Jean-Marc Bory Movies

This French historical drama is a retelling of the story of St. Bernadette, the young 19th-century girl who was ostracized and persecuted after she saw a vision of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes. Though she became a popular folk figure, the local politicians attempt to commit her to an asylum. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Idiot and intended as "a homage to the great writer," this film is set in modern France rather than 19th century Russia. This is a story of Léon (Francis Huster), who has been recently released from a mental asylum and claims to be a descendant of a Hungarian prince. On his way from Hungary to France, he meets Mickey (Tchéky Karyo), a hood who has committed a successful bank robbery and plans to take brutal revenge on the brothers Venin for what they did to his girlfriend Mary (Sophie Marceau). Léon can hardly understand what Mickey is up to but he follows him everywhere and soon falls in love with Mary. This odd love triangle resolves in a tragic ending. The frantic pace of the film's action can be compared to that of a runaway, hell-bound train. The colors and sounds go out of control, and violence abounds -- all of which is intended to convey to a viewer the craziness of the time. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

Although there are women in the lives of the three main protagonists -- a middle-aged architect, his construction designer, and a journalist -- the women are not as crucial to the men's search for an identity as the title might suggest. When the three men run into a former professor of the architect and designer, they are inspired by his fanfare and expansive nature. Still in search of solutions to their particular problems, the men head out to visit the professor and get to the bottom of their own issues. Unfortunately, the professor turns out to be more "loco" than otherwise, and the three men watch their hopes burst like a popped balloon -- it seems like their ability to assess human character should now be added to their list of problem spots. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

While attending an auction of the belongings of a deceased female roommate, Claire (Bulle Ogier) discovers that each object brings back memories of their times together. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This slow-moving feature concerns the interaction of three people as they rehearse for a play. The director and the main actor discuss the role and that of the actress, who is absent until the end of the film. The film attempts to give insight to the actors as people in real life in addition to their character portrayals in the upcoming play. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Director Jacques Baratier's Sweet and Sour is an independently produced project with a surprising amount of European movie-industry input. Guy Bedos, a Brando wannabe, plays one of several young French cineastes who take to the streets to make improvisational movies. The "cinema verite" quality of the film is somewhat undercut by the presence of major stars: Anna Karina, Simone Signoret, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Monica Vitti, Claude Brasseur, and many others. After several "spontaneous" vignettes -- a street tennis game, a striptease lesson, a West Side Story style gang rumble -- Guy Bedos announces he will go to Hollywood to film the life of Voltaire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Frederic Rossif takes a scattered look at the world and the animal kingdom in this docudrama. Wildlife is witnessed in scenes raging from lovable comedic moments, to the life-and-death struggles for survival. Commentary spoken by Maurice Escand and music from Maurice Jarre are added effectively. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Roger Vadim directs his ex-wife Brigitte Bardot once again in this conventional film about an innocent young woman, Genevieve (Bardot), who ends up on the losing side of a relationship with an alcoholic -- at least for awhile. Genevieve is a typical, introverted, middle-class woman who would like to be a homemaker and live relatively well. Instead, she goes to a small town to receive an inheritance, and by accident she walks into the wrong room in her hotel. And just in time. The alcoholic Renaud (Robert Hossein) who occupies the room has tried to kill himself with an overdose of sleeping pills. Genevieve saves his life, and the two soon strike up a dysfunctional relationship. Renaud degrades her in every way he can, yet she remains true to her honest feelings for him. The question, in the end, is whether Renaud will ultimately change for the better or Genevieve for the worse. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

RoGoPaG is an omnibus of short films by Roberto Rossellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ugo Gregoretti and Jean- Luc Godard. Each episode is introduced by a quotation from the Bible which the episode illustrates with a fiction of contemporary life. Rossellini's film, "Illibatezza" ("Virginity"), is the tale of Anna-Maria Rosanna Schiaffino, a beautiful, demure stewardess courted by Joe, an American businessman on a trip to Bangkok. Pasolini's film, "La Ricotta" ("Ricotta Cheese"), concerns a film crew shooting the passion of Christ. The film's director, played by Orson Welles, gives a hilarious interview to a journalist who comes on the set. The scenes from the passion are shot as recreations of renaissance paintings and the landscapes are filled with beautiful boys. Godard's "Il Nuovo Mondo" ("The New World") follows a couple, played by Jean-Marc Bory and Alexandra Stewart, whose relationship ends just after an atomic bomb is exploded high over Paris. The film uses the Paris of the early 1960s as the city of some indefinite future, a technique Godard would use again in Alphaville. Gregoretti's contribution "Il Polo Ruspante" ("The Free Range Chicken") cuts between a speech by a marketing expert (Ugo Tognazzi) and a family's Sunday outing. The expert speaks on mechanisms for promoting sales by keeping the consumer dissatisfied. The family takes a drive through traffic, negotiates an impersonal highway restaurant, and considers buying some land. ~ Louis Schwartz, All Movie Guide

In what must be the longest lapse of time between a film and its sequel, 70-year-old Abel Gance continues his nearly legendary, 1927 historical drama Napoleon with this tale of Napoleon's life after his victories in Italy. The first half of Austerlitz delves into the private life of Napoleon Bonaparte (Pierre Mondy), the prodigal son of Corsica. The supreme commander of the French armed forces goes about his family life and dallies with Josephine (Martine Carol) and mistress Mlle. de Vaudey (Leslie Caron). He occasionally displays bursts of temper that presage some of the macho violence of the battle scenes in the second half of the film, after Napoleon has proclaimed himself Emperor. This sequel shows that Gance has not lost his directorial touch. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide