Jean Martin Movies

From the creative team behind the Oscar-winning adaptation of Chicago comes a lavish feature take on the Tony award-winning musical inspired by Federico Fellini's whimsical classic 8 1/2. Directed by Rob Marshall, Nine details the effort made by world-class filmmaker Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) in realizing his latest cinematic vision while simultaneously balancing his relationships with the many passionate and influential women in his life, including his mistress, Carla (Penélope Cruz), and wife, Luisa (Marion Cotillard). Original lyricist and composer Maury Yeston serves as co-executive producer for the filmed version of his own 1982 Broadway hit. Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, Fergie, and Judi Dench co-star in the Weinstein Co. production. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Martin Sheen and Jacqueline Bisset star in this romantic comedy based and filmed in Paris. An American businessman (Sheen) travels to France to work at a bank, and falls in love with its president (Bisset). He then poses as her new housekeeper to see more of her, and must try to keep up the charade at home as well as at the office. ~ John Bush, Rovi

This French comedy stars Michel Serrault as a bland corporation functionary who'll never get ahead so long as he remains a dull little man. Unable to be a success on his own terms, Serrault invents an "assistant", the dynamic, go-getting "Mr. Davis". Pretending to be Mr. Davis' intermediary, Serrault at last makes it big in the business world. A crisis develops when Serrault's investors demand to meet Mr. Davis in person--and when several covetous young ladies show up, claiming to be the mothers of Mr. Davis' children! We aren't about to tell you how Serrault wriggles out of his dilemma: we want you to enjoy The Associate yourself. An American version of the same story, released in 1996, stars Whoopie Goldberg. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy, Louis de Funes is a top restaurant critic, the head of an important French culinary guide. At the beginning of the film, he and his son (Coluche) are at odds, as the son prefers working as a circus clown to studying the fine arts of gastronomy. The two join forces, however, to thwart the greedy owner of a chain of inferior restaurants, who plans to take over the finest restaurants in France and substitute his formulaic fodder for real cooking. Another lure bringing the son into the picture is a lovely secretary working for the guide. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

An amiable con man sets out to land a big score from a man even less honorable than himself in this comic spaghetti western. Joe Thanks (Terence Hill) is a swindler and quick-draw artist who wanders into a dusty little town after literally falling out of a stagecoach while asleep. After besting card-sharp Doc Foster (Klaus Kinski) in a public shootout, Joe reconnects with his old friend Steam Engine Bill (Robert Charlebois), who is traveling with his beautiful but dizzy-headed girlfriend Lucy (Miou-Miou). Joe has learned that Major Cabot (Patrick McGoohan), an officer in the U.S. Cavalry, is escorting a $300,000 fortune that's been earmarked for Indian relief efforts; however, Cabot has no intention of actually delivering the cash, so Joe hatches a scheme to take it for himself. Bill, who bears a slight resemblance to Cabot, will pose as the officer and intercept the money, but when Bill and Lucy are found out and jailed, Joe must come to their rescue. While his name does not appear in the credits, Sergio Leone is said to have co-produced Un Genio, Due Compari, Un Pollo (aka A Genius, Two Partners, and a Dupe) and directed the pre-credit sequence, with Damiano Damiani helming the rest of the picture and receiving screen credit. In Germany, the film was released as Nobody ist der Grosste (aka Nobody is the Greatest) and marketed as an unofficial sequel to Il Mio Nome e Nessuno (aka My Name Is Nobody). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Spaghetti-Western star Terence Hill achieved international fame with 1974's My Name Is Nobody. A soldier of fortune, Nobody (Hill) is hired to gun down veteran outlaw Jack Beauregard (Henry Fonda). Before long, however, Nobody and Beauregard are bosom companions. When Beauregard announces his retirement, Nobody insists that the old man go out in one last, glorious shooting spree and tries to arrange for this to happen. The film was cut down to 117 minutes for the American release. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Pierre (Pierre Richard) is a rumpled-looking fellow, consistently overlooked by the nubile girls at the college where he teaches mathematics. However, when he wins the affection of a movie star (Jane Birkin), he wins more attention than he bargained on: his stuffy father disapproves of the affair, the press is entranced, and the college girls can't keep away from him. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Murder, industrial espionage, political intrigue and Jean-Paul Belmondo are the strengths of this French thriller. Cordell (Belmondo) is the heir of a French industrialist, who dies in an air crash. When someone almost succeeds in framing Cordell with a case of drugs, he begins to suspect that his father's death was not accidental. He hires a private detective and finds that a reporter working for his father's magazine (one of the many companies he owned) was looking into plans by another multinational to take over the company. Also, Cordell's father-in-law, a former Italian fascist, may not have given up his old loyalties. As these facts emerge, his enemies become even more determined to get him out of the way. This film caused some controversy in France where it was viewed as a sharp commentary on the society by the director, a former journalist. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Le Rempart des Beguines is based on the novel by Francoise Mallet-Jouris. It tells the story of an upper-class woman who is considering getting married to a widower, a painter with a 16-year-old daughter. During a visit to his home, she finds herself alone with the daughter, who is very lonely. Before long, they end up in bed with each other. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A young Rumanian man is reunited with his father, half brother and half sister in France. His half siblings desire to be revolutionaries but are unfocused. He hopes to make a short film about world troubles called "The Apocalypse" and recruits his girlfriend and siblings to participate. When the show fails, they all get high and stage a mock crucifixion. A fire is accidentally set and the sister dies. The action takes place at the same time as the May 1968 riots in France. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Manon (Catherine Deneuve) is an amoral, free spirit who uses sex to surround herself in relatively luxurious surroundings. The mistress of a wealthy man, she meets a handsome young reporter (Sami Frey) on a flight from Hong Kong to Paris. She gives the older man the boot before slipping into a hot bathtub with her new love, the reporter. Her brother Jean-Paul (Jean Claude Brialey) puts out the word to rich men that his hot-to-trot sister is back in town. She willingly allows herself to be used for sex to justify her lifestyle. The reporter loses his job and Manon takes up with another wealthy client, seeing the reporter on the side. Men continue to fall for the beautiful, opportunistic Manon who is more interested in Mr. Right Now than Mr. Right. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This highly political film about the Algerian struggle for independence from France took "Best Film" honors at the 1966 Venice Film Festival. The bulk of the film is shot in flashback, presented as the memories of Ali (Brahim Haggiag), a leading member of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN), when finally captured by the French in 1957. Three years earlier, Ali was a petty thief who joined the secretive organization in order to help rid the Casbah of vice associated with the colonial government. The film traces the rebels' struggle and the increasingly extreme measures taken by the French government to quell what soon becomes a nationwide revolt. After the flashback, Ali and the last of the FLN leaders are killed, and the film takes on a more general focus, leading to the declaration of Algerian independence in 1962. Director Gillo Pontecorvo's careful re-creation of a complicated guerrilla struggle presents a rather partisan view of some complex social and political issues, which got the film banned in France for many years. That should not come as a surprise, for La Battaglia di Algeri was subsidized by the Algerian government and -- with the exception of Jean Martin and Tommaso Neri as French officers -- the cast was entirely Algerian as well. At least three versions exist, running 135, 125, and 120 minutes. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Paris Nous Appartient begins at the end-with a mysterious suicide. Curious as to why a young Spaniard would take his own life, Betty Schneider visits many of the places frequented by the dead youth. She learns from theatre-director Giani Esposito that the suicide victim was part of a sinister international conspiracy. She further learns from American-expatriate Daniel Crohem that Esposito has also been targeted for persecution by the conspirators. By the time Schneider realizes that the conspiracy was merely a figment of the neurotic Crohem's imagination, the terrified Esposito has killed himself. The intrigues of the plot take second place to the film's centerpiece: an eternally-in-progress stage production of Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Now regarded as one of the pioneering efforts in the French "New Wave" movement, Paris Belongs to Us was also the first feature-length effort of director (and former critic and film theorist) Jacques Rivette. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi