The Magnificent Ones

Risk-taking producers at the tail end of a wide-open period of French cinema. Jean-Pierre Rassam lavished money on filmmakers he trusted, and didn’t bother reading scripts. Christian Fechner had to manage a shoot with a star who had just had a heart attack and nobody wanted to insure. And producer and part-time magician Claude Berri was put to the test by Roman Polanski and the sprawling production of Tess.