Francois Perrot Movies

Noted French filmmaker Claude Leloud directs this romantic comedy about a trio of femme fatale musketeers. In order to repay a stack of debts after a disastrous self-financed production of Chekhov's "Three Sisters," Olga (Anne Parillaud), Macha (Alice Evans), and Irina (Marianne Denicourt) hatch a mercenary scheme aimed at lonely Concorde passengers. Armed with exotic false identities and intelligence gathered by Irina's sister and airline employee Olivia (Olivia Bonamy), the three plot to seduce a lonely millionaire, maintain a chaste relationship long enough to exact expensive gifts, and then find an excuse to breakup. Olga's first mark, Oscar, immediately drops his wife when he learns that Olga is a direct descendant of Johannes Sebastian Bach, his favorite composer. Irina's mark, a fabulously wealthy nightclub owner who obsesses over buying a chateaux, dumps his wife, too, when he learns that she is related to Marie Antoinette. Macha has similar success with the president of an unnamed African nation when she reveals that she is descended from renowned humanitarian Albert Schweitzer. Things get dicey when Bayard, (Jean-Pierre Marielle) a suave, seasoned police commissioner gets involved in their dubious scheme. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

The film's title is a pun, the double meaning referencing both the "wrong genre" and a person with distasteful motives. Insecure novelist Martial Bok (Jacques Gamblin) promotes his new sexy novel La Fille de Dos ("Girl Observed From the Rear") with a round of book-signings and talk-shows. When beautiful hat designer Camille (Monica Bellucci) buys the book, Martial follows her and spies on her as she reads his book and removes her clothing. It's the beginning of his obsession and also an inspiration. After Martial's live-in girlfriend Lucie (Elina Lowensohn) establishes contact with Camille for real, Martial is able to type out another sexy manuscript. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This French WW II action-adventure is based on a fascinating footnote in history. Set just after the Franco-German armistice was signed in June 1940, it chronicles the courage of a compassionate French officer who defied his superiors and, acting alone, redirected a train full of German refugees to a neutral country thereby saving them from execution. Some of these refugees represented Germany and Austria's intellectual and artistic elite and included a Nobel-prize winner, the scientist who invented cortisone, and artist Max Ernst. The French officer was Charles Perrochon, a WWI veteran and military reservist who despite the fact that he had only one lung was suddenly called back to helm Les Milles, one of the camps where the refugees are to be interred. Among those distinguished prisoners is a famous soccer player and this thrills Perrochon, a pragmatic fellow not easily impressed by mere intellectuals. Visiting the camp is a female reporter for the Boston Globe, Mary Jane Cooper. At this point the armistice has not been signed. According to the treaty, these prisoners are to be returned to the Nazis. Knowing the fate that awaits them at home, the refugees send Perrochon a petition imploring him to allow them to save themselves. Perrochon tries to assure them that the French will not allow them to be killed, but deep down he knows the truth. Sure enough, as soon as the treaty is signed, Perrochon learns that his superiors care nothing for the refugees and are only too happy to send them back home to certain death. The refugees are placed upon a train. They do not want to go because they don't realize that Perrochon has taken over a train and paid the crew to take the prisoners safely to Casablanca. It is a dangerous 72-hour trip and the suspense lies in whether or not they reach their destination. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Loursat (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a lawyer who has spent the last decade drinking himself into insensibility with a huge cache of gourmet wine in response to his grief at the death of his beloved wife. In the process, he has managed to alienate his now-grown daughter and is barely on speaking terms with his housekeeper. However, finding the corpse of a murdered young man in a room in his house snaps him out of his protracted reverie. He sobers up, investigates the murder, and takes his place in the courtoom to straighten out this mess. In the process, he wins back the respect and affection of his family. This courtroom drama and mystery is based on one of Georges Simenon's many novels. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

With his job in the balance, Gérard bets his boss that he can transform bad-tempered street person Lola into television star material. With the inducement of stardom as his lure, he takes Lola in hand and becomes her instructor, sending her to ballet and acting classes, where she misbehaves. Most of her petulance is reserved for Gérard, however, but in the tradition of Pretty Woman and My Fair Lady, in the end he gets the girl and a new star -- in the same package. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Max (Wojtek Pszoniak) is a Polish Jew who survived World War II and runs a second-hand store in the suburbs of Paris. He gives war orphan Victor (Thomas Langmann) a job and a place to stay after the conflict ends. Victor and his young cronies dabble in the black market as he is ignored by his former friend, a bourgeois anti-Semitic. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this semi-autobiographical comedy by Francis Perrin, he plays a character partially based on himself in the guise of Francois Veber, a lowly electrician from the provinces who finds success as an actor in the Comedie-Francaise. Veber/Perrin goes to study acting at the Paris Conservatoire and has some fine teachers who help to hone his latent comic abilities. After coming to the attention of his superiors as an excellent student (he won a Conservatoire competition with a monologue from "The Marriage of Figaro"), Veber/Perrin is accepted into the prestigious Comedie-Francaise. Defying the judgment of its administrator, he pulls off a rousing interpretation of Moliere's Scapin. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Stereotyped and predictable, this is a feeble romantic adventure story about Laura (Miou-Miou), her estranged husband Tournier (Robin Renucci), her erstwhile lover-to-be Tom (Alain Souchon), and the arms dealer they are out to foil (François Perrot). Laura and Tournier are in southern Morocco conspiring to put a lid on the arms deal that is about to go through with a hostile Arab nation, and then they meet Tom, the owner of a transport service and pilot of the "Sphinx," his biplane. Tom becomes an accomplice in their plot, and before long he and Laura are romantically involved -- though not convincingly. The tepid romance is matched by tepid action scenes and a predictable ending. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Lacking the bite to be really funny, this wilted farce stars French comedian Coluche as Michel Bernardin, a white-collar trouble-shooter for tourists caught in a bind, or in bandages, depending on the problem. His business "Planet Assistance" sends people all over to help travelers in need, and as his first assignment of the moment, Michel goes off to a North African nation to get a man out of the hospital and back to Paris. After he arrives, he escapes from the hospital and the country with the wrong man and accidentally sets off a coup d'etat. Next, in New York, he is attacked by men who think he is a drug lord when he is in Harlem trying to bring a hospitalized musician home to France. Lastly, he goes to Hong Kong where he comes across his fiancée but is also an unwitting puppet of some racketeers. By this time, the comedy has sunk so low it has dipped completely out of sight. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This self-conscious film with acting that is not quite up to par, is about an insurance investigator who meets an attractive woman in a hotel on his way to check out the causes of a fire that destroyed a movie set. The woman is still on his mind when he reaches the set, where contacts with the irritating, emotionally impaired movie crew leave him in a confused state himself -- all the more confused when he learns that his mystery woman had been working on this set as an actress when she suddenly left. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this plodding drama about a man searching for his friend's wronged lover, there is neither high action nor high suspense to keep -- or even reach -- a quick-paced storyline. A shallow womanizer (Jean Rochefort) plays the trumpet in an orchestra conducted by his steady and stable friend (Philippe Noiret). One day a woman bursts into the womanizer's dressing room and tries to shoot him down for what he did to her sister. As he goes into hiding for his own safety, he asks the orchestra leader to find out who he wronged, and try to help him correct the problem. The rest of the film concerns that search, and its resolution. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide