Bernard Revon Movies
- 1992
- R
Virginie is the daughter of the local bar owner and has ambitions to become a writer. She is an upbeat and inquisitive girl. In her mountain town just after World War II, the two local children at the top of the economic ladder are the grown, orphaned siblings Anne and Jacques, both of whom are in love with the vivacious Virginie. However, Anne gets to her first, and the two of them share a deep romantic bond which Virginie writes about in her diary. Jacques can tell that his beloved is in love with someone else, and he is deeply jealous. One day he steals her diary and finds many entries in it about a mysterious person named "Paul." To Virginie's dismay, her enraged male suitor reads intimate passages from her diary to the villagers passing through the town square after church. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Élodie Bouchez, Benoît Magimel, (more)
- 1981
- R
Set in German-occupied France, Rascals concentrates on the trials and tribulations of schoolboys Bernard Brieux and Thomas Chabrol. Rebellious by nature, the boys try to work within the status quo of their Catholic school while simultaneously bucking it. Giving this story its texture is the fact that, by defying their elders, Bernard and Thomas are symbolically striking a patrotic blow against the occupying Nazis. Inasmuch as the film dwells at some length on sexual awakening, it is understandable that Rascals was slapped with an R rating when released in the US, two years after its completion. Director Bernard Revon was once an associate of another specialist in the field of youthful defiance, director Francois Truffaut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Brieux, Thomas Chabrol, (more)
- 1973
Complications abound in this French film, which tells the story of a filmmaker (Jean-Luc Bideau) who is attempting to put his real life into a movie; his interactions with the people in the movie he is filming create reverberations in his "real" life, although the past remains unchanged. Among the complications is his growing regard for the woman who plays his cinematic wife (Jane Birkin). She may wind up replacing his actual wife in real life. One of the highlights of this film is the insight it gives into the actual mechanics of filmmaking. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Françoise Fabian, Jean-Luc Bideau, (more)
- 1970
In the fourth installment of François Truffaut's Antoine Doniel series, this romantic comedy shows how Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) went from being a mischievous boy to an adorably charming young man of 26. Domicile Conjugal begins with Antoine settling down with Christine (Claude Jade), his girlfriend from the previous film, Baisers volés. He finds himself accepted and loved by his wife and her family, so the young couple move in to an apartment building together. They live in a lively neighborhood of interesting characters, such as the old man who never leaves and the opera singer who fights with his wife. Antoine finds work as a florist painting roses, while Christine makes a living by teaching violin lessons. After he gets involved in an accidental fire at the florist's, he gets a new job with an American corporation where he steers radio-controlled boats around a pond all day. A big change occurs when Christine becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby boy, while Antoine grows increasingly distant. Eventually, he becomes infatuated with a Japanese girl, Kyoko (Hiroko Berghauer), resulting in some shifts in lifestyle. The fifth and final Antoine Doniel film L'Amour en fuite was released in 1979, picking up the story with Antoine after he reaches his thirties. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claude Jade, (more)
- 1970
This slapstick comedy finds a train conductor Pierre Richard unable to sleep at home due to his neighbor's rooster crowing. In an effort to silence the bird, he chases is on the top of the barn. The neighbor gives the rooster to the surprised conductor, who takes the bird on his job the next day. Soon the bird awakens sleeping passengers, and the train inspector (Claude Pieplu) is called to investigate. When the rooster leads the inspector to his owner, the conductor is discovered. Although the inspector promises to go easy on the man, he quits his job and joins his girlfriend in the train's drinking car for a chicken dinner. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Piéplu, Pierre Richard, (more)
- 1968
The episodic romantic comedy Stolen Kisses is the third installment in François Truffaut's Antoine Doinel series, which started with The 400 Blows in 1959. In 1968, Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is discharged from the military and comes home to Paris, getting an apartment in Montmartre with an excellent view of the Sacré-Coeur. He meets up with his sweetheart, Christine Darbon (Claude Jade, making her film debut), and joins her and her parents for dinner (Daniel Ceccaldi and Claire Duhamel). With the help of Christine's father, he gets a job as a hotel clerk but quickly gets fired after he unwittingly aids a private detective (Harry Max). After running into the detective at a coffee shop, Antonie then falls into a job at the Blady Detective Agency, assisting with the investigation of a magician. He is then assigned to the case of neurotic Georges Tabard (Michel Lonsdale), and ends up working in the stock room of his shoe store. After Antoine has coffee with Tabard's beautiful and intelligent wife, Fabienne (Delphine Seyrig), she inevitably tries to seduce him. He later meets Christine in a park and proposes to her, taking the pair into the next film: Bed and Board. One of the lightest entries in the series, Stolen Kisses was ironically filmed during a turbulent political time in France. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Léaud, Delphine Seyrig, (more)
- 1966
In this Italian exploitation drama, a heart-broken young woman, recently jilted by her lover, becomes a hooker involved with a cruel pimp. After beating her, she heads for a new brothel. There she meets a dashing public- relations man who has come to her room to look into the killing of his aged boss. He helps her escape her murderous pimp and his brother, a professional killer. Unfortunately, the crooks manage to catch her. Fortunately, she is rescued by the PR man after one hood kills the other. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1962
This drama's main asset is Charles Boyer as Pierre, a father out looking for his son one night. Pierre receives a call from a woman who says she will kill herself because of his son. Naturally disturbed at this news, Pierre takes off to find his son and avert disaster. Along the way, he picks up a malcontent, wealthy young woman who decides to stick with him and help him look for his son. After traveling through some of the worst aspects of Paris' demi-monde, Pierre begins to wonder if his son will ever be found. Meanwhile, the relationship with his newfound wealthy friend is heating up. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Boyer, Pascale Petit, (more)
- 1960
Murder, illusion, and lies form the basis of this convoluted drama that centers around twin sisters and the man that loves one of them. The girls work as a circus illusionist. People love their act because the girls are adept at making the audience believe that there is only one of them. To keep the illusion alive, the girls sign a contract that keeps them publicly separated. A man falls in love with one of the twins without knowing that she has a sister. The other sister becomes terribly jealous of the affair. The man's alcoholic mother is also jealous of the affair and murders one of the twins. Unfortunately, she murdered the wrong one. Meanwhile, news of the murder is kept secret to preserve the illusion. The poor man, in a confused rage, thinking his love to be the jealous twin, kills her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Riberolles, Ellen Kessler, (more)
