Marie Trintignant Movies

The very modest lawyer (Jean-Louis Trintignant) in this case of murder finds much more than he is looking for and then must decide what to do with the unwelcome information. He is defending a woman who is accused of killing her lover. It turns out that the lover was actually killed during a holdup, and was a member of a gang which did bullying favors for local politicians; and the trail doesn't end there. This French film is directed by Trintignant's wife, Nadine. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Poignant and with several delicately wrought moments, this otherwise by-the-book tearjerker is about a little brother and big sister looking for their long-lost father. Nadine Trintignant (wife of Jean-Louis Trintignant) co-scripted and directs her two children, nineteen-year-old Marie as the eponymous sister and five-year-old Vincent as the brother, also by the same name. After their mother dies, Marie and Vincent are forced into the care of an iron-willed, iron-fisted Aunt Jeanne (Lucienne Hamon) whose militaristic view of life soon drives them to run away. The two set out for Antibes knowing that their father captains a private yacht in that port. Along the way they meet up with a kind writer who takes care of them for the night, a slightly off-the-wall man who gives them a ride, and a few other characters. It certainly looks like the long-awaited meeting with their father will really happen. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The emotional ups-and-downs of a closely-knit but often feuding family is the focus of this sentimental drama by Nadine Trintignant. She is the wife of Jean-Louis Trintignant, who appears as Paul, an impoverished playwright married to Dino (Fanny Ardant). Dino and Paul argue all the time, enough to cause periodic splits in their marriage. Dino's older sister Sidonie (played by Marie Trintignant, Nadine's daughter) is an erstwhile pianist deathly afraid of performing on stage. The parents of Dino and Sidonie are Edouard (Philippe Noiret) and Jeanne (Claudia Cardinale), and they do not get along very well either. Edouard is routinely involved in one extra-marital affair or another, and Jeanne finally throws him out. A climax is reached when Edouard faces an operation after a cerebral hemorrhage, and the entire family, with their spouses, comes together to await the outcome of the operation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The women in this story are the customers of amateur abortionist Isabelle Huppert. The time is 1941, and the place is a Nazi-occupied French town. Struggling to survive, Huppert turns to illegally terminating unwanted pregnancies for a hefty fee. As her income increases, Huppert moves her family from their grimy surroundings to a posh apartment, sharing her digs with her new friend, prostitute Marie Trintignant. Completely seduced by her affluent lifestyle, Huppert ignores her shell-shocked husband Francois Cluzet, preferring to dally with Nazi collaborator Nils Tavernier. Things take a disastrous turn after one of Huppert's "customers" dies and her disgruntled husband turns her over to the authorities. Story of Women was inspired by the real-life tale of Marie-Louise Girard, who in 1943 was executed by the Vichy Government, who'd declared abortion as a Crime Against the State because it diminished the number of potential soldiers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1966, a famous actor (Peter O'Toole) is taken by a rowboat to a fabulous old hotel on an island in the middle of a lake. He comes to find out that time stands still here -- and the reason is that he is dead. He discovers that all the residents of the hotel are famous but dead people, including Albert Einstein and Ernest Hemingway. It seems that as public interest in a dead celebrity fades away, the celebrity is given smaller and smaller rooms, until finally they are thrown out. Among the famous people that the actor meets is the writer who killed him -- for a good reason. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

Alberto's family traditions are quite unusual. Living in Paris with his pregnant wife, he is now expected to return to Rome to pay back every cent that his family spent raising him. Totally without the kind of money expected of him, as Alberto speeds by train toward his family he tries to raise the cash by various desperate means from the other passengers aboard the train so he will not have to face his father empty-handed. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Paris has its share of homeless people, and some of them live in little communities near the oldest bridge in the city, the Pont-Neuf. In the story, street-person Alex (Denis Lavant) has passed out along a much-traveled road, and a taxi has slightly injured his leg, which was in the way of traffic. When he limps back to his usual resting spot under the bridge, he finds a surprisingly unspoiled young woman (Juliette Binoche) wearing an eye patch sleeping there and confronts her about it. They become acquainted, and he learns that she is Michèle, a painter from a good suburban family who has taken to the streets in order to practice her art uninterruptedly until the time when she will inevitably lose her vision to a degenerative eye disorder. Alex earns his booze money through doing street theater: fire-eating and gymnastic routines. The two become buddies and lovers, share many adventures while practicing the arts of street survival, and even have some fun along the way. So close do they become that, when Alex is imprisoned for a violent act of jealousy, a newly cured Michèle visits him in prison and promises to meet him on the bridge when he is released. Despite this film's setting among the poor, it cost a lot of money to make: one of the big costs was the need to build a replica of the Pont-Neuf. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

According to reviewers, an expert cast of character actors make this bedroom farce eminently watchable, despite glitches in the storytelling. In the story, a group of old friends and relations gather each year to celebrate Christmas together on the ski resort of Chamonix. They don't do much skiing, however, but mostly explore their own and their friends' and relations' romantic quandries. In the story, the widower family patriarch Leo (Daniel Gelin) announces his engagement to Francoise (Anouk Aimee), which provokes all sorts of reactions in his sons Max and Simon (Gerard Lanvin and Andre Dussollier) and their families, because their own marriages are really rocky. Among the complications: Simon's son is infatuated with Max's daughter, Max is trying to make time with a woman who works locally, Simon has brought along his mistress, family friend Stephane is having trouble with his girlfriend, who threatens suicide if he won't marry her, and a difficult time is had by all during this merrymaking season. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Sullen teenage orphan Johnny Miles (Josh Albee) is wrongfully accused of stealing from his foster parents. Running away from home, Johnny forms a bond with another youthful "runaway"--this one a leopard who has escaped from a nearby wild-animal compound. Both fugitives are sheltered by a harsh but lovable kennel owner, Angela Lakey (Dorothy McGuire), who senses that neither boy nor leopard are as bad as they're cracked up to be. Assuming the responsibility of caring for the animal, Johnny risks being captured by the authorities--and while his punishment will be relatively benign, the leopard might well be destroyed. Adapted from a novel by Victor Canning, The Runaways premiered April 1, 1975, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A little philosophy can be a dangerous thing. Especially if it comes from the sudden blinding insights of the none too bright. Such insights, based upon totally illogical conclusions form the basis of this devilishly dark, distorted French absurdist comedy. At the beginning of the eccentric tale, a noted author deliberately drives his car into a brick wall, a suicide method employed by the protagonist of his last novel. Taxi driver Evangila and her brother North are deeply upset their favorite author's sudden death. They discuss the deeper implications of his act, and deduce that the author killed himself because he was increasingly obsessed with the notion that he was actually a character in someone else's novel. Finding their conclusion perfectly sound, the duo make the next logic leap and decide that they too are literary characters in someone else's book. That being the case, then all responsibility for their actions lies on the writer's shoulders, not theirs; therefore, they can do whatever they want with no consequence. Meanwhile the writer's bereaved widow, Karenina, decides she wants to join her husband in death. She makes several sucide attempts, but someone always 'rescues' her at the crucial moment. In desperation, she decides to simply leap from a tall bridge. As Karenina plots her demise, North and Evangela continue to wrestle with their newfound philosophy. The newest twist is that the author of their lives is in reality their god. Since he is the tangible, living being who dictates their every move, they decide to consult a priest in the hope that he can convince their Creator to meet them and answer a few burning questions. Unfortunately the priest can't help them and suggests that perhaps someone near death could provide more insight, someone about to commit suicide perhaps? Evangela and North, figuring a tall bridge is a good place to encounter a suicide immediately go to a certain bridge and end up meeting Karenina. When a spiritualist and God Himself get involved the story really goes off the deep end and that is when the fun really begins. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Two people with a similar fetish for the exotic Asian fabric have an odd relationship in this off-beat French romance set in 1914. In the beginning, Marie enters a Paris department store and carefully heads for the fabric part. With cat-like caution she moves beside a bolt of silk, suddenly pouncing upon it, slashing the fabric with a straight razor and the pressing its cool satiny smoothness to her body until she faints with pleasure. Upon regaining consciousness, Marie finds herself booked for shoplifting and sent to a psycho ward where she meets Doctor Gabriel who asks her surprisingly intimate questions about her fetish for stealing silk in public. He seems to relish every erotic detail. Knowing that she is unable to control her passionate urges, she decides that she needs to be imprisoned. While serving her time and finally leaning to read and write, Dr. Gabriel fights the Germans in North Africa. A wound prompts his discharge and this gives him the chance to pen his case study of Marie, "The Scream of the Silk." The newly literate Marie reads the article, sees herself and sends him a heartfelt letter of thanks. Gabriel responds, confessing that he too is a 'silko-phile' with a similar obsession. Via their letters, the two slowly fall in love while Gabriel's doting housekeeper watches over him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, layers and layers of personal lies provide the glue that holds a trendy, shallow group of Parisians together. The story centers on Ada, a deeply indebted, but promising young fashion designer who has just purchased an apartment with her lover and holds a housewarming party to celebrate. The bulk of the story unfolds episodically as assorted neurotic characters come to call and begin to intermingle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide