Barbet Schroeder Movies
Barbet Schroeder's Swiss geologist father was on assignment in Iran when he was born. After a globe-trotting childhood, Schroeder was educated at the Sorbonne; then, like half the under-30 population of France (or so it seemed), he became a movie critic. Brief jobs as a jazz concert producer and news photographer followed before Schroeder went to work as an assistant for one of his role models, French director Jean-Luc Godard. In 1964, the 22-year-old Schroeder set up his own film production company, Les Films du Losange. Among the many prominent pictures produced by Schroeder include director Eric Rohmer's "Moral Tales" La Collectioneuse (1966), My Night at Maud's (1969), and Claire's Knee (1970). Schroeder himself turned director with 1969's More, gaining critical attention with several unorthodox documentaries. With the American film Barfly (1987), Schroeder established himself as a prime purveyor of "slice of life" drama -- albeit entertaining enough to please the crowd. Oscar nominated for his take-no-sides direction of Reversal of Fortune (1990), the story of the controversial Claus von Bulow case, Schroeder then helmed the tense -- and successful -- "cat-and-mouse" thriller Single White Female (1992). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Improper Conduct was written and directed by famed Spanish cinematographer Nestor Alemandros. With uncompromising clarity, Alemandros lays bare the cruelties and despotism of Cuba's Castro regime. The director interviews several Cuban expatriates, including writers, filmmakers and political prisoners who once supported Castro in his struggle to oust the corrupt dictator Batista and then turned against him as he fully revealed his communist beliefs who relate in disturbing detail their treatment for alleged "crimes against the state"--such as homosexuality. Even long-time Castro apologists will be hard put to deny the truths set forth in this harrowing 112-minute documentary. Nestor Alemandros later compiled the interviews heard in Improper Conduct into an illustrated book. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this excellent drama centered around family relationships, especially that of parent and child, the problems of single motherhood are addressed from several perspectives. Isabelle (Brigitte Fossey) is a movie star in German cinema, and after she wraps a successful film in Berlin, she leaves to spend some time with her little daughter Emilie (Camille Raymond) and her parents in Normandy, France. Isabelle's mother Paula (Hildegarde Knef) was born in Germany and married her French husband after a romance that began in the war-ravaged city of Berlin. Isabelle's parents take care of Emilie while she is working because she insists on remaining a single mother -- although her lover follows her to Normandy and stays in a nearby hotel while she is with her parents. During a 24-hour period, the unresolved problems between Isabelle and her mother and father rise to the surface -- and cannot be ignored any longer. It is not an easy situation, especially since both parents are angry about some aspects of Isabelle's career and/or life that she may not be able to change. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Fossey, Hildegarde Knef, (more)
Penny Patterson, an American psychology student, began an experiment in primate communication in the early 1970s using a young zoo gorilla named Koko, who was loaned to Penny for the experiment. Due to a philosophical predisposition to consider that "humanizing" animals is wrong, and alarmed at the increasing publicity over the experiments, the zoo took back the gorilla, which by then had learned over three hundred signs and showed, to many observers, an almost human comprehension of her condition. This French documentary explores the experiments, the circumstances of Koko's being withdrawn from them, and the question of the gorilla's "civil rights," if any. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1978
In her 50s, Roberte (Denise Morin Sinclaire) is still an attractive woman who has kept her figure. She is married to Octave (Pierre Klossowski) a substantially older man. His twisted fantasies require that Roberte seek out other men while he follows behind and keeps track of her activities with them. He mulls over sexual photographs he has taken of the episodes he has forced her to enact, in the street, or at their own house. Despite the somewhat claustrophobic atmosphere created by her husband's obsessions, she wants to bring up her nephew, who is in her charge, free of the darkness that hovers over her. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Klossowski, Martin Loeb, (more)
For a change, the character portrayed by Gérard Depardieu in Maîtresse is relatively normal; it is the world around him which has gone slightly mad. Looking for a measure of affection and companionship, Olivier (Depardieu) crosses the path of the lovely Ariane (Bulle Ogier). She happens to be a professional dominatrix-and from the evidence we're presented, she's one of the most accomplished of her ilk. How this mismatched (to put it mildly) relationship can possibly work is the core of Maîtresse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Depardieu, Bulle Ogier, (more)
- 1974
Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada was but a distant irritation to everyone but his own countrymen and the British Empire until his perfidy became headline material in the early '70s. The first director to provide an in-depth study of this gregarious madman was director Barbet Schroeder, with his General Idi Amin Dada. In this documentary, Schroeder and his crew travel to Uganda to spend several days with the despot, one-on-one. The uncomfortable truths revealed in the film are all the most amazing when one realizes that Schroeder could not release his documentary without Amin's approval. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
- R
A story about story-telling, Jacques Rivette's self-referential classic centers on the fanciful world of two women literally lost in the stories they tell each other. Celine (Juliet Berto) and Julie (Dominique Labourier) go from sharing a story about a haunted house to being part of a story about a haunted house -- or is it a real haunted house that has been called up by the story? The film blurs the line between the telling of the story and the story itself, as Celine and Julie, like Alice in Wonderland, become part of a surreal, drug-induced parallel universe; also like Alice, they ultimately become the heroines of the story that first imprisoned them. Rivette celebrates the magic of stories, and more broadly of imagination, adventure, and friendship, as essential elements of life; the themes are familiar from his other movies, but the tone is more playful. This enigmatic and fanciful film is not for all tastes, but, for its many devotees, it is one of the most distinctive and imaginative movies ever made. ~ Leo Charney, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliet Berto, Dominique Labourier, (more)
Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada was but a distant irritation to everyone but his own countrymen and the British Empire until his perfidy became headline material in the early '70s. The first director to provide an in-depth study of this gregarious madman was director Barbet Schroeder, with his General Idi Amin Dada. In this documentary, Schroeder and his crew travel to Uganda to spend several days with the despot, one-on-one. The uncomfortable truths revealed in the film are all the most amazing when one realizes that Schroeder could not release his documentary without Amin's approval. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
An early film by director Barbet Schroeder, La Vallée stars Bulle Ogier as the wife of a diplomat who embarks on a journey through the jungles of New Guinea in order to locate a rarely seen type of bird feather. During the course of her quest, she meets up with a group of free-spirited hippies who are seeking their own personal Shangri-la. She becomes involved in their alternative lifestyle; however, their idea world comes crashing down when they begin to interact with a local native tribe. Future Oscar winner Nestor Almendros' cinematography and the counter-culture attitudes helped make this film a success in art-house theaters. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bulle Ogier, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, (more)
The "my" in My Night At Maud's belongs to the protagonist played by Jean-Louis Trintignant, a Catholic engineer whose struggle with his faith is renewed when he falls instantly in love with a woman he's never met (Marie-Christine Barrault) while attending mass. A chance meeting with an amoral old friend (Antoine Vitez) the same night places him in a potentially compromising situation when he's forced to spend the night with Vitez's alluring acquaintance Maude (Françoise Fabian), a sophisticated woman who challenges Trintignant's belief through intellectual and fleshly means. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Louis Trintignant, Françoise Fabian, (more)
A young man from Germany (Klaus Grunberg) leaves home and travels to Paris. Hooking up with a group of hippies, he is enamored by an American girl (Mimsy Farmer) he meets at a party. The two leave for an island off the coast of Spain and become lovers. He becomes aware she is a heroin user and warns her about the drawbacks of narcotics. The American girl allows him to sleep with her girlfriend and try heroin. After an LSD trip, the girl leaves him and he takes too much of the hallucinogenic drug. Pink Floyd provides the music for this film that decries the excesses of the counterculture. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mimsy Farmer, Klaus Grunberg, (more)
La Collectionneuse is the third of director Eric Rohmer's "Six contes moraux" (six moral tales), and also the first of the series to attain full feature-length status (each of the first two entries, La Boulangere de Monceau and La Carriere de la Suzanne, ran less than one hour). Patrick Bauchau plays a self-centered young man on summer holiday in the Mediterranean. He finds himself irresistibly attracted to Haydee (Haydee Politoff,) the aloof young woman who shares his St. Tropez villa. Haydee is a sexual libertine, a "collector of men" (hence the film's title), but she appears disinterested in Patrick. For his part, the hero assumes that the girl's promiscuity is deliberately calculated to prompt him to seduce her. Filmed in 1967, La Collectioneuse was released in the US in 1971, by which time the fourth of Rohmer's Six Moral Tales, My Night at Maud's (69), had already debuted in America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Haydee Politoff, Patrick Bauchau, (more)
A sextet of French filmmakers collaborated on Six in Paris (originally Paris vu Par...) Jean Douchet directed the film's first episode, "Saint Germain-des-Pres," the story of the up-and-down relationship between a male model (Jean-Francois Chappey) and an American coed (Barbara Wilkin). Jean Rouch's "Gare du Nord" is a haunting twist-of-fate tale involving a suicidal handsome stranger (Gilles Queant). Written and directed by Jean-Daniel Pollet, "Rue Saint-Denis" unites an experienced prostitute (Micheline Dax) with a garrulous customer (Claude Melki). "Place de l'Etoile," a Chekhovian guilt trip involving salesman Jean-Michael Rouziere and shabby, supposedly dead street person Marcel Gallon, was Eric Rohmer's contribution. Jean-Luc Godard's "Montparnasse-Levallois," photography by American documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles, finds Joanne Shimkus in an imaginary menage a trois. Six in Paris is topped off by Claude Chabrol's "La Muette," wherein a family man (played by Chabrol himself) comes to grief when he purchases a pair of earplugs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Chabrol, Micheline Dax, (more)
- 1963
La Boulangere De Monceau (The Girl at the Monceau Bakery is the first of six short films that make up the Six Moral Tales series by French New Wave director Eric Rohmer. This 25-minute segment was shot in Paris with 16 mm black-and-white film. Barbet Schroeder (who also produced) plays a young university student who is initially attracted to a girl he sees on the street. While searching for her over several days, he makes frequent stops to a bakery. When he finally finds the girl and arranges a date, it conflicts with the date he has made with the bakery salesgirl. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbet Schroeder, Michéle Girardon, (more)
Suzanne's Career is the second of six short films that make up the Six Moral Tales series by French New Wave director Eric Rohmer. This 54-minute segment was shot in Paris with 16 mm black-and-white film. Bertrand (Philippe Beuzen) and Guillaume (Christian Charrière) are friends. They take advantage of Suzanne (Catherine Sée) and Sophie (Diane Wilkinson). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Charriere
- 1963
Jean-Luc Godard directed this brutal and purposefully harsh satire (adapted from a play by Benjamino Joppolo) which explores the grim folly of war. Ulysses (Marino Masé) and Michel Ange (Albert Juross) are a pair of thickheaded peasants living in a nameless country who receive a visit from a pair of military recruiters informing them the king wants a favor of them. Impressed that the king regards them as friends, Ulysses and Michel Ange join the army and set out to see the world's battlefields, having been told they can claim any spoils as their own and live a lawless life on the nation's behalf. Ulysses and Michel Ange often write their equally dim girlfriends, Venus (Geneviève Galéa) and Cleopatre (Catherine Riberio), with tales of the places they've seen and the people they've killed, but when the soldiers return home, their women discover the riches they were promised are not quite what they imagined. Filmed and recorded in a deliberately harsh and murky style, Les Carabiniers (aka The Riflemen and The Soldiers) features a brief appearance from Barbet Schroeder, years before he would become an acclaimed director, as a car salesman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marino Masé, Albert Juross, (more)
