Jean Bouise Movies

Jacques Rivette's epic-scale meditation on art, politics and relationships is an eight-part, 740 minute drama that begins as an examination of two Parisian theater companies. Lili (Michele Moretti) is a member of an experimental troupe preparing a radical new interpretation of Aeschylus's Seven Against Thebes, while Thomas (Michel Lonsdale) is in charge of a state-funded group who are rehearsing another work by the same ancient Greek playwright, Prometheus Unbound. Drifting in and out of the orbit of these two groups are Sarah (Bernadette Lafont), an author and longtime friend of Thomas; Colin (Jean-Pierre Léaud), a deaf street musician; Frederique (Juliet Berto), a sexy confidence woman, and the bohemian owner of a knick-knack shop who often changes her name (Bulle Ogier), among many others. Colin tries to search out the meaning of a strange note handed to him by a mysterious stranger, while Frederique becomes party to a similar message. As it happens, both learn of the possible existence of a secret society of thirteen powerful individuals who are the true rulers of Paris, but neither is sure if the group exists in history or the present day, and they have very different notions of what to do with this information. Jacques Rivette originally screened Out 1 as a work in progress (titled Out 1: Noli Me Tangere) at a pair of screenings in Paris in the fall of 1971; it was originally conceived as a project for television, but became a theatrical film after it was rejected by French broadcasters. While a four-hour version, Out 1: Spectre, began making the rounds of film festivals in 1974, the film didn't appear in its full twelve-hours-plus version until 1989, when a new cut of Out 1 appeared at the Rotterdam Film Festival. The final cut of Out 1 appeared with English subtitles in London in 2006, and has subsequently been screened in Vancouver, New York City and Chicago. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Alice (Nathalie Baye) is the widow of a Jewish surgeon who helps the former diplomat Jerome (Pierre Arditi) smuggle Jews out of Austria to save them from the Nazis. The duo recruits Charles (Christophe Malavoy), a shoe manufacturer whose uncle is a Nazi sympathizer in the Vichy government. Charles and Alice become lovers when they are picked up in Paris by Nazi soldiers on a curfew violation. Genevieve Mnich co-stars with Philippe Clevnot and Jean Bousie in this dramatic World War II love triangle. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Two men answer the call of the ocean in this romantic fantasy adventure. Jacques (Jean-Marc Barr) and Enzo (Jean Reno) are a pair of friends who have been close since childhood, and who share a passion for the dangerous sport of free diving. Professional diver Jacques opted to follow in the footsteps of his father, who died at sea when Jacques was a boy; to the bewilderment of scientists, Jacques harbors a remarkable ability to adjust his heart rate and breathing pattern in the water, so that his vital signs more closely resemble that of dolphins than men (he even considers a school of dolphins as his extended family). As Enzo persuades a reluctant Jacques to compete against him in a free diving contest - determining who can dive deeper and longer without scuba gear - Jacques meets Johanna (Rosanna Arquette), a beautiful insurance investigator from America, and he finds that he must choose between his love for her and his love of the sea. Le Grand Bleu ran 132 minutes in its original French version, but it was trimmed to 118 for American release, with the original score by Eric Serra replaced by music from Bill Conti. While the film did middling business in the U.S., it was a huge success in Europe, and director Luc Besson released an expanded 168 minute version in 1998. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Cristophe (Michel Voita) is a reporter who is assigned to interview the prominent archaeologist Tober (Jean Bouise) in this combination fantasy drama. Tober has uncovered the coffin of the legendary 16t-century killer Jenatsch (Vittorio Mezzogiorno). After the interview, Cristophe begins to experience hallucinations that move from the present to the past with disturbing consequences. Soon his relationship with his sweetheart Nina (Christine Boisson) begins to suffer as Cristophe has visions of Jenatsch's murder. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

When he inherits the family house and property after his mother's death, aspiring novelist Fane (Jean-Pierre Bacri) returns home with his bimbo girlfriend Lilas (Pauline Lafont). He must care for his idiot brother Mo (Jacques Villeret) and contend with a greedy garage owner (Guy Marchand) who covets Fane's property to expand his business. When efforts to buy the property are fruitless, the mechanic incites the townsfolk against the strange trio. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Corruption in the rarified air of the corporate and governmental elite drives the action in this fast-paced thriller. Claire Rousset (Sabine Azema) heads to a small town to come to the aid of her ailing ex-husband, who has been poisoned by the town's drinking water. As Claire arrives, she sees a band of arsonists burn the city down, lock, stock, and water barrel. The iron-clad official statement is that the incinerated town had an unfortunate gas explosion. This blatant lie propels Claire to find out who torched the town, and why no one in government is listening to her. Meanwhile, Jeff Montellier (Richard Anconina), an employee of a company that transports lethal chemicals, finds out that a dangerous accident in the destroyed town poisoned its water supply. Eventually, Jeff and Claire cross paths in their investigations and discover that they are up against some very powerful enemies. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The crimes and tragedies that tear apart one family seem overblown in the telling, yet this psychological drama about the miseries of one French policeman is compelling throughout. Jean (Pierre Arditi) is a cop and also a failed novelist who was abandoned by his father, brother, and sister after his mother died. The trio move to Paris where they set up an art scam that nets them considerable cash -- something Jean begins to figure out when he joins them for a family reunion. Little by little, he learns that his father is an expert forger, his stepmother's art gallery seems to be involved in the scam, his brother is a derelict and into drugs, his stepmother is a hooker in addition to all of this, and his sister runs an exercise gym for keeping prostitutes in shape. Things get worse -- just when everything seems bad enough, the stepmother is murdered and it is up to Jean to find the killer. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This melodrama, set in WW II during the French occupation, tells the story of the members of a Jewish family who flee the Germans and end up hiding in the country manse of two aristocrats. Unfortunately, the Gestapo finds them and they are sent to a concentration camp. The film then leaps ahead to 1985 where the daughter of the couple begins believing that her dead brother has been reincarnated as a famed pianist. She feels this is so because both of them love Rachmaninoff's "Concerto No. 2". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Unfortunately bound by clichés and stereotypes rather than original insights and new viewpoints, this condensed movie version of an 8-hour television series does not do complete justice to its noble topic of courage in the face of the World War II holocaust. The story is based on the memoirs of Martin Gray (Michael York plays the older Gray and Jacques Penot the younger), a Polish Jew who survived the Warsaw Ghetto and escaped Treblinka, the Nazi death camp where his mother and brothers died. After leaving Treblinka, Martin returns to Warsaw in time to join the Jewish insurrection at the Warsaw ghetto. In 1943, thousands of Jews in the walled ghetto revolted and fought the German occupation forces for six weeks, killing 5,000 Germans but losing their heroic struggle -- that six-week battle is a major focus of the film. Miraculously, Gray survives the war and moves to France where he meets and falls in love with Dina (Brigitte Fossey) -- and then has a major second tragic episode in his life that opens this film, and in the story and in real life it inspires him to write his memoirs. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Unusual because it has no spoken dialogue, Dernier Combat effectively chronicles the fate of a handful of people after a worldwide disaster has left the planet desolate and bleak and the people physically unable to speak. A young man (Pierre Jolivet) longs for female companionship and so he puts together a serviceable plane and flies to the remains of a city where survivors live in the ruined hulks of cars -- or wherever they can. The problem is that there are very few women to be found here as well. After the young man enters the city, he comes across an older doctor who has returned to his psychiatric clinic and is barricaded there, defending the clinic against the attacks of a violent barbarian intent on further destruction. This murderous aggressor is not only after the doctor but also a women who is hiding in the clinic -- and when the young man joins up with the doctor and sees the woman, his future takes a new course. Le Dernier Combat (also known as The Last Battle) was the first feature-length film by a 24-year-old Luc Besson (The Big Blue, La Femme Nikita, The Fifth Element). The film won two major prizes at the 1983 Avoriaz Science Fiction Film Festival, and collected more than 18 prizes at other international festivals -- though it was overlooked by France's Caesars and the U.S. Academy Awards. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide