Jacques Berthier Movies

Vagabond, directed by Agnes Varda is the dark disturbing story of a female drifter named Mona (Sandrine Bonnaire). The film opens as Mona's frozen body is found in a drainage ditch and proceeds to tell her story in a series of flashbacks and semi-documentary style "interviews" with the people who have known Mona during the last few weeks of her life. Mona is a distant, independent and not-very-likeable woman who goes from place to place, living where she can and with anyone who will take her in. Mona's true nature remains a puzzle, both to those who thought they knew her, and to the audience. As the movie progresses it becomes clear that no one knew the true Mona and she, because of her aloofness and essential coldness, provided a canvas for those she met to write upon. Who Mona really was, and what she thought remains ambiguous. Sandrine Bonnaire is excellent as Mona, making an unappealing and cold character interesting and intriguing. Director Agnes Varda began her career as a still photographer. This beginning is evident in her elegant framing of the film. She has an instinctive awareness of and a photographer's eye for visual detail which makes the film cold, bleak, and aridly beautiful. Internationally acclaimed, Vagabond is Varda's most successful film. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

In this modern retelling of the classic Dangerous Liaisons, a virtuous young woman becomes the target of the schemes of an amoral womanizer who is in the habit of wooing women and killing their lovers and husbands in duels. When she finally succumbs to him, she discovers his true nature, and her newly awakened joy in passion turns to dust. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This documentary looks at Toulouse-Lautrec as an artist and an individual. ~ Rovi

79 A.D. is a beautifully photographed but otherwise negligible Italian strongman movie. Young Roman gladiator Brad Harris plots the overthrow of corrupt rulers in the Eternal City. Susan Paget and Mara Lane are among the decoratively undressed damsels with whom the muscle-bound Harris must contend. The whole thing ends in Cinecitta's recreation of the Coliseum, with Harris taking on the best of the bad in AD 79. Though Hercules is nowhere to be seen, 79 A.D. was released to television as part of the "Sons of Hercules" package. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this routine soap opera, a young man is engaged to be married even though he professes not to believe in true love, not at all. He works for the owner of a second-hand store and his fiancée is the owner's daughter. One day he sees a sophisticated, classy woman walk into a fashionable shop and, smitten to the core, he decides to forget his current life and go after her. Even when he gets a job in the shop where she so often appears (she is married to the owner), he cannot seem to face reality or give up his feelings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Best known for his 1978, award-winning La Cage aux Folles, director Edouard Molinaro turns to suspense in this routine psychological drama about a man (Lino Ventura) whose psyche changes into that of a serial killer. The man has been traumatized by the murder of his wife and decides to seek justice himself. So he goes out and kills his wife's assassin (her former lover), but his foul deed is witnessed by a taxi driver. Intent on never being prosecuted for his crime, he then goes after the taxi driver -- and a string of killings is set in motion. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Pierre Brasseur plays the "mad monk" Rasputin -- or "Raspoutine" -- in this French historical melodrama. Insinuating himself into the court of the Romanoffs in early-20th-century Russia, Rasputin is able to gain enormous power through his apparent ability to heal the hemophiliac son of the Czarina (Isa Miranda). Taking advantage of his clout, the unkempt, barely literate Rasputin embarks on a series of orgies and debaucheries. A group of Russian nobles conspire to murder Rasputin and save the monarchy -- but as history records, Rasputin was not so easily bumped off. Despite his monstrous behavior, Rasputin is depicted as a man who genuinely came to believe in his own "holiness," and who desperately strived to bring peace and stability to Russia before his assassination. With both eyes on the box office, director Georges Combret manages to slip a modicum of female nudity into the film's bacchanal scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Maria Felix stars as La Belle Otero in this "fin de siecle" romantic melodrama. The story traces Otero's progress from unemployed Spanish dancer to the most famous, and most sought-after, courtesan in all of Paris. Though she romances many men, Otero never finds true love. On the verge of lasting happiness, she is the unwitting cause of the death of her most fervent lover. In true "Joan Crawford" fashion, the film demonstrates how Otero learns to manipulate men only after she has been misused and abused. Marc-Gilbert Sauvajon adapted the screenplay from the memoirs of the real-life Caroline Otero. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The English-language title of this French romantic drama is Maria of End of World. The title character, played by Denise Cardy, is the wife of self-styled naturalist Mathius (Paul Meurisse). Alas, Maria's husband spends more time with his beloved woodland creatures than with her. Yearning for a visit to the Big City, Maria leaves herself wide open for disillusionment and heartbreak. Maria du Bout du Monde was regarded as a potboiler when originally released in France; it was hardly regarded at all when released in the U.S. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi