Lionsgate continues its barrage of themed catalogue title sets. This one offers five films from the career of French beauty Catherine Deneuve whose career has intersected with European directorial greats Jacques Demy, Roger Vadim, Luis Bunuel, Francois Truffaut, Roman Polanski and Lars Von Trier. With a track record like that, you may be more than a little disappointed to learn which films made it into this collection. This is definitely a set for die-hard fans or film completists only.

First up is 1968's "Manon 70" which adapts the 19th century opera "Manon" into a hip present-day (plus two years) setting. (It's like the "Dracula 2000" of opera comiques!) Catherine Deneuve stars as Manon, a beautiful young woman who travels the world and lives off the money of old men she pretends to love. With her is Sami Frey's Francois, a young reporter that seems to be her real love and who poses as her brother. Intensely jealous of the situation, Francois seems determined to find a way to keep Manon to himself.

With music by Serge Gainsbourg, "Manon 70" is probably best viewed as an example of its era and nothing more. There's nothing particularly clever or inventive about the piece and -- outside of Deneuve's beauty which, no doubt, the film was sold on back then -- it's a completely forgettable outing on all accounts.

1975's "Le Sauvage" is a film that I did find somewhat enjoyable if only for its truly bizarre setup; Deneuve is Nelly, a woman who has cold feet the day of her wedding and runs away from violently jealous groom Vittori (Luigi Vannucchi). She winds up meeting Martin (Yves Montand), an older man to whom she takes a liking. He tries to help her out but she winds up sticking by his side, following him to the tropical island where he lives the life of a reclusive millionaire. Strange? Absolutely. And what's even stranger is that -- despite the screwball plot -- the film is delivered in a relatively straightforward manner. Going in blind, "Le Sauvage" is a fun experience if only because its not technically proficient as a comedy. I'd imagine that anyone looking specifically for laughs would be disappointed.

1982's "Le Choc", on the other hand, I loved. Starring Alain Delon as a hitman ready-to-retire, the film -- kind of like "Le Sauvage" -- is all over the place but in a more intentional way. There are wonderful comedic bits both in terms of dialogue and in the look and feel of the whole affair. In one scene (told through a single panning shot), Delon bursts through the door of the girlfriend he's just left. She stands naked by the window but he passes right by her to retrieve his pet cat from the naked lap of her new lover. It's darkly comic in a way that really surprises me I'd never heard of it before as more of a cult classic.

The plot does get a bit silly; When Delon tries to stop being a hitman, he has to go on the run from his former employers. He tries to get the money he's had invested, only to learn that he now owns a farm. He heads there under a fake name and falls in love with Claire (Deneuve), the wife of the head farmer who -- it seems -- is completely insane. From there, the film takes similar leaps and detours.

I can see how, given the classics of both Delon and Deneuve, "Le Choc" could be a disappointment but I really had a great time with it. As a Delon vehicle, "Le Choc" is sort of to "Le Samourai" as Humphrey Bogart's cheescake-hunting comedy "All Through the Night" is to "The Maltese Falcon". That is to say, not good but strange enough to smile at.

1981's "Hotel des Ameriques" is, sadly, a plodding affair that never really develops much a storyline. Deneuve is Helene, an older widow working at a family-run hotel in a tourist town. When stranger Gilles (Patrick Dewaere) takes a liking to her, she tries to get rid of him but winds up slowly falling in love. All through the background, we're shown the lives of both those working in this little town as well as the lives of passerbys. While one can appreciate the theme of emptiness and distance, there's so little defined that the experience comes off as empty. While it wouldn't be hard to argue that that's the point, it doesn't make for interesting viewing.

1984's "Fort Saganne" is, perhaps, the biggest disappointment on the set. Clocking in at three hours long, the film stars Gérard Depardieu as Charles Saganne, a French Foreign Legion soldier guarding the Sahara in 1911. While it tries very, very hard to imitate, "Fort Saganne" is no "Lawrence of Arabia".

Strangely, Catherine Deneuve barely appears in the film. When she does, she plays a female journalist who has an affair with Saganne and, ultimately, has little impact on the plot. Though the film itself isn't all the bad, the length makes one question the relative value of experience, especially if you're approaching "Saganne" as a Deneuve fan.
 
The prints on just about all the films are in nice shape and hardcore collectors could do a lot worse at the relatively low MSRP. Like most of the Lionsgate releases, there are no extra features included, though the packaging is a minor step-up from previous releases. This time, the digi-pack is housed within a slipcase made from soft, puffy black plastic with Deneuve's face in a small box in the center. It's an odd choice but it does look a lot better than the photoshopped Alain Delon collection cover.

Like I said, I can only really recommend this to die-hard Denevue fans or serious completist collectors. If you're looking to experience Deneuve for the first time, check out some of her infinitely superior films like "Belle du Jour", "Repulsion" or -- more recently -- "Dancer in the Dark". Outside of "Le Choc", I'm not sure I'd even recommend this one as a rental.