Synopsis
François Merlin (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a Jean Bruce type writer of pulp espionage novels (he has written 42 so far) and about half of the film plays in his imagination, where he is the world-renowned superspy Bob Sinclar. (The name of the character is never seen written in the film. While some people write his name "Saint-Clair", the way it is pronounced in French sounds like Sinclar; in the English dubbed soundtrack the surname is "St. Cloud".)
Christine (Jacqueline Bisset) is a sociology student who lives in François' building and is interested in the novels, but in the writer's imagination she becomes Tatiana, his paramour, while the pompous and rich publisher of his novels, Pierre Charron (Vittorio Caprioli), doubles as the great villain of the spy novels, the Albanian secret service's head Karpov, who in a memorable scene of the film threatens to cut off one of Tatiana's breasts.
Christine is clearly fascinated with the handsome spy Bob Sinclar, an unrealistic and idealised hero, who is the very opposite of his creator: a clumsy, frustrated divorced man who barely makes enough money to get by. However, when she is befriended by the rich and vain publisher who looks down upon his poor hack writer, she realises her mistake, and after a party where he tries to seduce her, she flees him and falls asleep on the landing outside the writer's flat, where he finds her in the morning, clad apparently only in a T-shirt and embraces her for a happy ending. In the final scene, François throws over the balcony his last manuscript, freeing himself from his character and his imaginary life.
Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo was a French actor. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward, frequently portraying police officers and criminals in action thriller films. His best known credits include Breathless (1960), That Man from Rio (1964), Pierrot le Fou (1965), Borsalino (1970), and The Professional (1981). An undisputed box-office champion like Louis de Funès and Alain Delon of the same period, Belmondo attracted nearly 160 million spectators in his 50-year career. Between 1969 and 1982 he played four times in the most popular films of the year in France: The Brain (1969), Fear Over the City (1975), Animal (1977), Ace of Aces (1982), being surpassed on this point only by Louis de Funès.
Winifred Jacqueline Fraser BissetLdH is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in The Detective, Bullitt, and The Sweet Ride, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Newcomer. In the 1970s, she starred in Airport (1970), The Mephisto Waltz (1971), Day for Night (1973), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Le Magnifique (1973), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), St. Ives (1976), The Deep (1977), The Greek Tycoon (1978) and Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.
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Françoise Paulette Louise Dorléac was a French actress. She was the elder sister of Catherine Deneuve, with whom she starred in the 1967 musical, The Young Girls of Rochefort. Her other films include Philippe de Broca's movie That Man from Rio, François Truffaut's The Soft Skin, Roman Polanski's Cul-de-sac, and Val Guest's Where the Spies Are.
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Édouard Molinaro was a French film director and screenwriter.
Maurice Ronet was a French film actor, director, and writer.
François Périer was a French actor renowned for his expressiveness and diversity of roles.
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Hold-Up is a Franco-Canadian crime comedy from 1985, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and directed by Alexandre Arcady. The screenplay by Arcady, Daniel Saint-Hamont and Francis Veber is based on the novel Quick Change by Jay Cronley. The novel was filmed again, as Quick Change (1990), with Bill Murray starring and co-directing.
Incorrigible is a 1975 French comedy film directed by Philippe de Broca and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Geneviève Bujold and Capucine.
A Man and His Dog is a 2008 French film directed by French filmmaker Francis Huster, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, based on the 1952 film Umberto D. directed by Vittorio De Sica, and written by Cesare Zavattini.
The Loner is a 1987 French crime film directed and co-written by Jacques Deray, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Pierre Malo, Michel Beaune and Pierre Vernier. It was the last in a series of commercial action films made by Belmondo, which started with 1975's The Night Caller and made him a powerhouse at the continental European box office.
