Pascal Bonitzer

Writing

Pascal Bonitzer

Born 1946-02-01 · Paris, France

Pascal Bonitzer (born 1 February 1946) is a French screenwriter, film director, actor, and former film critic for Cahiers du cinéma. He has written for 48 films and has appeared in 30 films since 1967. He starred in Raúl Ruiz's 1978 film The Suspended Vocation. He has a daughter, actress Agathe Bonitzer, with filmmaker Sophie Fillières. Source: Article "Pascal Bonitzer" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Acting credits

Why (Not) Brazil? poster
4.2

A film director, whose career is going downhill, reluctantly decides to adapt an inadaptable best selling novel. Will she succeed or will the book adapt her in the process?

Why (Not) Brazil?

2004

No artwork available
NR

Reel 14 of Gérard Courant's on-going Cinematon series.

Cinématon XIV

1981

The Clouzot Scandal poster
6.6

Great filmmakers claim the artistic influence of French director Henri-Georges Clouzot (1907-1977), a master of suspense, with a unique vision of the world, who knew how to offer both great shows and subtle studies of characters. Beyond the myth of the tyrannical director, a contrasting portrait of a visionary, an agitator, an artist against the system.

The Clouzot Scandal

2017

The One-Eyed Man poster
9.0

With his body now devoid of substance and able to fly, N. wanders looking for a way to return to life and reintegrate into the world.

The One-Eyed Man

1980

Chantrapas poster
4.3

A filmmaker finds creative freedom more elusive than he imagined in this ironic comedy-drama. Tired of the state-appointed producers and censorship in his homeland, Soviet Georgia, Niko decides to move to France, only to find that he has merely traded one type of interference for another.

Chantrapas

2011

The Suspended Vocation poster
6.6

The film centers on a Dominican monk named Jérôme (played by one actor in colour and another actor in black-and-white) and his interactions with various higher-ups within the French Catholic Church. Ruiz's intention was to reflect the ideological arguments that plagued Latin American left-wing political parties.

The Suspended Vocation

1978

Augustin, King of Kung-Fu poster
7.1

The solitary and largely self-contained Augustin (Jean-Chretien Sibertin Blanc), on obscure young actor of bit-parts and advertisements, has but one ambition - to play the lead role in a Kung Fu epic. But hours of Kung Fu practice alone in his room are not enough. Augustin knows he must pack up and start a new life in China... or at least that part of China within bicycling distance: Chinatown in south-east Paris. There he meets Ling (Maggie Cheung), a young Chinese woman who practices ocupuncture, and little by little, Ling's needles awaken emotions in Augustin that his virginal body had never dreamed of. Where will this lead him? To Kung Fu stardom, maybe not, but to another destiny, a quirky but logical continuation of the same dream.

Augustin, King of Kung-Fu

1999

Genealogies of a Crime poster
6.5

An attorney defends a young man on trial for killing his aunt — a psychiatrist who took him in to study possible homicidal tendencies.

Genealogies of a Crime

1997

Daniel Asleep poster
10.0

The love uncertainties of a young homosexual in search of himself.

Daniel Asleep

1988

Betty Fisher and Other Stories poster
6.1

When bestselling novelist Betty Fisher loses her young son in a tragic accident, her unstable mother resorts to unusual actions to alleviate Betty's grief, actions which set off a chain reaction among a promiscuous waitress and her criminal associates.

Betty Fisher and Other Stories

2001

A Day in the Life of French Cinema poster
7.0

Documentary showing one day of work of over 90 actors and filmmakers from French cinema on the same day. On 27 March 2002, 27 teams filmed actors, directors, producers and technicians at work, from Hawaii to Paris and from New York to Lisbon.

A Day in the Life of French Cinema

2002

Nothing About Robert poster
6.0

Didier never knew that a wrong film review of a film which he did not bother to watch would land him in numerous troubles.

Nothing About Robert

1999

Three Lives and Only One Death poster
6.5

Four intertwining stories of bizarre occurrences in Paris featuring a man who was stolen away by fairies, a professor who becomes a tramp, the lovers who inherit a chateau – and the last tale that connects all that has gone before.

Three Lives and Only One Death

1996

The Sky Above Paris poster
5.8

Marc is in love with Lucien, who's in love with Suzanne, who's in love with someone else.

The Sky Above Paris

1992

Son of Gascogne poster
5.1

You're a provincial kid in Paris and suddenly you're the center of attention: Movie stars, famous directors and sexy women are doting on you because they all think you're the son of their long-dead legendary friend. You never knew your dad, but the facts of this famous guy's life suggest that he might have fathered you. Your mom tells you nothing. All the fuss makes you uncomfortable at first but soon you find it's rather fun to be the son of the famous Gascogne. And in the midst of it all you fall in love. It is, after all, springtime in Paris.

Son of Gascogne

1995

Encore poster
5.9

The mid-life crisis of a middle-aged, depressive college professor/author provides the center of this French character study. Abel Vichac has really let himself go. Though a successful writer, and supposedly working on a book about 'regret,' he is barely functioning. He can't sleep at night. During the day he is easily distracted, irresponsible and moody. He also ignores his patient live-in lover Aliette who has stuck by him for 10 years. As he mopes through another day, he gets into several awkward occasions. One of his students, Florence tells him off in a café. A young woman, Catherine hears this and afterward introduces herself as a fan. Later he decides to find her address and visit her apartment. There Abel meets Catherine's roommate Aurore and the former's jealous boyfriend Bruno for a tense scene. He is returning home when Abel encounters his brother's former lover Olga and this creates more awkwardness.

Encore

1996

Les Infortunes de la beauté poster
3.8

This romantic comedy from France explores the misadventures of several friends looking for love and trying to define beauty. Daphne is a lovely women who is nonetheless unsure about her looks, compounded by the fact that she's fallen in love with Vincent, who has a policy of only dating models. Daphne's best friend Celine comes up with an idea -- she'll get her pal Jacques to paint a nude portrait of Daphne. When Vincent sees the painting, he'll be more attracted to the woman who posed for it, leading him to her doorstep. But of course, it isn't quite that simple.

Les Infortunes de la beauté

1999

Liberty Belle poster
4.3

The story of a group of students' involvement with a group who oppose the French-Algerian war.

Liberty Belle

1983

The Key poster
5.3

Depuis peu Eric Vincent, trentenaire sans histoire, a un fort sentiment de malaise. Est-ce la peur d'avoir un enfant ou celle de voir brutalement resurgir le fantôme d'un père qu'il n'a jamais connu ? Un matin, un inconnu l'appelle pour lui proposer de récupérer les cendres de son père. D'abord réticent, il finit par accepter et se retrouve plongé au coeur d'une machination infernale.

The Key

2007

No artwork available
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Bâtons d'encens pour Mizoguchi

2004

Snakes and Ladders poster
6.6

A man awakens to find himself immersed in a real-life scenario of a board game with an ever expanding cartography.

Snakes and Ladders

1980

Marie-France Pisier, une femme sous influence poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Marie-France Pisier, une femme sous influence

2014

Agathe, Solange and Me poster
7.2

Agathe embarks on a journey to uncover the life of her grandmother, Solange, an artist and writer whose story intertwines with history, memory, and loss. Joined by filmmaker Louise, an old friend, they navigate family films, letters, and the past to connect generations. Through Agathe’s search, the documentary reveals buried emotions and traces a legacy across time.

Agathe, Solange and Me

2024

Chasing Butterflies poster
5.8

Two old ladies live in a French chateau. When one of them dies, her sister, who lives in Moscow, inherits the property, which soon ends up in the hands of Japanese businessmen.

Chasing Butterflies

1992

Behind the camera

The Bronte Sisters poster
5.8

In a small presbytery in Yorkshire, England, living under the watchful eyes of their aunt and father, a strict Anglican pastor, the Bronte sisters write their first works and quickly become literary sensations.

The Bronte Sisters

1979

Maigret and the Dead Lover poster
6.0

Commissioner Maigret rushes to the Quai d’Orsay with Lieutenant Janvier. There, they find Mademoiselle Larrieu in a state of shock. That very morning, she discovered the bullet-riddled body of Mr. Berthier-Lagès, a renowned former ambassador whom she had served as a housekeeper for 46 years. While searching the victim's apartment, Maigret and Janvier uncover hundreds of letters. The diplomat had maintained a fifty-year-long love correspondence with a certain Princess of Vuynes, whose husband - by a strange coincidence - had died just a few days earlier. As he confronts the various members of the two families and the suspicious silence of Mademoiselle Larrieu, Maigret finds himself faced with surprise after surprise, watching his certainties crumble - until the solution to the mystery finally hits him in the face at the very last moment...

Maigret and the Dead Lover

2026

Maigret and the Dead Lover poster
6.0

Commissioner Maigret rushes to the Quai d’Orsay with Lieutenant Janvier. There, they find Mademoiselle Larrieu in a state of shock. That very morning, she discovered the bullet-riddled body of Mr. Berthier-Lagès, a renowned former ambassador whom she had served as a housekeeper for 46 years. While searching the victim's apartment, Maigret and Janvier uncover hundreds of letters. The diplomat had maintained a fifty-year-long love correspondence with a certain Princess of Vuynes, whose husband - by a strange coincidence - had died just a few days earlier. As he confronts the various members of the two families and the suspicious silence of Mademoiselle Larrieu, Maigret finds himself faced with surprise after surprise, watching his certainties crumble - until the solution to the mystery finally hits him in the face at the very last moment...

Maigret and the Dead Lover

2026

Hugo poster
6.5

Imbued with Victor Hugo, the actor Robert Zucchini searches for his place between the stage and life. Every evening, he fills theaters by sharing his love of words. Until the day his daughter, whom he hasn’t seen grow up, reappears.

Hugo

2026

La Belle Noiseuse poster
7.3

The former famous painter Frenhofer lives quietly with his wife on a countryside residence in the French Provence. When the young artist Nicolas visits him with his girlfriend Marianne, Frenhofer decides to start again the work on a painting he long ago stopped: La Belle Noiseuse. And he wants Marianne as model.

La Belle Noiseuse

1991

Gemma Bovery poster
6.2

Martin, an ex-Parisian well-heeled hipster passionate about Gustave Flaubert who settled into a Norman village as a baker, sees an English couple moving into a small farm nearby. Not only are the names of the new arrivals Gemma and Charles Bovery, but their behavior also seems to be inspired by Flaubert's heroes.

Gemma Bovery

2014

The Young Karl Marx poster
6.8

26 year-old Karl Marx embarks with his wife, Jenny, on the road to exile. In 1844 in Paris, he meets Friedrich Engels, an industrialist’s son, who has been investigating the sordid birth of the British working class. Engels, the dandy, provides the last piece of the puzzle to the young Karl Marx’s new vision of the world. Together, between censorship and the police’s repression, riots and political upheavals, they will lead the labor movement during its development into a modern era.

The Young Karl Marx

2017

Joan the Maid II: The Prisons poster
7.0

Jeanne has succeeded in lifting the siege of Orléans and Charles has been crowned King of France. However, she is injured in an attempt to take Paris, weakening her position at court. Captured by the enemy and put on trial, she finds both her life and the sanctity of her body at stake.

Joan the Maid II: The Prisons

1994

Made in Paris poster
5.2

Diane lives with publisher Hermann but everything is spoiled when Worms, Hermann’s loyal author and friend, reveals in his new book the affair he once had with Diane, in a highly subjective manner. She soon discovers the contents of the work, which Hermann tries to hide from her, and takes on a lawyer to defend her privacy. But this is only the beginning of a mess that simply gets worse and worse, leading to an unexpected, brutal ending.

Made in Paris

2006

Made in Paris poster
5.2

Diane lives with publisher Hermann but everything is spoiled when Worms, Hermann’s loyal author and friend, reveals in his new book the affair he once had with Diane, in a highly subjective manner. She soon discovers the contents of the work, which Hermann tries to hide from her, and takes on a lawyer to defend her privacy. But this is only the beginning of a mess that simply gets worse and worse, leading to an unexpected, brutal ending.

Made in Paris

2006

The Story of Marie and Julien poster
6.4

Julien is a clockmaker with destructive impulses who decides to blackmail Madame X, a rich, attractive woman who traffics in stolen antiques. What he doesn’t know is that she has an even more dangerous secret that leads him to Marie, with whom he had fallen in love a year earlier.

The Story of Marie and Julien

2003

Valentin Valentin poster
5.6

In a small Parisian building, a diverse group of people crosses paths, likes and observes each other, without always seeing each other.

Valentin Valentin

2015

Auction poster
6.1

André Masson, specialist in modern art, receives a letter according to which a painting by Egon Schiele had been discovered in Mulhouse. He finds that the work has been missing since 1939. This discovery puts his career in danger.

Auction

2024

Auction poster
6.1

André Masson, specialist in modern art, receives a letter according to which a painting by Egon Schiele had been discovered in Mulhouse. He finds that the work has been missing since 1939. This discovery puts his career in danger.

Auction

2024

No artwork available
4.5

In a village of the French Juras, Daniel, 15, and Marie, 14, live in the shadow of their brutal, domineering father, who can only express his love through violence. When their mother dies, the two inseparable children flee into the forest pursued by their father...

The Lambs

1996

Va savoir+ poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Va savoir+

2001

Wuthering Heights poster
7.2

In 1930s south of France, young orphan Roch is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Lindon, a man of means who befits her stature. Roch vows to win her back.

Wuthering Heights

1985

The Great Alibi poster
5.3

Like every weekend senator Henri Pagès and his wife entertain guests at their beautiful mansion in a peaceful village near Paris. But this time around, things go awry: Pierre Collier, a psychoanalyst and consummate womanizer, is brutally murdered. Claire, his wife, dazed and confused by his corpse, with a smoking gun still in her hand, seems to be the ideal culprit...

The Great Alibi

2008

The Great Alibi poster
5.3

Like every weekend senator Henri Pagès and his wife entertain guests at their beautiful mansion in a peaceful village near Paris. But this time around, things go awry: Pierre Collier, a psychoanalyst and consummate womanizer, is brutally murdered. Claire, his wife, dazed and confused by his corpse, with a smoking gun still in her hand, seems to be the ideal culprit...

The Great Alibi

2008

Secret Defense poster
6.3

After biologist Sylvie discovers her brother Paul trying to steal a gun from her lab, he explains that he wishes to avenge the death of their father whom he suspects died at the hands of his business partner.

Secret Defense

1998

Night and Day poster
5.8

Jack and Julie live in a bare Parisian flat. By day, they make love; by night, Jack is a taxi driver while Julie wanders the city. One day, Julie meets Joseph, the daytime cabbie, and soon Julie spends her nights with Joseph and her days with Jack.

Night and Day

1991

Genealogies of a Crime poster
6.5

An attorney defends a young man on trial for killing his aunt — a psychiatrist who took him in to study possible homicidal tendencies.

Genealogies of a Crime

1997

Golden Eighties poster
6.5

In a lively shopping center, proprietors and customers are bustling, including three women vying for a man's heart with song and dance.

Golden Eighties

1986

The Spellbound poster
5.2

For the "story of the month," Coline, a contributor to a women's magazine, is sent deep into the Pyrenees to interview Simon, a rather wild artist who claims his mother appeared to him at the precise moment she died. Coline is particularly intrigued since her beautiful neighbor Azar insists the same thing happened with her father! On the night they meet, Simon attempts to seduce Coline, who resists but falls in love... Based on Henry James's 1896 short story "The Way It Came," later renamed "The Friends of the Friends" for the New York Edition.

The Spellbound

2019