomplishments. The film wasn't altogether adaptable to American screens, since the abundance of dialogue made subtitling (the preferred translation method of the time) difficult. In the title role, Pierre Blanchar once again offers a first-rate characterization. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Set in the sunny south of France, this devilish drama chronicles the romantic entanglements between two vacationing families. ~ Rovi