Jean-Pierre Mocky Movies

Director Jean-Pierre Mocky has gone too far past the limits of bad taste, disgusting sex, and pastiche sequencing to attract many viewers to this release. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this disturbing drama, based on a novel by "San Antonio" (Frédéric Dard), Léon (Serge Riaboukine) has a wife who is as near to being dead as she can be and still be among the living, and she has been in this state for some time. He is also the worshipful secretary for an overbearing actor/director, Boris (Jean-Pierre Mocky), a man for whom he will do just about anything. However, his need to care for his wife interferes with performing unlimited services for his adored boss, and it is for that reason that he kills her. For a while, his blissful servitude knows no bounds, but his wife's sister smells a rat, and soon his cozy, masochistic relationship with Boris is endangered. Boris, meanwhile, has a quite lovely wife whom he ignores in favor of humiliating her by openly seducing other women. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this murder farce, a hitchhiker lopes into one of France's decaying industrial towns where unemployment is much higher than the national average (about ten percent). Still, the locals seem cheerful enough. When he gets to town, he sees most of the inhabitants are dressed up for a masquerade. He is horrified to witness what he believes is a murder. The victim was a pharmacist, and when the hitchhiker tries to investigate the murder, he discovers that nearly the whole town has agreed to consider him as the chief suspect, for reasons that have to do with a medical supplies scam. Still, the fact that more murders keep happening eventually leads to an investigation headed up by someone from outside the town, and then things start to get really lively. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Charles (Charles Vanel) is a 100-year-old perfume magnate who decides to marry the equally ancient Emmanuelle (Denis Grey) in the French sex comedy. Company executives and family members scramble for position in the wake of the surprising announcement. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Director Jean-Luc Godard pokes fun at the follies and injustices of small-time filmmaking in this drama-comedy about two apparent has-beens who are trying their best to get together the funds and the cast for a last, desperate bid for cinematic fame and fortune. The duo (Jean-Claude Mocky and Jean-Pierre Leaud) and their assistants mull over the meaning and purpose of cinema, but at the same time, the cattle-call for their proposed new production does not rise above its bovine metaphor. While eyeing beauteous new actresses with a dash of lasciviousness, the pair are also keeping track of would-be backers with more than a dash of cunning manipulation. Along the way, everything from hypocrisy to Roman Polanski gets a drubbing. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The black humor of director (and lead actor) Jean-Pierre Mocky takes over in this attempt to make a lunatic killer appear not so different from his victims -- or the police chasing him. Ralph Enger (Mocky) was a doctor before he was institutionalized, and after his escape, he takes two hostages: Steff Muller (Peter Semler), an out-of-work carpenter selling his expensive Mauser for needed funds, and Liliane (Patricia Barzyk), a gorgeous dancer. Ralph not only gets two hostages, he gains a weapon at the same time. His goal is to force the wealthy nerds living in the Riviera's luxury district to put up funding for a children's hospital to treat kids who are victims of war. When the elite do not comply, he starts uses the Mauser. Leaving an obvious trail for the police to follow, the over-the-edge doctor and his two hostages are soon corralled and it looks like Ralph's charity work may have ended -- or at least, that's how it looks. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The mindless frenzy of sports fans is expertly captured in the first half of this action film by Jean-Pierre Mocky on soccer buffs gone mad. After Maurice, a referee in a soccer match, has retired to spend the night with his lover Martine (Carole Laure) a crowd of angry fans disrupts their plans, obviously with serious mayhem on their minds because of a disputed judgment in the game. Martine and Maurice escape in the nick of time but are hotly pursued through a shopping center, an ominous apartment complex, and several other forbidding venues. Reckless about their own safety, the angry mob takes risks that cause a few accidental deaths -- which only makes their murderous intent more focused. In this second half of the film, the conventional norms of a thriller feature take over, as the pair try to escape to safety -- and the story loses much of its originality. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

An innocent couple who were observing the "color" of a local festival begin to feel afraid because of the eerie happenings at the celebration, and they decide to get out of there before they too, are turned into a robotic shadow of their former selves. Their escape includes an interlude in a wooden coffin as they go through a cave along a subterranean river. (The film also features a lot of gorgeous scenery from the southern province of Ardeche with its photogenic Cevennes mountain range.) Winner of the Critics Prize at the 1982 Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Antonio (Alberto Sordi) is an Italian art-restorer working at a cathedral in France. An old friend of his, Robert (Philippe Noiret), lives there. Robert is a banker who has married into money. A sexually adventurous young woman approaches Antonio, but he resists getting involved with her. When it is found that she was raped and murdered in a derelict house once inhabited by Robert's mother, Antonio is disturbed, for he recalls having seen his friend leaving the house at about the time of the murder. Meanwhile, the suspicions of the police have become centered on the two of them. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This crime drama, with elements of comedy and satire, is most notable as the final screen appearance of Michel Simon. In the story, Simon plays Zizi, a news vendor who is tired of anonymity and doesn't much like people anyway. He confesses to a series of strangling murders which, in fact, he has nothing to do with. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide