Jean-Claude Brialy Movies
The son of a high-ranking French military officer, Jean-Claude Brialy was expected to following in his father's boot-steps upon completing his studies at Strasbourg University. Brialy was deflected from a lifetime in uniform through his blossoming friendship with aspiring filmmaker Philippe de Broca. Deciding to become an actor, Brialy appeared in some of the earliest short-subject projects of such future Nouvelle Vague directors as Jacques Rivette and Jean-Luc Godard. He made his first feature-film appearance in Jean Renoir's Paris Does Strange Things (1958). In collaboration with Claude Chabrol, Brialy starred in Chabrol's maiden directorial effort, Le Beau Serge, then originated the ubiquitous Chabrol protagonist Paul in Les Cousins. This particular role cemented Brialy's standard screen characterization: the impeccably mannered, implicitly decadent boulevardier. One of the busiest of the New Wave directors (especially during the years 1960 and 1961), Jean-Claude Brialy remained so even after launching his own prolific career with 1972's Eglantine.Brialy died of cancer in Paris, France on May 30, 2007. He was 74. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- PG
The fifth of Eric Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales," Claire's Knee is a deliciously Rohmeresque story of sexual obsession. French diplomat Jerome (Jean-Claude Brialy), on a resort vacation, meets Claire (Laurence De Monaghan), the teen-aged daughter of a friend. Though engaged to be married, Jerome falls hopelessly in love -- not with Claire, but with Claire's knee. Realizing that to be revealed as a fetishist would be ruinous for him, Jerome does not act upon his obsession. Eventually he gets to fulfill his yearnings by placing his hand upon Claire's knee, a gesture which she assumes is out of sympathy for a personal crisis she is going through. Originally released as Le Genou de Claire, this film was the recipient of the Prix Louis Delluc and the Prix Melies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Claude Brialy, Aurora Cornu, (more)
- 1970
Nobles try desperately to cling to the crumbling aristocracy in the days following World War I. The Count (Jean-Claude Brialy) and his Countess Mahe (Sylvia Fennec) delight in throwing lavish costume balls. The couple develops a friendship with a young boy who delights in the parties thrown by the noble couple. Love soon blooms between the Countess and the boy as she searches for something more than a string of endless parties and social affairs. The masquerades are an attempt to freeze time and hold on to the nostalgia of a bygone era. For fear of losing her, the Count allows the Countess to continue her love affair. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Claude Brialy, Sylvie Fennec, (more)
This Francois Truffaut thriller is based ona novel by William Irish (aka Cornell Woolrich), whose books had been adapted by Alfred Hitchcock on many previous occasions. Jeanne Moreau stars as a woman whose fiancé is nastily murdered by five men. Utilizing a series of disguises, the cool-customer Moreau tracks down all five culprits, sexually enslaves them, and then engineers their deaths. The ominous musical score was written by Bernard Herrmann, another frequent Hitchcock collaborator. The Bride Wore Black was initially released in France as La Mariee etait en Noir. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Moreau, Claude Rich, (more)
- 1968
Manon (Catherine Deneuve) is an amoral, free spirit who uses sex to surround herself in relatively luxurious surroundings. The mistress of a wealthy man, she meets a handsome young reporter (Sami Frey) on a flight from Hong Kong to Paris. She gives the older man the boot before slipping into a hot bathtub with her new love, the reporter. Her brother Jean-Paul (Jean Claude Brialey) puts out the word to rich men that his hot-to-trot sister is back in town. She willingly allows herself to be used for sex to justify her lifestyle. The reporter loses his job and Manon takes up with another wealthy client, seeing the reporter on the side. Men continue to fall for the beautiful, opportunistic Manon who is more interested in Mr. Right Now than Mr. Right. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1968
Caroline (France Anglade) is the heroine who is pushed by her father into a loveless marriage with a lawyer. Unknown to her new husband, she lost her virginity to a handsome young officer the day the peasants stormed the Bastille. When her husband flees the revolutionary fervor, Caroline engages in a series of adventures. She is seduced, then raped before her husband returns and relative calm has been restored. The officer, now a member of Napoleon's court, and her husband are now safe. She conspires to leave her husband and return to the arms of her true love, the dashing officer to whom she has given her all. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Lamiel (Anna Karina) is a poor orphan girl who climbs her way to the social elite in this 19th-century costume drama. A doctor (Michel Bouquet) lives vicariously through Anna as he oversees the progress of his female protégé. Lamiel finds love with a young thief who steals into her bedroom after her marriage to a penniless count (Jean-Clause Brialy), and the two experience a romantic rendezvous of forbidden love after Lamiel goes from being a poor peasant woman to living a life of comparative luxury. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1967
In this anthology, six French filmmakers each contributed a vignette, offering their take on the history of prostitution. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michele Mercier, Elsa Martinelli, (more)
- 1967
An ingenious thief steals Michelangelo's Pieta, worth $30 billion in the farce. The trouble is, he has no buyers and so lets an American gangster have it for $40 and a spaghetti dinner. Meanwhile, the Vatican, not wanting the abduction to become public, sends out a priest to find the thieves and retrieve the statue. The priest, a former Indy 500 winner, proves himself to be more than well-equipped for job. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In this WW II drama, twelve captured French soldiers await their impending executions in a German prison camp. Fortunately, a wily resistance fighter and his men come to rescue the ill-fated dozen. The rescue attempt succeeds, but the rebels become worried when they discover a thirteenth prisoner who has come with the others. This fellow carries no ID, and now the fighters must decide whether he should die on the spot or continue on with the others. One of the group members votes for immediate execution. Later the stranger accompanies the group on a raid and ends up nearly sacrificing his life to save a child from being shot. The rebel leader is not impressed and orders that one of the men kill the stranger down by the river. The dutiful soldier listens to the stranger who tells him the truth: he is a deserter and a fervent pacifist. The soldier allows the deserter to escape. That night the stranger returns and tries to warn the rebels of a Nazi ambush. The group leader heads off to warn the others, but he is too late and they are all recaptured. Later all but the pacifist are hanged. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Bruno Cremer, (more)
- 1966
A husband desperate for an heir, will do anything to produce one in this Italian drama, adapted from the long-banned Machiavelli classic. In desperation, the man sends his devoted wife to a man pretending to be a doctor. He convinces her to drink an infusion of mandrake weed, which he claims will kill the first man she has sex with, and render her fertile simultaneously. Not wanting to kill her husband, she sleeps with another--the doctor in disguise. Afterwards, he reveals his identity and the two fall in love. She feels no remorse as she realizes her husband cares only for an heir and not her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Leroy, Rosanna Schiaffino, (more)
- 1966
Adriana (Stefania Sandrelli) is a young woman from the country who gets caught up in the tempestuous temptations of the big city in this somber moral drama. She has a series of affairs that are just for fun, but she becomes depressed when she desperately looks for a more meaningful relationship. The only men she finds sympathy with are a battered boxer (Mario Adorf) and a publicity agent (Nino Manfredi). Ugo Tognazzi has a brief part as a washed-up actor. Adriana's dreams are crushed to the point that she considers suicide her only alternative. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stefania Sandrelli, Nino Manfredi, (more)
The French/Italian/British King of Hearts (Le Roi de Coeur) takes place during World War I, but it might as well have been the Vietnamese conflict so far as its youthful "core" audience was concerned. Overacting outrageously, Adolfo Celi plays British colonel Alexander MacBibenbrook, who orders mild-mannered Scotsman Pvt. Charles Plumpick (Alan Bates) to undertake a life-or-death mission in a tiny French village. While evacuating the town, the Germans have left behind a time bomb that will explode at midnight; Plumpick must defuse that bomb. Upon his arrival in town, Plumpick discovers that it is far from deserted. A group of inmates from the local insane asylum, left behind during the evacuation, have claimed the village for their own. Knocked unconscious, Plumpick awakens to learn that he has been crowned "King of Hearts" by the gentle lunatics. None of the inmates pay any heed to Plumpick's warnings about impending doom, and when he attempts to lead them out of town, they are terrified at the prospect and scurry back to the "safety" of the village. Plumpick is finally able to render the bomb useless, whereupon the grateful inmates decide to stage a three-year celebration. When Plumpick tries to leave, he is kidnapped by the loonies at the behest of beautiful inmate Coquelicot (Geneviève Bujold), who has fallen in love with him. Bound and gagged, Plumpick watches helplessly as the Germans and the British troops kill each other off in comic-opera fashion. Finally set free, Plumpick weighs the horrible insanity of war against the more benign brand of lunacy represented by the inmates. The final image -- of a nude Plumpick carrying a birdcage, knocking on the doors of the asylum, and demanding that he be "accepted" -- was reproduced for the print ads of King of Hearts, effectively giving away the ending. An essential "date" film of the 1970s, King of Hearts was often released to campus movie houses in tandem with a pair of cult-favorite short subjects, the animated Bambi Meets Godzilla and Lenny Bruce's Thank You Masked Man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Bates, Geneviève Bujold, (more)
- 1965
This comedy is built around a car and the various characters who own the vehicle throughout the feature. A Countess takes her terrified secretary on a wild ride in the country before she sells the car to a dealer. The auto serves as the connection for a series of predictable situations and sight gags. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edwige Feuillère, Marie-José Nat, (more)
- 1965
In this French comedy, a desperate gambler has one week to repay a large debt; and therefore, enlists the aide of a bungling thief to help him rob a large Paris department store. They choose to pull the heist on Christmas Eve. With the help of another, the gambler poses as Santa Claus. They fill a sack with stolen money, but unfortunately, the bag is taken by another who plans to abscond to Chile. After a bumbling chase, the gambler reclaims his loot. Unfortunately, it has been accidently covered with glue and must be washed and dried. In the end, the gambler is captured. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1965
This drama is taken from Thomas Mann's 1903 semi-autobiographical novel. Tonio (Jean Claude Brialy) is an aspiring writer and the son of a rigid aristocratic father and a music-loving mother. Wandering throughout Germany and Italy to "find himself," Tonio frequently remembers his childhood experiences in a series of flashbacks. The highlight of the film is the expert lensing by cinematographer Wolf Wirth. Erika Mann, the daughter of the late poet and author, collaborated with Ennio Flaiano on the screenplay. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Claude Brialy, Nadja Tiller, (more)
- 1965
A inept group of crooks conspire to rob a department store before the Christmas holiday in this crime comedy. They get the money but it is dropped in glue and later taken by juvenile delinquents. The crooks get the money back and carefully wash the bills and hang them out to dry. A charging bull on the loose leads the police to the hideout to foil the felony. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Serrault, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1965
Following up 1964's Academy Award nominated L'Homme de Rio, French filmmaker Philippe de Broca wrote and directed this big-screen adaptation of André Couteaux's novel Un monsieur de compagnie. Jean-Pierre Cassel stars as Antoine, a young man who holds the philosophy "Laziness is the mother of all virtue" close to his heart and spends many dreamy days fishing with his wealthy grandfather. But when he has a prophetic dream that the old man will die impoverished, Antoine is motivated to change his life and try to earn his own money. Also starring Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Pierre Marielle, Un monsieur de compagnie was released in the United States in 1966 under the title Male Companion. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Cassel, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1964
In this romantic drama, a middle-aged gambler tells a casino croupier her life story. The story is told in flashback and chronicles the woman's romantic exploits with men. Though she was involved with many men, only one really touched her heart. He was a bartender who was tragically shot and killed during an attempted robbery. She later marries and has a daughter. Unfortunately she alienates herself from her daughter when she has an affair with her daughter's fiance. Her remorse is short lived. The film jumps back to the present with the woman leaving the casino on the arm of a handsome millionaire. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Bell, Annie Girardot, (more)
This uneven remake of the 1950 Max Ophuls feature from the play by Arthur Schnitzler takes place in Paris just before World War I instead of Vienna at the turn of the 20th century. A soldier (Claude Giraud) sleeps with a prostitute (Marie Dubois) before he seduces Rose (Anna Karina), and a willing but married Sophie (Jane Fonda). A night of drinking finds the soldier back with the prostitute again in this feature directed by Roger Vadim. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Claude Brialy, Jane Fonda, (more)
- 1964
In this French comedy from director Edouard Molinaro, a young Jean-Paul Belmondo stars as Fernand, a groom-to-be who is dissuaded from stepping up to the altar by his two friends after they terrify him with their personal marriage horror stories. Antoine immediately ditches his bride and heads for Greece, but not before giving his friend Antoine (Jean-Claude Brialy) his honeymoon cruise tickets. Aboard the boat, Antoine meets and falls in love. Meanwhile, Fernand falls in love with a swindler and becomes determined to marry her. Also featuring a 21-year-old Catherine Deneuve, La Chasse A L'Homme was released in the United States in 1965 under the title Male Hunt. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1963
Nutty, Naughty Chateau is summed up in the encyclopedic book The United Artists Story as "Sex comedy drama." No more, no less. Actually, there is more: The film was originally titled Chateau en Suede, and it was directed by Roger Vadim. Based on a Francoise Sagan play, the film involves a group of eccentric jet-setters who gambole around a huge French chateau dressed in 1750s costumes. A young man on the run takes refuge in this curious household, and is gradually sucked into the soft-core sensual practices of its offbeat denizens. With Vadim as director, and a cast chock-full of such notables as Monica Vitti and Curt Jurgens, Nutty, Naughty Chateau deserves more attention than a three-word synopsis would suggest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Louis Trintignant, Monica Vitti, (more)
- 1963
An overly ambitious young man hopes to rise to the top of the advertising business. When he feels his progress is being impeded, he conspires to murder his way up the corporate ladder. He uses the bodies of his victims as rungs to climb to the top in this macabre comedy of errors. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Claude Brialy, Michel Serrault, (more)
