Patrice Valota Movies
- 1993
If this engaging costume adventure is perhaps just one notch shy of being a full-fledged swashbuckler, it is only because it so lovingly recreates the era in which its story takes place. In the film, it is 1685 and a baby is being left on the steps of a monastery, but not before the mysterious cloaked horseman who brings it bites off the infant's nose and leaves a coin in its swaddling clothes. The baby, a boy, is fortunate to be placed with a loving woman and her able husband, a former pirate who still retains a lively spirit. The cheerful and charming boy learns to fence, to read, and to joust, all the while sporting a wooden nose. Eventually a local nobleman deigns to notice his existence, and sends him to attend a seminary which is grim beyond all imagining. Rather than suffer endlessly in the study of material he already knows with no prospect of being ordained (he is, after all, mutilated), Justinian (Pierre-Oliviar Mornas) runs away, and thereafter has one dashing, hair-raising adventure after another, eventually discovering his parentage. The story is based on the novel Dieu et nous seuls pouvons by Michel Folco. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre-Olivier Mornas, Ticky Holgado, (more)
- 1986
A long parade of actors and actresses pop up in an unconnected series of skits, vignettes, and sight gags in this comedy anthology by Jean Curtelin. Among the sketches performed is one with Jean Carmet playing a man from the sticks woefully burdened with the challenge of getting through a dog food commercial on less than one tank of intelligible French. Another skit shows a silent duel between an airport custodian and an automatic door, while another with the renowned Michel Galabru sets up a strange teacher-student exchange. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andréa Ferréol, Pierre Arditi, (more)
- 1986
- PG
It is possible to enjoy Claude Lelouch's Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later on its own merits, though we advise that to fully appreciate the film, it's best to catch Lelouch's 1966 blockbuster A Man and a Woman first. True to its word, the 1986 film brings us up to date with the protagonists of the earlier picture. One-time movie script girl Anouk Aimee is now a producer, suffering a slump due to a string of box-office bombs. Former race car driver Jean-Louis Trintigant now books races for younger drivers. His love affair with Aimee long in the past, Tritignant is startled to receive an out-of-the-blue phone call from his former amour. She wants his permission to film a musical version of their romance, but with more "suitable" younger leads. Alas, Aimee has been part of the Studio System too long, and can't help but include a pointless subplot involving an escaped lunatic. Aimee must give up her show-biz excesses, and Tritignant must forsake his much-younger mistress Marie-Sophie Pochat, in order to clear the decks for a happy ending. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anouk Aimée, Jean-Louis Trintignant, (more)
- 1985
"Billy ze Kick" is the nickname of a character in a bedtime story, told by a French police inspector to his little daughter. For the purposes of the plot (it can't possibly be in the interests of proper child psychology), Billy is a make-believe serial killer! Shortly afterwards, three young girls turn up murdered. The unknown killer leaves behind a cryptic note, signed--you guessed it-"Billy ze Kick". Next time, the Inspector should stick to Curious George or the Poky Little Puppy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Perrin, Zabou, (more)
- 1985
- R
Also known as A Certain Desire, this French murder melodrama stars Sam Waterston and Marisa Berenson. Waterston plays Gerry Morrison, an Interpol agent assigned to solve the murder of a Bordeaux wine heiress. Jeanne Barnac Berenson is one of the suspects, who in the course of the investigation is revealed to be a lesbian, in love with the widowed Marlene Bell-Ferguson (Lauren Hutton). Pretty soon, Morrison has exposed virtually all the secrets of those closest to the murder victim. Indeed, with so much else going on, the solution of the mystery is almost an afterthought. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Waterston, Marisa Berenson, (more)
- 1978
In this softcore sexploitation pic, the vice squad is attempting to find a man who has arranged for prostitutes who have spent time with him to be killed immediately afterward by the pimp who is supplying him. The undercover cop investigating this case has a stripper girlfriend, and though they almost make it to bed many times, some new lead on the case always interrupts them. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrice Valota, Odile Michel, (more)
