Francis Le Maire Movies
In this fast-paced French comedy, a gambler, anxious to escape the thugs who pursue him after her reneged on a bet, mistakenly agrees to enter the safety of the Amazon jungle with an ethnologist's son to search for the missing soul of an ailing Indian. Perrin's ordeal begins in an elevator where he encounters Campana, the French scientist who was raised in the distant jungle, and his companion Wanu, an Amazon shaman who has left his remote home to help Campana campaign on the rain forest's behalf. When Wanu, wearing little more than feathers, skins and a plate in his lip, suddenly tweak's the nose of Perrin and proclaims him the "chosen one," Perrin is naturally surprised. He is more surprised when Wanu shows up in his lavish apartment that night, drugs him and covers him with ritual markings thereby creating a magical link between them. The next day Wanu suffers a heart attack that he interprets as the theft of his soul. He beckons Perrin beside him and insists that he go to the jungle and find his soul, which has taken the form of a jaguar. Unfortunately for Perrin, the dense jungle proves to be far more dangerous than any gambler's henchmen and comical chaos ensues as he struggles to survive. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Reno, Patrick Bruel, (more)
The demise of the Cold War rendered this flat and obsolete spy thriller, written and directed by Nicholas Meyer, mute upon its release in 1991. Gene Hackman plays Sam Boyd, a retired CIA agent, now making ends meet by engaging in industrial espionage. But Sam is recalled to duty and ordered to deliver a captured Russian spy, Pyiotr Grushenko (Mikhail Baryshnikov), to East Berlin for a prisoner exchange. Along with Pyiotr, Sam is also transporting $2 million in Columbian drug money to East Berlin. But due to a series of set-ups, Sam and Pyiotr finds themselves working together to keep from getting killed. Sam tries to get help from the CIA, but it turns out that the CIA (along with the KGB) wants them both dead. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Hackman, Mikhail Baryshnikov, (more)
- 1990
Sweet Revenge is a made-for-television comedy about a female lawyer (Carrie Fisher) who is ordered to pay alimony to her ex-husband. She hires an actress (Rosanna Arquette) to marry him, in hopes that she will be able to stop paying alimony. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosanna Arquette, Carrie Fisher, (more)
- 1989
Through a series of flashbacks, the reason behind the mysterious inability of a famous conductor (Malcom McDowell) to continue preparing for a series of concerts is revealed. It all began while the conductor, a Jew, was hiding from the Nazis in a disused Italian convent, pretending to be a bank clerk. There he met another fugitive (Charles Aznavour), who was pretending to be a great conductor. Despite the odd circumstances, the real conductor and the fake one become friends, and the reasons for their deceptions become clear. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, Charles Aznavour, (more)
- 1988
In this lifeless black comedy, Hermoine (Jacqueline Maillan) and Catarina (Alida Valli) are shocked to learn their late husband Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Aumont) was a bigamist. They combine forces to search for the hidden loot in a rambling French mansion and fend off a school of slimy, money-hungry lawyers. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacqueline Maillan, Alida Valli, (more)
- 1988
Immigrants from Quebec travel to the Eastern United States to work for French industrialists in this historical drama. Gratien Gelinas plays a venerable Quebecois who recalls in 1988 the era from 1907 to 1920 in a series of flashbacks. He compares the modern computer age with the steadily growing industrial era of the early 20th century. An all-star cast of French and Canadian thespians participate in this miniseries as the Quebecois deal with love, life, politics, and war. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliette Huot, Gratien Gelinas, (more)
"Gotcha!" is a puerile but popular campus game at UCLA in which students stalk one another armed with paint-spewing pellet guns. Veterinary student Anthony Edwards may not be any great shakes in the classroom, but he's a whiz at Gotcha. His skills come in handy when Edwards, on vacation in Paris, becomes acquainted with the mysterious Linda Fiorentino. She gets him mixed up in international espionage; fortunately, the well-armed spies aren't quite as adept at "Gotcha" as Edwards is. Most of the film was lensed in Paris and Berlin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
An unsuspecting novelist is the target of international extortionists in this well-acted suspense story directed by Claude Pinoteau. Lino Ventura stars as Bastien Grimaldy, a man driven to heightened anxiety as the plot against him begins to take effect. Bastien's personal relationships give him enough cause for anxiety -- between his new lover Laura (Elisabeth Bourgine) and a feisty mother (Lina Volonghi), life provides its own insecurities. When he goes to the police with his problems, Bastien is assigned an off-beat inspector to protect him (Roger Planchon) but is still faced with skepticism about his dilemma. In the end, Bastien goes to Berlin, as this conventional storyline moves towards the closing credits. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lino Ventura, Lea Massari, (more)
- 1983
A tall and gangly Victoire (Liselotte Christian) arrives in Paris looking for the ideal French lover -- and because she stands well above many of her preceding romantic partners, that is an added dimension to consider. As she finds and drops a series of possibilities -- a free-wheeling sociologist, an up-tight intellectual, and a dentist fixated on sports -- she begins to wonder if this simple quest may turn out to be an impossibility after all. Although director Annette Carducci) tends to stereotype the male characters, their characterizations fit the premises of a light comedy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liselotte Christian, Anémone, (more)
- 1979
Margaret Trudeau, then the beautiful wife of Canada's Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, stars as Annie in this 1979 release. In the story, a woman's husband hires Aldo (Francis Lemaire) to look after his wife, who is vacationing alone on the Riviera. His responsibilities include keeping her from being courted by other men. As it happens, the result of his performance of these duties is that he himself falls in love with her. Luckily for him, she returns his feelings. He finds that he is luckier still, when he discovers the secret that has been kept from him by the husband. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Trudeau, Francis Le Maire, (more)
- 1979
Bertin (Victor Lanoux) has accidentally killed his wife during an argument. He is the owner of a tannery which employs most of the inhabitants of the town he lives in. Rather than subject himself to the indignities of a police inquiry, he attempts to cover up the killing by saying that she has left him. At first, his tale is believed, because he has been openly seeing another woman who is pregnant with his child (and heir). Later, a judge magistrate (the French lawman with responsibility for criminal investigations) discovers the woman's corpse, and puts Bertin on trial for murder. The factory owner is determined to be acquitted, and he blackmails the townspeople so that the trial turns out to suit him. He wins his freedom, but loses his mistress, who is thoroughly repulsed. This drama is based on the novel The Lesser Evil by Jean Laborde. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Lanoux, Jean Carmet, (more)
- 1977
In this story of friendship and reproductive rights, 14 years in the relationship between two very dissimilar women are chronicled. Pauline (Valerie Mairesse) is a middle-class city girl, at odds with her very conventional family. Suzanne (Therese Liotard) is several years older, a country girl with two illegitimate children and another (whom she cannot support) on the way. Pauline loans Suzanne money for an (illegal) abortion. At this point, the two separate and communicate mainly through postcards. Some years later, they meet at an abortion rally, and they have many adventures and stories to share with one another. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valérie Mairesse, Therese Liotard, (more)
- 1977
- R
This French sex comedy focuses on a group of randy vacationers on holiday at a seaside hotel along the coast of Brittany. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1977
During a business trip to Morocco to finalize a deal to build an ugly modern tourist village on the site of a lovely local town, Jean-Luc (Jean-Claude Biraly), the bank representative, is called on by the architect's wife. She has, it seems, accidentally killed her husband during a spat and needs his help to hide the body. Incredibly, he gives it. Then he returns to Paris with the architect's murderous spouse (Marlene Jobert), who proceeds to turn his life upside down with her blithe spirit and joie de vivre. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlène Jobert, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1974
Paris was never so grim as in this French satire. Malisard and Prevot (Philippe Noiret and Pierre Richard) are a journalistic team. Their job is to ride around in a city full of burning buildings, thieves and bomb explosions looking for scoops and headline grabbers suitable for the very yellow journalistic slant their paper is known for. Things get out of hand and very hectic when they start covering the apparent disappearance of their own children. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Noiret, Pierre Richard, (more)
