Gérard Jugnot Movies

The humanistic actions of Philippe D'Orleans, the cultured gentle regent to young Louis the XV in pre-revolutionary France (1719) are chronicled in this French costumer. Though the regent endeavors to keep his subjects cultured and happy to stop the peasants from rising up, he knows he has no real royal authority. To assist, D'Orleans enlisted the aid of a priest, who unfortunately cared nothing for his God, nor anyone but himself. The regent becomes distraught after his daughter, with whom he has been accused of committing incest, dies. His natural idealism is also shaken when he must execute a band of revolutionaries. True joy will only be found when the peasants successfully overthrow the aristocrats who held them down so long. The film's soundtrack features the music of the real Phillippe D'Orleans. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Alain Delon plays Mr. Klein, a French-Catholic art dealer during the Nazi occupation. Strapped for cash, Klein takes financial advantage of his Jewish neighbors, knowing that they have no legal recourse. Ironically, Klein is himself mistaken for a missing Jew, a man who has been using Mr. Klein's name as a cover for his secret operations. As he desperately seeks out that man, he learns a bitter lesson about life in the other man's shoes. Star Delon is one of the four producers of this French feature. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Roman Polanski casts himself in the lead of the psychological thriller The Tenant. Trelkovsky (Polanski) rents an apartment in a spooky old residential building, where his neighbors -- mostly old recluses -- eye him with suspicious contempt. Upon discovering that the apartment's previous tenant, a beautiful young woman, jumped from the window in a suicide attempt, Trelkovsky begins obsessing over the dead woman. Growing increasingly paranoid, Trelkovsky convinces himself that his neighbors plan to kill him. He even comes to the conclusion that Stella (Isabel Adjani), the woman he has fallen in love with, is in on the "plot." Ultimately, Polanski assumes the identity of the suicide victim -- and inherits her self-destructive urges. Some critics found the movie tedious and overdone; others compared it to Polanski's early breakthrough, Repulsion. The film was based on Le Locataire Chimerique, a novel by Roland Topor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this satire, Coluche plays an inept king of France who is continually in danger of overthrow or murder by his scheming court and is kept on the throne by the efforts of his Musketeers, who also serve by wringing extra taxes out of the already hard-pressed population. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

It's love at first spark plug for Herbie, the spunky Disney Volkswagen, in Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo. Herbie reunites with Jim Douglas (Dean Jones), his driver from the original The Love Bug, as they participate in the annual Monte Carlo road rally. Herbie holds his own in the qualifying races, but he blows a gasket over a lovely powder-blue Lancia named Giselle. Jim also catches the eye of the attractive driver of Giselle, the fresh-faced Diane Darcy (Julie Sommars). With the love bug biting again, the romantic infatuations of man and metal end up interfering with the auto race. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Bertin (Victor Lanoux) has accidentally killed his wife during an argument. He is the owner of a tannery which employs most of the inhabitants of the town he lives in. Rather than subject himself to the indignities of a police inquiry, he attempts to cover up the killing by saying that she has left him. At first, his tale is believed, because he has been openly seeing another woman who is pregnant with his child (and heir). Later, a judge magistrate (the French lawman with responsibility for criminal investigations) discovers the woman's corpse, and puts Bertin on trial for murder. The factory owner is determined to be acquitted, and he blackmails the townspeople so that the trial turns out to suit him. He wins his freedom, but loses his mistress, who is thoroughly repulsed. This drama is based on the novel The Lesser Evil by Jean Laborde. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Two frowsty middle-aged men, cousins, live and work together. In this ironic satire/drama, they are cowardly, tricky and mean-spirited, but at least they have each other. When they take to testing the alarm system of the bank that they work in after what is for them a particularly scary moment, their boss sends them away on a holiday. They manage to pick up and seduce a pretty hitchhiker before discovering that she is a runaway minor with a reward pending for her return. They bring her back to her family, collect the reward, and get told off by the girl before returning to their homes. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The physical imperfections of Bonnie (Anemone), a woman trying to work her way up the ladder at a radio station, do not stop her from going after Ferdinand (Gerard Jugnot), a reticent, bald, and mild fellow who at first resists Bonnie's overtures, but then slowly seems to change his mind. At parties in France in the 1950s, there was "an American quarter hour" (the French title of this film) when women asked men to dance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy with serious undertones, a young Frenchman agrees to marry a Polish dissident so she can escape to France and freedom at a time when she may be in danger. After their marriage in Warsaw and a honeymoon replete with Polish policemen and her real lover, the Frenchman returns to Paris to wait for her passport to come through. Soon there are problems in Warsaw, however, and he takes off by car (an air strike is on) to salvage the plan. On the way back from Warsaw, the Polish woman and the Frenchman become lovers in truth -- but their romantic liaison, although perfectly legal, is thwarted by problems beyond their control and she leaves for the U.S. One year later, the two accidentally meet in the airport while she is on her way to Warsaw again -- and are forced to decide what to do about their very uncertain relationship. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Much of the suspense is excised from this ordinary comic "whodunit" by revealing too much about the protagonists before their own characters betray themselves through their actions. Barbara (Jane Birkin) marries Julien (Sami Frey) a charming and sexy man. Barbara's old flame Paul (Gérard Jugnot) is highly suspicious of Julien. It seems Julien's previous two wives died under dubious circumstances and he collected a wad of insurance money as a result. Paul cannot ignore his misgivings, and so he follows Barbara and Julien to Morocco on their honeymoon, intent on preventing any harm to the woman he still loves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this standard human interest comedy, Susan Berlanger (Kristy McNichol) has been crippled since a child and has to wear a leg brace in order to get around, but that does not in any way prevent Sam (Robert Carradine) and several other men from being very attracted to her. Susan is a professional flautist with a ballet-company orchestra and is given a chance to travel to Europe for a concert tour, which she is more than happy to accept. Since she has doubts about relationships (do these men feel sorry for her?), she puts a cast on her leg and goes to a ski resort to find out what it is like to be treated "normally" by others. Once there, she meets a captivating photographer (Michael Ontkean) and falls in love -- but does not tell him the truth about her leg. Making matters even worse, a wealthy Frenchman courting Susan's roommate at the resort is an amputee -- he lost a leg in an automobile accident. Sooner or later, Susan will have to come to grips with her deception, her forthcoming marriage, and her interest in the photographer. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide