Michel Bouquet Movies

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

Two lonely young men rebelling against their middle-class backgrounds become friends in this French drama. Both of them are named Larry, which becomes a joke between them. Larry I (Bruno Pradal) can only stare in awe at the deadly pranks of Larry II (Didier Haudepin). When Larry II looks like he might abandon Larry I by leaving with a girl he has met, Larry I kills the girl and then himself ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This French political thriller depicts the world of troubles that descend upon a relatively innocent doctor who decides to serve as a political candidate running against a thoroughly corrupt and devious mayor. In a recent campaign, the mayor and his henchmen were responsible for the murder of a man putting up posters for a rival candidate. Since the mayor is capable of arranging murder, it comes as little surprise that he arranges for the distribution of a forged photograph which makes it appears the doctor's wife was in an orgy. Attempts to clear his family's name and continue with the campaign make the doctor's situation worse. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Le Complot is based on a true spy story of double-, triple- and quadruple-cross. The plot is galvanized by Charles DeGaulle's decision to pull French troops out of Algeria. The central characters include a group of pro-Gaullists, a gang of left-wing insurgents, and the police. It all sounds a great deal like The Battle of Algiers, but there are enough nuances to sustain the suspense. The film's 120 minutes hold up well--though you may not get all 120 minutes on commercial TV, due to the film's "R" rating. Complot is also known by the English-language title The Conspiracy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

L'Attentat is a political thriller based largely on a true story (the Ben Barka affair), which recounts how the French government and the American CIA connived to have a socialist in exile murdered before he could return to his homeland and start a revolution. Darien, a French journalist (Jean-Louis Tritignant), lures his friend Sadiel (Gian Maria Volonte) from his safe refuge in Geneva to appear on an American-made TV show. In doing so he is, perhaps unwittingly, setting him up for murder. Captured at the border by the French police, Sadiel is given over to a mysterious general from another country who tortures him to try to find out who his supporters are. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Double and triple crosses complicate the lives of the amiable villains of this French crime-caper film. The story concerns a group of people living in a blue-collar neighborhood which is being demolished for a new office and housing development. In order to save their neighborhood, they get together and decide on a complicated plot involving jewel-theft and insurance fraud. Things get even more complicated when they call on the services of an expert burglar. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The story centers on a sailor who returns to shore to discover that his uncle has been capturing dying Greek gods and sewing them into human flesh. He then holds them hostage on an Ionian isle. Trouble ensues when the sailor falls in love with the Gorgon. Unfortunately, she turns him into stone. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this whimsical French comedy, Cookie (Sheila White) is a tough, sweet little rich girl, and is rather smart, too. She's smart enough and charming enough to outwit her kidnappers by setting one against the other until they have all killed each other or died trying to prove their worth to her. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This French documentary about Czechoslovakia covers the period following World War II, beginning with the Russian occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1945, up to 1970.The narration and historical commentary is by Nanterre University professor Kostas Papaioannou. The famous "defenestration of Prague" is one of the many events discussed. The son of Masaryk, the founder of Czechoslovakia, was forced to make concessions transforming Czechoslovakia into a communist state and in retaliation, was thrown out of the window of a government building in Prague. The joy of liberation from the Germans was swiftly followed by the miseries of Soviet occupation and later Soviet domination. This documentary abounds in wry visual ironies, including its final shot of General Dubcek. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Based on a Eugene Saccomano novel entitled The Bandits of Marseilles, this movie was followed by a sequel entitled Borsalino and Co. This movie captures the mood of 1930 Marseilles beautifully with the use of ambience and music. Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo portray two gangsters who kill their way to the top. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

A veteran paratrooper murders his Vietnamese wife when he finds her in the arms of a younger man. Garal (Maurice Ronet) makes it back to the army base where his drunken roommate provides him with an iron clad alibi. Jauran (Michel Bouquet) is the local police inspector who befriends the Garal, unaware he is the killer. The younger man is accused of the woman's murder, but the paratrooper begins to feel overwhelmed with guilt. The longer he remains silent about the crime, the more psychological torture he must endure. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A rare mid-career flop for director François Truffaut when it was released, Mississippi Mermaid has become a cult favorite, thanks in part to the availability of the original French version, which added 13 minutes to the U.S. release running time. Adapted from a story by William Irish, it's a noirish tale of a man who orders a mail-order bride but receives instead a con woman. Louis Mahe (Jean-Paul Belmondo) owns a tobacco factory on the remote Indian Ocean island of Reunion. His bride, Julie Roussel (Catherine Deneuve), looks nothing like the photo she sent him, but she explains that she had forwarded a picture of a friend instead. After Louis allows Julie access to both his personal and company bank accounts, she disappears with most of his fortune. Heartbroken and bitter, he takes a holiday in the south of France and improbably spots "Julie" on a TV news story. When he tracks her down, she reveals her real name, Marion, and how she and her con-man boyfriend, Richard, had intercepted the real Julie on the boat Mississippi that was headed for Reunion. Richard threw Julie off the ship and Marion assumed her identity, but once the two thieves returned to France, Richard made off with the money. Marion professes that she fell in love with Louis, and he believes her. They try to make a life together in France, but a private detective whom Louis and Julie's sister, Berthe, had hired to find Marion, tracks them down to a house they have rented in Aix en Provence, forcing them to go on the run. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide