Jean-Claude Carrière Movies
Jean-Claude Carrière has worked as a cartoonist, novelist, actor, and director, but more importantly established himself as one of France's foremost screenwriters. Beginning his film career with director Pierre Etaix, Carrière went on to collaborate with the likes of Milos Forman, Jacques Deray, Jean-Luc Godard, Volker Schlondorff, Philippe de Broca, and Bertrand Tavernier. His most fruitful professional association was with Luis Buñuel; his scripts for Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) and That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) earned him Academy Award nominations. Still another Oscar nomination came his way for his work on Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Carrière's own directorial career thus far consists of a 1968 short subject and the 1985 feature L'Unique. As an actor, he has appeared in Buñuel's Diary of a Chambermaid and The Milky Way, as well as the 1994 feature Night and the Moment. Also in 1994, Jean-Claude Carrière published his autobiography, The Secret Language of Film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1966
This documentary takes a scientific look at animal reproduction from the lowest of forms to the patterns of their human counterparts. Education narration is provided by several expert scholars who have carefully researched the subject. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1965
This Tatiesque French comedy stars popular comedian/filmmaker Pierre Etaix as Yo Yo, a 1920s tycoon who, though surrounded by many fabulous things and though living in a grand old castle, is still unhappy for pining over his long-lost love, a beautiful circus performer. One day he sees her again. Soon afterward the stock-market crash destroys his financial state and, impoverished, he joins the circus. The two have a son who performs in the circus as a young clown. Later, their son becomes a famous movie star and uses his fortune to buy his father's former castle. By this time, though, his father has decided to remain with the circus, and soon the young man comes to a similar conclusion. The first part of the film is done as a silent picture, the second half with sound and occasional French dialogue. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Etaix, Claudine Auger, (more)
Two of the most beautiful women in the European cinema of the 1960s -- Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau -- team up under the direction of Louis Malle in this engaging comedy/adventure. Maria Fitzgerald O'Malley (Bardot) is the daughter of an Irish political dissident who has traveled to Latin America with her father to take part in an anarchist political uprising. When her father is killed, Maria, left to her own devices, happens upon a traveling circus, where she strikes up a friendship with one of the performers, also named Maria (Moreau). Maria O'Malley joins up with the carnival, and she works up a dance routine with Maria; the act is a smash hit, especially after the Irish Maria accidentally loses part of her costume during a performance. Despite their success, the two Marias find themselves increasingly distressed with the poverty and brutality of the peasants' lives, and they soon decide to use their talents in support of revolutionary leader Flores (George Hamilton). Viva Maria!'s original ending was trimmed slightly for its American release, but the complete version was later released in the United States on DVD. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Bardot, Jeanne Moreau, (more)
The second screen version of Octave Mirbeau's novel (originally filmed in 1946 by Jean Renoir), Diary of a Chambermaid charts the ambitions of Celestine (Jeanne Moreau), a woman who comes to work in the 1930s for a Normandy estate occupied by Monsieur Rabour (Jean Ozenne), his daughter (Francoise Lugagne), and the daughter's husband, Monsieur Montiel (Michel Piccoli). Celestine quickly learns that M. Rabour is a more or less harmless boot fetishist, his daughter a frigid woman more concerned with the family furnishings than in returning the affections of her husband, who, in turn, can't keep his hands off the servants. The gamekeeper, Joseph (Georges Geret), is a fascist who keeps his masters informed of all the doings downstairs, and the next-door neighbor (Daniel Ivernel) is a veteran who can't stand Monteil and is sharing a bed with his housekeeper. Celestine picks her way through this minefield carefully, spurning the advances of all of the men until it's convenient for her. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Moreau, Michel Piccoli, (more)
This dark, surrealistic horror film from cult filmmaker Jesus Franco is perhaps best-remembered for its images of the lethal Miss Muerte (Estella Blain) luring victims with razor-sharp fingernails while clad in a skull-mask and a revealing bodysuit. The real star of the film is Mabel Karr, portraying Irma von Zimmer, daughter of a mad scientist whose public humiliation led to his fatal heart attack. Vowing revenge, Irma uses her father's mind-control techniques to possess Miss Muerte, a nightclub performer. The hypnotized dancer murders the doctors whom Irma blames for her father's death, slicing their throats with her poisoned nails, until police Inspector Tanner (Franco) and Miss Muerte's boyfriend (Fernando Montes) track her down. One of Franco's most entertaining films, Miss Muerte is a great improvement over the similar El Secreto del Dr. Orloff, released the previous year. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Estella Blain, Howard Vernon, (more)
- 1963
The quest for love gets a farcical French treatment in this lighthearted romp, the sophomore directorial effort from writer and star Pierre Etaix. Etaix plays Pierre, a shy youth under pressure from his mother to find a nice girl and settle down. In order to appease her, Pierre proposes marriage to his family's Swedish student boarder, whose poor grasp of French leads to a misunderstanding. Believing that he has been rejected, Pierre commences trying to find the right woman for him. After an abortive assignation with a seductive one-night stand, Pierre becomes obsessed with a popular actress he spots on television. Collecting all the memorabilia he can find associated with the woman, the love-struck Pierre even buys an engagement ring, but when he tracks down the object of his affection, he is surprised to find that she is old enough to be his mother. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Etaix, Laurence Ligneres, (more)
