Patrice Leconte


5.5 Les Veces Etaient Fermes de l'Interieur (1976)
6.3 French Fried Vacation (1978)
5.0 French Fried Vacation 2 (1979)
6.5 Come to My Place I live at a Girlfriend's (1981),
5.0 Ma Femme s'Appelle Reviens (1982)
6.0 Circulez y a Rien a Voir (1983)
5.0 Les Specialistes (1985)
7.0 Tandem (1987)
7.2 Monsieur Hire (1989)
7.0 The Hairdresser's Husband (1990)
5.0 Tango (1993)
5.0 Le Parfum d'Yvonne (1994)
5.0 Les Grands Ducs (1996)
7.1 Ridicule (1996)
5.0 Une Chance sur Deux (1998)
7.0 Girl on the Bridge (1999)
6.6 The Widow of Saint-Pierre (2000)
5.0 Felix et Lola (2001)
5.0 Rue des Plaisirs (2002)
6.8 The Man on the Train (2002)
7.0 Intimate Strangers (2004)
4.5 French Fried Vacation 3 (2006)
5.0 My Best Friend (2006)
5.0 Beauties at War (2008)
5.0 Voir la Mer (2011)
5.0 The Suicide Shop (2012)
5.0 A Promise (2013)
5.0 Do Not Disturb (2014)
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Patrice Leconte (France, 1947), a former cartoonist, debuted with a series of comedies: Les Veces Etaient Fermes de l'Interieur (1976), Les Bronzes/ French Fried Vacation (1978), French Fried Vacation 2 (1979), Viens chez moi j'Habite chez une Copine/ Come to My Place I live at a Girlfriend's (1981), Ma Femme s'Appelle Reviens (1982) and Circulez y a Rien a Voir (1983).

After the heist movie Les Specialistes (1985) and the road movie Tandem (1987), he directed his best film, Monsieur Hire (1989).
Dramma psicologico e thriller. Leconte dischiude poco alla volta la verita` con un'abilita` da prestigiatore. Come nei migliori thriller di Hitchcock, studio di carattere e indagine procedono di pari passo.

Ragazza in un campo: Pierrette venne assassinata al suo 22esimo compleanno. Un poliziotto interroga un vicino strano, Hire, un signore distinto, un sarto che conduce un'esistenza isolata , non accende mai la luce e non parla mai con nessuno. Anche Pierrette era strana, viveva sola, non parlava con nessuno. Hire mette un disco di musica classica e guarda una ragazza che si spoglia alla finestra. Due giovani si baciano (Emile e Alice). Hire continua a spiare la giovane dirimpettaia: e` Alice. La mattina Hire esce di casa ed e` oggetto di scherno da parte dei vicini. In ufficio contempla i topi. Butta un topo morto nel fiume. La sera la polizia lo fa correre davanti a un testimone del delitto. Tutto il vicinato lo osserva, ostile. Come tutte le sere, osserva la ragazza, ma questa volta lei se ne accorge e si spaventa.
Hire e` un fuoriclasse del bowling. Impassibile, glaciale. La folla si esalta. Il detective lo sta osservando: ha scoperto che venne condannato a sei mesi per atti osceni.
Hire da` da mangiare ai piccioni.
Alice lo prende in giro: fa cadere delle mele in modo da poterle raccogliere ai suoi piedi.
Hire continua a spiarla anche quando sta facendo l'amore con il ragazzo.
Hire nella suana, fra le braccia di una prostituta nera, parla di una vecchia innocua che dava da mangiare ai piccioni, ma un giorno si scopri` che aveva ucciso migliaia di piccioni. E` disgustato dalla prostituta.
Alice bussa alla sua porta ma lui non le apre.
Al pattinaggio Hire cade e si fa male. Alice e` li` e prova pietaprova pieta`.
Hire la sta spiando di nuovo quando Alice esce sul balcone per fronteggiarlo, ma lui si nasconde. Hire apre la porta e aspetta. Alice entra in casa. Gli confessa che e` contenta che lui la guardi. Lo interroga. Lui confessa di sapere quasi tutto di lei. Lei e` morbosamente attratta, vuole sapere cosa prova quando la guarda. Lui la caccia. Appena lei esce, lui si accascia sul letto dove lei si era seduta e annusa il profumo. Nell'ufficio in cui tiene i topi passa ore a cercare il profumo giusto.
Alice vede il ragazzo, che e` turbato da una visita della polizia. Ha qualcosa da nascondere, e qualcosa che la ragazza sa.
Il detective continua a sospettare Hire, ma senza prove. La ragazza gli scrive un biglietto e lo invita a pranzo, all'insaputa del suo ragazzo. A pranzo si scambiano frasi criptiche. Lei sembra volerlo sedurre, ma lui sa benissimo a cosa deve la sua attenzione: vide il suo ragazzo la notte in cui Pierrette venne uccisa, lo vide arrivare insanguinato a casa sua. Lei gli chiede perche' non lo denuncio`. Lui le raccolta cosa prova con le prostitute, del disgusto che prova. Quando lei comparve nella sua vita, lui provo` qualcosa che non aveva mai provato: amore. E` per questo che non avverti` la polizia, perche' altrimenti lei verrebbe arrestata come complice.
Hire si fa tatuare.
SUl tram di fianco a Alice e il ragazzo. Li segue all'incontro di box e resta dietro di loro. La accarezza e lei lo lascia fare. Il ragazzo invece e` preso dal panico per la presenza di tanta polizia e tenta di scappare dagli scantinati con l'amico complice. E` ovvio che lei lo ama. Ama due uomini allo stesso tempo e sta soltanto usando Hire per scagionare il ragazzo?
Hire capisce tutto. Le dice che il ragazzo non la merita. La invita a scappare con lui, Hire. Le promette eterno amore. Le da` un biglietto del treno.
Il detective ha capito tutto e chiede a Hire perche' si ostina a non parlare, rischiando persino di finire in carcere.
Hire sparge briciole lungo i binari del treno e lascia liberi i suoi topi. Poi aspetta Alice, ma Alice e` rimasta a casa. Inquadrature di Hire sui binari che guarda nel vuoto e di Alice a casa che guarda nel vuoto.
Hite torna a casa e trova il detective e Alice. Alice sostiene di essere la donna delle pulizia e di aver trovato la borsetta di Pierrette nel suo appartamento. Hire non risponde neppure al poliziotto, dice semplicemente ad Alice che e` indicibilmente triste. Hire si da` alla fuga, braccato dai poliziotti. Scappa sui tetti, scivola, rimane appeso per miracolo alla grondaia. La gente lo guarda. Nessuno parla. Hire cade al suolo sotto gli occhi della donna. La gente si avvicina al cadavere.
Ma Hire ha lasciato una lettera all'ispettore, in cui dimostra la colpevolezza di Emile. Voleva salvare Alice portandola via.

Then came Le Mari de la Coiffeuse/ The Hairdresser's Husband (1990), Tango (1993), Le Parfum d'Yvonne (1994), Les Grands Ducs (1996), and especially Ridicule (1996), one of the most successful French movies of the decade, a charming period comedy with sociopolitical undertones.

Six years before the French revolution a handsome and elegant nobleman, Milletail, enters the room of another nobleman, the elderly, one-eyed and paralyzed count Blayac. Milletail has not forgotten that Blayac once humiliated in public and takes his revenge by urinating on the helpless old man. Meanwhile, in the countryside, a baron, Ponceludon de Malavoy, dreams of draining the swamp where his subjects work in dismal conditions. He sympathyzes with the plight of the peasants. He rides a poor child home on his horse and tells him of his intention to build dikes and canals and grow crops. His model is the gardens of Versailles, built where there was to be a swamp. The baron decides to travel to Versailles and ask for the king's support. His priest and friend is skeptic but blesses him for the trip. Meanwhile, the old Blayac has died and Milletail is one of the nobles praying in front of his corpse. We learn that he just returned from America. Blayac's wife receives the condolences of several noblemen. Meanwhile, the baron stops to help a man lying on the ground but the man is a thief who beats him, steals his money and rides away on his horse. The baron is cured by a marquis, Bellegarde, another country gentleman, who is also a doctor. The baron shows the marquis his drawings to drain the swamp and explains the reason of his visit to the court of Versailles. The marquis thinks he is naive if he thinks of convincing the court with his diagrams: it is wit that rules at the court. In fact, the baron is received by the minister of finances who tells him that he has no intention of funding an expensive project: the finances of France are more important than the health of its peasants. The baron begs the marquis to introduce him to the king. The marquis takes him to court where all that matters are the jokes, especially the offensive ones. The baron is actually quite good at responding to insults with better insults. His first victim is the abbot Vilecourt. Alas, he is also the lover of countess Blayac, Blayac's widow, who is rich and powerful, a woman who can provide access to the king. The marquis is impressed by the baron's determination to get an audition with the king, offers him free lodging and coaches him in the art of wit. The salons are affairs of etiquette and wit. We witness a diplomat trying to explain English humor to the French nobles who find it uncivilized. Meanwhile, the marquiz's young and beautiful daughter Mathilde signs a contract to marry the old and rich Montalieri, whose wife is dying. According to the contract, the old man will be allowed to sleep with Mathilde twice a week and in return he will fund a workshop for her scientific research. Montalieri also demands that she never appear at court. The baron witnesses some of her extravagant experiments. She is a passionate and intrepid researcher. She explains to him that her father could never pay for her science. The baron keeps trying to see the king. A bureaucrat tells him that, lacking sponsors, he needs to prove his lineage back to 1399. The baron protests that he belongs to the Savoy family, but the bureaucrat demands written proof. The marquiz and the baron are invited to an important dinner during which Montalieri is ridiculed by both the baron and the abbot Vilecourt. Later, Montalieri sees the baron caressing Mathilde's leg. He interrupts them to have a portrait made of him with Mathilde. Montalier and Mathilde have to pose for hours, and the old Montalier have trouble staying awake. Back to court, the baron and the marquiz are invited to a game at court in which the baron not only outsmarts the abbot but even catches him cheating, in cahoots with countess Blayac. He doesn't expose them and countess Blayac, out of gratitude, surprises him by intervening on his behalf with the bureaucrat who wants proof of his aristocratic lineage. Back at the marquiz's villa the baron is alerted by the marquiz's deaf-mute idiot servant that Mathilde has lowered herlsef in the well for one of her experiments with an underwater suit, a dangerous experiment. He pulls her up, angry, and informs her that Montalieri's wife has finally died. The baron is fed up with the court's decadent and meaningless lifestyle (perhaps the real kind of ridicule), but the masquiz advises him to stick around a little longer: some nobles have waited for months before being received by the king. The peak of ridicule is reached when the king summons a few nobles to pay tribute to the leader of the Sioux nation, who shows up half naked wearing a necklace of bones. The king parades him in front of the French nobility. This is the first time that the baron is admitted in front of the king. The evil abbot Vilecourt plays a vicious prank on a desperate noble, who has been waiting for months but falls asleep just when the king summons the nobles. Vilecourt removes one of his shoes and throws it in the fireplace, and then wakes him up: the noble cannot see the king without wearing the proper shoes and, after begging in vain a valet to lend him his, hangs himself outside the palace. Another act of cruelty takes place shortly afterwards. countess Blayac is riding her horse in the forest when suddenly the horse is scared by a man wearing a mask. The lady falls and everybody laughs. The man turns out to be Mathilde's deaf-mute idiot servant. countess Blayac is not amused and orders the marquiz to fire the idiot. Mathilde begs countess Blayac to forgive him but she is not interested in discussing the fate of an idiot. Montelieri confronts the baron, but doesn't seem angry at all of his platonic love for Mathilde: Montelieri, an old man who doesn't have many years to live, subtly advises him to wait because Mathilde will soon be a rich widow. The abbot Vilecourt is jealous of the baron's success at court and countess Blayac offers to humiliate him. The baron is invited to a dinner. When the servants are about to serve dinner, countess Blayac notices that they are 13 and therefore one must leave. She proposes that each makes a joke and least witty of them will be asked to leave. Then she touches the baron with her feet under the table in an erotic manner. The baron, uncomfortable, is unable to say something funny and is expelled. Leaving the table, he does say something that outwits everybody and, at the same time, insults the abbot. This incident convinces the baron that he doesn't belong in that company. Mathilde confesses that she is in love with him but even that is not enough to stop him. The baron starts riding home. When he reaches the swamps, he is reminded by a mosquito why he left in the first place. Mathilde deliberately breaks her contract with Montalieri by showing up at a concert at court. Montalieri walks out: their engagement is over. Back home the baron is informed by his own mother than a child (the child he rode home in an early scene) is dying after drinking the water of the swamp. The abbot Vilecourt entertains the king with a long funny sermon but at the end gets himself in trouble with a blaspheme joke that greatly offend the king. He is promptly abandoned by countess Blayac, who immediately writes to the baron, pretending that she dumped the abbot for him and hinting that she could help him get an audience with the king. Unaware that Mathilde has canceled her engagement with Montalieri out of love for him, the baron rides to Blayac's palace, flirts, dines and sleeps with her. Having guessed that Mathilde is in love with the baron, Blayac summons Mathilde's father, the marquiz, while the baron is in her room: it's way to make sure that Mathilde will learn of their affair. At the next court event countess Blayac shows up with the baron, her new favorite, parading him in front of Mathilde. That's when the baron learns that Mathilde has broken her engagement with Montalieri. The event is a presentation by the abbot who is taking care of the deaf. The abbot demonstrates how he was able to teach mathematics and sign language to the deaf. One of them is Mathilde's deaf-mute ex-servant. Mathilde is proud of him, but the other nobles mock the deaf as if they were beasts. Nonetheless at the end Mathilde's father and the baron stand up to give the dead a standing ovation, and everybody joins them. The countess keeps pampering the baron and one day introduces him to the king. They walk around the gardens of Versailles in a small group and at one point the baron has a chance to show off his engineering knowledge. The king is impressed and promises to listen to his plans to drain the swamp, but an envious colonel insults him and the baron challenges him to a duel. Before the duel, the baron visits Mathilde and explains that he slept with the countess only to get access to the king. The baron leaves the countess for Mathilde and kills the colonel in the duel. Informed by her servant, the countess swears revenge. Mathilde keeps experimenting with her underwater suit and the baron helps out. During a costume ball the countess makes the baron fall, a fact that makes everybody laugh. The baron gets up and insults all of them calling them ridicule and pledges in front of them of going back to his swamp and working with his own hands to drain it. They resume their dance but the countess is crying. The film now forwards to the aftermath of the revolution when the surviving aristocrats have fled to England, and one of them is Mathilde's father who chats with an Englishman and learns what English humor is. The film ends informing us that the baron and Mathilde succeeded in draining the swamp.

Une Chance sur Deux (1998)

La Fille sur le Pont/ Girl on the Bridge (1999)

La Veuve de Saint-Pierre/ The Widow of Saint-Pierre (2000)

Felix et Lola (2001)

Rue des Plaisirs (2002)

L'Homme du Train/ The Man on the Train (2002)

Confidences Trop Intimes/ Intimate Strangers (2004)

French Fried Vacation 3 (2006)

Mon Meilleur Ami/ My Best Friend (2006)

La Guerre des Miss / Beauties at War (2008)

Voir la Mer (2011)

Then came the animated movie Le Magasin des Suicides/ The Suicide Shop (2012), the English-language period drama A Promise (2013), based on Stefan Zweig's novel "Journey into the Past", and the comedy Une Heure de Tranquillite/ Do Not Disturb (2014).

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