Jacques Poitrenaud Movies

Fred (Jean-Pierre Marielle) follows hired killer Gravier (Jean-Pierre Bisson) in this routine crime drama. He knows Gravier is responsible for a gangland murder but must shadow the killer to provide solid evidence of the crime. The two engage in a psychological game of cat-and-mouse before the inevitable showdown. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

French stage actor Louis Ducreux makes his film debut as a 76-year-old traditionalist painter, Monsieur Ladmiral, in this bittersweet portrait of a brooding artist. A widower, Ladmiral lives on an estate in the countryside near Paris with only his housekeeper, Mercedes (Monique Chaumette), and his paintings to keep him company. The action of the film takes place on a bright autumn Sunday in the early 1900s when Ladmiral's son, Gonzague (Michel Aumont), and Gonzague's wife, Marie-Therèse (Geneviève Mnich), come out from Paris with their three children to visit the old man. While making small talk with Gonzague, Ladmiral hints ever so subtly that his son has become too bourgeois, too conformist, too accepting of the status quo. Apparently, Ladmiral doesn't want his son to face what he is facing: self-recrimination for failing to take risks, failing to go beyond the bounds of tradition. Outdoors, the couple's two boys are only too eager to risk and dare. At one moment, they try to set fire to an insect and, failing, have the audacity to ask for a magnifying glass to do the job. Their father, Gonzague, disapproves, of course, but Ladmiral pronounces his blessing on the project, and he authorizes them to use his glass. No doubt, the old man hopes they survive childhood with their gumption and gall intact -- like Irène. Irène is Ladmiral's other child -- a vivacious, free-spirited beauty who speaks her mind and follows her whims. She is everything that Gonzague is not. Later, she drives her Papa to a dancehall. There, he tells her about his ruminations -- that maybe he should have experimented with impressionism. After examining his current project, he considers whether to make a decision, one that may change nothing -- or perhaps everything. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide

An idyllic May-December romance becomes unraveled when the much-older man begins suspecting that his tender young lover may be his own daughter, the result of an illicit affair many years before. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Jericho (Michel Simon) is a grandfather and a veterinarian who invites his grandson for a visit. The grandson and his wife are separated, but the two agree to make it appear that they are a happy couple. The grandfather knows better, realizing all along the couple is estranged. He slyly works to bring about a reconciliation to the couple and rekindle the passion they once knew when they first met and fell in love. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Dany Carrel and Danielle Darrieux star in this adaptation of a novel by Jean-Pierre Ferriere. Attending the funeral of her husband, a widow notices a stranger present. The stranger turns out to be a woman who was involved with a drug deal her deceased husband was making. Now the stranger is after some missing heroin and uses her boyfriend to try to find out where it might be. The unfortunate widow, however, is not as much a victim as she seems. French director Jacques Poitrenaud of Du Grabuge Ches Les Veuve/Trouble Among Women would go on to act in such films as Autour de Minuit/'Round Midnight and Un Dimanche a la Campagne/A Sunday in the Country. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

The French omnibus feature Tales of Paris is made of four separate romantic playlets, each with its own cast, director, and scenarist. "The Tale of Ella," directed by Jacques Poitrenaud, stars Dany Saval as an ambitious nightclub performer who very nearly messes up her chances for success by bullying a mild-looking but important producer. "The Tale of Antonia," directed by Michel Boisrond, finds housewife Dany Robin exacting a sweet revenge on her cheating husband. "The Tale of Francoise," directed by Claude Barma, concerns the efforts of Francoise Arnoul to test the fidelity of her best friend's lover. And "The Tale of Sophie," directed by Marc Allegret, features Catherine Deneuve as a goody-two-shoes who fabricates a torrid romance in order to be accepted by her sexually knowledgeable schoolmates. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Les Amours de Paris is a routine, sit-com style romantic drama that marks the first directing effort of Jacques Robin, whose acting career outlasted his helming. The conventional story focuses on three disparate couples and their problems in the arena of romantic love. One couple is comprised of a faithful husband and a sick wife whose stay in the hospital is not so bad because she has taken a sudden interest in her doctor. In the second pairing, a womanizer comes to see that the model who is in love with him is worth more than yet another conquest. And to complete the trio, two zany people finally realize they are a couple. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Seuls au Monde was released outside of France as Alone in the World. Social worker Francois (Rene Lefevre) is disgusted by the fact that a group of institutionalized orphans are psychologically abused by The System. Overstepping his bounds, Francois liberates the kids, then sets up his own humane orphanage with the help of a wealthy man who himself had been orphaned as child. The usual anal-retentive bureaucracy threatens this enterprise, but the arrival of Genevieve (Madeleine Robinson), the film's heroine, miraculously solves everyone's problems. Seuls au Monde boasts an appealing cast and workable storyline; however, the film's overabundance of dialogue made it difficult to market in America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide