Michel Delahaye
Between 1931 and 1993, the main Renault plant occupied the whole of an island in a loop in the river Seine to the west of Paris. This was one of the most modern factories in Europe. It was also a bastion of trade-unionism, one of the major hotspots of the events of May and June 1968. Decugis’ film records a process of dismantlement, month-by-month, from April 2004 to March 2005. Demolition began at the downstream end, with the generating plant, then proceeded building by building. The camera remains on the opposite banks, filming the island from across the river. The narration pinpoints and expounds on what is being shown. By March 2005, ‘deconstruction’ is complete. Depollution lasts into 2006.
The struggle of Victor Schœlcher for the abolition of slavery in the French colonies.
A woman returns after twenty years to Toulon where her husband, who collaborated with the nazis, was murdered. Her motives are unclear.
A man looks for a job, ignoring the selection process of employees. Part of "Contes modernes: A propos du travail."
Simone and Martine are usherettes in a porno cinema in Montparnasse. Installed in the hall, they greet regulars, put men in their place, chat and pass the time. At midnight Simone departs to a lesbian nightclub.
The scene is the restless Paris of the interwar years where an attractive and ambitious woman successfully makes her way in a world previously reserved for men: that of high finance. Originating from a humble background, she quickly becomes popular with small savers by offering them outstanding interest rates. Extremely popular, she makes no secret of her taste for the good things in life and her homosexual affairs. They will cost her dearly...
Pierrot, mechanic in Paris, falls madly for a female chemist his senior—who at first refuses him, only accepting love after being diagnosed with a deadly illness.
Serge (Stevenin) is a dweller in the French provinces who happens upon Georges (Jacques Villeret), a Parisian motorist in distress. Serge arranges for the car to be taken to a nearby garage. Georges' friends, who were with him in the car, have continued their journeys. Because of that, Serge takes Georges under his wings while he waits for his car to be repaired, and they tour the countryside and party with the local revelers. Nothing much is said between them, but it is clear that they have become friends
The fortunes of a small theatrical company based in the Paris suburbs.
A tribute to Mallarmé that not only asserts the continuing relevance of his work but also confronts its literary ambiguities with political and cinematic ambiguities of its own. In outline, the film could not be more straightforward: it offers a recitation of one of Mallarmé’s most celebrated and complex poems (it was his last published work in his own lifetime, appearing in 1897, a year before his death) and proposes a cinematic equivalent for the author’s original experiment with typography and layout by assigning the words to nine different speakers, separating each speaker from the other as she or he speaks, and using slight pauses to correspond with white spaces on the original page.
Pierre Lentier murders an 8-year-old in horrendous circumstances. This 30-something solitary factory worker who lives on the edge of society is sentenced to death. A damning indictment of the death penalty and the manipulative behaviour of the media.
Paris, France, 1942, during the Nazi occupation. Robert Klein, a successful art dealer who benefits from the misfortunes of those who are ruthlessly persecuted, discovers by chance that there is another Robert Klein, apparently a Jewish man; someone with whom he could be mistakenly identified, something dangerous in such harsh times.
A well-known politician receives a tape showing her son in a porno movie. She decides to hire a female detective to figure out who is trying to blackmail her.
A number of strange characters come to Corecheux, in France: the Lalyre famille, an homossexual notary, a severe-looking governess, a female witch, a veterinarian, a journalist, and possibly the most chaste of them all, a few young girls ready to lift their skirts up at anything... A young priest takes over the mission to preach at this country estate village - but maybe he is too vigorous for the task.
This film explores the experiences of some of the members of an anti-Nazi resistance group in France composed mostly of Polish immigrants, known as "La Brigade." Many of them also fought for the leftist cause during the Spanish Civil War, and for them the resistance is simply a continuation of their prior activities. After the war, some of them continue to have a "resistance" mind-set. One of the stories concerns a love relationship between a Polish boy and a French girl who are thrown together because of their war efforts. After the war, they get together and reminisce.
A stranger enters into and forever alters the life of a couple. He claims to be pursued by certain authorities who intend to prevent him from disclosing a secret that only he holds, whence the title. Is he lying, or insane - or is he telling the truth? Who, if anyone, is after him? And what *is* - the secret?
The fantasies and dreams of two over-the-hill actresses are intertwined with their realities, as the two roommates struggle to survive their day-to-day lives in the expensive and difficult world of Paris.
Stanislas Previne is a young sociologist, preparing a thesis on criminal women. He chooses Camille Bliss as his subject of study and begins to visit her in prison for interviews. Camille became acquainted with trouble at a young age and justifies her actions by "fate-bets." She is currently in prison for allegedly murdering one of her lovers. As she tells Stanislas of her life and love affairs, his interest in her grows to more than just professional. Can he resist her charm?
This is rural France. It's the summer of 1943, the weather is fine and sunny and life is sweet. On one of these beautiful days, Nanette, a fourteen-year-old peasant girl, meets a slightly injured young man near the farm she lives on. Her life is about to change forever.
A young honeymooning couple stop for the night at an ancient castle. Unbeknownst to them, the castle is home to a horde of vampires, who have their own plans for the couple.
Camille invites some soldiers to spend a Sunday in the country with her. When they arrive, they find that something is amiss.
A fairy godmother helps a princess disguise herself so she won't have to marry her father.
A suicide cult led by a mysterious figure known as The Master. Oliver Martin is the hero, who tries to rescue pretty Caroline Cartier from the cult, only to find out that yet another group of vampires wants to save her too.
Follows the dissolution of the marriage between Claire, an actress and Sebastien, her director.
An American private-eye, arrives in Alphaville, a futuristic city on another planet which is ruled by an evil scientist named Von Braun, who has outlawed love and self-expression.
This consists of four short films by different directors. Rosselini's 'Chastity' deals with an attractive air hostess who receives the unwelcome attentions of a middle aged American. Godard's 'New World' illustrates a post-apocalypse world the same as the pre-apocalyptic one but for an enigmatic change in attitude in most people, including the central character's girlfriend. In Pasolini's 'La Ricotta' (Curd Cheese), a lavish film about the life of Jesus Christ is being made in a poor area. The impoverished people subject themselves to various indignities in the name of moviemaking in order to win a little food. The central character is hoisted up on a cross for filming, and dies there. Finally comes Gregoretti's 'Free Range Chicken' in which a family of the materialist culture inadvertantly illustrate the cynical, metallic voiced doctrine of a top sales theorist.
Il nuovo mondo ("The New World") by Jean-Luc Godard is set in Paris and shows a young couple during a short period after the explosion of a nuclear bomb 120 km over Paris. The city is unaffected by it but the man begins to notice changes in the behaviour of the people in general and in that of his girl friend in particular in the period after the explosion
Françoise, a thirty-year-old single typist lives only for her Sunday release. On this day, she attends a horse race under pretext of perfecting her taste for elegance and refinement. Georges, a neighbor widower, begins to court her.
Short film from French director Jean Rollin with poetry by Tristan Corbière's (1845-1875).
