Cinema - French films - 1980s

French cinema: 1980s (Page 7 of 11)

Mille milliards de dollars (1982)

Henri Verneuil

One day, journalist Paul Kerjean receives an anonymous phone call implicating the politician Jacques Benoît-Lambert in a fraudulent business deal. Shortly after Paul has published an article exposing this scam, the politician is found dead, apparently a suicide. However, when he looks into the matter, Paul soon discovers that Lambert was murdered... [More...]

Les Misérables (1982)

Robert Hossein

Sent to jail for stealing a loaf of bread, Jean Valjean has every reason for hating humanity and embarking on a life of crime when he is released twenty years later. The gesture of a kindly bishop changes his perspective and he decides instead to live the life of a good and honest man. Through hard work over many years, Valjean becomes a successful industrialist and mayor of a small town, respected by all as a great benefactor... [More...]

Mon oncle d’Amérique (1980)

Alain Resnais

An eminent biologist, Henri Laborit, illustrates how behavioural theories about survival and social development pertaining to animals can be applied to human beings. He does this by making reference to the lives of three people: Jean, an ambitious writer and politician, Janine, an aspiring actress, and René, a country boy who ends up managing a textile factory... [More...]

Monsieur Hire (1989)

Patrice Leconte

Monsieur Hire is a respectable middle-aged man who runs a small tailoring business and lives alone on a suburban housing estate. He is hounded by a police inspector who believes he is responsible for the recent murder of a young woman. His only pleasure in life is to spy on the young woman who lives in the flat opposite to his..... [More...]

Les Morfalous (1984)

Henri Verneuil

In 1943, during the Second World War, a battalion of the French Foreign Legion is tasked with the mission of removing a fortune in gold bullion from the vault of a bank in a North African town, before it falls into the hands of the Germany army. The Legionnaires arrives just in time to be all but wiped out by the German soldiers who surround the town... [More...]

La Mort en direct (1980)

Bertrand Tavernier

In the near future, disease has been practically wiped out by medical science – to the extent that those who do die prematurely find themselves the object of great public interest. When she is diagnosed with a terminal illness, writer Katherine Mortenhoe is determined to avoid ending up as television ratings fodder, but TV producer Vincent Ferriman has other ideas... [More...]

Mortelle randonnée (1983)

Claude Miller

Beauvoir, an ageing private detective, has spent years trying to make contact with his missing daughter. One day, he is assigned to a murder case, and finds himself on the trail of a serial killer, Catherine. Convinced that she is his long-lost daughter, Beauvoir helps the killer to evade capture by the police... [More...]

The Name of the Rose (1986)

Jean-Jacques Annaud

In the 14th Century, a travelling monk William of Baskerville undertakes a pilgrimage to a remote North Italian monastery to attend a theological discussion between the local monks and senior representatives of the Church. He is accompanied only by his young acolyte, Adso. William’s arrival is overshadowed by the death of one of the brethren... [More...]

Ne réveillez pas un flic qui dort (1988)

José Pinheiro

A disillusioned police inspector, Roger Scatti, leads an extreme right-wing cell “Fidélité Police”, which applies its own notion of justice to underworld crooks – usually in the form of summary execution. Scatti’s colleague, Inspector Grindel, is initially indifferent to the cell’s activities but becomes incensed when they turn their fire against their fellow policemen... [More...]

Nocturne indien (1989)

Alain Corneau

Rossignol, a young Frenchman, arrives in Bombay to search for a missing friend, Xavier. From the prostitute who wrote to him, Rossignol learns that his friend fell ill about a year ago, shortly before his disappearance. Rossignol’s quest takes him to Madras and then Goa, and at various stages of his search he has some insightful exchanges with the locals... [More...]

Noir et blanc (1986)

Claire Devers

Antoine is a young, humdrum accountant who is assigned to a gymnasium to sort out their books. Initially held back by his reserve and timidity, he agrees to use the gym’s facilities. When he allows a well-built African Dominique to give him a massage, Antoine undergoes a drastic transformation... [More...]

Notre histoire (1984)

Bertrand Blier

Robert Avranche, a middle-aged, alcoholic garage owner, is sitting on a train, reflecting on the emptiness of his life. An attractive young woman, Donatienne, suddenly enters the compartment and offers to make love to him. Robert accepts but, when the woman leaves the train afterwards, he decides to follow her..... [More...]

Nuit d’ivresse (1986)

Bernard Nauer

The night after he has been awarded a trophy for being the best-dressed and most courteous television celebrity, Jacques Belin ends up getting blind drunk. Along the way he becomes attached to a luckless, unattractive woman, Frède, whom he initially abuses until drink gets the better of him. The next morning, Jacques wakes up and prepares himself for a TV interview in his apartment, having completely forgotten what happened the night before... [More...]

La Nuit de Varennes (1982)

Ettore Scola

June 1791. When the controversial writer and printer Restif de la Bretonne sees Queen Marie-Antoinette’s lady-in-waiting secretly leaving Paris one evening, he concludes that King Louis XVI and his family have already fled the capital. Determined to satisfy his curiosity and witness the greatest historical event of his life, the writer sets off in pursuit... [More...]

Les Nuits de la pleine lune (1984)

Eric Rohmer

Trainee designer Louise lives with her boyfriend, Rémi, in the outskirts of Paris. Whilst Rémi wants to get married, Louise is reluctant to let go of her freedom, and so she starts to spend part of her time in her apartment in the centre of Paris, believing this will strengthen their relationship... [More...]

L’Oeuvre au noir (1988)

André Delvaux

In the 1500s, a Belgian doctor and alchemist, Zenon, has spent the last 20 years travelling across Europe. His radical theories have earned him the reputation of a heretic and, fearing the Spanish Inquisition, he assumes a new identity when he returns to his native Brugge. Unfortunately, his past soon catches up with him... [More...]

P.R.O.F.S. (1985)

Patrick Schulmann

Frédéric is a reactionary literature teacher who intends to apply some unorthodox methods when he takes up a post in a typical French high school. Whilst he quickly manages to get on the wrong side of most of his colleagues, his approach wins favour from art teacher Michel, gym instructor Gérard and librarian Francis... [More...]

Le Paltoquet (1986)

Michel Deville

Each evening, four men – a doctor, a journalist, a professor and a merchant – meet up in a deserted bar to play cards. As they play, the bar’s owner, her downtrodden barman (nicknamed “le paltoquet”) and a strange woman in white watch from a distance. One night, the card game is disturbed when a police inspector suddenly appears and declares that a dead body has been found nearby... [More...]

Papy fait de la résistance (1983)

Jean-Marie Poiré

In 1940, at the start of Nazi occupation of France, the Bourdelles, a family of musicians, refuse to perform in public until after their country has been liberated. Three years later, their Paris mansion is requisitioned by German soldiers and they are forced to live in the cellar. Whilst the General Spontz makes overtures with her daughter, Héléna Bourdelle, an ageing opera singer and her father, Papy, get caught up in resistance activity, including hiding an English soldier from the Germans and attempting to assassinate a member of the German High Command... [More...]

Paradis pour tous (1982)

Alain Jessua

By the side of the pool at his luxury villa, Alain Durieux sits in his wheelchair, quietly contemplating his past life whilst his wife subjects herself to the over-attentive care of their friend, Dr Valois. To think that Alain was once a third rate insurance broker, living a humdrum life with nothing to look forward to... [More...]

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