Anouk Ferjac Movies
- 1997
In this zany French comedy, a writer chooses the day he and his family are to move out into the country to quit his publishing job and take a lucrative position writing for a television sitcom. On this day, everything possible goes haywire, beginning with the early arrival of the four Romanian illegal aliens Alain hired to do the moving. He is at his old job cleaning out his desk when his wife calls with the bad news that the movers have arrived four hours early. Shortly thereafter a fight breaks out amongst the Romanians and they leave Alain high and dry. Alain then beseeches his friends to help him pack and move furniture. Unfortunately, his good buddies don't provide as much assistance as he needs. Alain's day goes from bad to worse when he is called in for an emergency story meeting with his new boss at the network. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danyboon, Emmanuelle Devos, (more)
- 1991
In this frequently surrealistic romp, a satire on sex, politics, and the business of filmmaking, two young women get together after discovering sufficient provocations in their lives to deliberately set out to wreak havoc in the world around them. Joelle (Anouk Grinberg) has just been thrown out of a moving car by her abusive man-friend, when Camille (Charlotte Gainsbourg) encounters her. Joelle's bitter exclamation Merci la Vie, or "thank you, life" echoes something of Camille's feelings, and the two decide to go on a rampage, picking up and seducing numerous men and then doing things like destroying their cars. Eventually, they set their sights on a "higher" goal and decide to do in an entire town. Meanwhile, it becomes evident that a sinister medical researcher, Dr. Worms (Gérard Depardieu), has infected promiscuous Joelle with a sexually transmitted disease he invented for the sole purpose of becoming the man who finds its cure, which he hopes will make him beloved, famous and rich. At some point, an elaborate series of flashbacks enter the story, and in one sequence, Camille attempts to persuade her feuding parents to get back together long enough to conceive her. Reviewers noted that logic is not a strong point in this film, but they found its fast pace and bright performances vastly entertaining. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte Gainsbourg, Anouk Grinberg, (more)
When his brother is murdered, a policeman is caught between his devotion to the law and his family's desire for revenge in this action drama. Patrick Swayze plays Truman Gates, who left his backwoods Appalachian home for life as a Chicago police officer. When his brother is killed by a gangster, Truman is determined to seek legal retribution. His older brother Briar (Liam Neeson) has different ideas, however, and travels to the city to seek old-fashioned vigilante justice. Truman must now choose between his family's belief in mountain justice and the duties of his job. Though the film is not particularly action-packed, director John Irvin does provide the expected gunplay and macho confrontations. However, despite a surprisingly distinguished cast (also including Helen Hunt and Michael J. Pollard), little distinguishes the film from numerous other revenge stories with a similar outline. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Swayze, Liam Neeson, (more)
- 1987
- R
Julie (Jessica Forde) and her childhood sweetheart Jean (Jean-Claude Adelin) are separated in this uneven but prize-winning romantic drama. When Jean is shipped off to live with his aristocratic father, Julie later becomes engaged to Henri (Simon de la Brosse), a young man from her own social standing. When Jean returns, Henri is driven to fits of jealous rage, and Julie follows the uninterested Jean back to Paris in an attempt to win his love again. This feature won the Jean Vigo Prize in 1987. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessica Forde, Jean-Claude Adelin, (more)
- 1986
In this drama, the popular French film star of the '30s and '40s Jean Marais plays Victor, a disgruntled, cranky old man who is forced to come to terms with the fact that he is now the guardian of his mulatto grandson Clem (Serge Ubrette). Victor is shocked to discover his grandson's mixed heritage when he travels to London to pick him up, but resigns himself to the situation. Once at home in France, the brash Clem manages to steal the heart of the most coveted young woman in town, but that only gets him into trouble with her tough-guy boyfriend and his buddies. Meanwhile, Grandpa is trying to come to grips with his own biases as best he can. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Marais, Serge Ubrette, (more)
- 1983
A physical attraction between Simone Cambrai (Bibi Andersson) an agent for a French press, and Steiner Carlsen (Bjoern Skagestad) a cover designer for a Norwegian firm turns into a sexual relationship when the two meet at a book fair in Frankfurt. Although they carry on an affair through letters and tapes until they can meet again, they do not seem able to get past their glamorous exteriors to something at a deeper level. When issues arise that call for communication on a more profound basis, the relationship starts to falter. This movie itself functions more on a superficial level, making it only skin deep for many viewers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bibi Andersson, Björn Skagestad, (more)
- 1977
A young French-Canadian, who has romanticized notions of France, based on great works of literature and art decides to visit his fabled ancestral homeland, and discovers the simple reality of the place and its living, breathing, very ordinary human beings. While there, he meets several people, and has an affair with a woman jurist with an unhappy marriage. Considerably enlightened, rather than disillusioned, he returns to his Canadian home. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcel Sabourin, Anouk Ferjac, (more)
- 1977
This gentle, closely observed autobiographical tale, a first film by director Diane Kurys, got a very favorable critical reception at the time of its release. It concerns the experiences of Anne (Eleonore Klarwein) and Frederique (Odile Michel), the 13- and 15-year-old daughters of a separated Jewish couple. They are attending a grim, rule-crazy school in the early 1960s. Anne is unsocial and not much of an "achiever"; she tries to find out what is going on around her by eavesdropping on her mother and her older sister. Frederique is much more outgoing, has a crush on someone much older than herself, and is beginning to feel the first pangs of love. They are both awkward around their father, whom they visit on school holidays. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eleonore Klarwein, Odile Michel, (more)
- 1977
After serving faithfully for over 10 years, the mid-level executive in this film has received notice that he is being fired for vague reasons having something to do with "reorganization" rather than his own job performance. As a protest, he tries attending a company party with his pants off, which seems to have no effect whatsoever. Shortly afterward, he hits on the scheme of barricading himself in his old office and going on a hunger strike. No one has seen anything like this before, and his efforts seem to be having an effect. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Rochefort, Michel Lonsdale, (more)
- 1976
A homeless young man, living in his delivery truck, is simultaneously adopted by a pranksome group of youngsters and made into a police informer. Believing that he is doing something good both for the other kids and for himself, he has no qualms. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Spiesser, Isabelle Huppert, (more)
- 1975
The young hit man in this movie cannot bring himself to fulfill his contract on Katie (Delphine Seyrig), and for a little while the two have an affair. Even after their affair is over, he hesitates, which has dire consequences for the two of them. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Delphine Seyrig, Anouk Ferjac, (more)
- 1975
A doctor gains a new perspective on her life and career when she faces a life-threatening illness in this drama. Francoise (Annie Girardot) is a French physician with a very busy schedule. While she's well respected by her patients and colleagues, she has precious little time to spend with her husband Gerard (Francois Perier), her pregnant teenage daughter Elisabeth (Isabelle Huppert), or her sullen son Julien (William Coryn). She somehow manages to find time for her lover Daniel (Jean-Pierre Cassel), but Francoise's life is already starting to fray at the edges when she receives the upsetting news that she has cancer. Francoise, however, learns to put on a brave face and faces her disease and its difficult treatment with optimism and a fierce resolve. Annie Giradot's performance in Docteur Francoise Gailland earned her a Cesar (the French Academy Award). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Girardot, Jean-Pierre Cassel, (more)
- 1975
Veronique goes on vacation with her godparents and begins to grow aware of the complexity and power of sexual attraction. She and her godfather develop a relationship which could easily have become sexual, but does not. She confides in her diary afterwards that she wishes she had permitted things to go further. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Teyssedre, Anouk Ferjac, (more)
- 1974
This film biography of the French torch singer Edith Piaf (1915-1963) was made simultaneously with a French and English soundtrack. Piaf (Brigitte Ariel) grew up on the streets of Paris and was a bawdy, powerful character. This film chronicles her rise to vocal pre-eminence, and highlights her career in the '20s and '30s. Some of Piaf's own singing is included in the soundtrack. Among the innumerable songs she made popular in France and the U.S. are "La Vie En Rose", and "Milord". ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Ariel, Pascale Christophe, (more)
- 1973
In this French crime caper film, a young misfit (Jacques Higelin) who has grown tired of his job as a bank teller deliberately gets fired. When some underworld characters ask him to share the layout of the bank so that they can more effectively rob it, he does. He also joins in the robbery. But when members of the gang start shooting at one another, it becomes clear that he is definitely in over his head. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Two neighboring French families are going through major life-ceremonies at the same time: one is experiencing the funeral of the clan's mother, and the other is preparing for a wedding. In this comedy, the mix-up of flowers for the two parties is only a prelude to a mix-up of guests and some gentle embarrassment all round. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Bouquet, Jean Carmet, (more)
- 1971
This is an extremely violent, gory, and surreal meditation on the life of a young lad during the time of the Spanish Civil War, as he attempts to find out what happened to his father, who has disappeared. It turns out that his mother, devout in her loyalty to the Falange, has turned him in as a leftist. Multiple scenes involve castration and the consumption of testicles, in one case by a victimized priest. The grotesquery includes a fantasy scene of a city swamped in the boy's urine, the mother having a bowel movement over the head of his father, and a deeply Oedipal scene with the boy, a bull and his mother. Not for the faint of heart, this film achieved cult status in New York City shortly after its release. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anouk Ferjac, Nuria Espert, (more)
Claude Chabrol directs the tense psychological thriller Que la Bête Meure (This Man Must Die). When his young son is the victim of a hit-and-run car accident, writer Charles Thenier (Michel Duchaussoy) is determined to find the killer. Obsessed with avenging his son's death, he carefully records his thoughts in a diary. He travels to Paris and meets actress Helene Lanson (Caroline Cellier), who is a prime witness to the accident. After they start up a love affair, he discovers that the driver of the car was her brother-in-law, Paul Decourt (Jean Yanne). Paul also owns the auto repair shop that fixed up the car after the accident. Believing Paul is the killer, Charles befriends his son Phillipe Decourt (Marc Di Napoli). As it happens, Phillipe also wants Paul dead for his own reasons. Charles manages to get invited to the family's seaside home in Brittany in order to finally get his revenge, but things don't work out according to plan. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Duchaussoy, Caroline Cellier, (more)
- 1967
French director Claude Lelouch followed up his hit A Man and a Woman with this tale of a love triangle set against the background of late 1960s political unrest. A French television reporter, Robert Colomb (Yves Montand), on assignment in Kenya, has an affair with a young fashion model, Candice (Candice Bergen). He returns to Paris and tries to reinvigorate his marriage to Catherine (Annie Girardot) by going on a second honeymoon. But Candice follows him to Paris and they resume their affair. Many more romantic entanglements follow. The movie was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Annie Girardot, (more)
- 1967
Catherine (Marie Darc) is left unmarried and pregnant when her mobster sweetheart is killed in this gangster comedy. With the help of another unmarried mother-to-be, Catherine goes looking for the stash of cash buried by her lover before his death. Soon other thugs and her suspicious neighbors are following their every move in an attempt to recover the lost loot. Contains brief scenes of female nudity. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mireille Darc, Anouk Ferjac, (more)
- 1967
In this provocative sci-fi drama from Alain Resnais, a man wakes up in a hospital after an attempted suicide. He has invented a time machine that has proven effective, but only transports the subject back in time for one minute. Upon his release, he gets his hands on the machine to go back to a time he fondly remembers spending with a woman he apparently has feelings about. The two stroll on the beach before she leaves for Scotland. He follows her, but tragedy ensues and it is not clear if he has killed her or if she died an accidental death. The time-machine angle of the film features a dreamlike series of flashbacks making it unclear if the action is presently unfolding or is merely a vague memory from the past. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Rich, Olga Georges-Picot, (more)
