Bernard Le Coq Movies

Whenever people are released from their society's constraints, there is the possibility that they will behave badly, at least according to the rules of the society they have left behind. This seems to have been particularly the case for Europeans living in colonial establishments in Africa and Asia. In this drama, based on a story by Stefan Zweig, Dr. Steiner (Andrzej Seweryn) was caught with his fingers in the till at a German hospital. Rather than prosecute him, they gave him the option of emigrating elsewhere. He chose to serve at a clinic in a remote part of Portuguese Goa. He has been on his best behavior for years, but when the beautiful wife (Fanny Ardant) of a diplomat comes to him asking for an abortion, he is tempted to ask for sexual favors in return, and his life swiftly goes out of control. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Video director Jerome Cornuau made his feature-film debut with this showbiz-themed French film. Young Alice (Ambre Boukebza) hitchhikes into the city to seek out her music-executive dad (Bernard Le Coq) but instead becomes friends with a singing star (Ophelie Winter, portraying herself), learns dancing from African trashman Rudy (Ashanti), polishes her singing skills with an assist from vocalist Nathalie (Lea Drucker), and is romanced by producer Jeremy (Patrick Forster-Delmas). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

The advertising business is the background for this drama about the struggles between a jaded old-timer (Bernard Blier) and his former employee (Francis Perrin), an idealistic young man who starts his own company and wants somehow to tell the truth about the products he is pushing. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Bertrand Tavernier directed this hard-hitting anti-war drama. In November of 1918, just as World War I had come to a close, Capt. Conan (Phillippe Torreton) and his men await new assignments in Bucharest. Conan regards himself as a warrior, not a soldier: while a soldier will fight in a war, it takes a warrior -- unafraid to take risks, confront death, and spill blood -- to win one. Conan is convinced that it was the bloodthirsty valor of himself and those under his command that won the war against Germany. However, while Conan's dark nature was a boon to the Army during the war, it's a distinct disadvantage in peacetime, as Conan and his friends Norbert (Samuel LeBihan) and De Sceve (Bernard LeCoq) are instructed to patrol the now peaceful border. Conan and his compatriots have become too acclimated to battle to leave it behind and begin staging raids in the mountains of the Balkans. The situation comes to a head when two women are killed in a combination robbery and attack on a nightclub; Conan and his men are to be court martialed for their actions, driving a wedge between him and his close friend Norbert, who respects Conan but lacks his reckless enthusiasm for battle. Capitaine Conan earned Cesar awards for Torreton's performance and Tavernier's direction. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, over-achieving men who are involved in a multi-car automobile accident meet and get to know one another in the hospital. One collects old furniture under the guise of being an antique salesman, another stars in television commercials, and another is an inventor. Meanwhile, the wives of three of them meet and get a taste of freedom without their husbands. Eventually their differences are resolved and happiness is enjoyed by all. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This plodding and uneven story finds a young doctor visiting his father in Morocco. He discovers his estranged parent, who he has not seen since childhood, is re-married with a young son. The young medico has a fling with a pretty French girl before he returns home to his girlfriend after the reunion. He forgives his father for leaving him at such a young age in this pretentious film that fails to bridge the generation gap. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A pair of reporters uncover a secret war that threatens the peace of two nations in this thriller based on actual events. In the 1980s, the Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberacion (or GAL) was an anti-terrorist organization sponsored by the Spanish government that was launched in response to attacks by a Basque revolutionary force, the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (or ETA). However, the GAL developed a reputation for reckless violence and targeting the wrong people, and Spanish progressives regarded them as little more than a gang of hit men. When an innocent Frenchman is killed by GAL forces, the story attracts the attention of Pablo (Abel Folk), a newspaper editor, who assigns two of his best writers, Manuel (Jose Garcia) and Marta (Natalia Verbeke) to look into the GAL and its leadership. As Manuel and Marta learn more about GAL chief Ariza (Jordi Mollà), they unravel a web of violence and corruption that leads to the highest offices in the land. GAL was produced in part by Melchor Miralles, one of the real-life journalists who uncovered the GAL scandal, while the newspaper that carried his stories, El Mundo, provided financing for the picture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The year is 1914, and as World War I continues to rage across the European countryside, four individuals stuck on the front lines find themselves faced with the unthinkable in director Christian Carion's Academy Award-nominated account of the true-life wartime event that would offer hope for peace in mankind's darkest hour. When the war machines began rolling in the summer of 1914, the devastation that it waged upon German, British, and French troops was palpable. As the winter winds began to blow and the soldiers sat huddled in their trenches awaiting the generous Christmas care packages sent by the families, the sounds of warfare took a momentary backseat to the yearning for brotherhood among all of mankind. It is here that the fate of a French lieutenant, a Scottish priest, a German tenor, and a Danish soprano's lives were about to be changed forever. On Christmas Eve of that year, the lonely souls of the front lines abandoned their arms to reach out to their enemies on the battlefield and greet them with not anger or hostility, but with the simple, kindly gesture of a much needed cigarette or a treasured piece of chocolate, and to put their differences aside long enough to wish their brothers a sincere "Merry Christmas!" ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The master of French suspense joins forces with the queen of English suspense fiction for this tense tale of the treacherous love affair between a disturbed bridesmaid and an unsuspecting young man. Philippe (Benoit Magimel) lives in a quiet French town with his hairdresser mother Christine (Aurore Clément) and two younger sisters. Soon after the news breaks about a local girl who has mysteriously vanished, Philippe's mother introduces her children to Gerard (Bernard Le Coq) -- a local businessman who may have matrimonial intentions toward the attractive beautician. Soon after receiving permission from her children to present Gerard with a sculpture of a woman's head that had previously adorned the family garden, however, the elusive beau seems to disappear without a trace. Philippe is intent on recovering the captivating piece of art, and after stealthily recovering it in a clandestine mission he places it in his closet without telling the rest of the family. Later, at his sister's wedding, Philippe meets attractive bridesmaid Senta (Laura Smet) and passion between the pair quickly ignites during a stormy seduction. A model and aspiring actress who lives alone in a massive villa inherited from her father, sultry Senta may be physically irresistible, yet she also seems to have a few morbid preconceptions about life, love, and death. As the affair between the pair grows increasingly heated, Philippe at first takes her request to murder a stranger as a means of proving his love as a joke. The more he gets to know her the more that it appears that Senta is in fact deadly serious about her dark request. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A young man leaves home when he finds the marriage of his mutually adulterous parents to be hypocritical in this romantic comedy satire. He has a gay artist pursuing him and a mistress he does not care for very much. When he leaves home, the mother beds down with the homosexual while his father takes on his son's former mistress. The young man meets a girl, and the two have an affair while the May 1968 riots in Paris enfold. She leaves him for a while to take part in the political turmoil, but returns to her apolitical lover when her efforts prove to be ineffective. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This French prison drama focuses on a penitentiary inmate known as the Mute (Olivier Martinez), who either cannot or will not speak, even though he can apparently hear well enough. When the Mute's cellmate escapes, both the Warden (Bernard Le Coq) and the Chief Guard (Claude Brasseur) try to get him to tell what he knows about the disappearance -- the Guard through violence, the Warden by transferring him to a new cell with four other prisoners and cutting off TV privileges to the inmates until the Mute spills the beans. One of the Mute's new roommates is a white collar criminal (Said Taghmaoui) who has just landed in prison and is not dealing well with the pressures of life behind bars, but his skills with computers make him a very usefully ally among the prisoners. Meanwhile, Flic (Gilbert Melki), a self-important police detective, is investigating the escape of the Mute's cellmate and is not happy with the low level of cooperation among the prison's population. La Taule received its North American premiere at Montreal's World Film Festival in 1999. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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