Michel Deville

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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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 »

Plot Synopsis:
Two very violent men have conspired to steal a valuable solid gold image of an African deity from the museum in Mali where it is being kept. They had it smuggled out with a number of well-made but very cheap replicas. The plan was to give each of the replicas to the members of a new squash club as a diversion, and profit from the original (worth $1 million) themselves. There is a slip-up, however, and the real statue goes to one of the players. The deliveryman now has to track down all the statues, and in this antic caper comedy, that’s easier said than done. – AllmovieRead More »

In post-revolutionary France, two neighbouring aristocrats (Nicole Garcia and Jean-Pierre Marielle) embark on a dangerous game when they agree to help a Polish agent.Read More »

Quotes :
An actor disguises himself as a soldier during the Second World War, but is mistaken for a soldier and becomes involved in the events of WWII.

Un comédien de troisième zone se déguise en officier Allemand pour les besoins de sa troupe de théâtre. Il est fait prisonnier par les soldats Américains le jour du Débarquement…Read More »