TURN-ONS AND TURN-OFFS IN CURRENT HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES : ****Excellent ***Good **Fair *Poor : VIDEOCASSETTES

“Franz.” Kartes. $19.95. In the ‘70s, balladeer Jacques Brel had a fling as a movie star. His film work culminated in this genuine curiosity from 1972, for which Brel wrote scenario and score, starred and directed. Not surprisingly, Brel’s role models seem to be the Jean Gabin of the ‘30s and Chaplin in a darker mode: He plays a lonely misfit, a psychologically scarred veteran of the Algerian War, who has a doomed romance in an ocean-side boarding house. There are a lot of beach scenes, pigeons, helicopter shots and a flaky lyricism which suggests Lelouch and De Broca as much as Fellini. Despite a naive, heart-on-your-sleeve quality, which exactly recalls Brel’s songs, the movie has surprising flavor, mood and interest. Information: (800) 331-1387. ***