Francis Huster Movies
A romantic leading man who has had difficulty finding roles that really suit his talents, Francis Huster is one of French cinema's most recognizable faces. Possessing dark good looks and natural charisma, Huster is adept at drama and comedy alike, and he has essayed roles ranging from classic heroes to amiable sidekicks.Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine on December 8, 1947, Huster developed a passion for film with the aid of his grandmother, who began taking him to the cinema when he was a young boy. An excellent student, he decided at the age of 15 that he wanted to become a comedian, and he subsequently enrolled at a municipal conservatory for training. At the age of 20, Huster won a place at the prestigious national conservatory in Paris, where he studied with René Simon and Antoine Vitez. After leaving the conservatory in 1971, he joined the renowned Comédie Française, where he stayed for the next decade. While performing the works of such masters as Shakespeare, Molière, and Musset, Huster also began acting on the screen, making his debut as the titular priest in the religious drama La Faute de L'Abbé Mouret (1970).
Huster could subsequently be seen in starring roles in the works of a variety of directors ranging from Jeanne Moreau (Lumière, 1976; L'Adolescente, 1978) to Claude Lelouch (Un Autre Homme Une Autre Chance, 1977; Les Uns et les autres, 1981; and Edith et Marcel, 1983). In 1998, the actor was used to particularly winning effect in Francis Veber's Le Dîner de Cons (The Dinner Game), a witty comedy of errors that cast Huster as the friend and former rival of an arrogant publisher (Thierry Lhermitte) undone by the very man he intends to humiliate at his weekly "dinner of idiots." In 1986, Huster tried his hand at directing with On a volé Charlie Spencer, a comedy about an unassuming bank clerk who joins up with the group of thieves who have robbed his bank. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Romance takes a back seat to drama in this movie depicting life at the once-fashionable Parisian bordello known by its address 122 Rue de Provence. Patronized by the wealthy and powerful, this elegant house of prostitution featured a top-ranked restaurant and specialized rooms for men with unusual tastes: a railroad carriage room, a stable room, etc. In the story, two young people "on the make" bump into each other as they are arriving in the same rail station. Though attracted to one another, they are deliberately vague about their destinations. He is headed for a diplomatic career, she is an ambitious young prostitute who wants to work at the best house in France. Later, they meet at 122 Rue de Provence. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicole Calfan, Francis Huster, (more)
- 1977
Louise (Evelyne Buyle), a champion roller-skater, and her mother both live and work on a dairy farm, and they are television addicts. Indeed, in this comedy, so committed are they to the shows they watch that they have taken to bringing the cows into the house to be milked, so that they won't miss even a single moment. This so disgusts Louise's father that he takes the family TV and throws it into a pond. Having always wanted to break into television, Louise goes with her mother to Paris where, after a few scrapes, she gets a chance to show her stuff. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyne Buyle, Mathe Souverbie, (more)
- 1995
This French ensemble comedy, is set in a small town where Gabrielle, a beautiful doctor's wife and mother of three prepares to play Elvira in a local production of Don Juan. The trouble begins when she finds herself sexually attracted to the town's womanizing hairdresser Serge, who plays the sexy don. When not rehearsing, he shamelessly flirts with Gabrielle, and she, so tired of playing second fiddle to her husband's busy career, does nothing to stop him. She even begins toying with the notion of a real affair. Gabrielle's thoughts are no secret from her perceptive children who decide that drastic measures are in order and so poison the pig's head pate that Serge is supposed to eat during the play. Things do not go as planned and comical mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Bohringer, Lio, (more)
- 1983
This tragic musical drama chronicles the star-crossed love between beloved French singer Edith Piaf and World Middleweight boxing champion Marcel Cerdan who died in a plane crash. The tumultuous affair is paralleled by the love affair of a French POW and his young pen pal who get engaged after writing to each other for four years and having never met. Their romances are framed by the sad, torchy songs of Piaf. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyne Bouix, Marcel Cerdan, Jr., (more)
- 1983
Although based on a novel by Georges Simenon, director (and songwriter) Serge Gainsbourg has superimposed several dark emotions and a subtle brutality over the weak plot about a man's trip to Africa and his unfortunate passion for a murderess whose amorality sends the disillusioned fellow back to Europe. Sometimes described as frustrating and self-centered, reactions to this film swing across a broad spectrum of complaints -- not the least might be whether or not Gainsbourg is using a clichéd and stereotypical view of "dark Africa" to convey what he sees in his characters. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Sukowa, Francis Huster, (more)
- 1972
Faustine (Muriel Catala) suffers the wounds of first love in this gentle French film. During a summer when she is staying with her grandmother, she comes to know the nearby neighbors. Two brothers live in the large house. One is divorced and one has recently remarried, both of them live there with their teenaged and adult children. Though the boys of the household are drawn to Faustine, she grows ever more smitten with the divorced older man. During one visit she has to hide in his room to avoid the unwelcome attentions of his sons. As the summer draws to a close she has her first amorous kiss. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 2006
Four Jewish women juggle love, sex, new relationships, work and parenthood in this romantic comedy from France. Isa (Michele Laroque) has split with her husband, and is busy looking after their three children while running her business, a beauty salon. While Isa has precious little spare time, she's trying to make room in her life for a British businessman who has struck her fancy. Alice (Valerie Benguigui) is Isa's sister, and has come to envy her sister's single status after a few years with her husband Gilles (Alexandre Astier), who appears to hate personal grooming as much as he loves golf. Alice's misgivings about her marriage grow stronger when she becomes friends with a handsome and charming divorced dad. Lea (Aure Atika) has recently parted ways with her husband, and devotes her days to pampering herself when she isn't taking care of her child. And Nina (Geraldine Nakache) has never been married and is looking for a man to settle down with, but she lacks confidence about her appearance even though she's young and pretty. Comme T'y es Belle (aka Hey Good Looking) was the second feature from director Lisa Azuelos, and was a major box office success in France. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michèle Laroque, Aure Atika, (more)
- 1990
In this somewhat odd exploration of human romantic difficulties, the people in the film are all put under extra stress by the fact that on the day in question, they have lost an hour to daylight savings time. In addition, it is a full moon. Neither factor improves their response to the mild stresses they experience, which have been building up for several years. The beginning of the film shows a number of couples getting married, and follows them and a few others a few years later, on the day of the time change. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Lanvin, Patrick Chesnais, (more)
- 1982
A young woman is abandoned by her lover after she tells him she is pregnant. Deeply depressed and longing for home, she boards a train out of town. Unfortunately a terrible train wreck ensues. She survives and ends up taking on the identity of one of the dead passengers. Now comfortable and secure that her child will have some claim to legitimacy, the woman is happy. Unfortunately, her dead-beat lover shows up and promises to make trouble if she doesn't pay up. The melodramatic plot is based on a story by Cornell Woolrich and was made twice before as No Man of Her Own (1932 and 1949 respectively). In 1996 it was remade again as the romantic comedy Mrs. Winterbourne starring Riki Lake and Shirley MacLaine. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nathalie Baye, Francis Huster, (more)
- 1978
L'Adolescente (The Adolescent) was the second directorial stint for French film star Jeanne Moreau. This possibly autobiographical piece is set during the early war years. Laetitia Chauveau plays a twelve-year old girl whose future is determined by the events of one long summer holiday in the country in the period just before the outbreak of the Second World War. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laetitia Chauveau, Simone Signoret, (more)
- 1985
Inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Idiot and intended as "a homage to the great writer," this film is set in modern France rather than 19th century Russia. This is a story of Léon (Francis Huster), who has been recently released from a mental asylum and claims to be a descendant of a Hungarian prince. On his way from Hungary to France, he meets Mickey (Tchéky Karyo), a hood who has committed a successful bank robbery and plans to take brutal revenge on the brothers Venin for what they did to his girlfriend Mary (Sophie Marceau). Léon can hardly understand what Mickey is up to but he follows him everywhere and soon falls in love with Mary. This odd love triangle resolves in a tragic ending. The frantic pace of the film's action can be compared to that of a runaway, hell-bound train. The colors and sounds go out of control, and violence abounds -- all of which is intended to convey to a viewer the craziness of the time. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophie Marceau, Francis Huster, (more)
- 1973
In this French historical epic/farce, Colinot (Francis Huster) has had a hard time. First, his fiancee was kidnapped by a group of woman-sellers, and after a very long and dangerous search through 15th-century France, during which he earns the name of "Skirt Puller Upper," he finally finds his intended. Alas, although he has remained chaste (and not without some difficulty), she has not, and she has also married and given her heart to a nobleman. The all-too innocent lad is heartbroken. Fortunately an older woman, Arabelle (Brigitte Bardot), takes pity on him, and teaches him the ways of life and love . ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natalie Delon, Bernadette Lafont, (more)
- 1970
A dedicated priest in frail health takes over a church attended by peasants who rejoice in the human love life has to offer them. Mouret (Francis Huster) is at odds with the wrathful rector (Andre Lacombe), who instills fear in the parishioners and takes exception to Mouret's embracing of the Virgin Mary. Mouret tries to mediate when the peasants fight over the belongings of a deceased woman. When he is taken ill and suffers short term memory loss, he is cared for at the house of his atheistic uncle and his servant girl. She cares for Mouret, who forgets his calling to God and falls for the young girl. She nurses him back to health and he returns to the church, but the rector drives the young girl from the parish and constantly reminds Mouret of his sin during his amnesia. When the young girl dies, Mouret buries her in consecrated ground despite the objections of the despotic rector. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Huster, Gillian Hills, (more)
- 1984
An aspiring young actress (Valerie Kaprisky) accepts a leading role in a film version of Dostoyevsky's The Possessed. Dissatisfied by her performance, the eccentric filmmaker (Francis Huster) begins a rigorous course of indoctrination, sexual domination, and acting lessons, leaving the mentally exhausted girl unable to distinguish between the real world and that of the film. Arty, challenging, and some say over the top, the film was honored with the Special Jury Award at the Montreal World Film Festival in 1984. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Huster, Valérie Kaprisky, (more)
- 1979
In July of 1976, the Societé Générale of France was robbed of well over $10 million dollars by a group burrowing through the sewers of Paris. This movie is based on a book by the thieves' mastermind, Albert Spaggiari. The famous theft won the nickname, "the great drain robbery," and this romanticized cinematic retelling of the true story stars Francis Huster as Spaggiari. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Huster, Jean-François Balmer, (more)
Claude Lelouch's Bolero covers a time span of half a century, concentrating on several generations of music lovers, all hailing from different nations and cultural backgrounds. Each of the principal actors plays multiple characters. Among the cast-members is James Caan, Robert Hossein and Geraldine Chaplin. The film's original title was Les Uns et les autres. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hossein, Nicole Garcia, (more)
- 1976
Actress Jeanne Moreau made her directorial debut with this tale about a gathering of actresses who, over the course of an all-night conversation, come to reassess their careers and romantic lives. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francine Racette, Jeanne Moreau, (more)
- 1986
Students of film history will appreciate the many tributes to famous films of yore which appear in this first-time feature directed and written by former drama teacher Francis Huster. In the story, a mild-mannered bank clerk has heroic dreams of being a real he-man. Given his diffident, shy nature, it comes as a bit of a surprise that not only does he actually have a girlfriend, but he has managed to get her pregnant. However, she doesn't fit his image of himself, and he can't bring himself to marry her. When the bank he works in is robbed by a daring group which includes a magnetically attractive woman, the clerk throws his lot in with them and becomes an outlaw. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Huster, Béatrice Dalle, (more)
- 1985
Parking is director Jacques Demy's homage to Jean Cocteau's 1948 masterwork Orpheus. As in the Cocteau film, Demy relates the Orpheus and Euridyce legend in a contemporary setting. Now a rock 'n' roll sensation (instead of the poet of the Cocteau film) Orpheus falls in love with Eurydice, who in this version is a sculptress rather than a princess. The rest of the film adheres to the familiar story. Euridyce, who is death personified, beckons Orpheus into Hell, ostensibly to revive his dead lover. A shade brighter and more buoyant than its source material, Parking is the usual Jacques Demy brew of beautiful imagery and hokey dialogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Huster, Laurent Malet, (more)
