Yves Montand Movies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This drama tells the story of a successful author who visits the French village where he was once imprisoned. ~ All Movie Guide

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

After collaborating on a series of small-scale political films under the alias of the Dziga Vertov Group, pioneering French director Jean-Luc Godard and filmmaker and activist Jean-Pierre Gorin attempted to fuse their Maoist theories of revolutionary art with a more accessible structural framework in this leftist comedy drama. Susan (Jane Fonda) is an American journalist working as a French correspondent for a radio network; her husband, Jacques (Yves Montand), was once a major filmmaker during the French New Wave, but now supports himself directing television commercials as he tries to come to terms with his political responsibilities. Jacques tags along when Susan visits a sausage factory to interview the manager (Vittorio Caprioli); their visit unexpectedly coincides with a wildcat strike staged by the plant's employees, who hold the boss captive as they lash out against both their employers and their union in a bid for more money and greater dignity. Over the course of the day, many of the participants speak to the camera about their varying degrees of commitment to radical political and economic change, while we are also afforded an inside look at Susan and Jacques' splintered relationship. Shortly after Tout Va Bien was released, Jane Fonda made her famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) visit to Hanoi, an action which led Godard and Gorin to create a companion film, Letter to Jane, in which they dissected a photo of Fonda in Vietnam for its multiple levels of political meaning. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide