Charles Gerard Movies

Inspired by director Vittorio De Sica's 1952 neorealist classic Umberto D., Francis Huster's sentimental drama stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as an aged retiree who is forced out onto the street with his dog after his relationship with a wealthy widow falls apart. A cinematic comeback for Belmondo, who previously retired from acting after suffering a major stroke, un homme et son chien tells the story of Charles, an older man who was invited by his lover to stay in the maid's room in her sprawling home. When the woman decides to marry again, however, Charles and his faithful four-legged companion are promptly shown the door. With no place to call home and no means of earning a living, Charles wanders the streets of Paris with his dog as their pair drift towards an uncertain fate. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Noted French filmmaker Claude Leloud directs this romantic comedy about a trio of femme fatale musketeers. In order to repay a stack of debts after a disastrous self-financed production of Chekhov's "Three Sisters," Olga (Anne Parillaud), Macha (Alice Evans), and Irina (Marianne Denicourt) hatch a mercenary scheme aimed at lonely Concorde passengers. Armed with exotic false identities and intelligence gathered by Irina's sister and airline employee Olivia (Olivia Bonamy), the three plot to seduce a lonely millionaire, maintain a chaste relationship long enough to exact expensive gifts, and then find an excuse to breakup. Olga's first mark, Oscar, immediately drops his wife when he learns that Olga is a direct descendant of Johannes Sebastian Bach, his favorite composer. Irina's mark, a fabulously wealthy nightclub owner who obsesses over buying a chateaux, dumps his wife, too, when he learns that she is related to Marie Antoinette. Macha has similar success with the president of an unnamed African nation when she reveals that she is descended from renowned humanitarian Albert Schweitzer. Things get dicey when Bayard, (Jean-Pierre Marielle) a suave, seasoned police commissioner gets involved in their dubious scheme. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

After being driven over the edge by a collective series of romantic reverses, three working-class friends abandoned their ordinary jobs as a waiter, taxi-driver and hairdresser to milk money from tourists in a series of clever scams. They have been apprehended by the authorities and are awaiting trial before a judge who has been having an affair with their lawyer. Before this comedy is over, the judge, who previously had entertained a rather exalted view of his own good sense, will have a more sympathetic understanding of how ordinarily good men can go a little crazy and do some bad things - especially in response to crazy romantic situations. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Nicolas (Francis Perrin) is the director of a swinging club for singles in this routine sex comedy. In addition to his own amorous conquests, he tries to help his shy friend improve his lonely love life. Nicolas eventually begins to wonder if settling down in a relationship with the right woman is the way to go. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Claude Lelouch's Bandits combines a murder story with a skewered view of "family values." Jewel thief Jean Yanne ships his daughter Marie-Sophie Lelouch off to a Swiss boarding school. His motives are not altogether paternal: Yanne intends to avenge the murder of his wife, and doesn't want his daughter around to complicate his plans. In Switzerland, Lelouch falls in love with a young criminal, and the cycle that has entrapped her father starts all over again. Nothing is what it seems and nothing that happens is what we expect in Bandits. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The miseries of alcoholism, both for the alcoholic and anyone close to him, are the focus of this routine story about Mathilde (Evelyne Bouix) a devoted wife, and her husband Pierre (Philippe Leotard) who is addicted to the bottle. The opening scene is at a New Year's party where Pierre disappears, and Mathilde starts remembering their life together in flashbacks that tell the whole story. Mathilde is ever-suffering, and Pierre is on the whole revolting, so why she hung in there for so long is hopefully made clear in these flashbacks. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This tragic musical drama chronicles the star-crossed love between beloved French singer Edith Piaf and World Middleweight boxing champion Marcel Cerdan who died in a plane crash. The tumultuous affair is paralleled by the love affair of a French POW and his young pen pal who get engaged after writing to each other for four years and having never met. Their romances are framed by the sad, torchy songs of Piaf. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

An Arab Emir (Bernard Blier) is searching for his long-lost daughter (Catherine Alric) in order to leave her his kingdom, oil wells and all. Her inheritance is jeopardized by a French petroleum czar who wants that oil for himself. The comedic tone is set by the Emir's private jumbo-jet, equipped with a tennis court and swimming pool - and a harem. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Michel Gauché, a stunt double and trickster who is crazy in love with his former fiancee, work-mate, and fellow stunt performer Jane (Raquel Welch). She, however, is so angry with him for landing her in the hospital due to a badly performed stunt that she breaks off the engagement. Belmondo also plays Bruno Ferrari, the movie star he is doubling for, an effeminate homosexual who lusts after his stuntman. Because Jane is angry with Michel, she falls into the arms of a film producer, and arranges for Michel to re-do the same stunt over and over again endlessly. She also tries to woo Bruno the movie star and discovers that he is not interested in women. Michel tries hard to win her back, sometimes pretending to be the movie star, which confuses her to no end. Just as she is about to marry a dull aristocrat, Belmondo appears in an old gorilla outfit and abducts her from the aisles of the church. Belmondo was famous for doing all his own stunts, and he continued that tradition in this film. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this French farce, a wealthy young boy decides to teach his father a lesson by buying a man and employing him as his living plaything. The film was later remade in America and called The Toy, starring Richard Pryor and Jackie Gleason. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi