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French films of the 1970s
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Borsalino, one of the most lavish French thrillers of the 1970s, sees rival actors Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon (at the time, the two most popular actors in France) sharing the limelight. The pairing works surprisingly well, Delon’s feline coolness and brooding introspection making the perfect complement to Belmondo’s warmth and amiability...
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A classic of the French policier genre, Dernier domicile connu, is the third film directed by José Giovanni, one that paints a sombre and disturbing portrait of police methods and gangster activity in the early 70s. Giovanni had scripted several notable French crime dramas, including Jacques Becker’s Le Trou (1960) (based on his first novel) and Jacques Deray’s Du rififi à Tokyo...
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Domicile conjugal is the fourth, and arguably the most humorous, installment in François Truffaut’s semi-autobiographical Antoine Doinel cycle of films. It follows directly on from the previous film in the series, Baisers volés, with Jean-Pierre Léaud once more reprising the role of Truffaut’s hapless but loveable altar ego...
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Star of French cinema for four decades, the great comic actor Fernandel finally bows out with grace in this poignant if slightly sentimental comedy-drama, which is based on an American novel. With its beautiful Provençal setting and naturalistic performances, Heureux qui comme Ulysse captures the spirit and mood of the films of a director Fernandel worked with early on his career...
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Costa-Gavras followed his hugely successful film Z with L’Aveu, the second of what was to become a series of critically acclaimed political thrillers. L’Aveu was based on the novel by Arthur London which recounted his own experiences of detention by the USSR state police. The film, like the novel, offers a shocking and vivid portrayal of the brutal methods used by the police during...
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Iconic comic actor Louis de Funès stars in this spirited but flawed attempt to make a French musical comedy in the American style. The great comedian appears alongside his son, Olivier, and a host of beautiful dancers, but their combined talents are wasted thanks to some uninspired direction and a script that is unimaginably weak...
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Whilst much of the last decade of Jean Gabin’s career is generally pretty lacklustre there are a few films in which the actor distinguishes himself with some pretty remarkable performances. Foremost of these is La Horse, in which Gabin plays a character who is very much close to his own heart, a patriarchal landowner who is anchored in the ways of the past...
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La Maison des Bories is a beautifully filmed study in loneliness and temptation from Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, one of the lesser known figures of the French New Wave. The Provençal setting and narrative simplicity make this a moving visual poem, offering a powerful evocation of human desire and the need for love....
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Judging by the end result, hallucinogenic drugs probably had a part to play with the conception and realisation of La Rupture, one of Claude Chabrol’s weirder films. It is one of those oddities which fall somewhere in the uncharted territory between psychological thriller and "theatre of the absurd" black comedy, and consequently has you wetting yourself for two entirely different reasons...
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Jean-Pierre Melville’s penultimate film is an unashamed, no holds barred homage to the American film noir detective thriller of the 1940s. Despite the simplicity of its plot and the characteristic minimalism of its style, Le Cercle rouge is conceivably Melville’s most sophisticated, most compelling, most perfect film...
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In the pantheon of successful French screenwriters, Michel Audiard deserves a prominent position. He wrote the dialogue for some of the most popular mainstream French film films of the 1960s and 1970s – classics such as Un taxi pour Tobrouk (1960) and Les Tontons flingueurs (1963). Although he is best known as a writer...
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The fifth of Rohmer’s six Moral Tales closely parallels the preceding tale Ma nuit chez Maud as it portrays a man who is betrothed to one woman but is tempted by another. In Le Genou de Claire, the central character Jérôme regards love almost as an intellectual exercise which he reckons he has totally mastered...
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After the staggering success of the 1966 film La Grande Vadrouille, the production team of Le Mur de l’Atlantique were clearly hoping to repeat the success with the winning formula of Bourvil and an outlandish comic farce set at the time of the Nazi occupation. Unfortunately, despite some memorable comic moments, this film is little more than a pale imitation of that earlier film...
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Le boucher is an early and splendid example of the kind of gentle but engrossing thriller which would become the mainstay of Claude Chabrol’s film work. The director’s skills are very much in evidence in this film. The film begins with a charming and perceptive portrayal of provincial life, reminiscent of scenes from Chabrol’s earlier film...
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Sister Agnès has become so bored with her life in a convent that she decides to run away to Paris. Whilst looking in vain for a job, she meets Mona Lisa, a kind-hearted prostitute who invites her to share her way of life. Through her new friend’s tutelage, Agnès learns all the secrets of her new profession...
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Generally, fairy tales and live action cinema are two things which are best kept well apart, the marriage of the two being something which few would ever want to experience whilst stone-cold sober and without the comforting palliative afforded by a kilo of hallucinogenic drugs. Jacques Demy’s 1970 musical fantasy...
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Although it runs along very similar lines to Buñuel’s earlier masterpieces, Viridiana (1961) and Belle de jour (1967), Tristana is far less striking in its anti-establishment rhetoric and use of surrealist imagery. Although the film is often overlooked, it is certainly an impressive work of cinema, addressing the familiar Buñuelesque themes of a moral decline and middle-class...
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1925, the age of prohibition. A sailor named Cornelius von Zeelinga is on the run from the police, having just evaded arrest whilst trying to smuggle a huge consignment of rum. A few months later, he is back in Jamaica, a wealthy man and the proud owner of a fine new boat. He has a secret passion for Linda Larue, a silent movie diva...
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Have served a ten year stretch in jail for a bank robbery that went wrong, François Nolan returns to his old neighbourhood, intent on revenge. His former partners in crime, Jebel, Zampa, Gi and Ferrier, all lead respectable and comfortable lives now, but one of them was responsible for François’s arrest and the death of his brother during the robbery...
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Sagamore Noonan is the owner of a small farm, although his main preoccupation is distilling whisky illegally, which he tries to keep from the attention of the local sheriff. He lives with his brother Doc Noonan, a ruined bookmaker, Billy, his eight-year old nephew, and Noé, an eccentric uncle who is building a ship to survive the end of the world...
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