Philippe Leroy Movies

This gentle Italian children's drama is set in 1943 and tells the true tale of Mathilde, a 13-year-old girl who meets Italy's King just before the US Army invaded Rome. During that fateful summer Mathilde and Beatrice, her mother, head out to the country estate of her grandfather, the Count. Though Mathilde's father, a sailor, died many years before, she has never fully accepted this and hopes he will come back. The Count's home is a flurry of activity as the whole house prepares for the wedding of Maria, a very pregnant maid, and Tonio; unfortunately, the wedding is abruptly canceled when Italy's royal leaders and what's left of the government show up. All of them are fleeing the country, abandoning their own people, before the Germans take over completely. To protect the servants, the Count has them all locked in the attic, forcing Mathilde and Beatrice to act as hostesses. Beatrice finds renewed love with one of the entourage, the handsome Major Ferri, the man who could be Mathilde's real father. Mathilde doesn't know this and the thought of this man with her mother is torture. Later, she speaks with the cowardly King who proves to be more of a tragic figure than one worthy of contempt. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Two isolated people fighting different uphill battles come together in this touching romantic drama by Amadeo Fago). Gioli (Alessandro Haber) is a puppeteer like many generations before him. He has just had to bury his mother alongside his father, near the river. While performing this sad duty, Gioli meets the ferrywoman Viola (Teresa Ann Savoy) who is trying to stop her brother from selling the family property. To assuage his loneliness Gioli has been driven to create a puppet baby that cries mechanically. Viola, however, sees Gioli as he really is and has her own answer to his puppet-child. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This umpteenth film version of Henryk Sienkewicz's warhorse novel Quo Vadis? was produced for Italian Television. Francesco Quinn (son of Anthony) stars as the arrogant Roman legionnaire whose brutish, libertine outlook on life is softened by the love of early Christian girl Cristina Raines. Even allowing for the overproduced 1951 MGM version, this Quo Vadis? is a 200-minute wallow in excess. Accordingly, Klaus Maria Brandauer overplays Nero in an unbridled manner that hasn't been seen since the heyday of Bela Lugosi; at times, we shudder in fear that Brandauer's histrionics may level the papier-mache sets. Quo Vadis? debuted in the US on cable TV in 1986, where it was telecast in two parts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this light comedy based on a play by Aldo de Benedetti from the 1950s, Princess Lucia (Monica Vitti) is miffed that her husband, Prince Giulio (Philippe Leroy is single-mindedly focused on his race horses to the point that he is ignoring her. She decides to find out if he really does love her by convincing her bodyguard to pose as her lover - if her husband gets jealous, then he must care a little anyway. This seems like a fine plan until her bodyguard's girlfriend shows up unexpectedly, creating a few tight situations. Prince Giulio finally sees green through his equine-induced haze, and now all the Princess has to do is straighten out any misunderstandings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A misguided attempt to dramatize the psychological triad formed by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (Erland Josephson), his Jewish friend Paul Rees (Robert Powell), and a Russian girl named Lou Von Salome (Dominique Sanda), this overbearing drama fails mightily. Nietzsche is portrayed as a jealous sociopath who drives Rees to suicide, and director Liliana Cavani cannot resist including a drug-hallucination ballet about Good and Evil which approaches the excesses of her controversial Il Portiere di Notte in its melodramatic sexual hysteria. Cavani's film is feverish where it should have been calculating and lurid where it should have been provocative. The result may be the first exploitation film aimed at philosophy students, and even deft supporting turns by Virna Lisi and Philippe Leroy cannot make the dialogue -- drawn hamfistedly from Nietzsche's own writings -- any less ridiculous. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

After her father (Adolfo Celi) is exiled to an island off the coast of Italy for his anti-Mussolini politics, Libera (Claudia Cardinale) is increasingly incensed by the fascist government of Italy and makes a number of bold and very personal gestures against it. At first, these only result in her husband's losing his jobs, but they are finally exiled to the same island that her father was sent to. There she develops a passion for Sandro (Bekim Fehmiu), another internee, but is restrained from having an affair by her strong sense of values. After World War II breaks out, the resistance to fascism becomes much more organized and more active. Libera joins them on a number of actions, usually when these coincide with her more personal vendetta against the Brown-shirts. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Most of this film consists of a dialogue between the members of an idealistic group of Marxist rebels who plan to wage war against the Establishment. Ironically, the determined rebels seem to have no clue why they are fighting against the unnamed European country. The viewer is left to assume they are fighting for a worthy cause, though the fact is, the rebels may only be rebelling because it is fashionable to be against the existing power structures. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

When Maria Mancuso dies suddenly before the expiration of her life-insurance policy, the insurance company sends lawyer Nanni Brà (Philippe Leroy) to investigate. He seduces Cinzia (Paola Pitagora), one of the late woman's daughters, in order to obtain more information. When he falls in love with the girl, he confesses to her his original intentions and she tries to take her own life. Nanni discovers that Maria Mancuso was murdered; Cinzia admits to the crime, then crashes the car with herself and Nanni into a truck, killing them both. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

This film is a social commentary about the mindless violence that is perpetuated on impressionable youth by television. Lorenz (Carla Gravina) has three young children who are victims of a media who wishes to turn out terrorists. She contends with her monstrous offspring and student revolts until she can't take it anymore. Lorenz takes matters into her own hands by planting a bomb in the factory of her estranged husband. The director attempts to illustrate the effect that Big Brother has on the lives of people and how they are subjected to behavioral conditioning beyond their control. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This drama examines the ethics of filmmaking as it chronicles the detached way in which a documentary maker exploits the misery of his subjects. It all begins with the seduction of another man's wife. He takes the woman to Bombay where he is filming opium addicts undergoing a rather extreme cure involving physical beatings. He then heads for Bali to chronicle the cruelty suffered deaf-mute prostitutes. Next, he goes to a Buddhist temple and tries to persuade a monk to light himself on fire. Back in India he cons a starving, deposed maharajah into eating bugs in exchange for canned food. The mistress is disgusted by the way her lover callously exploits and degrades these victims. She berates him, but still heads for war-torn Vietnam to catch some atrocities. The documentarist is excited when he learns the Viet Cong are planning to bomb a bar, and he hides his camera inside. The bomb goes off and most of the inhabitants are blown up. Later the delighted director retrieves the film. When he finds his lover dead inside the ruins, he orders his assistant to film his crying face. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide