Martine Brochard Movies

A visually evocative period piece set in late 1930s Italy, this drama is about one man's eventual awakening and transformation. Oberdan (Ray Lovelock) is born into a wealthy family, and although his father is Jewish, he does not pay that much attention to his heritage. He marries an equally wealthy woman, and then his life changes when he goes off to war in North Africa. Returning with nightmare images of his years in the service, he leaves his wife and home and goes to Bologna to work as a journalist. With a lively new friend (Adalberto Rossetti) and a new love interest (Martine Brochard), it seems, for awhile, that life might take a turn for the better. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Nothing remains the same in the love lives of those associated in any way with the case of the shooting death of Valeria (Carole Chauvet) by her husband Fabrizio (Marc Porel) during a hunting trip. Was it an accident or murder? Slowly, the police magistrate (Stefano Satta Flores) sifts through the evidence from the lives of those around the couple to determine the truth. This psychological detective story is based on an award-winning novel by Michele Prisco. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Although mostly known for his bloody jungle-set cannibal films (Cannibal Ferox; Mangiati Vivi) and the splattery zombie-adventure Incubo sulla Citta Contaminata, Italian filmmaker Umberto Lenzi also made a number of interesting thrillers, including this engagingly incoherent giallo about an eyeball-stealing killer. The slayer's handiwork is first revealed when a female member of an American tour group is stabbed to death in Barcelona, and a teenager on an amusement park ride is murdered in a similar fashion the following day. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), a businessman named Mark Burton (John Richardson) finds out that his wife, Alma (Marta May), is in town, and remembers finding her unconscious once back in America with a human eyeball lying next to her. More murders follow, with a peasant girl, a lesbian named Lisa (Mirta Miller), and her lover (Ines Pellegrini) all attacked by the raincoat-clad killer. After yet another attack, Mark falls under suspicion, and must discover the killer's identity in order to clear his name. Bloodier than most of its contemporaries, the film presages the subgenre's spin into logic-free sensory assault with the following year's Dario Argento classic Profondo Rosso and features a star-studded cast including Martine Brochard, Jorge Rigaud, and Raf Baldassarre, as well as Argento regulars Tom Felleghy and Fulvio Mingozzi. Some video versions cut about four minutes of graphic violence. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

From the Middle Ages onward, certain monasteries and nunneries were basically elegant retirement homes for rich noblemen and noblewomen. The position of abbot or abbess at one of these institutions often carried with it considerable wealth and worldly power. So it comes as no surprise that the elegant nuns of Sant'arcangelo in Naples should fight for the position of Mother Superior of their nunnery; it has a charter to huge quantities of gold from the New World. Nor should it surprise anyone that this squabble attracted the interest of powerful figures in the church. This Italian/French drama, based on a story by Henri Stendahl, focuses on the characters of the nuns, noblemen and churchmen involved in this dispute, which eventually came under the scrutiny of the Holy Inquisition. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this Italian action film, a suspended police officer risks his badge in an attempt to bring a mob kingpin to justice. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

A newly married couple has one night to spend for their honeymoon before both have to work in the morning. The passage of time seems dim the love light of the duo who are beset by financial difficulties and a newborn baby. The husband takes temporary refuge in a mistress before returning to work out their marital problems. He soon receives a raise when he comes up with a new invention, endearing himself to his boss and making life a little easier for the young couple. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The episodic romantic comedy Stolen Kisses is the third installment in François Truffaut's Antoine Doinel series, which started with The 400 Blows in 1959. In 1968, Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is discharged from the military and comes home to Paris, getting an apartment in Montmartre with an excellent view of the Sacré-Coeur. He meets up with his sweetheart, Christine Darbon (Claude Jade, making her film debut), and joins her and her parents for dinner (Daniel Ceccaldi and Claire Duhamel). With the help of Christine's father, he gets a job as a hotel clerk but quickly gets fired after he unwittingly aids a private detective (Harry Max). After running into the detective at a coffee shop, Antonie then falls into a job at the Blady Detective Agency, assisting with the investigation of a magician. He is then assigned to the case of neurotic Georges Tabard (Michel Lonsdale), and ends up working in the stock room of his shoe store. After Antoine has coffee with Tabard's beautiful and intelligent wife, Fabienne (Delphine Seyrig), she inevitably tries to seduce him. He later meets Christine in a park and proposes to her, taking the pair into the next film: Bed and Board. One of the lightest entries in the series, Stolen Kisses was ironically filmed during a turbulent political time in France. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide