Alain Sarde Movies

Even among bombers and murderers, there is a social ladder, a hierarchy to climb. Jeremie is a mere bomber who blows up people and places for mobsters in Paris. He may not look it, scruffy lad that he is, but he is a sensitive fellow, and he feels his lowly status keenly. If only he could graduate to the ranks of hitmen, who are honored in his world, perhaps then he would feel more like somebody. He finally gets his chance when he receives instructions to kill the eminent hitman Max, who knows too much to be left alive. Instead of planning a cool and distant hit, Jeremie gets to know his quarry personally and thereby gets entangled in a mass of conflicting allegiances. Max has one more assignment and has asked Jeremie to help him with it. The hero-worshipping boy can't bring himself to knock of this classy guy. However, just having such an inept apprentice as Jeremie around is enormously dangerous for the soon-to-be-retired killer. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, Victor thought he really had it bad when he lost his wife and his job on the same day. However, when he tries to get some sympathy from his friends, he discovers just how bad things can get, because although everything seems to be just fine with their lives, they are incredibly angry. It seems that, just beneath the surface, everyone's cozy situation is about to fall apart, and they know it. Children are acting up, wives or husbands are just about to leave, and there is nothing much to smile about. Desperate for some comfort, he goes to a bar and has a few drinks. There, he meets the one person he's encountered so far who doesn't seem to be mad at the world: a seemingly simpleminded man with no home, no job, and no prospects of getting either. He allows his new human mascot to accompany him while he goes to visit his parents and is distressed to find that his mother is leaving his father for a much-younger man. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Life is pretty grim for the boy in this story. School holds no pleasures, his mother is a drunk, and his stepfather is a real pill. It's no surprise that he plays hooky sometimes. One day he discovers that he has an older sister. Consumed with a desire to find her, he uses his stepfather's pistol to hold up a store for money for his quest and then takes a policeman hostage. The policeman helps him find his sister, and the young woman whom he has never met before is surprisingly willing to try and help him get out of trouble and away from his depressing family. This drama is filmed in a sensitive and unusual fashion and won all sorts of French and European film-making awards, including the Prix Louis-Delluc. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Hugo Arnold (Mathieu Carrière) is a young hedonist who meets actress and prostitute Miriam Gwen (Marina Pierro) in this erotic and violent drama. After heavy petting and foreplay throughout the Paris subway and a church, she takes him to an apartment for the sexual favors she has promised. Hugo is subjected to a humiliating emasculation and wanders dazed on the banks of the Seine following his ordeal. A young woman emerging from the river after swimming stabs herself to death, and the hapless Hugo is blamed for her murder. Josy Bernard also co-stars with Isabelle Tinard. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Alice (Nathalie Baye) is the widow of a Jewish surgeon who helps the former diplomat Jerome (Pierre Arditi) smuggle Jews out of Austria to save them from the Nazis. The duo recruits Charles (Christophe Malavoy), a shoe manufacturer whose uncle is a Nazi sympathizer in the Vichy government. Charles and Alice become lovers when they are picked up in Paris by Nazi soldiers on a curfew violation. Genevieve Mnich co-stars with Philippe Clevnot and Jean Bousie in this dramatic World War II love triangle. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Nicole (Zabou) is a female attorney who is frustrated with the male-dominated world of provincial law. She embezzles money from a law firm and travels to Paris where she disguises herself as a man in hopes it will make a difference in her life and career. Nicole has two lesbian affairs and becomes a pimp for one of the women. She also has an affair with a man who indicates that he doesn't want a serious relationship. Nicole's loneliness leads her to the affairs as she continues the downward spiral into schizophrenia in this depressing psychological drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Gerard Darmon and Anais Jeanneret star in this low-budget thriller from director Miguel Courtois. A journalist wrongly accused of murder enlists the help of a femme fatale to track down the real killer. The late Michel Auclair plays a shady film producer in his last screen role, and the feature is dedicated to him. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this comedy drama, two lovers go on vacation to the fellow's summer home in southern France. Once there, the woman becomes quite jealous because she knows that many women have been at this house with him. She herself is not as experienced as he and secretly dreams of having many different lovers. Time passes and things become increasingly tense between them and they begin verbally attacking each other. Finally they make peace and love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This thriller concerns Freddy (Michel Boujenah), the unsophisticated manager of a porno theater who has fallen in love with the young striptease artist who supplies entertainment between hardcore films. But unknown to Freddy, she is also involved in a drug ring. One day Freddy is shot during a hold-up and is hospitalized. An inept and amusing police inspector checks out the crime scene, though he's no protection when drug dealers show up to ask Freddy what happened with their last shipment. It seems a valuable drugs shipment has come up missing; although Freddy has no clue at first, he starts to figure out who might have the dope, and gets in way over his head. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This drama, spiced with sexual innuendo, is directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre, and features Jeanne Kern (Elizabeth Bourgine) as a pretty, somewhat repressed schoolteacher who suffers a smear campaign at work. Someone has been sending her director (Michael Aumont) letters accusing her of lewd and immoral conduct. Matters take a turn for the worse when a photograph of an orgy is sent to all the faculty with one face cut out; presumably, the face is hers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A French music lover befriends a once-great American jazz artist and attempts to save him from self-destruction in this moody drama. Saxophonist Dexter Gordon portrays Dale Turner, a fictional musician inspired by a number of famed jazz figures, including Bud Powell and Lester Young. Largely forgotten in his home country, Turner has moved to Paris in search of a more appreciative audience. He finds it in the form of Francis Borler (Francois Cluzet), a bebop aficionado who befriends the expatriate player. Borler soon becomes familiar with Turner's darker side, including his struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction, and depression. Fearing for the musician's life, the fan becomes his caretaker, an arrangement that leads to a brief improvement in Turner's health and fortunes but places great emotional strain upon them both. Director Bertrand Tavernier pays great attention to the visual and aural details of the jazz world, with outstanding musical supervision provided by Herbie Hancock. 'Round Midnight's greatest asset, however, is Gordon's Academy Award-nominated performance, informed by his own life experiences. His naturally fascinating presence combines with the film's obvious love of the music and its milieu to provide what many have hailed as one of the more authentic and affectionate presentations of the jazz world on the silver screen. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

This run-of-the-mill comedy adventure film never quite overcomes the obstacles of a predictable script and dialogue. The story is about poor François Pepin (Francis Perrin, also the director), an unfortunate reporter who seems to attract accidents with no effort at all. He is smitten by Prudence Guilledou (Veronique Genest), the daughter of a French newspaper mogul -- an amour that may even help him in his own career. But then the charming Prudence is kidnapped, and François dashes to her rescue, only to find himself and his rescuee subsequently on the run through the Alps trying to keep a few steps ahead of the kidnappers. But is the situation as hopeless as it looks? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide