Romy Schneider

A man's tragic past leads him to take justice into his own hands in this troubling look at life in Europe after WWII. Max Baumstein (Michel Piccoli) is a well-known human rights activist and avowed pacifist who, to the shock and puzzlement of many, murders a politician from South America. As Baumstein goes to trial, it is revealed that his victim was in fact a Nazi war criminal who ordered the deaths of thousands of people -- including Baumstein's parents. In flashback, Max recalls the horrors of the Nazi occupation of France, and he remembers Elsa Weiner (Romy Schneider), a woman who helped save his life and struggled to free her husband Michel (Helmut Griem) from a concentration camp after he was condemned for publishing anti-fascist literature. La Passante Du Sans-Souci marked the final screen appearance of actress Romy Schneider, who played both Elsa and Baumstein's wife Lina; Schneider died of heart failure shortly after it was released. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Just when life was deep into a well-hewn rut for Nino Conti (Marcello Mastroianni) and the socialite he married, he runs into an old, impoverished charwoman (Romy Schneider) on a bus. She later gets in touch with him by telephone and lets him know that she is the very same Anna he had loved two decades earlier. Ghosts of the past start to haunt Nino in more ways than one, as he remembers the times he shared with Anna. In flashbacks to those years, the film wends its way to the final conjuncture of past and present phantoms -- poking fun at upper-class society along the way. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Director Bertrand Tavernier provides an unexpected feminist slant to the otherwise standard sci-fi trappings of Death Watch. Harvey Keitel plays a man of the future who has had a camera implanted in his brain. The mechanism, which is endowed with special X-ray properties, is activated by the user's eyes. Keitel is assigned by ruthless TV producer Harry Dean Stanton to secretly probe the subconscious of a dying woman, played by Romy Schneider. Stanton is only interested in the grim spectacle of what goes on inside the brain of someone who knows she's doomed. Keitel, on the other hand, becomes increasingly compassionate--and disgusted by the tawdriness of his assignment--as he stares into Schneider's tortured psyche. ~ Hal Erickson, 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

The West German/French Group Portrait with Lady (Gluppenbild mit Dame) is based on a bestselling novel by Heinrich Böll. The film is a string of anecdotes, some longer than others, related to the topic of German war guilt. The main plotline involves German woman Romy Schneider's affair with Russian prisoner of war Brad Dourif. Through an occasionally confusing series of flashbacks, we discover Schneider's ultimate fate, and also solve the mystery of the Jewish girl buried in a convent cemetary. Romy Schneider won several German film awards for her participation in this 100-minute elegy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Michel Piccoli plays Simon, a French businessman reluctantly venturing into middle age. As he deals with his own midlife crisis, Simon becomes virtually oblivious to the social changes around him. The businessman tries to counter advancing age with an increased sex life, but finds that women aren't the same compliant creatures he remembers from his youth. Though the material is rife with opportunities for "radical" camerawork, director Claude Sautet chooses an austere, near-classic cinematic style, allowing us to concentrate more on the people in front of the camera rather than the person behind it. Featured in the cast of Mado is actress Romy Schneider, a Sautet favorite. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Freelance photographer Servais (Fabio Testi) meets luckless Nadine Chevalier (Romy Schneider) an aging, world-weary, would-be movie star who thus far has only been able to find work in cheap exploitation movies. Trying to win her affection, Servais borrows the money from his underworld employers to launch a theatrical production of Richard III starring Nadine as Lady Anne. Though cold and skeptical at first, Nadine gradually falls in love with Servais, and eventually finds herself torn between him and her husband Jacques (Jacques Dutronc), to whom she feels morally obligated. Set in a world of losers and futile talents, this dark and moody drama depicts love as the only source of salvation. Memorable performances and skillful direction make this film a powerful experience. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

Elizabeth (Romy Schneider) and her daughter (Benedicte Bucher) take a holiday together, and each of them has a brief romance: the mother has an affair with a suitably mysterious Italian (Nino Castelnuovo) and the girl has a satisfying flirtation with a boy her own age (Alain David). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Michel Piccoli is irresistibly slimy in the role of a conniving attorney. Making the acquaintance of two lovely sisters (Romy Schneider and Andrea Ferreol), Piccoli seduces them both. He then invites the sisters into his latest scam: marrying and murdering gullible men and women, then cheating their insurance companies. The noirish intrigues of Infernal Trio are all the more remarkable in that they are based on a true story. It shouldn't be too surprising to first-year French students that the original title of this French/Italian melodrama was Le Trio Infernal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Luchino Visconti (Count don Luchino Visconti di Modrone) was a film director, true, but he was also a nobleman and a grand patron of traditional European culture: opera, art, music, crafts and literature. These interests enliven many of his films, but few have been so inspired as the four-hour epic, Ludwig, about the castle-building "mad king" of Bavaria. This long film, made very near the end of Visconti's life, suffers greatly when shortened, as every moment is essential to the story. There are at least four different versions of the film (from just under three hours to over four hours in length); the uncut four-hour version is the most coherent, even though many might find it rather long. The disintegration of aristocratic individuals is a continuing theme of Visconti's, though Ludwig's is the most thorough decay he filmed. The last ruling king of Bavaria (1845-1886) is noted for many things besides his eccentricities: he sold Bavaria to Germany, ending the rule of the Bavarian monarchy; he built amazing castles all over his country (with the proceeds from the sale); and he was Richard Wagner's main sponsor. He was also a notorious recluse, conducting a lifelong platonic love affair with Empress Elizabeth of Austria, and finally succumbing to his adoration of handsome men in a series of outrageous affairs and orgies. His excesses eventually led to his being declared mentally incompetent and being held prisoner in his own castle. The film depicts this incredible life from his coronation at age 19 to his (unproved) assassination well over 20 years later. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Claude Sautet's romantic drama César et Rosalie (Cesar and Rosalie) stars Romy Schneider as Rosalie, a beautiful young woman happily married to successful businessman Cesar (Yves Montand). One day, Rosalie's former flame David (Sami Frey) appears and attempts to win her back. Cesar reacts with a jealous intensity never before seen by Rosalie, and because of that, she returns to David. She remains conflicted as to with whom she should be, but eventually, one of the men does something which resolves the situation. César et Rosalie contains one of the first screen appearances of French actress Isabelle Huppert. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Max (Michel Piccoli) is a former judge obsessed with seeing criminals brought to justice. The frustrations of the courtroom, where evidence matters more than guilt, lead him to join the police force. Independently wealthy, he uses all his official and personal resources to make criminals pay for their crimes. He hits on a scheme involving a prostitute (Romy Schneider) and her small-time criminal boyfriend (Bernard Fresson) in which he incites the boyfriend to carry out larger and larger crimes until he can arrange to catch him red-handed. While he has been using the prostitute to set up her boyfriend, he has also fallen in love with her, so that when a policeman who disapproves of his methods threatens to prosecute her as an accomplice to the same crimes, he kills him. This is a French-language film, with no dubbing or subtitles. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The British/American co-production My Lover, My Son stars Romy Schneider as Frances, the unhappy wife of businessman Robert (Donald Houston). When her lover is accidentally drowned, Frances turns to her teenaged son James (Dennis Waterman) for comfort. Her husband doesn't like this set-up and bundles James off to college, but upon his return the boy enters into an affair with his own mother. Robert discovers the incestuous couple in an embrace and reacts violently, whereupon Frances kills him in self defense. Knocked unconscious during the struggle, James thinks he is the killer and takes the rap. The boy is released on the grounds of self defense and returns to his mother -- only to renounce her when he discovers that he's the illegitimate son of his mother's dead lover. MGM was the American distributor for My Lover, My Son, and that low vibration you feel is Louis B. Mayer spinning in his grave. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide