Michel Serrault
In a Mediterranean city, the association of volunteers The Rescue is expecting a new director. A former trade unionist, Birgos, who’s just escaped from an asylum with Cleo, another internee, is believed, by mistake, to be this new director.
Antonio Vivaldi est né un 4 mars 1679 à Venise. Il est frappé dés sa naissance d'un mal qu'on ne parviendra jamais à déceler, et qui décide sa mère à lui administer aussitôt, un baptême provisoire. Ce mal dont se plaindra le virtuose toute sa vie ne l'empêchera pas toutefois de donner des récitals à des intervalles très rapprochés. Persuadée de l'intervention de Dieu, sa mère le fait tonsurer à l'age de 14 ans, avec l'assentiment de son mari, convaincu lui-même que cette orientation sacerdotale faciliterait grandement la carrière d'instrumentiste de son fils...
In Paris, many citizens go to the precinct after the doors of their apartments have been sprayed with a 4 and the letters "clt". When a dweller is found mysteriously dead in his apartment, Detective Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg and his partner Danglard investigate...
May 1940, in the French Ardennes. The German Army is getting ready to invade France. Old Gustave lives alone in his village with Camille, his teenage granddaughter and Etienne, his grandson. All the other inhabitants have evacuated the village, which makes Gustave very happy as he is the sole master there. Etienne, does not care because he is too young but Camille is beginning to suffer from her solitude and finds it hard to put up with her granddad's selfishness and bossiness. One day a patrol of African-born soldiers ("Tirailleurs Sénégalais") comes to the deserted village...
France, 1914, during World War I. On Christmas Eve, an extraordinary event takes place in the bloody no man's land that the French and the Scots dispute with the Germans…
"Homosexuality, this painful problem "... It was thirty years ago, the title of a program of Ménie Grégoire! But what has happened since the seventies, when France was transformed and the gay movement emerged? For gays and lesbians, thirty years of fights, hopes and despairs, thirty years of parties, sufferings and mournings, victories and emancipation. Thirty revolutionary years, pink and black, on which Yves Jeuland has examined, in an approach that is at once documentary, historian and ethnographer. First part: "Red years" (1971/1979) "Pink years" (1979/1984) Second part "Black years" (1983/1991) "Rainbow years" (1992/2002)
An old man who has one interest in life, collecting butterflies, has his life changed by an eight year old girl.
Set in 1913, 1936 and 2001. When he returns to the casino and seaside resort of his early teens, Louis, a 78 year old man encounters Olivia, a 19 year old young woman madly in love with a violent cad. Louis tells the story of his own mother having a passionate, driven fling with his Italian tennis instructor in 1936, and of Marie Collins Brown, the slightly older widowed woman who helped him through his confusion and pain by recounting the story of her passionate 24 hour fling with a hopeless young Polish gambler in 1913.
On October 9th, 1963, at 10:39 pm, 260 million cubic meters of rock fell down from Mount Toc to the artificial lake formed by the Vajont dam, the higher dam in the world. The landslide formed a 250-meters wave and 50 million cubic meters of water completely destroied all the below towns, killing more than 2000 people. Planned by engineer Semenza, Vajont dam (263 meters) had to carry the electricity in all the houses of the country. Tina Merlin, a journalist from 'L'Unitá', tried for years to denounce the danger to build a dam near the Mount Toc and expecially to denounce all the omissions by the corrupted politicians and workers in charge of the dam construction. They preferred to trust in old geologist Dal Piaz instead to hear engineer Semenza young son's alarming analysis. No one seemed to understand the high danger until that October fatal night.
A collection of artifacts from an archeological dig in Egypt are brought to the famous Louvre museum in Paris, and while experts are using a laser scanning device to determine the age of a sarcophagus, a ghostly spirit escapes and makes its way into the museum's electrical system.
Sandrine, a woman in her thirties gets tired of life in Paris and decides to leave her work in computers and become a farmer. She takes the required practice for two years, and after that she buys an isolated farm from Adrien, an old farmer who decides it's time to retire. However, Adrien wants to stay a few more months before moving away from the farm, and the rough winter finds them together...
French philosopher Denis Diderot produces the first encyclopedia while indulging in 18th-century decadence.
The film is set in Marais, a quiet region along the banks of Loire river in 1918. Riton is afflicted with a bad-tempered wife and three unruly children. Garris lives alone with his recollections of World War I trenches. Their daily life consists of seasonal work and visits from their two pals: Tane, the local train conductor and Amédée, a dreamer and voracious reader of classics.
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) was one of the first well-known female painters. The movie tells the story of her youth, when she was guided and protected by her father, the painter Orazio Gentileschi. Her professional curiosity about the male anatomy, forbidden for her eyes, led her to the knowledge of sexual pleasure. But she was also well known because in 1612 she had to appear in a courtroom because her teacher, Agostino Tassi, was suspected of raping her. She tried to protect him, but was put in the thumb screws...
Betty and Victor are a pair of scam artists. One day Betty brings in Maurice, a treasurer of a multinational company. Maurice is due to transfer 5 millions francs out of Switzerland, and Betty is convinced he plans to steal that money.
Behind the scenes of the theater, while the last performance has just ended, the comedian returns to his box.
Old professional killer Wagner seeks someone to teach what he knows as long as he is already dying, and he chooses Max, young and passionless thief to be his successor.
Beaumarchais the Scoundrel is a biopic film based on the life of the French playwright, financier and spy Pierre Beaumarchais depicting his activities during the American War of Independence and his authorship of the Figaro trilogy of plays.
Nelly leaves her lazy, unemployed husband to work for retired judge Mr Arnaud, forty years her senior, after he offers to clear her bills for her. While she types his memoirs the two develop a close friendship, but Arnaud becomes jealous when Nelly begins dating his good-looking young publisher.
Francis, the boss of a small plumbing supply company, is harassed by tax collectors, striking employees, and an impossible wife and daughter. His only joy is sharing lunch with his friend Gerard. Then a TV show called "where are you?" shows a woman from Gers who is searching for her husband who disappeared 28 years ago. The lost husband looks like an identical twin of Francis...
Having first lost his wife then his job as a tweed tailor, Alex Ponttin has devised a novel way to keep himself in touch with society. He admits himself into people's homes, by pretending to be a relative or an official, and persuading his victims to give him a night's free board: He finds at first a lunch at the horrible couple Dumont, where a thief follows him for a robbery. Alex spent an evening in front of TV at Marie, mother of seven children. He runs from Marie to find an evening and a new bed at the home of charming but shy lesbian Caroline and her funny lover Gloria. To save her inheritance, Caroline - accused for her homosexuality by her horrible sister Catherine - tells her aunt Amélie, that Gloria is her secretary and Alex her lover. So Alex has to present himself nude in Caroline's bed. He saves Carolines inheritance. The police officers investigating the case are so terminally stupid that Alex has little chance of being arrested.
A story of a modest ordinary crook trying his best to turn his boring life into an affordable extraordinary adventure.
La vieille qui marchait dans la mer (English: The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea) is a 1991 French film directed by Laurent Heynemann and written by Heynemann and Dominique Roulet. It won the 1992 César Award for Best Actress.
A true story shot in a German Impressionistic style. In France during the Nazi occupation, Dr. Petiot (Michel Serrault) offered to help Jews escape the Nazis. They would come to his house, and he would kindly give them lethal "vaccinations" for their anticipated travel to Argentina. Then he would steal everything the brought with them (in addition to their up-front payment to him) and burn their bodies in his home-made crematorium.
In this romantic story, a couple (Michel Serrault and Virna Lisi) who have been married for over forty years are forced to separate, one to each of their two children's families, when they can no longer pay the rent on their longtime apartment. Absence, in this case, refreshes their memory of the love they have shared, and they take to meeting one another furtively in hotel rooms for sex and affection. One summer, as each of their daughters families takes them on separate vacations, they have had enough, and elope, finding contentment as lighthouse keepers off the coast of Sicily.
This movie tells the story of a group of right-wing cops have begun carrying out vigilante justice on drug dealers and other crime figures who might otherwise avoid punishment for their misdeeds. Police inspector Grindel (Delon) understands the feelings which motivate these deeds, but does not approve. However, he is not highly motivated to put an end to the group's activities until it begins to appear that they are now attacking fellow cops for reasons which are unclear.
Anxious and shy, Michaud works for a company that specializes in alarms, safes and other security devices.
When Catherine (Nathalie Baye) is caught with her illicit lover by her father-in-law Paul (Michel Serrault), the concerned father leaves to tell his son Thomas (Francois Dunoyer) about the incident. Paul is injured in an auto accident and returns home in a wheelchair unable to speak. Catherine's guilt weighs heavily on her as she hopes to never let Thomas know she was unfaithful. She panics and seeks a way to eliminate Paul in this psychological thriller.
Two members of the French Academy agree to help the attractive young veterinarian Esther investigate the suspicious death of her sister. Esther is convinced her brother-in-law is responsible, but soon it becomes apparent that those responsible are linked to the very highest echelons of power in the Vatican.
On Ne Meurt Que Deux Fois, a French murder mystery based upon a novel of the same name, is an unusual, involving film with excellent performances by its entire cast. Police Inspector Staniland (Michel Serrault) is investigating the death of a pianist. While conducting his investigation and looking through the victim's apartment, he meets Barbara (Charlotte Rampling), the mistress of the murder victim. Barbara confesses to the crime, but Staniland, based on his observations and experience, does not believe her. He then sets out to find the truth, with surprising results. Both Serrault and Rampling are outstanding in this well-directed, well-paced film. On Ne Meurt Que Deux Fois was also released as He Died With His Eyes Open and won the Jury Prize at the 1985 Montreal World Film Festival.
Third and final version of the La Cage aux Folles series has Renato's drag queen lover Albin learning that he can inherit a vast fortune from a distant relative. But the catch is that Albin must marry (a woman) and produce a heir within a year or the whole inheritance will be forfeited.
Claire's handbag is stolen. It contained a letter written ten years previously by the man who is now the French President. In the letter he urges his pregnant mistress to have an abortion. Claire immediately alerts the President's men. From that moment, the machinery of state swings into action.
King's Dagobert I intestinal and sexual problems loom large as he survives an attack on his royal caravan then barely makes it to Rome to personally give thanks to the Pope. After he arrives at the Vatican, he becomes involved in the battle between two contenders for the papacy and has to face the machinations of a ruthless Byzantine princess.
Michel,a referee has to suffer the consequences of having whistled a penalty against a team which is supported by football hooligans.
Beauvoir, lonely, aging private detective, is put on the bloody track of beautiful Catherine Leiris who kills and robs her rich husband(s) on their wedding night. Although he never approaches her directly, he follows her and increasingly feels to be telepathically connected to her, because she reminds him of his daughter he never met. After he led a blind artist, Catherine's truly beloved spouse, into a bus accident, she makes a living by bank robbery with young Betty till Betty gets shot. Alone again, Catherine leads a sad, uneventful life as a waitress, when she meets her follower.
A hatter in a provincial town (Michel Serrault) leads the life of a respectable citizen but is in fact a serial murderer. The only person to suspect this is his neighbour the tailor (Charles Asnavour).
The Last Strange Voyage of Donald Crowhurst is a non-fiction book by Ron Hall and Nicholas Tomblin about a man who first cheated to win an international sailing competition and then disappeared from his sailboat in the final lap of the race -- a story that serves as the inspiration for this film. Director Christian de Chalonge and writer Andre G. Brunelin have changed the setting to France, with a Frenchman named Julien Dantec (Jacques Perrin) as the sailboat enthusiast and the international race is now a French competition. Julien is actually an electronics professional who is down on his luck when he decides to enter the race. He is led astray from his original good intentions by a low-life press agent who convinces him it would be well worth his while to win the race by illegal maneuvering. As he sets off, flashbacks tell how he came to be on the sailboat; later he has long monologues -- several of them, and in-between he occasionally battles to stay afloat on an uncooperative sea.
In antique Rome, a simple pepboy for chars becomes involved in a coup against Cesar. Rahatlocum is a North African Roman colony where Julius Caesar came to spend an expensive holiday. The revolt rumbles among the small people who find a leader in the person of Ben-Hur Marcel.
In southern France, in a quiet little town, the mayor, who also owns a castle with some cattle, is in the wine cellar with some other people: the pharmacist, the veterinary, and some of his employees. As they are drinking wine, they hear a terrible noise and the heat's getting higher and higher. They don't realize what's happening: when they come out of the cellar, they realize that everything has burned, and all the buildings are destroyed...
Martinaud, an illustrious notary suspected of being the perpetrator of two horrendous crimes, voluntarily agrees to be questioned by Inspector Gallien on New Year's Eve. What initially is a routine procedure, soon becomes a harsh interrogation that seems to confirm the initial suspicions.
In a move to make his partner, Renato, jealous, the flamboyant Albin waits in a local cafe - dressed as a woman - hoping to be picked up. But Albin gets more than he bargains for when the fly he catches in his web is actually a spy, who uses him as an unwitting courier of secret microfilm. Now on the run from ruthless agents, Albin and Renato flee to Italy where they attempt to hide out on a farm, with Albin posing as Renato's wife. Can Albin escape the deadly pursuit of these relentless spies or does he have to sustain this charade - as a woman - forever?
Since his wife died, Inspector Louis Baroni (Philippe Noiret) has become a virtual recluse, preferring the solitude of his quiet house to the company of others. His period of mournful contemplation is broken when he is called out to look into the suspicious death of Madame Morlaix who, according to her husband Edouard (Michel Serrault), fell from an upstairs window. Curious to find out more, Baroni begins his inquiry.
Leon de Paris is a modest dog-barber in Paris. In search of more satisfaction. Thanks to the economic helps of Fanny (his terrible mother in law), he succeeds to set up in Roma a very stylish "Coiffeur pour homme". But due to this, his life with Fanny isn't funny, and more, Leon has to dissimulate homosexuality for job reasons. He decides to stop this nightmare engaging "Er Cuculo" (the cuckoo) a B-gangster to simulate a robbery. In fact the plan is to take all Fanny's money, share it among them and escape in Montecarlo. Will the strange couple succeed?
Martial Perrin is the president of a right-wing political party which is gearing itself up for a forthcoming election. When he learns that a notorious criminal named Kraus has escaped from prison, Perrin panics and goes into hiding. His deputy, Constant, hires Perrin’s cousin, Gilbert, an actor who is a perfect double of Perrin, to replace him. What Gilbert does no know is that the killer Kraus is bumping off the people who were implicated in the affair for which he was arrested, and that Perrin is next on his list.
Charles Moreau, general practitioner, and Hélène, his wife, have four girls aged 11 to 20 years. The eldest, Claire, plays the piano when she does not let her mind indulge in solitary reverie. Bernadette has a real passion for horses, while Cecile, the youngest, plays from a young age to realize all her whims. As for Pauline, at the age of 17, she decided that she would become a novelist. So she writes a book telling the story of family life. One day, when she comes out of high school, she meets Pierre, a penniless painter, from whom she immediately falls.
An absurd black comedy that cunningly reverses the conventions of the crime thriller to comment on the alienating and dehumanizing effects of contemporary urban life. Alphonse Tram is unwittingly involved in several murders despite having no memory of committing the crimes. His confusion lead him to confess to his neighbour, Inspector Morvandieu. Alphonse and Morvandieu become the axis around which murders occur.
Solange is depressed: she's stopped smiling, she eats little, she says less. She has fainting fits. Her husband Raoul seeks to save her by enlisting Stephane, a stranger, to be her lover. Although he listens to Mozart and has every Pocket Book arranged in alphabetical order, Stephane fails to cheer Solange. She knits. She does housework. Everyone, including their neighbor a vegetable vendor, agrees that she needs a child, yet she fails to get pregnant by either lover. The three take a job running a kids' summer camp where they meet Christian, the precocious 13-year-old son of the local factory manager. It is Christian who restores Solange to laughter
Two gay men living in St. Tropez have their lives turned upside down when the son of one of the men announces he is getting married. They try conceal their lifestyle and their ownership of the transvestite club downstairs when the fiancée and her parents come for dinner.
Goumic, an industrialist and his wife Anne lose their big house when their town's mayor coerces them to sell it for a low price.
Michel Dolannes resigns from a major newspaper as a journalist to launch a new journal 'Le Cosmopolite' which reveals all kinds of shady deals.One day, he is killed but who is the killer?
Here we find a group of misfits who've given up on humanity and have decided to dwell below the pavement. The group has its own hierarchy, of course, and soon the conditions that drove them underground begin to manifest themselves without the influences of the Outside World.
Overnight, Paris is invaded - although peacefully - but the Chinese Army, and millions of Chinese people... It's the Nazi occupation all over again, with modern - funny - twists.
Robert Lamoureux plays a General in the Resistance. With an unlikely team of French patriots, he easily outwits the buffoonish Germans and steals the master copy of their plans to invade England. By doing so, he prevents the invasion and makes it more likely that the Allies will win the war.
Four guys working for a small grocer in trouble, declare war on a new giant neighborhood supermarket by attempting several coups. A film about the big store taking over the business of smaller stores.
In 1930, Louis Martinet, a peaceful sexagenarian, no longer has a long life to live according to the words of his doctor, Leon Galipeau, who sees to take advantage of the very interesting situation of the "future deceased". This one indeed has a small house in Saint-Tropez. Galipeau sniffs the windfall. Following his advice, Martinet agrees to give it in life to the brother of the doctor, Emile, and then rushes back to a health of iron. Worse, he even survives the war. Galipeau, exhausted, decide to use the great means to get rid of the importunce who persists in thwarting their project ...
Selon "Radio plus près de Dieu", rien n'est conçu sans Dieu, surtout pas les shampoings, produits de beauté, la vente des disques... Un animateur dénonce cette escroquerie à l'antenne, ce qui lui vaut d'être licencié. Il réapparaîtra sur de nouvelles ondes avec "Radio plus près de la Vérité".
Murder mystery involving a man and his relationship with twin sisters.
Paris, in the spring of 1968. Albin Cérès, 23, the son of a bourgeois couple on the verge of breakdown, seeks happiness in life. Disappointed by Laurent, the leader of a small group of revolutionary students ; disappointed by Paméla, a girl he half-heartedly makes love to ; refusing the friendship of Moss, a refined fifty-year-old who is secretly in love with him, Albin returns to his parents'home for a while. Shortly afterward he meets Lore, a lovely young lady, who dreams of revolution... A great love is born!
Gabriel Pelletier's life is no bed of roses. Not because of his job: he is a successful sales manager. But on account of the various wrongdoings committed by his kin. First, there is his daughter Nicole, who has just developed an infatuation with a young man who is not only a revolutionary student but the the son of a Sicilian mobster as well. Then he has to cope with Bernard, his brother-in-law, a ladies'man who has been vamped by one of the sexy daughters of the Sicilian. Let's not forget Albert, his own brother, an avant-garde filmmaker also in trouble with Lombardi, the omnipresent gangster. To crown it all, Maryse, his domestic worker, is a Maoist militant!... In the end, poor Gabriel can't take it anymore. He hits the road and calls it quits.
A gang of young tugs led by Frankie, opens a nightclub just in front of a gangster's hideout. Morelli is his name and he prepares the stealing of the century.
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme satirizes attempts at social climbing and the bourgeois personality, poking fun both at the vulgar, pretentious middle-class and the vain, snobbish aristocracy. The title is meant as an oxymoron: in Molière's France, a "gentleman" was by definition nobly born, and thus there could be no such thing as a bourgeois gentleman.
Jean-Louis Matouzec works for French National Library as an expert looking after the restoration of old manuscripts.He falsifies marriage certificates as his wife refuses divorce.
This talkative and unevenly paced feature finds Fou (Jean Lefebvre) the inventor of a gas that makes the users fall in love. He is chased by his boss, the police, and spies, who seek to secure the secret recipe for their own selfish purposes. A shadowy American underworld figure tries to intimidate the inventor. A half-hearted attempt at comedy tries to go along with the double dealing and trickery of the thin plot of the film.
A scientist from the East happens in France where it is supposed to improve one of his inventions. But it is much more interested in the fact to enjoy it and have fun ...
An ornithologist mistaken for an explosives expert is sent alone into a small French town during WWI to investigate a garbled report from the resistance about a bomb which the departing Germans have set to blow up a weapons cache.
A story about Caroline, a young girl who decides to start dating only men after forty.
Jockey Jack has a bill open with a gangster just released from jail. He somehow manages to parry the gangster's knife attack backstage at a theatre and the latter ends up dead being put into a double bass case. A day later the gangster mysteriously has disappeared, but it turns out that he was carrying a bet ticket for a horse race now worth over a million. A turbulent run for the money begins.
The brother of a delinquent schoolboy falls in love with his teacher and intrigues to make him reciprocate her love, and succeeds.
Paul Martin is the subservient brown-nosing youngster who needs quick advancement up the hierarchy to pay for the modern lifestyle he is buying on credit. Seeing that marrying his immediate superior's daughter will not get him the results he wants, he begins plotting the demise of the head of the company. The company itself specializes in holiday travel and unscrupulously brutalizes its customers for maximum profit, spending more thought on publicity gimmicks than customer service...
"Les quatre vérités" aka "The Four Truths" is a movie anthology that consists of four segments, all loosely parodying fables from the 17th-century French poet Jean de la Fontaine. The US cut usually features only 3 segments.
A young girl rescues a man from a suicide attempt. He turns out to be a sociopath, who begins to take over her life, abusing her both verbally and emotionally, yet she can't seem to tear herself away from him.
Comical adventures of two pairs of friends during their stay in Deauville, Normandy.
Marcel, a simple-minded factory worker, is tricked into buying a high-priced American convertable car by a widow determined not to let it fall into the hands of her late husband's secretary/secret lover. Once in pocession of the car, Marcel only encounters one bad luck episode after another with the excessive gasoline consumtion, his wife trying to sell it to make ammends meet, getting into traffic jams, accidently riding into a car wash with the top down, and more
The seven stages in the life of the modern Frenchwomen are disclosed by seven directors in a witty way: 1 - Childhood, 2 - Adolescence, 3 - Virginity, 4 - Marriage, 5 - Adultery, 6 - Divorce, 7 - The Single Woman.
The film is a 20th-century adaptation of Voltaire's 1759 social satire novel Candide, ou l’Optimisme.
Miguel foils a bank robbery and becomes a successful nightclub singer, but he doesn't know that his wife is being courted by an Italian fitness instructor.
A man dreams he is in a wax museum after it is closed for the night.The statues come to life and behave in mysterious ways.
Aimé Morin, a good-natured bookseller, is also one of the candidates in the local elections of his small town. He is well-liked by most but he also has political enemies. Among them is Lagarde, a journalist close to the latter. Lagarde takes advantage of Morin being on holiday in Paris to try and tarnish his reputation. His machination unfortunately works and poor Aimé finds himself mistaken for a sex maniac.
Nightclub entertainer Jean Clery discovers too late that the 'baby' he agreed to take care of is a wild, shapely sex kitten.
The cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle, is murdered by an unlikely duo -- his meek wife and the mistress he brazenly flaunts. The women become increasingly unhinged by a series of odd occurrences after Delassalle's corpse mysteriously disappears.
A small-town policeman is informed that "naked women" are dancing in a revue at a local variety theater. Being the guardian of public morals that he is, he decides to stroll on down there and check it out for himself.
Clarisse cheats on her husband with a vain insurance agent. Zamore, the cuckold (and a magician) wouldn't let his wife be stolen so easily. Poiret and Serrault play the rivals in this twisted love story. A poetic absurd fantasy.
