Guy Bedos

In this comedy, veterinarian Henri Sauveur (Jean Rochefort) maintains his dignity and calm in the face of an incredible number of irritating or even genuinely upsetting encounters with inveterate pains-in-the-neck. He suffers from the rudeness (and worse) of Parisian drivers, his relatives, and friends and clients. All the same, he manages to convey an admirable appearance of insouciance and a devil-may-care attitude. That is, until he meets the redoubtable Louise Sherry (Miou-Miou). He is so smitten with her charms that his artfully maintained defenses crumble pitifully, and he is reduced to confiding his troubles to a bemused but sympathetic female chimpanzee. This fast-paced comedy features some of France's best-loved actors and comedians, including Claude Brasseur, Jean Yanne, and Jacques Villeret) in walk-on performances. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A retired musician inherits the care of his ten-year-old runaway grandson in this uneven comedy. Sebastian (Guy Bedos) hires a baby-sitter for his grandson when he gets a gig playing violin in a strip club. The boy tries to set his grandfather up with the sexy sitter. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this routine, somewhat disconnected story, Louis Alban (Jean Rochefort) has been divorced from his wife for awhile when a ruse perpetrated by his son sends him rushing to see her, but not exactly in a direct line. After Louis reads a New Year's card from his son indicating the boy is being abused by his stepfather Bob, Louis takes off for Paris to take care of Bob. But when Louis arrives at the apartment complex where his wife and son live with the infamous Bob, he is overwhelmed by the many buildings there -- and distraught over his lack of an exact address. As he wanders around, he encounters a few others who end up about as lost as he is, including a garage mechanic and his young accountant -- both searching for a party given by the real Bob, and a militant apartment resident who lends his support and his gun to Louis' desperate search. This disparate group of people meander around the building, but in the end they fit into the carefully crafted plans of Louis' deceptive son to bring his mother and father back together. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

When this French romantic comedy was released in English-speaking countries, its French title was changed to Pardon Mon Affaire. The four buddies in this picture help one another out, especially when it concerns affairs of the heart. Etienne (Jean Rochefort) is happily married, but when he sees a young woman's dress blown up over her head, the image will not leave him. Even after his philandering buddy Bouly (Victor Lanoux) returns home one day to find that his wife has left him, taking all of their belongings and their child with her, he cannot stop thinking about the girl in the red dress. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The Egg is "the system," and Magis (Guy Bedos) wants to be a part of it, somehow. He works in a stuffy store and, out of boredom more than anything else, has an affair with an elderly maid. This tasteless act gets him fired. He makes the acquaintance of a middle-class family who help him get a government job and offer one of their daughters as his wife. Soon, he finds his new wife boring and takes comfort with the earthy old cleaning woman. Eventually, he kills his new wife and frames her lover for the deed. This somehow makes him feel that he is now an official member of "The Egg." ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A wealthy French matron drives her captors crazy when she is kidnapped and help for ransom. Mathilde (Jacqueline Maillan) is married to a rich husband of questionable virtue. A dimwitted duo of aspiring crooks get more than they bargained for by the abduction of the woman. A French Air Force pilot is mistaken for a Russian cosmonaut when he accidently hits the eject button on his plane's control panel. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A French Army Captain (Jean Marais) and his adjunct (Sydney Chaplin) are separated from their unit during the Napoleonic Wars in this comedy adventure. Both men are caught behind enemy lines and have amorous romps with the comely Carlotta (Marilu Tolo), who charms them in various stages of undress. Guy Bedos provides comedy relief as the frightened infantry regular. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

While visiting a vegetarian restaurant, a young writer finds a corpse in the restroom. When he returns with the police, the body is gone. The writer is left with the unlucky fellow's hat -- which leads a certain beautiful woman to believe that his identity is the same as the dead man's. Not only is his life now at risk, but things get increasingly bizarre as he meets up with a mysterious sect of cannibals and with a group of opium-smuggling gangsters. What's more, the woman herself seems to have a diabolical doppleganger. Aimez-Vous Les Femmes? was adapted by Roman Polanski and Gerard Brach from a book by Georges Bardawil. The distinguished Sacha Vierny contributed his cinematographic talent to this black comedy shortly after his successful collaboration (among many) with director Alain Resnais on Muriel, ou le Temps d'un Retour/Muriel, or the Time of Return (1963). ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

The eponymous French corporal, played by Jean-Pierre Cassel, is ensconced in a German POW camp. Cassel plots with his friends Claude Brasseur and Claude Rich to escape, but all three are recaptured. When the corporal plans another getaway, he finds that one of his chums isn't interested anymore. After a brief liaison with the daughter of a German dentist, Cassel once more tries to break out...and once more...and once more. Finally free from his captors, Cassel joins the resistance with his loyal pal Brasseur. The Elusive Corporal was a return to the themes of freedom and personal dignity inherent in Jean Renoir's earlier La Grande Illusion (1938); alas, Renoir had very little control over the final cut of the later film, and tended to dismiss the whole project as a mere "entertainment" in his declining years, though he remained proud of his closing panorama shot of Paris, which wordlessly expressed the euphoria of freedom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide