François Négret Movies

A woman whose husband is away fighting in World War I embarks on an arduous journey after receiving a troubling letter in director Serge Bozon's intimate war drama. The year is 1917, and it's springtime in France. Camille's husband may be fighting in the war, but for this naïve young housewife, life is peaceful. Upon receiving a letter in which her husband curtly ends the couple's relationship without explanation, Camille decides to disguise herself as a man and seek her true love out on the front lines. It's not long before Camille joins up with a small squadron of soldiers who remain completely unaware of her true identity or gender, and as the group makes their way to the battleground Camille's eyes will finally be opened to a reality she could have never imagined -- the reality of France. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A filmmaker seeks out actresses who aren't afraid to explore their sexuality for a film about female pleasure and transgressing taboos in director Jean-Claude Brisseau's semi-surreal fantasy drama. François (Frédéric Van Den Dreiessche) is a fiftysomething filmmaker who longs to achieve something truly great in the realm of cinema. In the aftermath of a spectral midnight visit from his beloved but deceased grandmother -- who offers the perplexed filmmaker a baffling warning from beyond the grave -- François sets out on his search for the most uninhibited actresses he can find. When an actress who is instructed to fake a climax experiences her very first orgasm during a private screen test and attributes the pleasurable anomaly to the presence of the director and his camera, François determines to create a film exploring the concept that forbidden fruit can actually enhance one's capacity for pleasure. Later, as trust issues begin to arise between François and stars Julie (Lise Bellynck), Charlotte (Maroussia Dubreuil), and Stéphanie (Marie Allan), two mysterious entities with the power to appear and disappear at will (Margaret Zenou and Raphaële Godin) prepare to carry out a series of clandestine orders that seem to bode ill for the ambitious director. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

While hiking in the countryside near a coastal town in Normandy, two young lovers have a spat and separate. The woman is run down by a ghostly Land Rover and disappears. Meanwhile, her beau comes to a big old house where he is taken in by an old and lonely man. It doesn't take long for the young man to realize that his host is wacko and terrified of dying and is willing to take extreme measures to prevent this from happening. Though billed as a thriller, director Michael Ferry chose to focus on the inner thoughts and fears of the protagonists rather than exciting action sequences. All of the violence occurs off screen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Aimless young lovers Julie and Jack leave their provincial home and head for Paris to spend a year doing little more than wandering about and making frequent love. To support them, Jack gets a night job driving taxi. Julie does not work and while he works, she strolls the boulevards. Trouble comes when Julie falls for Joseph, a day-shift cabbie and begins a nighttime affair with him. At first Julie feels no guilt nor sense of betrayal, but as the intensity of the affair with Joseph, who has fallen deeply in love with her, increases, things get more difficult until Julie is forced to face up to her actions in the film's realistic finale. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Directed by Philip Sebton, Mister Frost chronicles the life of serial killer Mr. Frost (Jeff Goldblum), who, after stashing 125 tortured corpses in and around his property, is caught by a British detective (Alan Bates) and brought to a mental institution. Strange things begin to happen immediately after his arrival--the egotistical Dr. Reynhardt (Roland Giraud) suddenly loses confidence, an angelic young boy goes insane, and people see images of Satanic eyes in their rear-view mirrors. Meanwhile, the only person Frost (Goldblum) will speak to is psychiatrist Dr. Sarah Day (Kathy Baker), who questions why the police could not find any official records of his existence. He tells her that he is, in fact, none other than Satan himself. According to an angry Frost, the world has tossed aside the notion of pure evil, opting instead to use psychological explanations to aid them in understanding why terrible things happen to good people. Frost's mission on earth is to remind man that the devil does exist, and is still bargaining for immortal souls. He believes if he can convince a psychiatrist (Baker), to murder him because she believes he is the devil, it will not only help his cause, but act as a resounding personal victory. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

A distinguished drama and considered an important entry in French cinema's new naturalism from one of the '80s most promising French filmmakers, this drama presents a shocking but humanistic look at the tragic lives of impoverished children living in the Paris projects. Bruno is a teenaged boy who has just moved into a high-rise project with his hard-working mother. Barely earning enough to support them takes all of her time. She communicates with Bruno via tender notes. Other than those brief missives and his pet bird, Bruno is alone. The apartment is located in one of the city's roughest suburbs and Bruno's involvement with crime seems inevitable. Shortly after he is befriended by the streetwise, battered and deeply troubled Jean-Roger, Bruno is out thieving, destroying property and harming people with a vengeance. These boys are not devoid of humane qualities. One of their teachers, a young idealistic woman, recognizes their potential and tries vainly to save the boys, but by the time she gets involved it is too late for Bruno and Jean-Roger. Though deep down they may have wanted only love, help and guidance, the brutal, unloving world around them consumes them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Gaspard Manesse plays Julien, an 11-year-old Catholic boarding-school resident during the Nazi occupation of France. He is witness to the courage of his instructors, who defy the German's anti-Semitic policies and quietly enroll Jewish children into the school under assumed names. Manesse befriends Jean (Raphael Fejto), one of these "instant Catholics." The refugee children are betrayed by a hostile ex-employee of the school, forcing Julien once more to be a bystander to history as Jean and the teachers are arrested. For this return to the French film industry after several years in the US, Louis Malle purged himself of his own bitter memories of life under the thumbs of the Nazis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide