Rosy Varte Movies

Stephane (Jean-Paul Belmondo) has a predilection for being unfaithful, and when he is caught by his wife with the charming Julie (Sophie Marceau) in his bed, he passes Julie off as his daughter by a former marriage -- someone he had forgotten to mention before. Julie, of course, is not thrilled with the situation, nor is Stephane's wife -- and so the adventure begins in this ribald comedy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

With comedy sequences that wobble between parody and sentiment, director Marc-Andre Grynbaum has attempted to present the story of a young Jewish man who starts a rock group ("Rock and Torah") and achieves success. That is because he is actually an incarnation of a Biblical patriarch who was once enthused by music more than by the sculpting of holy icons, and for some reason, deserves musical success in modern Paris. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Molière's play about a "bourgeois gentleman" was the basis for this cinematic interpretation of the same story, which illustrates the differences between theater performances and the silver screen. The play has interludes of music, it is performed as a ballet, and stage sets tend to remain right where they are for the duration of a long scene or an act, or more. In contrast, this film is not a ballet, though music is interwoven with the scenes, the action is emphasized more than on a static stage set, and the "gentleman" of the title, Monsieur Jourdain, is played by Michel Galabru with facial expressions necessary for the stage, though a bit much for the close-up shots of a camera. Monsieur Jourdain is a wealthy man who wants to rise up the social ladder but only succeeds in giving away his lack of sensibility at every turn, and soon he has some of the impoverished nobility wanting to use his lucre as a springboard back into the good life. He is easily fooled, as when the marriage of his daughter is arranged behind his back -- if only he would listen to his wife (Rosy Varte), who has so much more common sense. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This crime thriller is about a psychotic who makes obscene phone calls to beautiful women and then murders them. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

This French comedy is the first feature film directed by the well-known television-director Pierre Tcherina. In the film, the most elaborate designs of a greedy family are unwittingly undone by an ailing old man. The family has made a complicated financial arrangement which will result in their owning the lovely resort villa the old man is living in, but until he dies they are obligated to let him continue living there. Actually, the old man wouldn't be there in the first place, but the family arranged for him to live there as they expected him to die at any moment. Instead, he lives through the Second World War and the years following, completely oblivious to their plots to do away with him; he is extremely grateful for their attentiveness and generosity, and is saddened as, one after another, they drop by the wayside. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This French comic action/adventure film tells the rollicking story of Flemish Vincent Van Horst (Jacques Brel), a World War I veteran, who travels to the backwoods of Canada to search for a lost love. He teams up with a young man for an adventure which includes lovemaking and feuds, and a murder or two. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Benjamin (Jacques Brel) is a country doctor who has a way with women with the exception of his fianceé. While other women yearn to play doctor with the handsome physician, his intended intends on saving herself for their wedding night. When the local Marquis feels he is snubbed by the wise cracking medico, he demands revenge. Benjamin is forced to place his puckered lips on the posterior of the pompous Marquis (Bernard Blier). He gets revenge by making love to the Marquis' wife. Benjamin even saves the choking nobleman, but not before he plants a kiss on the doctor's derriere. Swashbuckling swordplay and nudity appear throughout the film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Following up 1964's Academy Award nominated L'Homme de Rio, French filmmaker Philippe de Broca wrote and directed this big-screen adaptation of André Couteaux's novel Un monsieur de compagnie. Jean-Pierre Cassel stars as Antoine, a young man who holds the philosophy "Laziness is the mother of all virtue" close to his heart and spends many dreamy days fishing with his wealthy grandfather. But when he has a prophetic dream that the old man will die impoverished, Antoine is motivated to change his life and try to earn his own money. Also starring Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Pierre Marielle, Un monsieur de compagnie was released in the United States in 1966 under the title Male Companion. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Several internationally known directors contributed to this generally adept and compelling series of five brief vignettes on love and its many ramifications. François Truffaut starts things off with a story of innocent love between a young man in his mid-teens and a slightly older woman. Renzo Rossellini continues in sketch two about a tough mistress who keeps her lover on a short tether. Shintaro Ishihara renders the only violent episode -- that of a disturbed young worker who becomes a real lady-killer. Marcel Ophüls (son of the late and great Max Ophüls) directs an upbeat tale about a journalist who accepts the responsibilities of marriage and fatherhood when a brief fling with a woman ends in a pregnancy. The last vignette, directed by the well-known Polish helmer Andrzej Wajda, is about a brave act by a young soldier whose deed gains him the admiration of a woman, but the response from other men his age is something different. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This is a routine, somewhat melodramatic wartime tale set in Occupied France and featuring Michele Morgan as Juliette, a woman with two children who is forced to flee the occupied zone for the French free zone after her partisan husband is captured by the Germans. Juliette cannot manage this escape with her family on her own and so Fortunat (Bourvil) agrees to escort her across the checkpoints, posing as her husband. That is not an easy bluff because he is a simple peasant while she is from the upper echelons of the social hierarchy. Matters become complicated when they cross paths with a deported Jewish family, and even more complicated when Fortunat and Juliette start to fall in love. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide