Pierre Vaneck Movies

A middle-aged man decides it's time to stop hiding his feelings, with explosive results, in this dark drama from French filmmaker Jean Becker. Antoine (Albert Dupontel) is a successful advertising executive who owns his own firm and has a wife, two children and a mistress. On his forty-second birthday, a switch seemingly goes off within Antoine and after a lifetime of being civil he begins telling others just what he thinks, usually in a blunt and hurtful manner. Antoine insults one of his best clients and bad-mouths their products before quitting his job and releasing a volley of insults upon his partners. That evening, his wife Cecile (Marie-Josee Croze) throws him a birthday party, but if anything Antoine's mood grows darker; he tells his wife he's never really cared for her, scolds his children for their behavior and poor spelling, and chastises all his friends in attendance. Angry Antoine packs a bag and leaves for a long voyage, which leads him to Ireland and a volatile meeting with his emotionally-distant father (Pierre Vaneck). Deux Jours a Tuer (aka Love Me No More) also features Alessandra Martines, Mathias Mlekus and Cristiana Reali. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The bitter legacy of the French/Algerian War set the stage of this drama from director Alexandre Arcady, himself a Frenchman of Algerian birth. Pierre Nivel (Antoine DeCaunes) is a noted French television journalist and network anchorman. One day, he receives an unexpected visitor, an Algerian man with a message from someone named Leila. Pierre was born in Algeria, and he lived there until he was 17, when the French were forced to leave after Algeria won its independence in 1962. He's kept his Algerian past a secret from most of his friends and colleagues, but the note from Leila, his teenage sweetheart, leads him back to the land of his birth. It turns out that Leila now has a grown daughter, Amina (Nozha Khouadra), and Leila needs Pierre's help to smuggle her and her daughter out of the country. A defiant woman, Amina's refusal to go through with an arranged marriage to a fundamentalist and removal of her veil in public has put both herself and her family in great danger. La Bas ... Mon Pays/Return to Algiers was the first French production to be shot on location in Algeria since the nation won its independence. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Noted producer Ismail Merchant stepped up to the director's chair for this drama. Adrienne Mark (Jeanne Moreau) is the most acclaimed French novelist of her generation, whose best known work, Je M'Appelle France, was an international best-seller made into an award-winning French film (and a disastrous Americanized remake). Adrienne is living in New York City when she learns that the flat in Paris where she grew up (as Adrienne Markowsky) is up for sale. Looking for a key to her past, she buys the apartment and discovers a cache of letters written by her late mother. Adrienne's mother died in a Nazi concentration camp during WWII, but while she's been led to believe that her mother was betrayed while working with the resistance, the letters suggest that the truth was far more troubling. Along the way, Adrienne is romantically pursued by a young fan, William O'Hara (Josh Hamilton), though he instead finds love with Virginia Kelly (Sean Young), an American film producer eager to work with the great writer. The Proprietor also features Sam Waterston, Nell Carter, and Austin Pendleton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

After World War II, due to a longstanding prior agreement among the victorious Allies, displaced citizens of the various countries were returned to their homeland of origin whether or not they wanted to be. There were almost no exceptions to this rule. As a result, several million anti-communist citizens of Eastern Bloc nations were handed over to the not-so tender mercies of their native countries, now under communist rule. Only one nation in all of Europe failed to honor this agreement: the tiny Duchy of Luxembourg. The story of this film is based on a true incident, and the furor it caused. In 1945, the Russian general (Malcom McDowell) of a small detachment of five hundred Eastern Bloc soldiers who fought on the Axis (German) side, led them into the (neutral) Duchy, which had an announced policy of granting asylum. These refugees were swifly assimilated into the everyday life of the country and, despite enormous pressure from the great military powers of the day (particularly Russia), Luxembourg refused to relinquish them to almost certain death. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Helga has a vivid imagination, which is a great boon to a girl isolated on a remote farm on the west coast of Iceland. Her main sources of entertainment are the stories her older brother tells her at bedtime, and her grandmother's tales about an ancient curse which affects the region. Her father is away at sea on his fishing boat a lot, and Helga has plenty of time to while away the hours by constructing a vision of 14th-century Iceland and the source of the curse. When she learns that an oceanographer is coming to visit the region, she imagines how it might be if he came to where they are located, and her fantasies roam through the centuries even into the future. However, she is horrified to discover that, though her capacity to imagine realities is powerful, she cannot affect the present that way. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Elise (Arielle Dombasle) is content being the lover of Alex (Omar Sharif), a wealthy magnate who lavishes her with attention and money. When she gets religious and decides to hide from him in a French convent, Alex hires agents to bring her back. He offers money to the corrupt cult leader Noah (Pierre Vaneck), who then orders his young follower Marc (Hippolyte Girardot) and Elise to head a delegation traveling to Mexico. Marc turns out to be a journalist doing secret research on cults, but he quickly falls in love with Elise. She must chose between Alex and Marc in this uneven distaff melodrama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This musical documentary was financed by the French Ministry of Culture. Most of the footage was shot at the 1985 Fete de la Music and represents a wide variety of musical styles. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This tantalizing blend of eroticism and mysticism was adapted from a novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Erendira (Claudia Ohana) has a strange and wondrous vision; shortly afterward, her grandmother's house burns down. The grandmother (Irene Papas) gets her revenge by forcing Erendira to become a prostitute. As the "johns" become increasingly prosperous (along with grandma), Erendira keeps her wits about her by experiencing even more bizarre visions. Veteran European character actor Michel Lonsdale has an effective cameo as a hypocritical senator. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this 80-minute biographical documentary, Pablo Picasso is portrayed through his art, historical footage that lays a background for his work, interviews with fellow artists Joan Miro, Hans Harting, and Edouard Pignon, and scenes of Picasso both at work and just relaxing. The narrative was created by Picasso's friend Helene Parmelin, a journalist, and Jacqueline Picasso poses at the end surrounded by many of his canvasses, a testimony to his prolific career. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Le Seuil du Vide tells its story through fantasies and dreams. The young painter is someone who cannot resist a mystery; because of this she is swiftly drawn into a disturbing and fantastic world. After she rents a room in Paris from an old woman, she finds a door leading from her room into nothingness. She sets up her studio just inside the door and experiences visions which she paints. Her paintings are well-received by the art galleries, so she continues. The visionary state induced by the room continues even when she leaves it, and she is struck by a car as she crosses the street. During her recovery in the hospital, she resolves to give up the room. When she returns to her room for her things, she succumbs to the temptation to take another peek at the void. This proves to be her undoing. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this thrilling mystery of mistaken identity, Jacques (Pierre Vaneck) is a piano player in a nightclub who is approached by a man he never met before. The stranger offers him a job posing as the husband of a mentally challenged woman. He will be rewarded for taking care of the woman. Since his contract has expired at the club, he readily accepts the proposition. The stranger turns out to be the valet of the woman, who other than playing with decapitated dolls, seems quite normal. Jacques and the woman end up falling in love. He looks just like her husband who disappeared during an African safari. It turns out the missing man is a former Nazi hiding out from the international police. Soon agents converge on the house along with the man who had supposedly vanished, leading to an inevitable showdown. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In 1944, with Paris on the verge of Liberation by the allies, Adolph Hitler ordered that the City of Light be blown up and burned to the ground. General Dietrich Von Choltitz, after much rumination, decided that he didn't want to go down in history as the man who destroyed Paris. His refusal to follow Hitler's orders would make him a pariah in Germany for the rest of his life; nor was his gesture ever rewarded by the Allies. From this very human story in the midst of one of the most inhuman conflicts in history grew the screenplay (by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola) of the all-star, internationally produced Is Paris Burning? Whereas the earlier The Longest Day was able to support a castful of celebrities and brief subplot vignettes, Is Paris Burning? seems more weighted down than weighty. Still, a modern audience will have fun playing "spot the star" throughout the film, especially when those spotted stars include the likes of Gert Frobe (as Choltitz), Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, Kirk Douglas (as Patton), Glenn Ford (as Bradley), Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Robert Stack, and even Anthony Perkins as a wide-eyed GI. Filmed on a gargantuan scale, Is Paris Burning? was based on a book by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre. The film was lensed in black and white, save for the Technicolor finale (in the original road-show prints). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Roberto La Rocca (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is an ex-gangster whose friend Xavier (Pierre Vaneck) has been unjustly thrown in prison. Indeed, local gang leader Villanova is the one who framed Xavier. La Rocca confronts the mobster and kills him. Later, while helping his mistress (Beatrice Altariba) to fight off an American gang of racketeers, Roberto is caught by the police and is put in the same prison with Xavier. Then the two volunteer to clear land mines left from the last war, hoping to receive a pardon and to buy a quiet farm. The same novel by José Giovanni was later filmed by the author himself as La Scoumoune, again starring Belmondo. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide