Marie-Christine Barrault Movies
Best known for her portrayal of Marthe in Cousin Cousine (1975), versatile and beautiful French actress Marie-Christine Barrault has appeared in a number of Eric Rohmer films. She has also worked on the Paris stage and in television. The niece of Jean-Louis Barrault, she learned her craft from Rene Simon and at the Paris Conservatoire. Barrault made her film debut in Rohmer's Ma Nuit chez Maud (My Night at Maud's) (1969). She is married to noted filmmaker Roger Vadim and in 1996, starred in his television movie Mon Pere avait Raison. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 2000
Giuseppe (Paolo Villaggio) takes his blind seven-year-old granddaughter Carla (Francesca Pipoli) from Puglia to his native Geneva. Giuseppe wants to call in an old debt in order to pay for an eye operation for the girl, and the man he needs to find in order to do so is Gaston (Jean-Luc Bideau), with whom he worked for three decades. However, when Giuseppe arrives in Geneva he finds Gaston residing in a sanitarium and his once-profitable company in economic shambles. As Giuseppe becomes reacquainted with his old friend, various revelations surface about his background and his relationship with Gaston's wife (Marie-Christine Barrault). ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie-Christine Barrault
- 1997
Fifteen-year-old Sabine is unusually confident and analytical. She is also extraordinarily gifted in mathematics. This tender romance chronicles her coming-of-age at the hands of a gentle and fun-loving 40-year-old Czech playwright named Jiri. Because she is so bright, Sabine, who lives in a low-income housing project with her unemployed parents and little sister, makes money on the side doing other people's homework. One day Jiri sees her taking money from some thankful young men on a bus and mistakes her for a prostitute. Under this impression, he invites her to his hotel and with her acquiescence gently becomes her first lover. Sabine approached the situation with logic and afterwards remains cool and calculating until she later spies Jiri with another woman. When faced with that, Sabine's cool demeanor disintegrates and trouble follows. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Lapierre, Georges Corraface, (more)
Eric Rohmer ends his cycle of "Six Moral Tales" with this delightful film starring Bernard Verley as Frederic, a happily married man who discovers that he can't stop looking at beautiful women. As he says in a voiceover, "I feel marriage closes me in, cloisters me, and I want to escape." His escape comes to him in the form of Chloe (Zouzou), a woman from his past. Chloe had left for America as a successful model but has now returned to Paris, bored with her life and saddled with a man she doesn't love. Although Frederic is reluctant to see her at first, they agree to meet in the afternoons -- just to talk. He feels a freedom with her that he doesn't experience with anyone else because they have, he thinks, no commitments to each other. So, they talk of their problems and their relationships and, before long, Frederic finds that he is becoming increasingly attracted to her. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Verley, Zouzou, (more)
- 1975
Love turns out to be all in the family in this romantic comedy from France. When an elderly couple decides to marry, their families come together for a wedding banquet that turns into a raucous, wine-soaked celebration. Marthe (Marie-Christine Barrault) and Ludovic (Victor Lanoux) are distant cousins related by marriage who meet for the first time at the reception; they take an immediate liking to each other and resolve that they should see each other more often. Before long, they've become close friends, but their spouses begin to think there's more going on than just good conversation. However, the more people are convinced the two have become lovers, the more the idea of taking their friendship to the next level appeals to them. Marie-France Pisier has a memorably funny "suicide" scene as Ludovic's wife. Cousin Cousine was a surprise commercial success in the United States, where it received several Academy Award nominations and spawned an Americanized remake, Cousins (1989). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie-Christine Barrault, Victor Lanoux, (more)
- 1990
Despite being busy with his profession of soldiery, Brantome (Richard Bohringer) manages to find much more time for amorous dalliances with the ladies of the 16th-century French court than for battles. Unfortunately for him, his true love, Victoire (Isabella Rossellini), is beyond his reach most of the time. He more than compensates for this in the arms of others. Reviewers found little merit in this uninspired drama, except for the gorgeous period settings and costumes. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Bohringer, Isabella Rossellini, (more)
- 1989
This uneven historical drama tries but fails to give any insight into the cultural differences between Arabs and Christians in 12th-century Spain. The harem is unattractive and is erratic, not erotic. The feature is further plagued by poor production and lack of a coherent storyline. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ramon Madaula, Laura del Sol, (more)
- 1976
This film explores everyday lives of a small group of middle-class women who meet frequently (if not daily) by the tennis courts and in the beauty parlor. The film revels in their intrigues and difficulties, and the way they meet the challenges of day-to-day life. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie-Christine Barrault, Bernadette Clauzel, (more)
- 1979
Lieve is a Belgian woman who marries just as World War II is beginning. When the Germans invade, her husband goes off to fight them, but he swiftly returns home after the invasion succeeds. Later, he decides that the Germans are on the right side of things, and goes off to fight for them on the Eastern Front. Soon afterward, a resistance fighter is stranded on her doorway, and she hides him. The two of them fall in love, and the conflicts and joys of this relationship cause Lieve continued grief well after the end of the war. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie-Christine Barrault, Roger Van Hool, (more)
- 1983
Based on a non-fiction bestseller of the same name by Rolf Hochhuth, Eine Liebe In Deutschland is about a tragic and forbidden love affair between Stanislaw, a Polish POW (Piotr Lysak) and Paulina (Hanna Schygulla) a fruit-and-vegetable vendor in a small town in Germany along the border with Switzerland. Their affair would have gone undetected except for the busybody women of the village, and when Stanislaw is picked up by a German stormtrooper (Armin Müller-Stahl) and brought in for a mock trial, he is given a chance to prove his racial purity and so perhaps escape execution. As for Paulina, she is ostracized by the villagers and imprisoned for consorting with someone who was not of the same high Aryan caste as herself. Depressing, yet politically relevant to Poland of the early 1980s, this film by acclaimed director Andrzej Wajda) is an effective and emotional statement on the nature of oppression. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hanna Schygulla, Marie-Christine Barrault, (more)
- 2006
A widower's grief leads him down the road to madness in this drama from French filmmaker Jean Marboeuf. Pierre Valois (Pierre Arditi) is an elderly man who is still emotionally reeling from the death of his wife (Marie-Christine Barrault), and he visits her grave nearly every day, even though he hears her voice urging him to get on with his life. Pierre struggles to do just that -- he spends time with his friends, he helps a neighbor's child with their homework, he flirts with a woman working at a nearby flower shop -- but a seething bitterness over his lonely life begins to fester inside of him. Pierre buys a gun and learns how to use it, and over the course of five days his kind and gentle façade begins to collapse. Coup de Sang (aka Headrush) was shot primarily from "first-person" camera angles, which show Pierre's perspective on the world around him. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Arditi, Marie-Christine Barrault, (more)
A modern-day Passion Play becomes a reenactment of the life and death of Jesus Christ in more ways than one with this critically acclaimed drama from Quebec filmmaker Denys Arcand. Lothaire Bluteau stars as Daniel Coloumbe, an intense young actor in Montreal who is hired by church fathers to restage and update the city's annual Passion Play, which over the course of the past 40 years has begun to seem hidebound. Daniel hires a group of struggling young actors that become devoted to him and his creative vision as he devises an extremely avant-garde production that takes Christ's rebellious teachings literally. Revolving around set pieces reflecting passages from Christ's life rather than a traditional re-creation of events, Daniel's revisionist work also incorporates blasphemous ideas about his subject, questioning his true nature. Daniel's play is a critical smash and wows mesmerized audiences, but greatly disturbed church officials order the labor of love dismantled. Real life begins imitating biblical events as the actors become cast-outs and Daniel smashes up an audition in which the actress portraying his Mary Magdalene (Catherine Wilkening) is asked to disrobe by a prurient producer. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lothaire Bluteau, Catherine Wilkening, (more)
- 1975
Adapted from the novel Die Döppelgänger by Theodor Storm, this black-and-white drama tells the tragic story of a war veteran who, in 1860, returns to his home in Schleswig Holstein after serving a term for robbery. There he finds nothing but hardship and rejection, save from the town's mayor and a young servant girl, whom he marries. Ridiculed and abused, with practically no work, he turns to drink and one night accidentally kills his wife. The child of their marriage is taken away from him, and at this point he is left with the options of becoming a robber, starving to death, or emigrating. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dieter Laser, Marie-Christine Barrault, (more)
- 1983
In a curiously undefined story about a macho-man who roughs up his very attractive but submissive wife and feisty teenage daughter just because he cannot relate to them in any other way, director Gustav Emck has created interesting characters with no apparent motivation for their behavior. In the end, the situation deteriorates so much that the daughter convinces her mother they had better get out for their own good health, and the two escape into an uncertain future. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Manz, Walt Davis, (more)
- 1991
Ernesto and Valentina are sure of their relationship. It is late in the 19th century in Europe, and this sophisticated married couple consider that a little openly conducted outside dalliance only adds spice to their partnership. When the architect (Ben Kingsley) and his wife (Marie-Christine Barrault) spy an attractive and very much in love set of newlyweds at the resort hotel they are staying at, they set their sights on seducing both of them. However, though their effort to bring about the corruption of the newlyweds' innocence succeeds, it brings them far less satisfaction than they imagined it would. Though this is an Italian and French co-production, it was filmed separately in English and French. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Kingsley, Marie-Christine Barrault, (more)
- 1988
Andre Delvaux directed this stylish, yet ultimately empty adaptation of a historical novel by Marguerite Yourcenar. Gian Maria Volonte leads the cast as Zenon, a Belgian doctor and alchemist in the 1500s. Zenon travels across Europe for many years hiding from the Inquisition, which eventually catches up with him when he returns to his native Brugge in disguise. The narrative is bolstered by some fine acting by Volonte and a notable supporting cast including Sami Frey, Marie-Christine Barrault, Marie-France Pisier, and Anna Karina, as well as excellent cinematography by Charlie Van Damme and Walter van den Ende. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Sami Frey, (more)
- 1978
- R
L'Etat Sauvage is based on the novel by Georges Conchon which won the highly esteemed Prix de Goncourt. The story chronicles the mindless racism of both the departing French colonial overlords and the emergent black Africans in a newly emerging African state. Laurence (Marie-Christine Barrault) suffers the outrage of her white acquaintances, including her former lover Gravenoir (Claude Brasseur) and her ex-husband Avit (Jacques Dutronc), for her affair with Patrice Doumbe (Doura Mane), an official in the new government. He in turn is ridiculed by his fellow cabinet ministers for stepping out with a white woman. The vilification escalates to such a point that Patrice is brutally murdered, and Laurence barely escapes the country alive, with the help of her ex-husband Avit. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie-Christine Barrault, Jacques Dutronc, (more)
- 1999
In the offbeat comedy La Dilettante, Pierette (Catherine Frot) is a woman who describes herself as having "opted for the temporary on a permanent basis." After 15 years of living the good life in Switzerland, Pierette one day packs her bags full of fashionable outfits and returns to her native Paris with no idea of what she'll do. Pierette, however, leads a charmed life; while her son is forced to work the graveyard shift at a factory due to poor job prospects, she's able to find a job right away at a high school. Pierette soon reintroduces herself to her 23-year-old daughter (Barbara Schulz) and one-time best friend (Nathalie Lafaurie), trying to use her charm to skate over years of neglect. She just as suddenly finds a new beau, Ackerman (Bernard Verley), and starts helping him out with his antique business. However, what would seem like a simple matter -- buying a clock from an elderly woman -- soon turns out to be very complicated and fraught with consequence. The first directorial effort in eight years from Pascal Thomas, La Dilettante was shown as part of the 1999 Moscow Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Frot, Bernard Verley, (more)
- 1993
The study of semantics has convinced Amedio (Jean Rochefort) that things only have relative validity, and that everything is changeable. So it seems, because while on an Italian holiday with his family, he conceives the idea that his aging wife (Marie-Christine Barrault) should assume the role of his mother, and his daughter (Jacqueline Lustig), who has an infant son, should assume the role of his wife and lover. His real mother (Lila Kedrova), an elderly invalid, dies just as this conceit begins to take form, and, inexplicably, the women placidly go along with this odd notion for a time, but eventually return to their former roles. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Rochefort, Marie-Christine Barrault, (more)
- 1970
The Daydreamer (Le Distrait) stars Pierre Richard (who also directed) as a stumblebum ad-agency employee. Unable to get by in the "real" world, he opts for his own fantasy world, in which everything goes right for him and he always gets the girl. After several blithe moments, the businessman manages to find success and romance for real. Filmed in 1970, The Daydreamer was released in the U.S. in 1975, after the success of the Pierre Richard comedy The Tall Blonde Man With One Black Shoe. The film was also released as Absent-Minded. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Richard, Bernard Blier, (more)
A lesbian love triangle leads to heartache in this erotic emotional drama. Bacha (Alida Valli) is a concentration-camp survivor and human rights advocate who is jealous when her lover Manuela (Marie-Christina Barrault) becomes involved with Bacha's protégé Claude (Guillemette Grobon). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie-Christine Barrault, Alida Valli, (more)
- 1985
Two quarreling lovers from opposite sides of the economic scale take central stage in this well-executed drama about Veronique (Sandrine Bonnaire) and Adrien (Jacques Bonnafe). Veronique is wealthy and from the provinces, Adrien is impoverished and his ancestors come from Brittany. In spite of their different backgrounds, the two fall in love, marry, and eventually have a baby girl. At just about that time, Veronique decides to go back to school, and Adrien becomes both mother and father to their baby. Unable to cope with Veronique's new-found intellectual friends and different lifestyle, Adrien clashes with her, and their arguments lead to a separation for awhile. The two then get back together again, but not for long. It is on a return trip from visiting his mother in Brittany that Adrien's life undergoes a dramatic change, and his story takes an equally unexpected turn. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandrine Bonnaire, Jacques Bonnaffé, (more)
- 1985
With this 410-minute epic, Prolific Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira adapts the 7-hour stage play of Catholic playwright Paul Claudel. Two people -- Dona Prouheze (Anne Consigny) and Don Rodigue (Luis Miguel Cintra) have fallen in love but are honor-bound to renounce their passion for a greater love of God. Dona Prouheze is particularly devout and has offered her satin slipper to the Virgin Mary in exchange for the Virgin's protection against sin. She dies as virginal as when she was born, while Don Rodrigue conquers Asian lands for king and country. As his life progresses, he becomes more and more devoted to painting religious subjects on his ship, rebuffing the royal attempts to get him back into active duty. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luis Miguel Cintra, Patricia Barzyk, (more)
