Jane Birkin Movies

This unique French offering is a compilation of 30 short films focused on AIDS. The mini-films were based on over 3,000 ideas put in by French school children and were made by filmmakers on a voluntary basis. Most of the vignettes deal with heterosexuality and AIDS, but one deals with drug-usage, and one with homosexuality. It took four production houses three years to create this inspirational and informative film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

James Ivory directed this drama adapted from Kaylie Jones's 1990 autobiographical novel in which the character Bill Willis is based on her father, James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity and A Thin Red Line. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's screenplay about expatriate Americans in Paris during the 1960s/1970s offers a portrait of a normal family (as opposed to the dysfunctional families of The Ice Storm and many other 1990s films), seen from the point of view of daughter Channe. Her father is Bill Willis (Kris Kristofferson), a successful novelist and WWII veteran who's married to enthusiastic poker-player Marcella (Barbara Hershey). Divided like the sections of a novel, the story's first chapter is titled, "Billy," in which French orphan Benoit (Samuel Gruen) is brought to the Willis household for adoption, while his unmarried biological mother (Virginie Ledoyen) writes about him in her diary. Six-year-old Benoit has been shipped through so many orphanages and foster homes that he doesn't unpack his suitcase. Benoit's presence prompts the young Channe (Luisa Conlon) to turn to her protective Portuguese nanny Candida (Dominique Blanc). After Benoit becomes acclimated to his new family, he asks that his name be changed to Billy. In the second segment "Francis" a strong friendship develops between Channe (Leelee Sobieski) and fatherless Francis Fortescue (Anthony Roth Costanzo). Obsessed with opera, Francis lives with his expatriate British mother (Jane Birkin). The family's French idyll is disrupted when Bill Willis plans a return to the United States because he wants American doctors to treat his bad heart. The closing act "Daddy" takes place in North Carolina during the 1970s as Bill's health worsens, Billy (Jesse Bradford) grows up, and an alienated Channe seeks acceptance through sex. A bedridden Bill dictates his fiction to Channe, who transcribes tapes and types his manuscript pages. During intimate conversations about boys and sex, Willis helps his daughter find her footing on the path of life. This movie arrived only 14 weeks prior to the release of Terrence Malick's 1998 adaptation of the elder Jones' The Thin Red Line. Shown at 1998 film fests (Venice, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Andy Warhol "graduate" Paul Morrissey surprised his followers with his sensitive direction of the 1985 costume drama Beethoven's Nephew (Le Neveu de Beethoven) The eponymous character, Karl Beethoven (Dietmar Prinz), is snatched from his mother's home by egomaniacal composer Ludwig Van Beethoven (Wolfgang Reichmann). It is Beethoven's contention that nephew Karl is in the clutches of a "demon" (his mother!), and that only by taking charge of Karl himself can the composer tap the boy's inherent musical genius. Ultimately Karl rebels against Beethoven's obsessiveness by developing a relationship with a beautiful actress (Nathalie Baye). As Karl's independence grows, Beethoven's health declines, possibly because of the psychological ramifications of watching his surrogate son grow away from him. Adapted by Morrissey and Mathieu Carriere from a novel by Luigi Magnani, Beethoven's Nephew was released in the US nearly two years after its French premiere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni's first English-language production was also his only box office hit, widely considered one of the seminal films of the 1960s. Thomas (David Hemmings) is a nihilistic, wealthy fashion photographer in mod "Swinging London." Filled with ennui, bored with his "fab" but oddly-lifeless existence of casual sex and drug use, Thomas comes alive when he wanders through a park, stops to take pictures of a couple embracing, and upon developing the images, believes that he has photographed a murder. Pursued by Jane (Vanessa Redgrave), the woman who is in the photos, Thomas pretends to give her the pictures, but in reality, he passes off a different roll of film to her. Thomas returns to the park and discovers that there is, indeed, a dead body lying in the shrubbery: the gray-haired man who was embracing Jane. Has she murdered him, or does Thomas' photo reveal a man with a gun hiding nearby? Antonioni's thriller is a puzzling, existential, adroitly-assembled masterpiece. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Jane Birkin stars in this sex farce as a young British prostitute in Paris who, after her soft-core business fails, decides to go big-time and incorporate herself, selling stock to four disparate investors. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

This routine farce is about a lowly police inspector who falls for a sophisticated woman, unaware that she is involved in fencing stolen art. He pursues her with undying diligence until they finally get together -- but by that time they are on the wrong side of the law and in trouble. As usual with director Patrice Leconte, Michel Blanc plays the lead. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Amnesty International produced this film, which features more than two dozen greats of French cinema making pleas for the lives of political prisoners around the world. Each filmmaker speaks passionately on behalf of an individual whose life has been warped by political intolerance, imprisonment, torture or murder, as the lives of those prisoners or sufferers are documented onscreen. A variety of directors contributed shorts with this theme, and the ways in which the appeals are dramatized differ markedly from one to the next. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This tepid supernatural melodrama involves the former director of a mental hospital (Robert Hardy) who inherits the estate of one of his patients -- a house which was once the site of multiple murders. He also stands to inherit a substantial sum of gold... if only he can locate the treasure, which is hidden somewhere on the premises. Before long, Christopher Lee, Joan Collins and Herbert Lom catch the scent, aiming to do a bit of prospecting themselves. As the search progresses, Hardy's mental state begins to degrade, apparently as a result of the malevolent spirits which haunt the mansion, driving him to commit murder. Despite the prominent billing of Joan Collins (at the peak of her popularity on TV's Dynasty) for the video release, she and horror stalwart Lee have rather insignificant roles in this routine thriller. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

This campy Roger Vadim film stars sex-kitten Brigitte Bardot as Jeanne, the female counterpart to Don Juan, a woman who is ruthlessly wicked in her pursuit of love and desire. Jeanne confesses murder to a young priest (Mathieu Carriere) who is also her cousin, and after she tells him the story of how she has ruined the lives of a long succession of men, she shamelessly seduces the priest as well. Her story told in flashback, Jeanne gets off to a rocky start as an heiress: her father died while cussing her out for her low-down ways. She gets even with each of the men who does her wrong, usually in devastating ways, but in the end, she sacrifices all for love. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The strange life of Austrian painter Egon Schiele, one of the fathers of expressionism, is chronicled in this dramatic biography. He began his career during his stint as a soldier in WWI. He gained notoriety for his pornographic nudes and was eventually arrested for creating them. At the same time, his first love dies, and his next lover dumps him. His paintings finally become popular at the war's end. Unfortunately, he dies of a strange disease before he can enjoy his success. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Jane B. is London-born actress and recording star Jane Birkin. Agnes V. is Belgian filmmaker and "grandmother of the New Wave" Agnes Varda. Jane B. Par Agnes V is a cinematic recounting of Birkin's career, from her breakthrough appearance as one of the nude models in Blow-Up to her pinnacle as star of such films as La Femme de Ma Vie (1986). It is also the story of Birkin and Varda's close relationship, made stronger by their mutual admiration and their lifelong fascination with feminist themes. Viewers who prefer straightforward, objective documentaries rather than radicalized film techniques, may not appreciate Jane B. par Agnes V. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide