Juliette Mayniel Movies

Three women unwind while on a summer vacation, and as they slowly relax around one another, they begin to discuss the truths of their lives. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Manrino (Pino Caruso) is the virile male with a wife, a mistress and a mini-skirted girlfriend. The Professor (Carlo Hintermann) breaks the new to the disbelieving Manrino that he is changing into a woman. In three days time, the man indeed becomes a woman, leading to comedy situations and many plays on words. He is confused by a transvestite go-go dancer in a night club and begins to experience things for the first time as a woman. He hopes some pills prescribed by the doctor will change him back to the male gender so he may continue his macho fantasies. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This black comedy is based on the dastardly deeds of French serial killer Henri-Desire Landru, who wined, dined, scammed, and dismembered over 10 women during WW I. He obtained his victims by placing ads in the Personals section of the paper. He then chose wealthy dowagers in their fifties. First he would woo them to his villa. Then he would con them into forking over their fortunes. Finally he would kill them, chop them up, and immolate the pieces. He is finally captured after he is recognized by the sister of one of the victims. Landru swears that he is not a psychotic killer, that he only did it so he could continue to support his family in the bourgeoisie style that they were accustomed to. During his trial, Landru refused to plead for himself one way or the other; he showed no remorse at all. He was guillotined on February 25, 1922. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Steve Reeves gives the most dramatically demanding performance of his career (and a surprisingly good one) in The Trojan Horse. Essentially a retelling of the final year of the siege of Troy from the point of view of Aeneas (Reeves), the movie is filled with fascinating portrayals. Aeneas, taking the interpretation from the poet Virgil, is the wisest of the Trojans and, after ten years of war, has become the leading advocate for finding an end to the fighting. His wisdom and nobility have earned him a place at the table with King Priam and the other rulers, which puts him at odds with the vain, jealous Paris and his Helen. Opening with the slaying of Hector by Achilles, the film is steeped in complex personal relationships and mythological conceits. John Drew Barrymore is the other "name" actor here, playing Ulysses as a clever, cynical, and bold warrior among the Greeks. Reeves brings real nobility to Aeneas and relies on his acting skills as much as his physique to bring off this movie, often mixing the two in a script filled with ironies, as when Aeneas must kill a Greek warrior for whom he earlier expressed respect. Along with Reeves' two Hercules films from the end of the 1950s, and Vittorio Cottafavi's Hercules and the Captive Women, this is one of the best examples of Italy's sword-and-sandal genre. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Perhaps intending to make a point that criminals have their own code of justice, this undistinguished prison drama by director Jean-Paul Sassy revolves around the experiences of a new inmate. As is usually the case, there is a shakedown to see where he fits in the hierarchy, and the current top honcho singles him out for harassment. The rough treatment continues in spite of the fact that the persecuted man stands his ground, no matter what. Whether due to his attitude or the discovery that he is innocent, or both, his tormentors begin to rethink their tactics. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

French director Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux Sans Visage) is an unsettling, sometimes poetic horror film. Pierre Brasseur plays a brilliant plastic surgeon, Prof. Genessier, who has vowed to restore the face of his daughter, Christiane (Edith Scob), who was mutilated in an automobile accident. With the help of his assistant (Alida Valli), he kidnaps young women, surgically removes their facial features, and attempts to graft their beauty onto his daughter's hideous countenance. This naturally has an adverse effect on the "donors," some of whom commit suicide rather than go through life faceless. Franju's haunting, muted handling of basic horror material is what lifts Eyes Without a Face out of the ordinary and into the realm of near-classic. When the film failed to draw crowds under its original title, however, the distributors decided to exploit it as a two-bit "scare" flick with the new title The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This was the first of several films that would win international awards for French New Wave director Claude Chabrol. His aloof, innovative approach to the simple story says as much as the plot itself in which two cousins symbolize polar opposites. Charles (Gerard Blain ) is the cousin from the provinces with "bourgeois" values. His steadfast determination unfortunately does not help him pass exams or at first, succeed with women. Paul (Jean-Claude Brialy) is the urbane, rather debauched and decadent cousin who appears to conquer all. Appearances can be deceiving as they soon discover when Charles falls for Paul's friend Florence (Juliette Mayniel) -- and tragedy waits in the wings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This slow-paced, routine drama is a remake of a 1933 version by director Pierre Guerlais, based on a novel by Pierre Loti. The setting is a fishing village along the coast of Iceland and the action focuses on Yan Gaos (Jean-Claude Pascal). He is part of the fishing crew under his boss Mevel (Charles Vanel), and he has a special problem. Yan is in love with the boss's daughter Gaud (Juliette Mayniel) and she reciprocates his feelings. But her father needs to be convinced that Yan would make a worthy son-in-law and the only way Yan can prove his worth is by outshining the others on their fishing expeditions. So marriage is postponed while Yan goes out to sea one more time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide