Annie Girardot Movies
More handsome than beautiful, versatile Annie Girardot was the most popular female star in France during the 1970s. Girardot typically played strong-willed, independent, hard-working, and often lonely women, imbuing her characters with an earthiness and reality that endeared her with women undergoing similar daily struggles. It is small wonder, then, that Girardot became one of the symbols of the early-'70s feminist movement in France -- though in personal life Girardot was not terribly involved with feminists.Girardot made her professional debut with the distinguished Comedie-Francaise theater troupe in 1954 after she graduated with honors from the Conservatoire de Paris. She remained with the troupe through 1957, occasionally taking time off to perform on radio, television, and in Parisian nightclubs. She made an inauspicious film debut in Trieze a Table in 1955. In early roles, Girardot was typically cast as doomed women of dubious origins in dark films, but she didn't make much impact until she played Nadia, a prostitute whom meets a tragic end in Luchino Visconti's Rocco et Ses Freres (Rocco and His Brothers) (1960). During filming she became romantically linked with co-star Renato Salvatori, who played the character who stabbed her character 13 times. They married, but divorced many years later.
Through the early '60s, Girardot played leads in a few Italian pictures directed by either Visconti or Marco Ferreri. Girardot also played leads in numerous run-of-the-mill French films. After 15 years, Girardot finally became a star when she was cast as the tragic teacher Danielle in Andre Cayatte's Mourir d'Aimer (Death of Love) (1970), the fact-based tale of a middle-aged teacher whose affair with a much younger student made her the object of bourgeoisie ridicule and harassment and led her to suicide. Though she appeared in many dramas during the '60s and '70s, Girardot never forgot her Comedie Francaise experiences and proved herself an adept comedienne in such films as La Vielle Fille (1971), Cause Toujours Tu M'Interesses (1979), and Tendre Poulet (1977). Through the '70s, she worked with some of her country's best directors, but by the '80s, her career was in sharp decline and her film appearances became sporadic. However, in 1995, Girardot had a major comeback playing a peasant wife in Claude Lelouch's Les Misérables. The role won her a Cesar (the French Oscar) for Best Actress. Upon accepting the award, a joyous and tearful Girardot expressed her happiness that she had not been forgotten. She also offered her heartfelt thanks to her many film industry colleagues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Political intrigues and infighting within the Italian Communist Party are the overriding themes of this drama. Emile (Gian Maria Volonte) has been sent to Turin by the Italian Communist Central Committee in Paris, ostensibly to find out which of the four Party representatives working in the Fiat is a spy. Previously, Emile had been ostracized because he had a too-heated argument with a member of the Party's Trotskyite faction. Restored to favor, he takes his assignment very seriously and has many searching interviews with each of the four. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Annie Girardot, (more)
- 1975
Diquet (Claude Brasseur) is a private investigator. Usually, he just follows people around and records what he sees them doing. His latest case becomes progressively stranger. After he is hired to follow a man's young mistress, the detective finds that her journeys begin to tie into his own life -- to episodes dating back to World War II, and to certain of his friends who are dead. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Brasseur, Annie Girardot, (more)
- 1975
Salvador Allende was a Marxist who became the President of Chile. Forces within that country and from outside, including the U.S.'s CIA, conspired to bring about an end to his rule, and his life, on September 11, 1973. This French/Bulgarian drama explores the events leading up to his election and ultimate overthrow and is highly sympathetic to his aims and intentions. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bibi Andersson, Maurice Garrel, (more)
- 1974
In this French drama, when magazine journalist Juliette (Annie Giradot) goes to work on a story, she gets serious. This gets her into trouble when she interviews the other Juliette (Marlene Jobert), the winner of her magazine's contest, and she discovers a real person with a job instead of a housewife or a mini-celebrity. Her interview with Juliette has inspired her to write about "real" women, and this determination gets her fired from her job. Undaunted, she starts a women's liberation magazine. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlène Jobert, Annie Girardot, (more)
- 1974
The on-again, off-again relationship between a man and a woman who first meet during a shipwreck (she is a Salvation Army soldier, he is a sailor, both are adrift) is the subject of this French film. The two meet and separate numerous times during the movie, until they are finally able to accommodate one another. In the meantime they are out of synch, each discovering a new facet of their lives to explore at just the wrong time for the other. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Girardot, Bernard Fresson, (more)
- 1974
In this film, a group of French kids face the difficult transition from childhood to adulthood as they struggle through their teenage years. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lino Ventura, Annie Girardot, (more)
- 1973
This French political thriller depicts the world of troubles that descend upon a relatively innocent doctor who decides to serve as a political candidate running against a thoroughly corrupt and devious mayor. In a recent campaign, the mayor and his henchmen were responsible for the murder of a man putting up posters for a rival candidate. Since the mayor is capable of arranging murder, it comes as little surprise that he arranges for the distribution of a forged photograph which makes it appears the doctor's wife was in an orgy. Attempts to clear his family's name and continue with the campaign make the doctor's situation worse. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Girardot, Bernard Fresson, (more)
- 1973
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
- Starring:
- Alain Delon, Annie Girardot, (more)
- 1972
This tragic French melodrama brings to the screen the story of Marie-Louise (Anne Giradot), a woman whose love for her ex-husband will not die even though he seems to be a heartless cad. Alexandre left her, he says, because she attended a few leftist marches and demonstrations. However, he has set up housekeeping in their old neighborhood. Marie-Louise keeps hoping that he will come back to her. She is so attached to this idea that when her son finally convinces her that he will never return, the realization has dire consequences. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Girardot, Bernard Fresson, (more)
- 1972
In this satirical French comedy, Rosemunde (Annie Girardot) earns her living selling relics to the Catholic church. She manufactures them using a specialized machine made by her grandfather, which transforms corpses into bone. Needless to say, since she must have dead bodies in order to do this, the police take an interest in her affairs. In order to fend off their inquiries, she concocts a scheme using a hippyish Jesus-cultist, who is a dead-ringer for conventional notions of how Jesus looked. To everyone's surprise, he has some supernatural gifts of his own. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Girardot, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1972
Muriel (Annie Giradot) is a shy woman who bluffs and blusters around in order to hide her shyness and to protect her loneliness, even though she longs wistfully for a companion of some sort. She has been lonely so long that now she is an old maid and has never been wooed. In this gentle French film, Muriel gets a glimpse of romance when Gabriel (Philippe Noiret) walks into the seaside hotel she is vacationing in. His car has broken down, and he has to stay there for a few days while it is repaired. Hers is the only dinner table with room at it, and Gabriel cannot prevent himself from charming women. She is stiff with him at first, but soon they develop a friendship. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Girardot, Philippe Noiret, (more)
- 1972
Director Edouard Molinaro is better known for his later film Le Cage Aux Folles. In La Mandarine, an eccentric family runs a luxury hotel in Paris. They are not extremely interested in the business they run, preferring instead to dote on the family's grandmother. Things get lively when a good-looking Englishman (Murray Head) comes to stay. He manages to court (and thrill) three female generations of the innkeeping family but finally decides to marry the granddaughter of the clan, whom he has made pregnant. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- PG
Originally Mourir D'Aimer, this 1970 French film is an "a clef" treatment of the once-notorious Gabrielle Russier case. Annie Girardot stars as a thirtyish schoolteacher, who falls in love with teenaged student Bruno Pradal. The boy's parents bring charges against the teacher, and the subsequent public scandal ruins the lives of both lovers. Director Andre Cayatte was a longtime opponent of the antiquated French legal system, so it's not surprising that the cards are stacked in favor of the teacher and student, with their accusers depicted in the foulest, ugliest terms. Adding to the film's partisan approach is the fact that the screenplay is based on a story written by the real Gabrielle Russier's attorney. To Die of Love is shameless in its manipulation of the audience; it also has the saving grace of being extremely well produced. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Girardot, Bruno Pradal, (more)
- 1970
An unsettled teen (Jacques Portet) who was born in Tunisia but brought to France for adoption in early childhood searches to discover his North African roots. Leaving France, he is cared for by an elderly woman who delights in giving him tours of Tunis. When he feels that time is passing him by too quickly, he sets out to earn enough money to return to continue his journey of self discovery. The woman tries to tell him that time will pass no matter what happens, but the boy is determined to travel. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Jouane, Jacques Portet, (more)
Agnes (Brigitte Bardot) is the nun who follows the order to the beach for a swim in the ocean. They shed their habits to reveal bathing suits worn underneath the robes. After swimming away from the group, Agnes is fortunate enough to find some perfectly fitting mod garb complete with accessories. A motor bike is also conveniently left for her to use, and she takes off on an adventurous romp. After wrecking the bike, she is taken into custody by the police and meets Lisa (Annie Girardot), a fun-loving hooker. Agnes tries to live the life of a prostitute but fails to make the erotic connection. After Lisa saves the nun from a group of drunken American sailors, Agnes takes a job riding in an ambulance, and Lisa uses the vehicle for a bordello on wheels. Eventually, a doctor (Jacques Duby) recognizes Agnes as a nun when she comes to him as a potential sex customer. After delivering a pregnant women to the hospital, Agnes and Lisa swim back to the group of nuns, don habits and blend back into the religious order. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Bardot, Annie Girardot, (more)
- 1970
This offbeat satirical comedy finds a beautiful and talkative housekeeper (Annie Girardot) working for several colorful employers. One is a former prostitute living with a prominent politician. Also included is a ribald bank teller and a strange man who helps out at a church for wayward boys and sings at a homosexual nightclub. The housekeeper's verbose nature leads to blackmail for her clients, with the two men meeting their deaths and the ex-prostitute wedding plans put in jeopardy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Girardot, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1970
- R
This routine melodrama finds an Italian woman torn between her old lover and her husband. Karin (Bibi Andersson) is the resident of Rome who literally bumps into Bruno (James Farentino) after her piano lesson. The married man is immediately taken by her beauty and the two begin a passionate love affair. After a confrontation with Bruno's wife (Annie Girardot), Karin returns to Sweden and falls for the American diplomat David (Robert Stack). The two are married and return to the United States before David is assigned to Rome. Karin and Bruno meet again and resume their tawdry affair. When Karin tells Bruno she is going back to her husband, Bruno dies in an auto accident. Karin returns to her husband and young child with vivid and long-lasting memories of her adulterous affairs. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bibi Andersson, Robert Stack, (more)
- 1970
Set in a post-apocalyptic future, this Italian sci-fi thriller presents a dim view of humanity. Following the devastation of WW III, very few people are left and there is a big push to procreate. The dark tale begins on a decimated sea shore settlement were a young couple appears. The male wants his woman to have a child, but she, not wanting to bring life to such a terrible place, refuses to submit to his advances. When a different woman comes along and agrees to have his baby, the fellow promptly sleeps with her. The new woman, wanting to insure her status tries to kill the first woman. She ends up being killed and served for dinner by the first woman. Alone once more, the man continues his fruitless pleas to have babies with the recalcitrant woman until frustration forces him to take desperate measures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marco Margine, Anne Wiazemsky, (more)
- 1969
A married woman in her 30s tries to spice up her sex life with her distracted husband. Annie (Annie Girardot) buys clothes to entice her husband Philippe (Jean Yanne) who is preoccupied with an upcoming tax audit. Even the presence of a beautiful fashion model who visits with Phillipe's brother fails to divert his attention. The title is taken from one of several advertisements seen by Annie who is desperate to regain her husband's attention. This feature is the official French entry at the 1969 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Girardot, Jean Yanne, (more)
- 1969
A liberal-thinking author watches his wife as she attempts to seduce his best friend at a dinner party. She ends up taking on another man as well, and the writer has an affair with the another dinner guest. Soon the three men and two women are entangled in a confusing series of partner-swapping sex sprees where everyone's morals are challenged in the wake of the sexual revolution. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Louis Trintignant, Florinda Bolkan, (more)
- 1969
- R
The title Life Love Death (originally La Vie, L'amour, la Mort) pretty much runs the gamut of the subject matter which normally appeals to French filmmaker Claude Lelouch. Awaiting execution for murder, Souad Amidou reflects on the events leading up to this sorry contingency. It seems that Amidou can only cohabit with prostitutes, thus he seeks out satisfaction in all the side streets of Europe. Disturbed by a whore's insults when he was unable to perform, Amidou goes completely off the deep end and begins cutting a swath of death from one end of Spain to another. Lelouch's principal stylistic decision in Life Love and Death is to draw as many parallels as possible between sex and bullfighting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amidou, Caroline Cellier, (more)
- 1969
- R
A young man who cares for pigs defends a mentally challenged girl. When he fights with the local saloon keeper, the man gets the boy drunk and bribes the priest into marrying the boy to the unfortunate girl. When a teacher arrives to instruct the ladies of the town in painting, the swineherd is used as a model and then a boy-toy for the teacher's pleasure. The teacher takes another lover and gives up the young man with the excuse that she didn't know he was married. The young swineherd kills his wife, but his father takes the blame and confesses his sins before he dies in prison. The people of the town exact their revenge on the swineherd as he is tied to the massive church bells and subjected to a torturous demise in this depressing feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annie Girardot, Eva Ras, (more)
- 1969
This offbeat combination of reality and fantasy finds Glauco (Michel Piccoli) returning home from his job as an industrial engineer to find his wife (Anita Pallenberg) in bed with a headache. Deciding to fix dinner for himself, he reads from a gourmet cookbook as he watches television, or listens to the radio. He runs across an old .45 caliber handgun and he cleans the weapon between attending to his culinary creation. He later goes to bed, but rises when he is restless and goes to make love with the maid (Annie Girardot), after which he examines the newly painted revolver. After shooting his wife to death, he imagines he is driven to the ocean where he swims out to a boat bound for Tahiti and takes a job as a cook. The title is a reference to the notorious American gangster who could shoot his way out of any place but the police line in front of Chicago's Biograph Theater. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Anita Pallenberg, (more)
- 1969
- PG
In this romance, a composer and a French film star, both of whom are married to others, meet and fall in love while shooting a film in the United States. The two illicit lovers begin touring the country together and enjoying the sights with particular emphasis on Monument Valley and Las Vegas. The actress begins to feel guilty and confesses all to her husband on the phone. She and the composer then decide to end the affair. Later they reunite and decide that they will rendezvous in Nice. She goes there, but her lover never arrives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Annie Girardot, (more)
