Jean-Paul Belmondo Movies
Once a key face of the French New Wave and one of the most famous actors in French film, Jean-Paul Belmondo strayed from his art cinema roots and morphed into a prolific, bankable action comedy star from the mid-'60s on.The son of a sculptor, Belmondo spent his high school years as more of an athlete than an artist, but he decided that acting was his calling by the time he reached his twenties. After studying drama at the Paris Conservatory, Belmondo began his professional career on stage and spent the first half of the 1950s doing theater. Making his film debut in 1957, Belmondo appeared in several films in the last years of the decade, including Les Copains du Dimanche (1957) and his first co-starring role with fellow French idol Alain Delon in Sois Belle et Tais-Toi (1957).
Belmondo broke through as an international star, however, in Jean-Luc Godard's landmark first film, revisionist noir Breathless (1959). With his inimitable, roguish smile, unique looks, and witty yet moody performance as doomed thief/Humphrey Bogart fan Michel Poiccard, Belmondo perfectly embodied the cool youthful rebellion guiding Godard's trailblazing cinematic style, rendering Belmondo the Gallic James Dean and heir apparent to Michel Simon and Jean Gabin. Belmondo further displayed his range in Vittorio De Sica's Two Women (1960) opposite Oscar-winner Sophia Loren and as the titular priest in Jean-Pierre Melville's dark World War II drama Leon Morin, Prêtre (1961). After reteaming with Godard for the musical comedy A Woman Is a Woman (1961), Belmondo worked again with Melville in one of the director's signature gangster noir homages, playing the apparently double-crossing con Silien in Le Doulos (1962). Belmondo reached another artistic peak when he collaborated with Godard for the third time in the creatively complex romance-musical-gangster-road movie Pierrot le Fou (1965), but by then his career had already begun to move in another direction.
Though Belmondo's gallery of early-'60s charismatic losers like Silien and Poiccard made him synonymous with the new French cinema's edginess, he also established himself as a potentially more commercial star in such films as the period swashbuckler Cartouche (1962) and the romantic comedy La Chasse a L'Homme (1964). After his starring turn in Philippe De Broca's action comedy L'Homme de Rio (1964), Belmondo mostly focussed his energies on similar work, often produced by his own company, Cerito. Returning to his athletic roots, Belmondo became renowned for doing his own stunts as well as for his charming screen presence in such movies as the hit Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine (1965), the comic caper The Brain (1968), and his second film with Delon, Borsalino (1970). Along with the action and comedy vehicles in the late '60s and early '70s, Belmondo appeared in René Clement's all-star World War II epic Is Paris Burning? (1966), the James Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967), and Claude Lelouch's romance Love Is a Funny Thing (1969). Belmondo also continued his association with the remnants of the New Wave, starring in François Truffaut's l'amour fou drama Mississippi Mermaid (1969) opposite Catherine Deneuve, Louis Malle's crime comedy Le Voleur (1967), and Claude Chabrol's black comedy Docteur Popaul (1972).
As the 1970s and 1980s went on, Belmondo churned out more and more genre entertainment, including De Broca's James Bond parody Le Magnifique (1973), and crime thrillers Peur Sur la Ville (1975) and L'Alpagueur (1976). In 1978, Belmondo began a profitable association with director Georges Lautner in the hit comedy thriller Flic ou Voyou, continuing through Le Guignolo (1979), Le Professionnel (1981), the comedy Joyeuses Paques! (1984), and the mystery L'Inconnu dans la Maison (1992). In 1987, Belmondo returned to the stage for the first time since 1959 and divided his efforts between theater and film from then on. Though he continued his genre work in the 1990s with the romantic comedy Désiré (1996) and his third co-starring turn with Delon in Patrice Leconte's action comedy 1 Chance Sur 2 (1998), Belmondo also branched out creatively as part of the ensemble in Agnès Varda's homage to international cinema Les Cent et une Nuits de Simon Cinema (1995) and as the Jean Valjean figure in Claude Lelouch's 20th century reworking of Les Miserables (1995).
Well-regarded in the French film world as well as by movie audiences throughout his career, Belmondo was elected president of the French actors' union in 1963, and he was awarded the César for his performance in Lelouch's romance Itinéraire d'un Enfant Gaté (1988). He also published his autobiography 30 Years and 25 Films in 1963. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- 2009
Inspired by director Vittorio De Sica's 1952 neorealist classic Umberto D., Francis Huster's sentimental drama stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as an aged retiree who is forced out onto the street with his dog after his relationship with a wealthy widow falls apart. A cinematic comeback for Belmondo, who previously retired from acting after suffering a major stroke, un homme et son chien tells the story of Charles, an older man who was invited by his lover to stay in the maid's room in her sprawling home. When the woman decides to marry again, however, Charles and his faithful four-legged companion are promptly shown the door. With no place to call home and no means of earning a living, Charles wanders the streets of Paris with his dog as their pair drift towards an uncertain fate. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Hafsia Herzi, (more)
- 2000
Craving a change in lifestyle, jewel thief and eight times-divorced Edouard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) leaves Paris for the Patagonian jungle. One day, while out gathering grubs, he makes the acquaintance of an extraterrestrial little girl (Thylda Bares) who materializes out of nowhere and proceeds to speak to him in perfect French. In short order, ambitious astronomer Dr. Margaux (Arielle Dombasle) -- who has long looked for evidence of extraterrestrial life -- arrives on the scene as part of a top-secret mission, complete with her nasty secret service operative (Patrick Bouchitey). Margaux and Edouard gradually learn that the little girl, called Lulu, is from a small planet populated by child-sized beings who take special pills to ensure eternal life. Lulu, who came to Earth to experience human emotions, left her pills at home and is aging at a rate of ten years every hour. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Arielle Dombasle, (more)
- 2000
The son of actor Bernard Blier, director Bertrand Blier is known throughout France for his documentaries and dark depictions of sex and its impact on society. Though his influences and personal opinions clearly shine through, Les Acteurs is a satirical take on the ups, downs, and numerous implications of life in showbiz as told by a variety of real-life French actors. Among the featured cast are André Dussollier, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Jacques Villeret, Claude Rich, and Pierre Arditi, all of whom play themselves. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- André Dussollier, Jean-Pierre Marielle, (more)
- 1999
What if you could step 70 years into the future from a portal in your bathroom? French director Cedric Klapisch asks this question and many others in this oddball sci-fi flick. The film opens at a wild Buck Rogers-themed New Year's Eve party on December 31, 1999. After smoking a requist amount of drugs, 25-year-old Arthur (Romain Duris) and his girlfriend Lucie get in the millennial spirit with a spontaneous romp in the bathroom. She is aching to have a kid, though Arthur is more ambivalent on the matter, and at the critical moment, he withdraws. Later, he uses that same bathroom for its intended purpose, and he discovers a ceiling panel that transports him to the sun drenched Paris of the 21st century, which could easily be mistaken for northern Africa. Much of the city looks like a Moroccan souk set amid the Sahara. Only the occasional Mansart roof and the now much shorter Eiffel Tower poking out of the sand reminds Arthur that he is indeed in Paris. He soon meets a white-haired old man named Ako (played by New Wave veteran Jean-Paul Belmondo) who informs him that he his Arthur's son. Ako and his offspring beseech the still vacillating Arthur to impregnate Lucie ASAP so that they may exist. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Romain Duris, Jean-Paul Belmondo, (more)
- 1998
This French comedy-thriller is directed by Patrice Leconte, who was Oscar-nominated for Ridicule (1996). The film reunites Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon, almost three decades after they appeared together in Borsalino (1970). Unaware of her father's identity, car thief Alice Tomaso (Vanessa Paradis) is released from prison one month after her mother's death. She plays an audiocassette in which her mother tells her that 20 years earlier she loved two men and thus never knew which was Alice's father. In true Belmondo fashion, Alice steals a sports car and drives toward the south of France to seek out both possible papas, now semi-retired businessmen. Auto dealer Leo Brassac (Belmondo) and successful Julien Vignal (Delon), who flies his own helicopter, dislike each other, but they team up after Alice steals a car with $50 million of Russian Mafia money in the trunk. The Russian syndicate wants Alice to turn over the money, but she can't; it was taken by undercover cop Carella (Eric Defosse), tracking each illegal Russkie move. Fortunately, former Foreign Legionnaire Leo and jewel-thief Julien have both the weapon power and smarts to help Alice thwart all mob machinations. The French equivalent of Heat -- in which Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are seen noshing during a quiet coffeeshop encounter -- contains a scene where famed French icons Delon and Belmondo order burgers at McDonalds. But then the two gear up for action, and composer Alexandre Desplat heightens the nostalgic mood with Claude Bolling's familiar Borsalino refrain. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, (more)
- 1996
- R
Based on a play by Sacha Guitry this romantic French comedy of manners sparkles and bubbles like freshly uncorked champagne. Set in Paris before the dawn of the Jazz Age and centers on the exploits of sexy, womanizing butler Désiré after he begins working for former actress and current mistress of noted local politico Montignac. For the summer, Désiré and the rest of the staff move the entire household to the seaside town of Deauville. Désiré inadvertently provides his colleagues with much mid-night entertainment with his loudly-voiced dreams of having sexual congress with the comely Odette. Unbeknownst to him, Odette has similarly enacted dreams about him, something Montignac finds more disturbing than funny. Both sides begin looking to a book that explains erotic dreams and the more they learn, the more uncomfortable they become in each other's presence until at last they decide to see if dreams can indeed become reality. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Fanny Ardant, (more)
- 1995
- R
Not a strict adaptation of the oft-filmed Victor Hugo classic, director Claude Lelouch's ambitious epic instead focuses on the story of two men, a father and a son, whose life stories bear striking similarities to Hugo's character Jean Valjean. The father is Henri Fortin (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a chauffeur (in 1900) wrongly accused of his employer's murder. Like Valjean, he is subjected to a harsh and unfair prison sentence. While Henri vainly attempts to escape his unjust fate, his family suffers, with his wife forced to raise their young son alone. The film jumps ahead several decades to show the adult life of this son (also Belmondo), a former boxer turned furniture mover who agrees to help smuggle a Jewish lawyer (Michel Boujenah) out of France during the Nazi occupation. Along the way, the lawyer reads to the younger Fortin from Les Misérables, and Fortin begins to imagine himself in the role of Jean Valjean, on the run from the obsessive Inspector Javert. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Boujenah, (more)
This homage to the cinema by venerated movie-maker Agnes Varda, often dubbed the "grandmother" of the French New Wave, features an all-star international cast. The story is based upon the memories and insights of the 100-year old Mr. Simon Cinema. He lives in a magnificent house filled with movie memorabilia. To help him remember the important details of his career he hires Camille, a film student to write down his remembrances and experiences which have involved all areas of movie-making. Camille comes once a day for 101 days. Film clips, photographs and actual visitors highlight his stories. As he continues to spin his yarns, the imagery in the film smoothly morph into other images. Camille, when not recording, is involved in other exploits including a romance with a production assistant, Mica who aspires to becoming a director. She also begins plotting a way to get to Mr. Cinema's fortune by having a friend pose as his long lost heir. Many other characters are peripherally involved including Death, an Italian seeking the rights to his film catalogue, and a memory specialist. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
- 1992
Loursat (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a lawyer who has spent the last decade drinking himself into insensibility with a huge cache of gourmet wine in response to his grief at the death of his beloved wife. In the process, he has managed to alienate his now-grown daughter and is barely on speaking terms with his housekeeper. However, finding the corpse of a murdered young man in a room in his house snaps him out of his protracted reverie. He sobers up, investigates the murder, and takes his place in the courtoom to straighten out this mess. In the process, he wins back the respect and affection of his family. This courtroom drama and mystery is based on one of Georges Simenon's many novels. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Renée Faure, (more)
- 1988
French director Claude Lelouch, of Man and a Woman fame, called the shots on Itineraire D'un Enfant Gate. Jean-Paul Belmondo (who co-produced the film) stars as a powerful international businessman who, in his youth, had been a carnival performer. Once more bitten by wanderlust, Sam Lion (Belmondo) tries to escape his responsibilities by staging his own death. Hiding out in Tanzania, Lion meets Abert Duvivier (Richard Anconina), one of his own employees. Duvivier, informing Lion that the business has gone to hell in a handbasket thanks to the mismanagement of Lion's daughter Victoria (Marie-Sophie Lelouch), begs the executive to return. The literal translation of the film's title is Itinerary of a Spoiled Child. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Richard Anconina, (more)
- 1986
Commissioner Stan Jalard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) takes in his godson after the boy's father, who is also Stan's police partner, is murdered in this routine action thriller. Stan chases the heavy until he catches up with him. He levies his gun on the killer as he decides whether to shoot him or let him spend life in prison. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Pierre Malo, (more)
- 1985
This French/Canadian "caper" comedy stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as an oh-so-clever bank robber. Disguised as a clown, Belmondo robs a major Montreal bank, taking Guy Marchand and Kim Cattrall as a hostages. We soon learn that both Marchand and Cattral are actually Belmondo's accomplices in his precisely planned holdup. The trick now is for the threesome to get out of Montreal--a feat comparable to Hannibal crossing the Alps. Chock full of surprising plot twists, Hold-Up is based on a novel by Jay Cronley, which also served as the inspiration for the 1990 Bill Murray vehicle Quick Change. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Kim Cattrall, (more)
- 1984
Considered more as a vehicle to display Jean-Paul Belmondo than as an independent, wartime action story, Les Morfalous rides the crest of the French actor's popularity and delivers a tale that highlights his persona. Belmondo is a member of the French Foreign Legion sent with others to Tunisia in 1943 to recover a fortune in gold from a certain French bank before the Germans get to it. Then the Legionnaires are ambushed by German troops and the few left alive manage to get hold of the treasure but they cannot agree on what to do with their booty. Between their disagreements and the surrounding German army, the action heats up. Belmondo fans will be disappointed that he does not perform any of his famous stunts in this film -- always a drawing card -- and some viewers may find the humor too crude. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jacques Villeret, (more)
- 1984
Stephane (Jean-Paul Belmondo) has a predilection for being unfaithful, and when he is caught by his wife with the charming Julie (Sophie Marceau) in his bed, he passes Julie off as his daughter by a former marriage -- someone he had forgotten to mention before. Julie, of course, is not thrilled with the situation, nor is Stephane's wife -- and so the adventure begins in this ribald comedy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Sophie Marceau, (more)
- 1983
In another typical Jean-Paul Belmondo vehicle, the French action hero plays a policeman prone to advancing the cause of justice by any means necessary. On his agenda is a powerful drug cartel working out of Paris and Marseilles, with a drug lord (Henry Silva) who is essentially inaccessible -- but not immortal. Stunts (performed by Belmondo) and chase scenes on land and water enliven the story, but the scenes with Belmondo's love interest are rather marginal themselves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Henry Silva, (more)
- 1982
The French/German Ace of Aces stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as a dauntless World War One flyboy. Nearly 20 years after cessation of hostilities, Belmondo attends the 1936 Berlin Olympics as manager of the French boxing team. Through a series of plot twists too incredible to relate, Our Hero finds himself shepherding a group of Jewish refugees to safety. Alas, his sense of direction isn't so hot, and the refugees end up at Hitler's mountain retreat! Originally titled L'As De As, Ace of Aces is a black comedy in the Mel Brooks tradition. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Marie-France Pisier, (more)
Joss Beaumont (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a French spy given the assignment of killing an African dictator, and when he arrives in Africa to do so, he is captured and put in prison. The political winds had changed - the dictator is now an ally - and the best way to handle the agent is to keep him in jail. Naturally at odds now with his former bosses and with an ax to grind for his own incarceration, the agent escapes after two years in prison and heads back to Paris where he announces that he is going to finish his assassination job during the coming diplomatic visit of the African leader. Once aware of his intent, the French government sets up one trap after another, but to no avail - the agent remains free and there is no doubt that he has the full capacity to do exactly what he says. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Beaune, (more)
- 1980
This standard comedy thriller is more a vehicle to show off Jean-Paul Belmondo's stunts than to convey a suspenseful tale to a hoodwinked audience. Belmondo plays a conman who gets tangled in a complex series of hassles that involve some well-placed kicks to straighten out. Everyone is after a microfilm he has, and when he is not hanging from a helicopter to escape his enemies he is bedding down one woman or another. Life, after awhile, seems fairly predictable as he goes from being airborne to bedridden or vice-versa. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Galabru, (more)
- 1979
When the local police inspector was found dead in a prostitute's house, police division commissioner Stan Borowitz (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is sent to investigate the situation. Posing as the prostitute's long-lost brother "Antonio Cerruti," he discovers a mare's nest of police corruption. In fact, in this comedy thriller the whole town is corrupt. If they were closely examined, Stan's methods for pursuing this investigation might embarrass the police. For instance, he drives into a criminal's house in a fancy, expensive race car. In another incident, he callously blows up a casino owned by Musard (Georges Geret), one of the town's crime bosses. On that occasion, he first forces Musard to remove his clothes, and the poor criminal watches his casino explode from across the square while standing naked in a phone booth. Meanwhile, Stan seduces the lovely Edmonde (Marie Laforet). This box-office smash was the first of four wildly successful collaborations between Belmondo and director Georges Lautner. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Marie Laforêt, (more)
- 1977
Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Michel Gauché, a stunt double and trickster who is crazy in love with his former fiancee, work-mate, and fellow stunt performer Jane (Raquel Welch). She, however, is so angry with him for landing her in the hospital due to a badly performed stunt that she breaks off the engagement. Belmondo also plays Bruno Ferrari, the movie star he is doubling for, an effeminate homosexual who lusts after his stuntman. Because Jane is angry with Michel, she falls into the arms of a film producer, and arranges for Michel to re-do the same stunt over and over again endlessly. She also tries to woo Bruno the movie star and discovers that he is not interested in women. Michel tries hard to win her back, sometimes pretending to be the movie star, which confuses her to no end. Just as she is about to marry a dull aristocrat, Belmondo appears in an old gorilla outfit and abducts her from the aisles of the church. Belmondo was famous for doing all his own stunts, and he continued that tradition in this film. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Raquel Welch, (more)
- 1976
Francois (Jean-Paul Belmondo) was framed as a drug-trafficker by none other than the head trafficker himself and spent seven years in prison for his supposed crimes. Now an ex-con, the vengeful Francois carefully arranges things so that the kingpin's own henchmen murder him, as they believe that they are also about to fall victim to the mobster's ruthless schemes. Flashbacks show that Francois had a rewarding, though tumultuous life before his imprisonment. Now he has a new girlfriend, and a new life, in this movie based on a book by Marceau. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bernard Blier, (more)
- 1976
In France, the slang-word for "bounty hunter" is "alpagueur." When the police are working on cases where they do not want their presence officially known, they arrange for private individuals who specialize in this work to perform certain services, such as setting up major arrests. In this film, L'Alpageur is Jean-Paul Belmondo, who does his work with a considerable sense of humor, great charm, and in as "clean" a way as possible. First, he busts a drug-trafficking ring operating out of Rotterdam by observing that a certain "pregnant" woman moves in an unusual fashion. Her "baby" turns out to be a large, specially shaped package of heroin. The drug kingpins stung by his operation seek to find the man who thwarted them, but because L'Alpageur is known only to a few in the police department, the drug barons' corrupt police friends cannot determine who he is. Later, he busts the leaders of a prostitution ring. While they were all gathered in one room, he fed nitrous oxide into that space, and they all fell unconscious following a few giddy, laugh-filled moments. This made it possible for him to arrest them without their ever seeing him. His most important case, however, is his search for "The Hawk," a bank-robber who uses local juvenile delinquents in each town to help him set up his thefts. After each robbery, he kills his helpers. One of them, however, has survived and has been put in jail. L'Alpageur is given a false identity and is put into jail alongside the youth. His job is to help the lad escape, and find the elusive, murderous bank robber. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bruno Cremer, (more)
- 1975
Right after his release from prison, Victor (Jean-Paul Belmondo) resumes his con-man activities. He rents apartments he doesn't own, sells nonexistent fighter planes to African countries, and by turns pretends to be a gardener, lawyer, private detective, governmental official, and even a transvestite in order to fool his unsuspecting victims. He does it all under the nose of his charming but naive parole officer Marie-Charlotte (Genevieve Bujold). When Victor finds out that Marie-Charlotte's father curates the museum that has an extremely valuable painting, he and his friends decide to steal it. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Geneviève Bujold, (more)
- 1975
This crime thriller is about a psychotic who makes obscene phone calls to beautiful women and then murders them. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Denner, (more)
- 1974
This film by French director Alain Resnais (Last Year in Marienbad) is loosely based on a true story from the 1930s about financier, con-man and swindler Stavisky who was arrested in 1934 for selling phony stock but was never brought to trial. While in jail, he continued to engage in doubtful monetary transactions. As the rumors that he was being protected by high-ranking members of the government of the French Third Republic were undoubtedly true, the scandal had a profoundly unsettling effect on the French nation, already suffering from poor government handling of the Depression, and this incident nearly brought down both the government and the Republic. Stavisky's death in prison (an apparent suicide) triggered widespread unrest and rioting. In the movie, when Stavisky (Jean-Paul Belmondo) goes to jail as a young con-man, his embarrassed father commits suicide. Ruining countless lives in his stellar career as a big-money swindler, including that of his nobleman friend Raoul (Charles Boyer), Stavisky is shown to be a pawn in a still bigger swindle, one which will destroy the Left and open the way to fascism. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, François Perier, (more)
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