Amazone (2000)
Directed by Philippe de Broca

Film Review

Together, the iconic actor Jean-Paul Belmondo and popular director Philippe de Broca made several hugely successful films, notably Cartouche (1962), L'Homme de Rio (1964) and Le Magnifique (1973).  Amazone, the sixth and last of their collaborations, proved to be a spectacular failure.  Attracting an audience of barely 70,000 in France it was Belmondo's least commercially successful film by some margin.  Belmondo's popularity had been on the wane for over a decade and this flop was the last straw - he immediately gave up cinema altogether to devote himself entirely to his stage work.  Francis Huster managed to coax the actor back nine years later to take the lead in Un homme et son chien (2009), another commercial disaster, but effectively this was the end of Belmondo's screen career.

And what a sad end it was too.  It is hard to find anything positive to say about Amazone.  Its puerile plot might have been salvaged had the performances been up to scratch or if de Broca had been able to show at least a fraction of the flair of his glory years.  But no, everything about the film reeks of total amateurishness and complacency, and even Arielle Dombasle becomes unbearable after a few minutes (the script does her absolutely no favours at all).  Belmondo looks like an actor who knows his time is up and he doesn't even try to make a go of what he must have known would be his swansong.  Some bad films can turn out to be enjoyable because they are so bad, but Amazone is not in this category.  It is just irredeemably bad.

Film Synopsis

Edouard, a misanthropic jewel thief on the run from the authorities, seeks sanctuary in the Amazon rain forest.    Here, he comes across a strange young girl, Lulu, who explains that she is an alien from another world many millions of light-years away.  The vessel that brought Lulu to Earth has aroused the interest of the French secret services, who send a commando mission led by astronomer Margaux to locate it.  Edouard and Margaux soon run into each other, just before Lulu drops her bombshell.  It appears that the extra-terrestrial has mislaid the pills that prevent her from ageing.  Without her medication, Lulu will age to death within a few hours...