Dr. Robert Hirsch Movies

An analyst discovers just how troublesome his most difficult patient can be in this darkly witty comedy drama. Michel Durand (Jean-Hughes Anglade) is a divorced psychiatrist in his early forties with a successful practice in Paris. One of his patients is Olga Kubler (Helene de Fougerolles), the beautiful wife of a prominent business man with a less than scrupulous past. Olga is dealing with a number of interwoven neuroses, including a strong taste for painful, degrading sex and a compulsive habit of stealing things. Olga has already used Durand as an alibi when questioned by the police about the theft of some valuable jewels, and while Durand told the authorities that Olga was in consultation with him at the time of the robbery, the truth is he's not sure where she was and imagines she's probably guilty. Durand is also afraid to admit that he's become quite bored with Olga's stories about her unconventional sexual liaisons, and one day as she goes on about her favorite subject, he falls asleep. A few minutes later, Durand wakes up, and discovers Olga is dead. Durand has no idea what happened to Olga and isn't sure what to do with the body, but he's too frightened to call the police, so he tries to hide her in his office. Soon, Durand finds himself followed by a mysterious stranger (Miki Manojlovic), dumped by his increasingly suspicious girlfriend (Valentina Sauca), and bothered by Olga's husband (Yves Reiner), who insists the doctor find some valuables that Olga stole from him. Mortel Transfert was the first dramatic feature in eight years from director Jean-Jacques Beineix, who previously helmed the international hits Diva and Betty Blue. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Postwar France was slow to recover from the after-effects of the World War Two. The economy was doing poorly, and many people were poor and homeless, sleeping under bridges, etc. The winter of 1953-54 proved particularly difficult for these people, as it was one of the coldest on record. Father Pierre (Lambert Wilson), a parish priest, on seeing the suffering of these people (and their frequent death from the cold), was moved to write the French government seeking help for them. When his letter, which was published in the newspapers, succeeded in rousing overwhelming popular support for helping the homeless, he was able to form a charitable group (still active today) titled "Les Chiffoniers d'Emmaus," or "The Ragpickers of Emmaus" to channel help to them. This biographical film tells the true story of Abbe Pierre's successful efforts in those years. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Violent scenes, such as a woman doused with gasoline and set on fire, do nothing to help this melodramatic crime-drama rise above others in its genre. When a police commissioner is determined to track down sources of corruption that reach up to the higher echelons of government he has no idea who he can trust and who not. Without the support of his love interest, a dedicated journalist, he would not stand a chance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

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

This madcap comedy concerns a bicycle race from Paris to San Remo at the turn of the century. Duroc (Bourvil) has invented a bicycle with a new and improved coasting feature. He is forced to try out his new invention when he flees a bill collector who tries to impound his bicycle. He unintentionally ends up in a bicycle race and is soon followed by the collector, his own wife, and an oily, mustachioed villain. The villain pulls out all the dirty tricks from his bag to try and defeat the determined Duroc. When the bill collector sees the effectiveness of Duroc's invention, he conspires to fall in with the wealthy patron who financed the new bicycle. The race is full of twists and turns, treachery and humorous sight gags, giving the popular French comedian Bourvil a full canvass on which to display his comic talents. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Martin (Robert Hirsch) is a member of a comedy troupe who is captured by American soldiers when he is in costume as a German officer in this World War II comedy. He escapes and joins the Free French Army only to be captured by the Nazis while he is wearing a general's uniform. The British use him as an undercover agent to capture the Germans. Martin then is recruited in a plot to kill Hitler and is acclaimed as a hero by the resistance movement. His bravery earns him an audition with the coveted Comedie-Francaise troupe in this offbeat feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this haunting drama, one actor plays seven roles: a conductor, his only legitimate son, and his five illegitimate sons. One of the sons is a transvestite who uses two alias. The sinful conductor plans on willing his vast holdings to Jerusalem, but then he is visited by his father's ghost who tells him that the only way he can atone is to marry all his children off to Israeli women before the Sabbath. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Jean Gabin once again stars as that other famous French detective Inspector Maigret in this murder mystery that is less a mystery than it is a psychological exercise. When the apparently slow but actually clear-headed Maigret returns to the small town where he grew up, he is called upon to help out a Countess (Valentine Tessier) who is threatened by someone unidentified. As Maigret reminisces and goes back over his past, including his romantic interest in the Countess, she ends up murdered and he has a new case on his hands. Rather than go the way of lab tests and photos of the crime scene, Maigret starts to analyze the underlying emotional currents in the townspeople themselves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This Gallic costume farce is set in the 18th century. The plot concerns a group of fun-loving French soldiers who manage to circumvent a band of cutthroat pirates and win the undying loyalty of a tribal potentate. In so doing, our heroes secure possession of a group of unclaimed islands for the French Crown. Considering the ongoing problems in Indochina and Algeria, one would think that the history of French colonization would be the last subject any producer would pick for a film, let alone a comedy like La Bigorne, Caporal de France. For the record, the film's romantic throughline is carried by Francois Perier and Rosanna Podesta. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Because of star Brigitte Bardot's single fleeting disrobing scene in the French farce Please, Mr. Balzac!, the film was retitled Mademoiselle Striptease by one enterprising American distributor. Essentially, this is a harmless little escapade in which Bardot, escaping the strictures of her puritanical father, jumps off a train bound for a proper girls' school to seek her fortune in Paris. Here she moves in with her brother, a museum curator. The presence of the voluptuous Bardot causes most of her brother's stuffy co-workers to behave like Tex Avery's cartoon wolf. Co-written by director Yves Allegret and Roger Vadim, Mlle. Striptease was released in France as En Effeuillant la Marguerite; some English-language prints bear the title While Plucking the Daisy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide