Patrick Laurent Movies
- 1994
This French children's story offers an unusually spiritual slant as it chronicles the relationship between a Mongolian shaman and his youthful student. The movie was filmed on location in Mongolia and in the region of Buryat on Lake Baikal. The film is narrated by the boy Yonden who tells of Molom who was once an eagle but then became a man to help him look within the heart of life to find the pearl. Molom becomes Yonden's teacher and together they wander across the lonely steps talking, learning, finding the answers they seek. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1985
In a specialized, hermetic drama about love won and lost, not necessarily by the same individuals, novice director Christine Laurent has focused on the backstage melodramas of an opera company. The conductor for an upcoming performance of the Marriage of Figaro has his mind and heart on other matters -- an entrancing diva who keeps him enraptured with her presence and voice. In the meantime, he finds fault with his cast members who cannot, of course, measure up to the woman of his dreams. As singers encounter one problem or another, it is clear that something has to be done about the conductor. Director Laurent designed costumes for both theater and opera, giving her some insight into the venue. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Magali Noël, Krystyna Janda, (more)
- 1983
This undistinguished, cardboard-character action-thriller has a team of super-cops, four men and one woman, tracking down a black-leather biker who kills off young women in a prostitution ring who are trying to escape their miserable life. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Massimi, Chantal Nobel, (more)
When her teen-aged son (Stephane Bierry) runs away and the police are noncommittal, a woman (Anne Duperey) convinces two old flames -- a crusading journalist (Gerard Depardieu) and a hypochondriac (Pierre Richard) -- that each is the father of her son in order to spur someone into action. Both eventually decide to search for the boy, meet up, and tell each other their stories without realizing they are looking for the same kid. This French comedy was remade in the U.S. as Fathers' Day in 1997. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Richard, Gérard Depardieu, (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)
- 1982
A man is left grieving for his dead family after they were shot down in a train station, innocent bystanders to a robbery gone wrong. They were never vindicated since the police seem unable (if not reluctant) to solve the case. Driven in part because he survived and they did not, and frustrated with the inept police, the man starts his own investigation with the aid of a right-wing organization that advocates citizens' militias. He discovers that a woman who also survived the train-station massacre has a brother with blood on his hands -- he is clearly the mastermind behind the "robbery" killings -- staged to effect the politically-motivated assassination of one particular man. He and the woman join ranks to bring the brother to justice, but soon they themselves are being hunted down because they know too much. The right-wing group comes on the scene again, catalyzing a final showdown that seems inevitable from the beginning. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Brasseur, Veronique Genest, (more)
- 1979
Fush (Claude Brasseur) and Ballestrat (Claude Rich) are the rival police detectives who head different departments trying to capture a notorious gangster in this crime thriller. Both are not above using underhanded and illegal means to attain their goals. Marie (Marlene Jobert) a the female cop in Ballestrat's department who adds to the tension by having an affair with Fush. When an ambush attempt goes wrong, Fush puts his life in danger by confronting the gangster whose criminal activities sparked the intense manhunt. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Rich, Claude Brasseur, (more)
- 1975
A pair of elderly men, friends for 40 years, find their relationship stressed when they set up housekeeping together in order to save money. Exploring similar ground to that covered in Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple, which spawned a movie and a television series, Ce Cher Victor explores the tragic and dramatic aspects of the story. The two friends, meek, sensitive Anselme (Bernard Blier) and blustering Victor (Jacques Dufilho) are swiftly driven apart by circumstances. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Blier, Jacques Dufilho, (more)
