Michel Deville

  • Michel Deville – La lectrice AKA The Reader (1988)

    1981-1990ComedyDramaFranceMichel Deville

    Quote:
    A multi-faceted film based on Raymond Jean’s novel “La Lectrice”. Constance (Miou-Miou) reads the novel aloud in bed to her lover. Inspired by the story of Marie, a woman who advertises her services as a reader of literature, Constance decides to do the same. Here the film takes on a kaleidoscopic effect as the lives of Constance and Marie become merged, making it hard to distinguish what is real and what is fantasy. This structure is further complicated when the lives of Constance’s clients become tangled with the stories she reads. The film is interspersed with readings from well known literary sources as diverse as, amongst others, Baudelaire, Duras, Tolstoy, Lewis Carroll and de Sade’s “120 days…”Read More »

  • Michel Deville – À cause, à cause d’une femme AKA Because, Because of a Woman AKA Because of a Woman (1963)

    Michel Deville1961-1970ComedyCrimeFrance

    A young man is a collector of feminine conquests. One morning, leaving one of his mistresses he is addressed by one of his past flirts. As revenge, she denounces him later to the police as the murderer of her fiance who was found dead the same morning. With the help of his mistresses and some new ones he makes on the road, the young man goes in search of the man he thinks is the killer, then his blond consort with whom he fell in love at the first sight the evening before.Read More »

  • Michel Deville – Eaux profondes AKA Deep Water (1981)

    Michel Deville1981-1990CrimeDramaFrance
    Eaux profondes (1981)
    Eaux profondes (1981)

    Jean-Louis Trintignant’s sinister yet subtle performance as a man who gives the most insane proof of love to his wife enlivens this adaptation of the novel Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith. In public, Vic Allen (Trintignant) puts up with his wife Mélanie’s (Isabelle Huppert) amorous games, showing an outward attitude of acceptance. However, he scares away one of her prospective lovers by telling the poor guy that he killed one of his predecessors. In fact, he did not, and soon the actual perpetrator is found. Later, when Vic feels that Mélanie is becoming too seriously involved, he actually resorts to murders. Despite her ever-increasing suspicion, Mélanie finds it impossible to prove his guilt.Read More »

  • Michel Deville – Nuit d’été en ville aka Summer Night in Town (1990)

    1981-1990DramaFranceMichel DevilleRomance

    A naked man and woman, post-coitus, talk about their love lives, their romantic ideals and the past darknesses they have grappled with. As dawn approaches, they begin to get dressed again, and the moment of separation draws nearer.Read More »

  • Michel Deville – On a volé la Joconde AKA The Mona Lisa Has Been Stolen (1966)

    1961-1970ComedyCrimeFranceMichel Deville

    The Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world, and the most alluring. As soon as Vincent sets eyes on this remarkable work of art he knows that he must possess it, which is not so unlikely as it seems because he is the most accomplished burglar in the world. Stealing valuable paintings is something that Vincent specialises in, so walking off with Da Vinci’s portrait of the woman with the inscrutable smile ought to be a doddle. First he needs a pretext for his frequent visits to the Louvre Museum, and this he obtains by getting himself taken on as an assistant to the picture framer Monsieur Lemercier. He also takes the trouble to strike up a friendly rapport with the man whose job it is to guard the coveted painting. How providential that, like Vincent, he should have a keen interest in chess.Read More »

  • Michel Deville – Bye bye, Barbara (1969)

    1961-1970ComedyFranceMichel DevilleThriller

    A journalist meets a pretty, young woman in Biarritz and they fall in love with each other. Once they have returned to Paris the woman disappears mysteriously.Read More »

  • Michel Deville – La maladie de Sachs AKA Sachs’ Disease (1999)

    Michel Deville1991-2000DramaFrance

    Quote:
    This absorbing and intimate portrait of an ordinary town doctor is characteristic of Michel Deville’s cinema: sombre, slow moving, filled with humanity, and unashamedly naturalistic.

    Albert Dupontel is captivating as the film’s central character, Dr Sachs, conveying not just the sense of ennui of a man who is locked into a life he no longer appreciates, but also his yearning for some kind of release, for the fulfilment that has so far eluded him. It is an underplayed, introspective, spiritual kind of film, focused exclusively on Sachs’ daily routine and his matter-of-fact interactions with his patients. The repetitive nature of the consultations, the drab colour scheme and the dreary locations do weigh the film down by they emphasise the sense of aching emptiness that is apparently pushing Sachs towards self-destruction.Read More »

  • Michel Deville – Raphaël ou le débauché AKA Raphael, or The Libertine (1971)

    Michel Deville1971-1980DramaFrance

    France, 1830. Morbidly obsessed with the brevity of his existence, Raphaël throws himself into a life of excessive debauchery. It is a path that can only lead towards ignominious self-destruction… But then, one day, Raphaël meets Aurore, a young window, whose life and philosophy are the complete opposite of his. She lives a simple existence in the country, doing good works, virtuous in every word and deed. But their meeting awakens something in both of them. Aurore becomes aware of a longing she has never known, whilst Raphaël is assailed by emotions with which he is entirely unfamiliar…Read More »

  • Michel Deville – Péril en la demeure AKA Death in a French Garden (1985)

    1981-1990CrimeDramaFranceMichel Deville

    Quote:
    A magnate and his younger wife hire David to teach guitar to their teenage daughter. The wife quickly seduces David, and simultaneously he strikes up an acquaintance with the family’s inquisitive neighbor. One night, David is mugged but rescued from injury by a stranger, Daniel, who also becomes David’s friend and admits to being a hit man. Video tapes of their activities appear in the lovers’ mail; David thinks they’re from the neighbor, Daniel is sure the husband is onto the affair and hired the mugger. After Daniel tells David that he’s been hired to kill the husband, an elaborate manipulation plays out, with murder, suicide, a payoff, more videos, and a surprise pairing.Read More »

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