Jacques Perrin Movies

Martin Sheen stars as an American newsman in Rome who begins to investigate the appearance of several corpses found throughout Europe with their hands cut off. He soon uncovers not only plots of plutonium theft, but also of nuclear arms deals and dark political schemes. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Patrick (Hippolyte Girardot) is a news photographer in Lebanon who is captured and held hostage by one of the factions fighting in the civil war there. This hostage drama film is unusual in that it attempts to show what motivates the captors, as well as showing the brave attempts of the captive to maintain his dignity in daunting circumstances. Despite the fact that the captors' motives are better portrayed than ordinarily, they are not whitewashed, and Patrick endures a great deal of mental and some physical torture. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this post-apocalpytic adventure story, narrated by Van Johnson), Teo (Fabrice Josso) lives underground in a cave with his father, who is a member of a ruling clan. Except for people within a family, all contacts between citizens are supposed to be electronic. However, Teo manages to contact and arrange to meet a girl named Beatrice (Ines Sastre). Not only that, but they use forgotten conduits to travel to the forbidden aboveground world. There, he and Beatrice meet and have some adventures with rat-like mutants living in the ruins of old cities while a man from the caves (Horst Buchholz) hunt for them. At first these adventures with the mutants are purely hostile, but eventually Teo becomes a leader among them, and takes them to a place where they may be safe from attacks by the underground people. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This comprehensive documentary explores the lives and behavior in the wild of over a hundred different simians species. Footage from such diverse places as Ethiopia, Japan, Sri Lanka and Brazil brings macaques, baboons, monkeys, orangutans and many other relatives of humankind to the screen. Because of its length and extensive coverage of its subject, it is of particular interest to those who are already keenly interested in its subject matter. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Cinema Paradiso offers a nostalgic look at films and the effect they have on a young boy who grows up in and around the title village movie theater in this Italian comedy drama that is based on the life and times of screenwriter/director Giuseppe Tornatore. The story begins in the present as a Sicilian mother pines for her estranged son, Salvatore, who left many years ago and has since become a prominent Roman film director who has taken the advice of his mentor too literally. He finally returns to his home village to attend the funeral of the town's former film projectionist, Alfredo, and, in so doing, embarks upon a journey into his boyhood just after WWII when he became the man's official son. In the dark confines of the Cinema Paradiso, the boy and the other townsfolk try to escape from the grim realities of post-war Italy. The town censor is also there to insure nothing untoward appears onscreen, invariably demanding that all kissing scenes be edited out. One day, Salvatore saves Alfredo's life after a fire, and then becomes the new projectionist. A few years later, Salvatore falls in love with a beautiful girl who breaks his heart after he is inducted into the military. Thirty years later, Salvatore has come to say goodbye to his life-long friend, who has left him a little gift in a film can. In 2002, over a decade after the film's original release, Tornatore brought the original 170-minute director's cut to American screens for the first time. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This routine French melodrama features Catherine Deneuve) as Margaux, an unhappily married recording-company executive with two children at home who starts an affair with Jeremy (Christophe Lambert), one of the singers she promotes through her company. Margaux's husband is away in New York working on a book, yet she still tries to hide her affair from her children, unwilling to let anyone know what is happening -- especially her husband. Jeremy's old singing partner Michel (Richard Anconina) misses his friend, who now spends most of his time with Margaux, and on one occasion Michel is forced to go to an important audition by himself. When the audition turns out to be a big success, Jeremy has to make up his mind about both his conflicting partnerships: one with Margaux and the other with Michel. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This standard erotic thriller set in St. Tropez involves an unusual ménage à trois first there is Claude, a mother approaching 40 who is also approaching a liaison with the second and pivotal figure in the trio; Romain (Bernard Giraudeau), a Don Juan who is not above pimping on occasion and who is also attracted to Claude; and thirdly, the neurotic Chris (Valèrie Kaprisky), Claude's sexually fixated young daughter. As flashbacks show Chris seducing a former lover and symbolism likens her to a jellyfish whose sting can be fatal, the scenario is set for real trouble -- especially since Chris is angered that Romain obviously avoids her and just as obviously will end up as her mother's lover. Sex, hatred, and fear combine to bring the unbalanced relationships to their final resolution. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The Last Strange Voyage of Donald Crowhurst is a non-fiction book by Ron Hall and Nicholas Tomblin about a man who first cheated to win an international sailing competition and then disappeared from his sailboat in the final lap of the race -- a story that serves as the inspiration for this film. Director Christian de Chalonge and writer Andre G. Brunelin have changed the setting to France, with a Frenchman named Julien Dantec (Jacques Perrin) as the sailboat enthusiast and the international race is now a French competition. Julien is actually an electronics professional who is down on his luck when he decides to enter the race. He is led astray from his original good intentions by a low-life press agent who convinces him it would be well worth his while to win the race by illegal maneuvering. As he sets off, flashbacks tell how he came to be on the sailboat; later he has long monologues -- several of them, and in-between he occasionally battles to stay afloat on an uncooperative sea. For awhile, he sets down in Brazil when he considers abandoning the race, but seemingly compelled to finish what he started, he continues onward with his ill-fated journey. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The French Foreign Legion intervenes on behalf of 3,000 European and American civilian hostages in the town of Kolwezi, Zaire. Kantangese rebel forces hold the hostages in the small mining town and subject their victims to various ordeals. The military springs into action to save the captives in this uneven adventure that pays homage to military valor and dedication. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This documentary profiles the indigenous people of the Megkronoti tribe who are being threatened with cultural extinction due to deforestation projects. Their chief and spokesman Raoni has brought international recognition to the problems of governmental policies concerning destruction of the Amazon Rain Forest. ~ All Movie Guide

La Part du Feu is a French idiom, and has to do with making a sacrifice for some gain. Hansen (Michel Piccoli) is a wheeler-dealer and building developer, who apparently manipulates people and situations just for the joy of it. In this melodrama, it was his wife Catherine's (Claudia Cardinale) money which enabled him to get into the real-estate business, but these days she is somewhat neglected. Jacques (Jacques Perrin) is his assistant, an eager but none too confident young man who has been having an affair with Catherine. The two of them worry a great deal about Hanson discovering their relationship. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide