Benoît Jacquot Movies
Despite being a somewhat elliptical figure who has remained a relative unknown outside of his native France, film director Benoît Jacquot has still managed to garner a devoted following. Jacquot's visually stylized films often explore the innermost impulses of his fellow man (and woman), and his gift for storytelling came close to earning the filmmaker a global audience with the release of his intimate 1996 drama A Single Girl.A Paris native, Jacquot first found work in the film industry at 18 as an assistant director to such noted filmmakers as Marguerite Duras and Jacques Rivette. His work with the seasoned veterans provided the up-and-coming director with invaluable experience. An extended collaboration with the Institut National d'Audiovisual that began in 1970 found Jacquot helming documentaries on J.D. Salinger and mentor Duras, among other notable figures in film and literature, and in 1975, he made his feature debut with L'Assassin Musicien. Jacquot frequently alternated between film and television work in the following years, and the release of such features as the absorbing 1990 adolescent drama The Disenchanted found Jacquot's skills as a dramatist developing strongly. On the small screen, the director made a name for himself by adapting novels by such literary giants as Henry James and Franz Kafka. By the time 1996 rolled around, few could doubt Jacquot's skills as a filmmaker, but his voice had yet to make an impact outside of France. All of that would change with the release of his seventh film, A Single Girl (1996). A voyeuristic, real-time drama concerning a recently pregnant girl faced with a dead-end job and an aloof boyfriend, the film proved a powerhouse showcase for young star Virginie Ledoyen and offered Jacquot his breakthrough feature.
With the subsequent releases of The School of Flesh (1998) and Keep It Quiet (1999, both starring French screen legend Isabelle Huppert) in the following years, Jacquot drew praise from audiences at the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals. He once again teamed with Huppert in 2000 for the drama La Fausse Suivante. That same year, his take on the life of the Marquis de Sade, Sade, was unfairly overshadowed by the art-house hit Quills (which featured a scene-stealing performance by Australian actor Geoffrey Rush as the Marquis). Jacquot masterfully adapted the opera Tosca for the screen in 2001, and directed seldom-seen screen beauty Isabelle Adjani in 2002's Adolphe. The following year, he took on the story of the friendship between Sigmund Freud and a female French psycho-analyst, played by Catherine Deneuve, in the television production Marie Bonaparte. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2008
Legendary French screen actress Isabelle Huppert headlines this sumptuous, passionate tale, adapted from a novel by belletrist Pascal Quignard (All the Mornings of the World). Huppert stars as Ann, a gifted and brilliant, middle-aged musician whose sense of security falls to pieces when she stumbles onto her husband, Thomas (Xavier Beauvois), kissing another woman. Without hesitation, she abandons him and takes a headlong rush into the arms of a new life. Guided by her musical intuition and the emotional support of a male friend, Georges (Jean-Hugues Anglade), Ann suddenly realizes how necessary it is for her to latch onto a new identity. She thus embarks on a transnational journey that ultimately takes her to the island of Ischia, Italy, and a palatial house called the Villa Amalia that will change her life. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Hugues Anglade, (more)
A woman sets out to discover the truth about her heritage in this drama from filmmaker Benoit Jacquot. Jeanne (Isild Le Besco) is a young woman who has begun to enjoy success as an actress. While visiting her mother on her birthday, Jeanne is made party to a long-held family secret -- her father is not the man she has known all her life, but a gentleman from India her mother met while visiting there. Jeanne has a keen desire to meet her father, and takes on a film role she previously rejected in order to make the journey to India and see the man who gave her life. Also featuring Marc Barbe and Berangere Bonvoisin, L'Intouchable received its world premiere at the 2006 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isild Le Besco, Bérangere Bonvoisin, (more)
- 2004
Four nameless people are brought together by crime and circumstances in this visually striking drama. A naïve young woman (Isild Le Besco) who studies art and lives with her wealthy family goes to a nightclub one evening and meets a mysterious young man of Moroccan heritage (Ouassini Embarek). The two are immediately attracted to one another, and spend the night together. Not long afterward, the woman gets a phone call from her new lover, who has disturbing news -- he's in the midst of a bank robbery that's gone wrong, and several of his accomplices have been shot by the police. The woman offers to hide the man from the authorities, and he soon arrives with the only member of his crew to made it out alive (Nicolas Duvauchelle). They spend the night hiding out with the young woman, and the next morning, the accomplice's girl (Laurence Cordier) joins the party as the foursome leave France for Spain. However, the thieves and their women don't take well to exile; personality clashes arise, and they discover that the stolen money is more readily identifiable than they imagined. À Toute de Suite was screened as part of the "Un Certain Regard" series at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isild Le Besco, Ouassini Embarek, (more)
- 2002
Adolphe, French director Benoît Jacquot's adaptation of Benjamin Constant's novel of the same name, tells the story of a young man's passion for 30-year-old Ellenore (Isabelle Adjani). After much resistance, Ellenore falls for Adolphe (Stanislas Mehrar), only to find out that his love for her has waned significantly. Though Adolphe did not intentionally hurt Ellenore, she is very much saddened by his lack of feeling toward her. This unhappy love story also features French actors Jean Yanne and Romain Duris. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Adjani, Stanislas Merhar, (more)
The tragedy of Puccini's heartbreaking romance comes to life on stage in this production starring Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, and Ruggero Raimondi and directed by Beniot Jacquot. The Royal Opera House - Covent Garden performs Puccini's timeless score as Antonio Pappano conducts. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagana, (more)
- 2000
This droll comedy from France was based on a popular stage play by the 18th century author Marivaux. As a lark, an attractive young heiress (Sandrine Kiberlain) disguises herself as a man as she travels with a servant for a weekend getaway to the estate of her close friend the Countess (Isabelle Huppert). En route, the heiress, introducing herself as "The Chevalier," encounters Lelio (Mathieu Amalric), the Countess' fiancée. Talking "man to man," Lelio confides that he isn't really in love with the Countess, but he is eager to get his hands on her dowry. He'd prefer to marry another woman he's met, who has an even greater fortune -- the heiress. However, he has already agreed to pay the Countess a considerable fortune if he breaks off the engagement; he's hoping that someone else will take her off his hands so that he can woo the heiress and come out ahead. The heiress, now aware just how much of a louse Lelio is, agrees as the Chevalier to romance the Countess, knowing that if "he" can win her away from Lelio, he'll be out of an income on both sides. Director Benoit Jacquot filmed La Fausse Suivante in a theater, using vintage costumes and minimal props to help retain the flavor of the stage production. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mathieu Amalric, Pierre Arditi, (more)
Daniel Auteuil stars as the infamous Marquis de Sade, who at the beginning of Sade, is serving a sentence in Paris' grim Saint Lazarde prison. The year is 1794, and Sade is being persecuted for his steadfast atheism, which runs counter to the beliefs of Robespierre, France's terrifying revolutionary leader. The Marquis is granted something of a reprieve when he is transferred -- courtesy of his mistress Sensible (Marianne Denicourt) -- to Picpus, a former convent that now serves as the equivalent of a luxury prison. Although Picpus is not without its own guillotine and mass grave, Sade is more concerned with the blossoming Emilie (Isild Le Besco). Meanwhile, Sensible, who has a son who calls Sade "Papa," is forced to share the bed of her own protector, Fournier (Gregoire Colin), a moody lout who hates Sade and works for none other than Robespierre. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Auteuil, Marianne Denicourt, (more)
- 1999
- NR
An older man and a younger woman find love, with his time in jail the unlikely catalyst, in this witty drama from France. Gregoire (Fabrice Luchini) is a formerly prominent French industrialist whose financial misdealings resulted in a term behind bars, which was especially embarrassing for his brother Louis (Vincent Lindon), a talk show host specializing in hard-hitting investigative interviews. When Gregoire is released from prison, he returns home to the apartment he shared with his wife Agnes (Isabelle Huppert) and their children. But everyone keeps telling Gregoire that he doesn't seem the same; he seems confused, he has a hard time making himself understood, and he freezes up during a television interview conducted after his release. A puzzled Gregoire stops by the beauty parlor where his wife gets her hair done and, to his surprise, he discovers someone he can talk to: Stephanie (Vahina Giocante), one of the hair stylists. Stephanie's boyfriend was in the same jail as Gregoire, and was released the same day, so they have some common conversational ground; Stephanie finds that she likes talking with Gregoire, and in time she finds herself falling for him. Pas de Scandale was shown in competition at the 1999 Venice Film Festival and also at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fabrice Luchini, Isabelle Huppert, (more)
Benoit Jacquot directed this French drama about an older woman and a younger man, adapted from the novel by Yukio Mishima. When career woman Dominique (Isabelle Huppert) goes out to a nightclub one evening, her attraction to bartender Quentin (Vincent Martinez) is observed by cross-dressing Chris (Vincent Lindon), who approaches her and supplies inside dope on Quentin, leaving her intrigued. Although Dominique and Quentin travel in radically different spheres of income, class, politics, and education, these barriers recede into the background as sexual passion overcomes the couple. Shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Vincent Martinez, (more)
Parisienne mother Mathilde (Sandrine Kiberlain), who shares a large apartment with her surgeon husband Nico (Vincent Lindon), sometimes works at the legal business run by her mother (Francine Berge). With a stagnant sex life, the bored Mathilde prowls department stores to steal toys for her son. At a party with Nico, she realizes she's being watched by a doctor (Francois Berleand), and she spots him on the metro the following day. He tells her he's a psychiatrist, and they have their first session in a deserted restaurant. While the doctor's cure does appear to work for Mathilde, there's a trade-off: Nico's behavior becomes increasingly abnormal. This film has no connection to the earlier (1927, 1937) Hollywood films with the same title. Shown at the Venice and Toronto film festivals. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandrine Kiberlain, Vincent Lindon, (more)
As Valerie, 19-year-old Virginie Ledoyen is not just the titular Single Girl, but for all practical purposes, the entire movie. As the film opens, she meets her sullen, unemployed boyfriend Remi (Benoît Magimel) at a cafe, and reveals that she is pregnant with his child. She is not only unsure about whether she should keep the child, but whether Remi would make a decent father if she did. She is also starting a new job as room service in an expensive hotel and promises to return to the cafe in an hour and tell Remi her decision. The bulk of the film consists of a real-time study of that critical hour. Valerie takes trays from room to room, and the camera follows every stair step, every elevator trip. There are interactions with peculiar guests, but none of them are particularly important characters. The focus is always on Valerie. ~ John Voorhees, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginie Ledoyen, Benoît Magimel, (more)
- 1994
This unique French offering is a compilation of 30 short films focused on AIDS. The mini-films were based on over 3,000 ideas put in by French school children and were made by filmmakers on a voluntary basis. Most of the vignettes deal with heterosexuality and AIDS, but one deals with drug-usage, and one with homosexuality. It took four production houses three years to create this inspirational and informative film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anémone, Daniel Gélin, (more)
Beth (Judith Godreche) is nearly an adult and has lived a fairly grim and unenchanting life. This is mirrored in her attraction to the similarly grim life and morose works of Arthur Rimbaud, about which she has become a quite noteworthy student. She lives at home with her mother and a younger brother. Her mother is the mistress of a wealthy man they have been taught to call "uncle," and he has paid for their apartment all these years. Now that Beth is a lovely woman in her own right, "uncle" has indicated that he would like to transfer his attentions to her, which it not something that is agreeable to her. Meanwhile, her teen-aged boyfriend has begun making unreasonable demands on her, and she is trying to break up with him. In the three days covered by this drama, Beth's life is transformed. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judith Godrëche, Marcel Bozonnet, (more)
- 1987
This symbolic drama from director Benoit Jacques underscores the characters' human need for affection. Children steal lemons for the thrill, while women steal other women's men from them just to prove they can. Drug smuggling, clandestine love affairs, and two lovers involved with the production of Shakespeare's Othello carry on with their own off-stage tragedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dominique Sanda, Jean-Philippe Ecoffey, (more)
- 1987
- R
Julie (Jessica Forde) and her childhood sweetheart Jean (Jean-Claude Adelin) are separated in this uneven but prize-winning romantic drama. When Jean is shipped off to live with his aristocratic father, Julie later becomes engaged to Henri (Simon de la Brosse), a young man from her own social standing. When Jean returns, Henri is driven to fits of jealous rage, and Julie follows the uninterested Jean back to Paris in an attempt to win his love again. This feature won the Jean Vigo Prize in 1987. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessica Forde, Jean-Claude Adelin, (more)
- 1986
In a standard tale of intrigue and foul play, Michel Sauvage (Lambert Wilson) has just gotten away with murder and is now marrying rich heiress Ariane (Ingrid Held) in hopes of taking all she's worth. Unfortunately for Michel, the murder victim's hard-fisted, tippling neighbor Madam Krantz (Danielle Darrieux in a great comic performance) has just blown into Paris with the intention of tracking down the killer. On one hand, Michel has to defend himself from her prying, and on the other, protect his wife's fortune from the increasingly attractive and avaricious Helene, Ariane's half-sister (Dominique Sanda). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dominique Sanda, Lambert Wilson, (more)
- 1981
Very loosely based on the plot of Henry James' Wing of the Dove, this film resets the story about two lovers trying to steal everything from a dying millionairess, by putting it in the late-20th century instead of late-19th century; it has the lovers be a French prostitute and Italian low-life instead of an Englishwoman and a journalist; and the dying woman is now French instead of American. Once adjusted to those changes, viewers may no longer have any expectations of a homage to Henry James in this French-Italian adaptation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Dominique Sanda, (more)
- 1979
Julien (Jacques Dutronc) is a pianist who is determined to regain everything he lost when his wife Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert) divorced him, as much for revenge as for any other reason. He calmly stages a murder on the grounds of his ex-wife's home, carefully using her new husband Kern's (Bruno Ganz) pistol so as to frame him for the deed. Then he awaits developments. Jeanne calls to ask him to come and be with her and the children, to bolster their spirits while her husband is being investigated. One-pointedly, he arranges to seduce her, but she resists until just before the police come searching for the real murderer. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Bruno Ganz, (more)
- 1977
Nicola (Lou Castel) bears the psychological scars of unbearable guilt. As a boy, he was given the job of looking after his mentally unstable mother and protecting her from herself. One day, he and his sister went instead into a large closet and enacted a childishly intensive "I dare you" bonding ritual, marking one another with the blade of their father's sword cane. While he was occupied in this manner, the boy's mother hung herself and died. Now an adult, he still has an unhealthily strong fixation on his sister. This is so obvious that a girlfriend of his sister's, with whom he has an affair, breaks it off, complaining that she is not interested in being a stand-in for the sister. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Fossey, Lou Castel, (more)
- 1976
By any standard, operatic vocalist Alfred Deller (1912-79) retains enormous historical importance as the first significant countertenor in modern classical music. Born in Margate, England in 1912, Deller came to attention rather late in life, at the age of 34, with a celebrated performance of Purcell's "Come, ye sons of art, away" on the radio in Britain. In successive years, he broke new ground via the formation of the Deller Consort, a group dedicated to performing period music using authentic performance practice, and the launch of the Stour Music Festival, which gave him a platform to collaborate with such legends as Gustav Leonhardt and Franz Bruggen and evolved into one of the most esteemed of all classical festivals. Deller sustained the reputation attached to his performance itself via his light, delicate voice - a voice that would attain legendary status, especially in the years following his death; his interpretations of Handel and Britten, in particular, remain second to none. This biographical documentary by Benoît Jacquot tells Deller's moving and inspiring life story; it includes performances of "What then is love but mourning?", "Have you seen the white lily grow?," "From Rosy Bow'rs," and several other pieces. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alfred Deller
- 1975
The young man in this story is a dedicated musician, a clarinettist. He is, in fact, too dedicated, because he has very limited talents and abilities. Refusing to face the facts of his limitations, he is hard on himself and everyone around him. After the conductor of the orchestra he has been playing in commits suicide, he is left with a quite valuable violin. His decisions about what to do with it motivate his actions throughout the rest of the film. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Karina, Joel Bion, (more)
