Yves Montand
- 1994
Yves Montand (1921-1991), like many leading men of his era, left a life offscreen which was at least as dramatic as anything he portrayed onscreen. The beloved Italian/French singer and actor speaks for himself in this documentary, compiled exclusively from his many interviews. Also shown are clips from some of his many films. Born with the name Ivo Livi to poor Italian communist parents, he moved with them at an early age to Marseilles France to avoid fascist persecution, and he worked on the docks there and as a hairdresser before being discovered on the music hall stage by Edith Piaf, who promoted his career as a singer and entertainer, as well as being one of his many lovers. Later he began to receive critical attention as a serious actor, and by the conclusion of his life he was regarded as something of a national treasure. By all reports, he enjoyed his great status enormously. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1992
In this French adventure, two Parisian street kids embark upon a strange journey to Grenoble in the back of a delivery truck. One of the lads is an adolescent Spanish graffiti artist while the other is an 11-year-old black rapper. Once there, the young boy is delighted to see his first snowfall. The two steal a car and discover an old man sleeping in the back. The boys then discover, that he is not a man at all, but an enigmatic forest spirit who teaches them important lessons about nature and life. This was the last film of classic French actor Yves Montand, who died of heart failure (as did his character in the film) during the shooting in 1991. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Olivier Martinez, (more)
- 1991
Very few people know that Pierre Marroux (Yves Montand) is the father of the famous terrorist Netchaiev (Vincent Lindon), and that's the way he likes to keep it. His boy is now presumed to be dead, and he has a job to do, protecting the safety of those who pay him. However, the boy has recently returned to Paris with a group on an operation. Netchaiev is tired of being a hunted man and is shopping his potential confession around for the best deal. This puts him at odds with his colleagues past and present, and his life is in great danger. When Pierre learns of the situation, he tries to use his skills to find his son before his killers do. Along the way, he learns that the French government has a very shady deal with the terrorists, and it wants Netchaiev dead, too. This thriller is based on a novel by Jacques Semprun. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Lindon, Yves Montand, (more)
- 1990
When Israel celebrated its 40th anniversary, many spectacular cultural events were planned to honor the occasion, including this concert. Zubin Mehta conducted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra as it played Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Resurrection next to the fortress of Masada. The program was hosted by actors Yves Montand and Gregory Peck. Over 400 singers, musicians, and others were involved in the actual presentation of the program to the thousands who attended. As viewers hear the orchestra's music, they will see the huge stage built in the desert for this memorable event. ~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Yves Montand plays himself in this musical romantic comedy by Jacques Demy. Demy and Michel Legrand wrote the songs with Montand in mind as a tribute to the famous French singer and actor in his most celebrated roles. Choreography is provided by Michael Peters for the many background dancers who hoof it around Montand, with set designs by Bernard Evein. Mathilde May plays Montand's love interest, a young singer who becomes a star when she takes the place of the diva who backs out weeks before opening night. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Mathilda May, (more)
- 1986
- PG
Co-adapted by director Claude Berri from a novel by Marcel Pagnol, this hugely successful French historical drama concerns a bizarre battle royale over a valuable natural spring in a remote French farming community. City dweller Jean Cadoret (Gérard Depardieu) assumes ownership of the spring when the original owner is accidentally killed by covetous farmer Cesar Soubeyran (Yves Montand). Soubeyran and his equally disreputable nephew Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil) pull every dirty trick in the book to force Cadoret off his land, but the novice farmer stands firm. Although the Soubeyrans appear to gain the upper hand, the audience is assured that they will eventually be foiled by the vengeful daughter of the spring's deceased owner -- thus setting the stage for the film's equally successful sequel, Manon of the Spring. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Yves Montand, (more)
Manon of the Spring (Manon des Sources) has also been released as Jean de Florette II in the US, as it is a sequel to Claude Berri's Jean de Florette. Both films are drawn from the same source: Filmmaker/novelist Marcel Pagnol's 1952 rural romance, also titled Jean de Florette. Manon (Emmanuelle Beart), now fully grown, is a shepherdess who prefers to keep her distance from the local villagers. She is determined to uncover the truth behind the death of her father (played by Gerard Depardieu in Jean de Florette) and to wreak vengeance on the men she holds responsible. The more sympathetic of the two men, Ugolin (Daniel Auteil), is in love with Manon, but this does not weaken her resolve. She causes the village's water supply to diminish, blaming this action upon Ugolin and his duplicitous co-conspirator Cesar (Yves Montand). The upshot of this vengeful behavior ends in tragedy for all concerned. The joint winners of eight French Cesar awards, Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring were released to the U.S. in tandem in 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil, (more)
- 1983
Yves Montand stars in this French seriocomedy as a middle-aged waiter. He has long harbored dreams of becoming a singer, and is also anxious to prove he's as virile as he was when he started pushing plates. Montand gets a chance to rev up his sexual energy and his musical skills when an old flame (Nicole Garcia) reenters his life after 17 years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Jacques Villeret, (more)
- 1981
Yves Montand is Victor Valance, a long-lost father who has come home to his brood of daughters and his mother in order to weazel some money out of them to front a gambling casino. Unable to tell them the real reason he wants the money, he just says it is for a country house for them - though his oldest daughter Pauline (Isabelle Adjani) is immediately suspicious of these surprising good intentions. It does not take her long to find out why he needed the cash, and she sets out to sabotage his project and get the money back, with a vengeance. Her attitude changes just as fast when she realizes that gangsters are out to take over her father's casino project - which would equally cost her the family's money. The mob adversaries cause the father and daughter to team up in self-defense, leading to a climactic chase through the mountains. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Isabelle Adjani, (more)
- 1981
This French production concerns a gangster (Yves Montand) who retires to the countryside after living a full life of traditional crime. After settling into his new residence with his wife (Catherine Deneuve), his home is invaded by an unruly punk (Gerard Depardieu) who has some new-fangled ideas about the way crime should work. The film appears in French with English subtitles. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, (more)
- 1980
This was 76-year-old director Christian-Jacque's last film before his retirement, and it is dedicated to one of his contemporaries, Marcel Carne. Carne's film history is extolled through clips from some of his award-winning or acclaimed works such as Nogent, Eldorado du Dimanche (1929), Le Jour Se Leve (1939), and Les Enfants du Paradise (1945). This last film was the first to be shown in France after World War II and marks the high point of Carne's collaboration with screenwriter and poet Jacques Prevert. Four years later they had a falling out and ended their professional association. Interviews with Carne's later associates and clips from his post-1950 films unwittingly show his career in decline, when his studio-bound style of filmmaking was outpaced by the New Wave cinema and location shooting that came into vogue at that time. Carne also briefly appears in an interview, and Yves Montand comments on the director as well. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcel Carné, Yves Montand, (more)
- 1979
Noted political filmmaker Costa-Gavras turned his attention to personal issues in this drama. Michel (Yves Montand) has had to deal with the death of his wife, while Lydia (Romy Schneider) is mourning the loss of her daughter. Both Michel and Lydia are lonely, and they are attempting to start a relationship together, but neither has been able to purge themselves of their sorrows, which makes it difficult for them to live in the moment. Clair de Femme was based on a novel by Romain Gary. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Romy Schneider, (more)
- 1979
Henry Volney (Yves Montand) is a crusading district attorney who refuses to believe the official investigation on the death of an assassinated President in this uneven suspense thriller. He interview a waitress who is the only one who can positively identify the killer, but conspirators trace his call and are able to capture him. Montand gives a good performance, but the plot is too full of holes to be effective and is too implausible to be believable. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Michel Etcheverry, (more)
- 1978
Roads to the South is often omitted from the "official" lists of Joseph Losey's films, principally because it was made for French television rather than theatres. Conceived by screenwriter Jorge Semprun and star Yves Montand as a sequel to Alain Resnais' La Guerre est Finie, the film details the further misadventures and disillusionments of Larrea, an aging old-line leftist (Montand). We find the protagonist a member of the European Establishment, embittered because he has been shut out from the radical movement of the 1970s. Now a wealthy author, Larrea from time to time yearns for the excitement of his antifascist days, but the parade has passed him by. He ultimately reverts to his old ways, with startlingly violent results. Co-scripted by director Losey Roads to the South was originally titled Les Routes du Sud. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Laurent Malet, (more)
- 1978
A music biography video of Edith Piaf, with clips from concerts and interviews. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1977
After many years of managing a trucking concern for his lover Dominique (Marie Dubois), Savin (Yves Montand) is planning to leave her for the girl who is bearing his child. Hysterical, Dominique threatens suicide then goes to a meeting between Savin and the girl and tries everything she can think of to get them to break up, from bribery to abuse. Frustrated by her failure to budge the two, she climbs onto a parapet overlooking a cliff, and falls to her death. Though they did not have a hand in her fall, Savin insists that they lie about the encounter. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Marie Dubois, (more)
- 1976
When he is not working as a stage performer, Emile (Yves Montand) works as a small-time con-man. He has a brand-new plan for a big job and needs the services of one of his former assistants. He also persuades a young actress to help out with part of the plan: kidnapping the child of a very shady arms merchant who will be pressured to keep the police off their backs. Emile is a kindly man with more charm than skill. When his plans go badly awry, he sends the two assistants away as a couple, along with the baby they had planned to substitute for the child in the arms merchant's house. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Claude Brasseur, (more)
- 1976
A tough but honest cop must clear his name after a corrupt colleague implicates him in a murder in this French thriller. Ferrot (Yves Montand) is a hard-as-nails police detective who is attracted to a beautiful woman named Sylvia (Stefania Sandrelli). Sylvia, however, is having an affair with Ganay (Francois Perier), who happens to be Ferrot's superior on the force; Ganay happens to be married to Therese (Simone Signoret), who is handicapped. Sylvia is found murdered, and Ferrot is assigned to investigate; Ferrot is convinced that Ganay killed Sylvia because she wanted to end their relationship, but to his dismay, Ferrot discovers that the killer has placed a number of false clues that point the blame toward Ferrot. Police Python 357's brisk cutting earned editor Marie-Josephe Yoyotte a Cesar Award (the French Oscar). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, (more)
- 1975
In this romantic adventure comedy from French writer/director Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Catherine Deneuve stars as Nelly, a young French bride who gets cold feet and flees the altar with her irate Italian groom Vittorio (Luigi Vannucchi in hot pursuit. While she is on the run in Venezuela, Nelly carries with her a priceless stolen painting and meets Martin (Yves Montand), a financially and personally troubled middle-aged French perfume maker who is fleeing both his marriage and his failing business. Together the unlikely pair from a bond upon finding themselves in need of each other's assistance. Also starring Tony Roberts and Bobo Lewis, La Sauvage was released in the United States under the English-translated title, The Savage. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Yves Montand, (more)
- 1974
In this ironic French tale of tragedy and love, Laurent (Yves Montand), a world-weary ex-convict and prison-reform writer is coming back to the dreary town his old prison is in. To someone whose life is so imbued with violence, everything he sees seems like a threat. Indeed, the town appears to be populated solely by thugs and elderly people. The banked fires of his passion are awakened when he sees a perfectly normal looking professional woman (Katherine Ross) coming down the street. Soon afterward, his sense of danger fails him, for he is brutally beaten in a men's restroom by a martial-artist nun. When he is taken for medical treatment, he discovers that the lovely woman he saw earlier is to be his doctor. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Katharine Ross, (more)
- 1974
This drama tells the story of a successful author who visits the French village where he was once imprisoned. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1974
Vincent, Francois, Paul and the Others is a gentle character study of a group of friends who meet each weekend in the country for food, drink and conversation. Over the course of the film, the three main characters undergo a variety of personal and professional struggles, which are all vividly evoked by Claude Sautet's direction and the cast's stellar acting. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Michel Piccoli, (more)
- 1973
This French drama shows what happens to the folks at home when someone who has been gone for a long time returns. Ange (Yves Montand) has been to America, but an uneasy feeling brings him back to his native island of Corsica. There he discovers his father has been killed, his mother is deathly ill, and his sweetheart has married his stay-at-home brother. Alas, his troubles are not over yet, as his return worries a pair of unscrupulous real-estate developers. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Lea Massari, (more)
