Dominique Zardi Movies

Jean-Pierre Mocky, who also directed and produced Les Araignees de la Nuit ("Spiders of the Night"), stars as a police inspector busy investigating the deaths of several French presidential candidates. After hearing that the favorite contender was killed in the middle of a speech, Gordone's (Mocky) secretary Denise (Patricia Barzyk) joins the policeman in his research. Though they suspect the deaths are being ordered by the incumbent president, the only real lead the two have to work with is an unlikely network of men at every level of society who share one thing--a spider tattoed on their wrists. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Literary critics long regarded Gustave Flaubert's iconic French novel Madame Bovary as unfilmable (despite several attempts by Vincente Minnelli and others to bring it to the screen), but Nouvelle Vague architect Claude Chabrol set out to definitively prove them wrong with this Oscar-nominated feature adaptation from 1991, starring Isabelle Huppert (The Lacemaker). Huppert stars as Emma Bovary, a woman whose happiness depends exclusively on elements outside of herself. She spends her days indulging in flights of fancy and endless romantic longings, emotionally estranged from her good-natured but ignorant husband Charles (Jean-François Balmer) a physician whom she married as an escape from her landowner father's farm. Her fate seems poised to change when she meets and falls hard for Rodolphe Boulanger (Christophe Malavoy) - a lover who takes her to bed and then vows to elope with her. Pinning all of her hopes on this, she invests in a traveling costume that she's unable to afford (rendering herself completely in debt with a local millner), and plans to skip town with Rodolphe when the monies come due. Alas, Rodolphe, as it turns out, never planned to follow through with the elopement plans, and promptly abandons Emma, leaving her to face the dire consequences of her foolish decisions. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Henry Miller's novels were almost entirely autobiographical, and concerned not only his environment and friends, but also recorded his many sexual exploits - which he apparently viewed with something like spiritual awe. Despite his sexual obsessions, his novels are respected worldwide for their brilliant depictions of time and place, and have occasionally been made into movies. This 1990 film by Claude Chabrol makes a reportedly poor effort to bring the novel Quiet Days In Clichy to the screen, and transforms the seedy exploits of a penniless expatriate in Paris to the boyish pleasures of a couple of sweet-faced middle class lads who hang out in expensive whorehouses and go to cocktail parties with fashionable people. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A female job counselor tries to find work for two very different unemployed men in this comedy. She is in love with a man who would rather climb mountains than work for a living. The second man is a former bank clerk who is embarrassed to admit he lost his job. Roland Blanche co-stars with Henri Deus and Sabine Haudepin. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, Le Cri du Hibou concerns Robert (Christophe Malavoy), a commercial artist who has moved to a quiet neighborhood in Vichy, hoping to escape a severe depression brought on by the unpleasant breakup of his marriage to Veronique (Virginie Thevenet). Robert finds himself spying on his new neighbor Juliette (Mathilda May), but there's little or no erotic component to his voyeurism -- she seems to lead a simple and well-ordered life, and it makes Robert feel better to watch someone so secure and at ease. Robert even goes so far as to tell Juliette how much her admires her quietly contented existence, but beneath the surface, Juliette is hardly as secure as she looks. Robert's remarks make her wonder if her life has become too placid, and she decides to break off her engagement with Patrick (Jacques Penot) to pursue a relationship with Robert. This sends Patrick into a rage, and he plots an elaborate revenge -- he picks a dramatic fight with Robert, and then goes into hiding, leading people to believe Robert killed him. The ruse fools Juliette, who is distraught at the thought that her new love might be a murderer (even though Robert has expressed no romantic interest in her). Le Cri du Hibou was adapted and directed by France's leading suspense director, Claude Chabrol. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Insurance investigator Ronald Fox Terrier (Michel Serrault) looks into a questionable claim of disability feigned by Papu (Jean Poiret) in this situation comedy. When both men are dunked into the waters at a holy shrine, the faking Papu finds himself unable to get out of his wheelchair, while Ronald's mute voice is miraculously restored. Terrier has an affair with the vamp Sabine (Jeanne Moreau) before returning home to his emotionally detached wife (Sylvie Joly). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this plodding drama about a man searching for his friend's wronged lover, there is neither high action nor high suspense to keep -- or even reach -- a quick-paced storyline. A shallow womanizer (Jean Rochefort) plays the trumpet in an orchestra conducted by his steady and stable friend (Philippe Noiret). One day a woman bursts into the womanizer's dressing room and tries to shoot him down for what he did to her sister. As he goes into hiding for his own safety, he asks the orchestra leader to find out who he wronged, and try to help him correct the problem. The rest of the film concerns that search, and its resolution. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Just as a man (Aldo Maccione) is enjoying his fantasies of being another "Agent 007" in bed with a voluptuous, intelligent co-spy, the unsuspecting dreamer is mistaken for a real spy and shipped off to Tunisia where he has to carry out a true-life mission. Unfortunately, the real spy is a flamboyant homosexual (Aldo Maccione again) and the confusion between the two characters adds up to some slapstick moments in this 007 spoof. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Antonio (Alberto Sordi) is an Italian art-restorer working at a cathedral in France. An old friend of his, Robert (Philippe Noiret), lives there. Robert is a banker who has married into money. A sexually adventurous young woman approaches Antonio, but he resists getting involved with her. When it is found that she was raped and murdered in a derelict house once inhabited by Robert's mother, Antonio is disturbed, for he recalls having seen his friend leaving the house at about the time of the murder. Meanwhile, the suspicions of the police have become centered on the two of them. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this French psychological drama, a bank robber is finally released after serving 10 years. His being paroled is due to the influence of his old friend, a social worker. The ex-convict returns to his wife and begins living an honest life. Unfortunately, his old crook friends begin trying to lure him back to crime. Following a prison riot, the social worker ends up living in the same town as the ex-con. They become close friends until the ex-con's wife is killed during an accident. He finds a new wife, but their happiness is marred by the cop who keeps harassing him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This comedy concentrates on the mishaps befalling bigoted Frenchman Louis DeFunes. While en route to his daughter's wedding, the outspoken DeFunes accidentally gets mixed up in an Arab nationalist uprising. Through a bizarre and nearly indescribable combination of events, the fiercely anti-Semitic DeFunes is forced to disguise himself as a Rabbi. The sociological statements in Mad Adventures of "Rabbi" Jacob, coscripted by director Gerard Oury, are pepped up with heavy slapstick. Initially titled The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob for its American release, this French film had the "Mad" tag attached when audiences evinced a lack of interest in what was perceived to be a religious picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As the Germans marched into Poland, some Poles sought to join the resistance underground to harass or even stop the advance. Some members of the Jewish community joined them. A surprising number, more mystically inclined, did not. This French film takes us to one remote Polish estate, where patriots are arming themselves to fight Germans. Several Jews who sought to join them are admitted by the group's leader, but they are violently dealt with by the other anti-Semitic members of the group. Une Larme dans l'Ocean was presented at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival and was named the best film of 1973 by the French Academy of Motion Pictures. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide