Roselyne and the Lions [Roselyne et les lions] *** (1989, Isabelle Pasco, Gérard Sandoz, Philippe Clévenot, Günter Meisner) – Classic Movie Review 11,848

Director Jean-Jacques Beineix in 1989.

Director Jean-Jacques Beineix’s 1989 French film Roselyne and the Lions [Roselyne et les Lions] stars French actress and photographic model Isabelle Pasco, Gérard Sandoz, Philippe Clévenot, and Günter Meisner.

Beineix (Diva, Betty Blue) directs an unusual film about a beautiful 17-year-old girl called Roselyne (Pasco), who is training to be a lion-tamer at Marseilles zoo, and her boyfriend Thierry (Sandoz), who also fancies life with the lions and is doing odd jobs at the zoo in exchange for lessons from the lion trainer Frazier (Gabriel Monnet).

Roselyne and Thierry leave the zoo together to find work and are taken on by a circus in Munich, scoring success as lion trainers when trainer Klint (Günter Meisner) loses his nerve.

The story is slight but the performers are attractive, the lion taming sequences were done for real and are quite spectacular, and Beineix has a gift for making something different into something special.

The cast are Isabelle Pasco as Roselyne, Gérard Sandoz as Thierry, Gabriel Monnet as Frazier, Philippe Clévenot as Bracquard, Günter Meisner as Klint, Wolf Harnisch as Koenig, Jacques Le Carpentier as Markovitch, Carlos Pavlidis as Petit Prince, Jacques Mathou as Armani, Dumitru Furdui as Stainer, Jaroslav Vízner as Gunter, Patrice Abbou as Ben Jemoul 2, Silvio Bolino as Touron, François Boum as Ben Jemoul 1, and Guillaume Briat as Matou.

Roselyne and the Lions [Roselyne et les lions] is directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix, runs 137 minutes, is made by Cargo Films and Gaumont Productions, is released by Gaumont (France) and Palace (UK), is written by Jean-Jacques Beineix, Jacques Forgeas and Thierry Le Portier, is shot by Jean-François Robin, is produced by Jean-Jacques Beineix, is scored by Reinhardt Wagner, and designed by Carlos Conti.

French actress and model Isabelle Pasco (born 25 April 1966) trained for nine months as a lion trainer for the role.

Jean-Jacques Beineix (8 October 1946 – 13 January 2022).

Jean-Jacques Beineix died on 13 January 2022, aged 75.

Beineix’s feature films: Diva (1981), The Moon in the Gutter (1983), Betty Blue (1986), Roselyne et les lions (1989), IP5: L’île aux pachydermes (1992), and Mortel transfert (2001).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,848

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