Renaud Verley Movies

Produced on behalf of the HBO cable service, The Blood of Others is a rare venture into English-language filmmaking by Claude Chabrol. Set during World War II, the film stars Jodie Foster and Michael Ontkean as a pair of French resistance fighters. If you can swallow that, then you'll accept New Zealand native Sam Neill as a German businessman. Chabrol's wife Stephane Audran costars as Gigi, while other prominent members of the cast include Alexandra Stewart, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Micheline Presle. Oh, yes, the plot: based on a novel by Simone de Beauvoir, The Blood of Others concerns Jodie Foster's confused loyalties: should she continue in her underground activities, or succumb to the charms of the seemingly civilized Neill? This French-Canadian coproduction was originally telecast August 23, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When an American tourist is murdered in the south of France, the police must investigate. In this movie, the police inspector re-creates the girl's journeys through France until the murder is solved. Suspicions are narrowed down to four possible perpetrators early on, and flashbacks illuminate the roles each one played in the girl's vacation. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Director Kon Ichikawa (b. 1915) has been responsible for some extraordinary Japanese statements about our common humanity and the horrors of war. He began his filmmaking career as a cartooning art supervisor, and later, in collaboration with his scenarist and scriptwriter wife (Natto Wada), made many of his best-known films, including Biruma no tategoto, or The Burmese Harp, and Nobi, or Fires on the Plain. His last collaboration with his wife, Tokyo Olympiad, signalled the beginning of a time in which he made some less-noteworthy films. This film, To Love Again, was made during that period. In this film, a Japanese girl and a French boy make strides in overcoming the cultural barriers that prevent them from fully expressing the love they have for one another. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A doctor turned detective (Claudio Gora) tries to cure a young alcoholic from his disturbing thoughts of suicide. David (Renaud Verley) is traumatized when a woman he picks up for sex kills herself in his presence. The doctor's only clues are the nude photos of the dead woman in various states of bondage. Knowing the killer must be the photographer, he hires a woman to pose for erotic pictures in an effort to locate the killer and stop the young man from sliding into irrevocable insanity. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Olivier (Renaud Verley) is a student rebel who scams a trip to Nepal to look up his big-game-hunting father. Sampling the decadent nightlife of Paris, he attends a party where his fashion-model mother is stripped naked. Olivier then joins a world-hunger relief program to secure transportation to Nepal and falls in with a bunch of drug-addled hippies who pay lip service to the pursuit of spiritual guidance. The group gets a ride with Laureen (Arlene Dahl), a sex-starved American woman who takes advantage of the free-love ethic. Eventually they arrive in Katmandou where Olivier falls for a drugged-out hippie girl he tries to reform. He meets his father but is sorely disappointed when he gets no money from him. Worse yet, his father's sidekick makes a move on the hippie girl when she is in a drug-induced coma. Finding the girl dead, Olivier seeks revenge for the girl's demise. He tracks down the sidekick, but the man's wife is the first to reach the malevolent hunter and kill him. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In 1969, The Damned (La caduta degli dei) was director Luchino Visconti's most controversial film to date. Set in the 1930s, the film zeroes in on a Krupp-like family of German munition manufacturers. The Essenbeck clan is headed by the Baron (Rene Kolldehoff), but daughter Sophie (Ingrid Thulin) wants her Nazi boyfriend to take over the business. Soon the Baron is dead and Bruckman (Dirk Bogarde) becomes company president. Son Martin (Helmut Berger) is the dope-addicted teenager who sleeps with his mother and drags her into her own dependence on drugs. Ever in pursuit of more millions to add to their already bulging coffers, the family plays along with the Nazis, descending into corruption, betrayal and murder all along the way. The film was originally released in the U.S. with an X rating. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this French comedy, a desperate gambler has one week to repay a large debt; and therefore, enlists the aide of a bungling thief to help him rob a large Paris department store. They choose to pull the heist on Christmas Eve. With the help of another, the gambler poses as Santa Claus. They fill a sack with stolen money, but unfortunately, the bag is taken by another who plans to abscond to Chile. After a bumbling chase, the gambler reclaims his loot. Unfortunately, it has been accidently covered with glue and must be washed and dried. In the end, the gambler is captured. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide