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François Ozon's Under the Sand revolves around a tender, frightening contrast not easily forgotten: the dead live on only as long as we remember them. Marie (a luminous Charlotte Rampling) and Jean (Bruno Cremer), a middle-aged couple, are on vacation. As they ready the beach house almost wordlessly, a long-standing, intense love is immediately understood. While Marie naps on the shore, Jean goes off for a swim from which he never returns. Six months later, back in her empty Paris apartment, Marie goes about her life as if Jean is still there with her, reading in bed, massaging her feet, sitting at the breakfast table. At dinner parties and lunch dates, her close friends are visibly appalled her behavior. It becomes clear that Marie's place in society is increasingly precarious with a ghost at her side: her husband's bank accounts remain frozen because no body has been identified, her lectures at the university end abruptly in silence, her untimely laughter frightens a new lover. Ozon does not manipulate the viewer with surprise endings or try to charm with gags. Instead, we are intimately drawn into Marie's refusal to let go and her awful panic as Jean begins to fade. --Fionn Meade ... Read more

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Stacey Keach does a star turn as "Papa" Hemingway in this 1988 made-for-television saga, working his way through nearly five on-screen hours of womanizing, drinking, and big-game hunting--and even manages to squeeze in time to write a few canon-bound books.Although director Bernhard Sinkel's epic look at the writer suffers from a lethargic pace and highly suspect (read: glamorized) portrayals of such luminaries as Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound, the film, based in part on Hemingway's letters, does offer abundant biographical glimpses into Hemingway's fabled history.Keach's portrayal, while well short of inspired, suits the medium, and won him a Golden Globe Award to boot.The film was shot on location around the globe, so Hem enthusiasts will at least be treated to a visual survey of the legendary writer's many habitats.Unfortunately, the extra features on this two-disc set are extraordinarily meager; the "Hemingway Biography" and "Keach on Hemingway" segments are merely a few screens of text outlining a scanty overview of these subjects.Nonetheless, as the only biopic available, Hemingway will no doubt be of interest to insatiable Hemingway and Modern Lit aficionados.But for a livelier, more entertaining look into the writer's life, a beaten paperback copy of A Moveable Feast will do. --Karl Wachter ... Read more

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Could the true story of the financial scandal that shook France to the brink of civil war in 1933 be more timely? Jean Paul Belmondo is perfectly cast as Serge Alexander (a.k.a. Stavisky), the one-time underworld con man who charms his way to the top of the French financial world with bluff, cunning, and a bankroll of phony vouchers. Screenwriter Jorge Semprún (Z) weaves Stavisky's story through the tapestry of European politics: the rise of fascism, the stain of anti-Semitism, the shadow of impending war. The aloof style of Alain Resnais (Last Year at Marienbad) is warmed by the smiling charisma of Belmondo and by Charles Boyer's poignant turn as a sentimental, nearly bankrupt Baron. Elegantly shot by the great Sacha Vierny and accompanied by a lush Stephen Sondheim score, this multi-faceted gem is one of Resnais's most satisfying and accessible films. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Description

International action star and heartthrob Jean Paul Belmondo (Godard's Breathless) brings his smoldering intensity to French super-spy Joss Baumont, a top agent sent on a mission to assassinate a foreign dictator. But when the political winds change, and Baumont is double-crossed by his own government, revenge becomes the name of the game. Director Georges Lautner delivers a taut, thrilling espionage drama with a sensational score from Ennio Morricone. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Great actor, Good movie, Bad transfer
Feeling a little nostalgic for the movies I grew up with back in the USSR, I bought Le Professionel DVD from Amazon. I was looking so much forward to see this action movie and Belmondo whose movies I used to watch dozens of times in my childhood. What a frustration!!! Very bad PAL->NTSC conversion (many visible artifacts), extremely bad video transfer/encoding on DVD disc (blurry image), all audio tracks are mono, moreover they are poorly recorded which does not do justice to the famous Morricone theme. As much as I love the actor and the movie I do not recommend buying it. Shame on Image Entertainment for such a horrid DVD release.

Awesome
I saw this movie 20 years ago and I cannot imagine seeing a better french movie. This an absolute must for every fan of the french cinema. Belmondo in his best. Noone in France can ever top his performance. Awesome

BELMONDO GETS REVENGE
"LE PROFESSIONNEL" from 1981 is at heart a comic book plotted B movie that's still a fun ride. Here Belmondo is French spy Joss Baumont sent to assassinate an ruthlessly cruel African dictator. But when the powers that be change, he's double-crossed by his own people and sent to hard labor at a bad, bad prison camp. But not to worry, 'cause no prison can hold Belmondo and nothing will stop him from his assassination assignment, even if he has to pick a new target. Cool chicks, hard guys, fast cars and a score by Ennio Morricone. What's not to like?

Le Professionel
I contribute it to innocence of youth, when I gave the movie a full thumbs up 20 years ago. After hundreds of good (and bad) movies later, I was shocked to see how hollow the plot and how bad the performance of the actors really was. In order not to take away suspension (if ever) beforehand, here's the plot in brief:
Belmondo, beau, hero and government agent, is ordered to assassinate a good-for-nothing African president. However, politics change, the plan is cancelled and our hero ends up in an African hard labor prison camp. Now follows a bit of chain-gang melodrama a la Papillon and a hasty but successful escape, which leaves you again wondering who the fools are: the pursuing incompetent military or yourself, continuing watching the movie. There follows a big gap and our hero is back in France, now taking revenge on his former peers, including a car chase in a totally deserted ??? city of Paris. Apparently the movie's director felt obliged to proof to the audience, that the French movie industry is on par with Hollywood.
What adds to make the movie even worse are the sounds in mono, which spoils the fantastic soundtrack by ENNIO MORRICONE, and the movie's colors. Males wear heavy lipstick like drag queens and Belmondo's tan looks too good to be real.
I gave it one star for having the pleasure watching the hero's wife in her complete Eva's costume and a call girl in her G-strings.(Never get disappointed when it comes to a French movie). The other two stars are for the great soundtrack, which enables you enjoying the DVD without watching it. Overall verdict: The heavy price tag on it, does not justify a B-type movie.

LE PROFESSIONNEL
THE BEST BELMONDO&S MOVIE ... Read more

Description

Of all the memorable characters created by Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author Ernest Hemingway, none was more complicated, more fascinating or more charismatic than Hemingway himself. Adored by women and the quintessential "man's man," he was husband, father, lover, war correspondent, brawler, adventurer and sportsman. Set against the turbulent history of the times, Hemingway reveals his tender and stormy relationships with his four wives: believer Hadley Richardson (Josephine Chaplin), glamorous Pauline Pfeiffer (Marisa Berenson), journalist Martha Gellhorn (Lisa Banes) and devoted Mary Welsh (Pamela Reed), each of whom had significant impact on his work. ... Read more