Jean Aurenche Movies

Alice (Nathalie Baye) is the widow of a Jewish surgeon who helps the former diplomat Jerome (Pierre Arditi) smuggle Jews out of Austria to save them from the Nazis. The duo recruits Charles (Christophe Malavoy), a shoe manufacturer whose uncle is a Nazi sympathizer in the Vichy government. Charles and Alice become lovers when they are picked up in Paris by Nazi soldiers on a curfew violation. Genevieve Mnich co-stars with Philippe Clevnot and Jean Bousie in this dramatic World War II love triangle. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This thriller about a mysterious psychopath was based on a novel by Georges Simenon. Edouard Binet (Philippe Noiret), an aimless Frenchman who has spent several years travelling in Northern Africa, is sailing to Belgium when he meets an attractive woman named Sylvie Baron (Fanny Cottencon). Edouard introduces Sylvie to Nemrod (Gamil Ratib), a wealthy Egyptian who is traveling with a cache of valuable jewelry. Sylvie and Nemrod hit it off and soon become lovers, which stirs an insane jealousy inside Edouard. Days later, Edouard arrives in blood-stained clothes at a rooming house owned by Mme. Baron (Simone Signoret), Sylvie's mother. It seems that Nemrod was killed aboard a train after his ship arrived in France, though Edouard claims no knowledge of the events. Sylvie suspects that Edouard is responsible for Nemrod's death, but the enigmatic Edouard has gained a trusted ally in Mme. Baron. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In the original story of Camille by Alexandre Dumas, Jr. La Dame aux Camelias, a beautiful Parisian courtesan, Marguerite Gautier, (called "Camille" because of her love for camelias) is supported by a series of aristocratic lovers, but does not fall in love until she meets Armand Duval. Armand's father lets it be known that Camille would ruin Armand because of her "low" past, and she leaves to save his reputation, saying she does not love him anymore. She soon contracts tuberculosis, and Armand hears that she is dying. He rushes to her side, finds out she has loved him all along, and she dies knowing he has always loved her. The True Story of Camille uses the ploy of Alexandre Dumas, Jr. doing his version of "Camille" at the turn of the 20th century, as a means of introducing a flashback to the "real" story behind the "real" Camille, Alphonsine Plessis. In the film, Alphonsine (Isabelle Huppert) - a country girl - was sold by her father to a wealthy neighbor, which starts her off on a round of living in expansive palaces and keeping company with wealthy aristocrats and eventually, Alexandre Dumas, Jr. himself. But that trajectory did not happen all at once. Alphonsine first survives, barely, as a seamstress in Paris. Then she becomes a prostitute, after which a Count Peregaunts (Bruno Ganz) marries her, then more or less disappears, leaving her to become a high-class courtesan. As she makes her way from one handsome, aristocratic client to the next, a noble protector, Count Stechelberg (Fernando Rey) keeps her out of harm's way. By the time she and Dumas meet, she has become infected with tuberculosis - and she has created the inspiration for Dumas' story of Camille. Her father comes along at this point, however, ready to trounce Dumas for romanticizing his daughter's wretched life - the same father that sold her off in the first place. If the viewer can remember that the characters of Marguerite Gautier (Carla Fracci) and Armand Duval from Dumas' story of Camille have been given their "real" personas as Alphonsine Plessis and Dumas in this film, then the story within a story make more sense. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Le Juge et L'Assassin probes a curious relationship between condemner and condemnee. Philippe Noiret plays Rousseau, a French judge who holds the fate of convicted child killer Bouvier (Michel Galabru) in his hands. Should Rousseau decide that Bouvier is insane, the killer will not go prison. As they come to know each other better, both are given the rare opportunity of exploring the vagaries of the human mind. The previously unbendable judge alters several long-held opinions concerning criminals, while Bouvier is for the first time in his life able to articulate the thought processes which motivate his actions. It is clear at times that much of the dialogue in Judge and the Assassin stems from Bertrand Tavernier's own lifelong feelings of loneliness and isolation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this story of obsession and tragedy, set in wartime France, Pierre Perret plays Clovis, a farmer so driven by hunger that he dares to plant potatoes on a plot of land which, though unoccupied, is forbidden to him by the Germans. Despite the film's tragic tone, occasional flashes of satire and pure bawdiness enhance its watchability considerably. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this anthology, six French filmmakers each contributed a vignette, offering their take on the history of prostitution. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Jean Delannoy's This Special Friendship (Les Amities partculieres) is set in a boy's boarding school of the early 1930s. Two of the students, Francis Lacombrade and Francois Leccia, become close friends. Lacombrade has definite ideas concerning homosexuality: he's dead set against it, and is willing to blow the whistle on anyone whom he suspects to be "different." When Lacombrade himself comes out of the closet, as it were, the loyal Leccia arranges for the private meetings between Lacombrade and his vis-a-vis Didier Haudepin. Michel Bouquet, a young priest assigned to teach at the school, begins to suspect that something "unnatural" is going on, whereupon Leccia defensively spreads the rumor that Bouquet is himself fooling around with some of the students. Dismissed from the school, Bouquet has a heart-to-heart with Lacombrade about being too judgmental. Torn about by indecision and conflicting emotions, Lacombrade chooses the most drastic means of solving his own sexual ambiguity. Based on a novel by Les Amities Particulaires, This Special Friendship was considered controversial enough in 1964 to be held from American release for nearly three years. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this drama, two total strangers suspect each other of murdering their own wives. The trouble begins when an unhappily married architect becomes obsessed with a murder trial in which a husband allegedly murdered his wife. The architect begins collecting newspaper clippings. Although the charges against the accused are dropped, the architect is convinced that the man is guilty. He even visits the husband. After talking to him, the architect is more sure than he was before. The architect gets into trouble after his own wife's body is discovered in a ravine. The other husband, believing the architect did it, begins blackmailing him. Later the cops find the architect's collection of clippings. The husband, now convinced that the architect is out to destroy him, murders the architect. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Gentle Art of Murder is comprised of a trio of short crime tales: "The Spider's Web," "The Fenyrou Case" and "The Mask." An international all-star cast appears in these filmed playlets, wherein each perfect murder turns out to be less than perfect. The stories are linked by "bookend" scenes in which an aspiring wife murderer goes to a movie house and watches the three cautionary tales unreel. Nearly three hours long, Gentle Art of Murder holds both the audience--and the would-be killer--in thrall. The film's original title was Crime Does Not Pay, though it bears no relation to the MGM short-subjects series of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

That fair city on the West Coast of America has almost nothing to do with this one-dimensional, undistinguished tale of a sexually evocative fifteen-year-old girl (Daniele Gaubert) and the man she wants to seduce. The man is a young lothario in her neighborhood, and she is shown doing her best to attract and keep his attention. She also spends illicit time peeking at a man in a shower and generally misbehaving for a teen her age. The father of the womanizing lothario once took off to race in the regattas in San Francisco and never returned, providing only a title but no added substance to the film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This well-acted-though routine wartime drama is the second such film in a row for young Jean Claude Brialy, who plays a member of one of two families who are experiencing the effects of the German Occupation. In general, both morals and morale have declined in the families so that a lonely married woman whose husband is in a prison camp is willing to have an affair with a 17-year-old youth. But beyond that indiscretion, her need for money in a tight economy drives her to get the young man involved in the lucrative black market. Meanwhile, the father of the indiscreet youth finds out what his son is doing and although he has been an ineffectual parent, he tries to lay down the law to his son. Unfortunately, the law at this time seems to be on vacation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Le Joueur is French director Claude Autant-Lara's spin on the oft-filmed Dostoyevsky novel The Gambler. Set in 19th century Baden-Baden, the film details the trials and tribulations of several chronic gamblers, foremost among them young Alevei (Gerard Philipe). In love with Pauline (Liselotte Pulver), the daughter of nearly-impoverished general Zagoriensky (Bernard Blier), Alevei tries to save Pauline from penury by instructing her in the ways of the gaming tables. Unfortunately, Alevei is too late to prevent Pauline from destroying herself, both figuratively and literally. The best-known cinemadaptation of the Dostoyevsky original was 1949's The Great Sinner, starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi