Maurice Barrier
Birthday: 1932-06-08 Place of Birth: Malicorne-sur-Sarthe, Sarthe, France
Synopsis
Maurice Barrier (8 June 1932 – 12 April 2020) was a French actor and singer. Barrier was the son of a cabinetmaker, and had his first job working in his father's workshop. While in Rennes at age 28, he met several resident actors at the Théâtre National de Bretagne and made his stage debut in Caligula, written by Albert Camus. His first major role on television was in the film The Taking of Power by Louis XIV. His other major films included The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, Two Men in Town, Black and White in Color, Coup de tête, and Flic Story. He played alongside several actors, such as Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Gabin, Alain Delon, Pierre Richard, Gérard Depardieu, and Gérard Jugnot. Barrier was married to the actress Hélène Manesse. The pair resided in Montréal, France from 1962 until Maurice's death on 12 April 2020 in Montbard at the age of 87 due to COVID-19. Source: Article "Maurice Barrier" from Wikipedia in english, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Acting
Life and Nothing But
January, 1920. 350,000 French soldiers remain missing in action. Major Dellaplane tirelessly matches the dead and the wounded with families' descriptions. Honor and ethics drive him; he hates the idea of "the unknown soldier." Into his sector, looking for her husband, comes a haughty, politically connected Parisian, Madame Irène de Courtil. Brusquely, Dellaplane offers her 1/350,000th of his time, but as their paths cross and she sees his courage and resolve, feelings change. After he finds a surprising connection between her missing husband and a local teacher, Irène makes Dellaplane an offer. This man of action hesitates: has he missed his only chance?
The Specialists
While being transferred to another prison, two convicts - Stéphane Carella and Paul Brandon - effect a miraculous escape. They are pursued across the Verdon Gorge before arriving at an isolated farmhouse whose owner, Laura, offers them sanctuary. Since the death of her husband, Laura has longed to get her own back on the police and she agrees to help Carella and Brandon in their scheme to rob a casino in Nice. After a shoot out with the casino’s owners, Carella realises that not everything is what it seems. Brandon is not what he appears...
One Woman or Two
An ad executive impersonates an archeology professor to avoid a situation with an obsessed former lover. She enlists the help of a hapless archeologist who is at the airport to pick the real archeology professor. What follows is a series of conflicting and comical situations involving the "switcheroo."
The ComDads
Unable to find her runaway son, a woman deceives two of her ex-lovers from her youth, a mild-mannered teacher and a tough journalist, that each is the real father in order to obtain their help.
The Outsider
Philippe Jordan is a policeman prone to advancing the cause of justice by any means necessary. On his agenda is a powerful drug cartel working out of Paris and Marseilles, with a drug lord who is essentially inaccessible -- but not immortal.
And the Ship Sails On
In 1914, a cruise ship sets sail from Naples to spread the ashes of beloved opera singer Edmea Tetua near Erimo, the isle of her birth. During the voyage, the eclectic array of passengers discovers a group of Serbian refugees aboard the vessel. Peace and camaraderie abound until the ship is descended upon by an Austrian flagship. The Serbians are forced to board it, but naturally they resist, igniting a skirmish that ends in destruction.
The Return of Martin Guerre
Village of Artigat, southern France, summer 1542, during the reign of Francis I. Martin Guerre and Bertrande de Rols marry. A few years later, accused of having committed a robbery, Martin suddenly disappears. When, almost a decade later, a man arrives in Artigat claiming to be Martin, the Guerre family recognizes him as such; but doubts soon arise about his true identity.
Black and White in Color
French colonists in Africa, several months behind in the news, find themselves at war with their German neighbors. Deciding that they must do their proper duty and fight the Germans, they promptly conscript the local native population. Issuing them boots and rifles, the French attempt to make "proper" soldiers out of the Africans. A young, idealistic French geographer seems to be the only rational person in the town, and he takes over control of the "war" after several bungles on the part of the others.
Flic Story
The film story depicts Emile Buisson, following the death of his wife and child, escaping from a psychiatric institution in 1947 and returning to Paris. Buisson, who three years later would become France's public enemy number one, begins a murderous rampage through the French capital.
The Taking of Power by Louis XIV
Cardinal Mazarin dies, leaving a power vacuum in which the young Louis asserts his intention to govern as well as rule. Mazarin's fiscal advisor, Colbert, warns against Fouquet, the Superintendant who has been systematically looting the treasury and wants to be prime minister. Fouquet believes Louis will soon tire of exercizing power and overplays his hand by offering a bribe to Louis' mistress to be his ally. She reports this to the king who arrests Fouquet. Louis and Colbert design a brilliant strategy to keep merchants making money, nobles in debt, the urban poor working and fed, and peasants untaxed.
