Quote:
This is a ‘free’ adaptation of Max Ernst’s collage book “La femme 100 têtes”, originally published in 1929.
The book consisted of a surrealist picture per page, with a little legend. But the story depended on the ability of the reader to interpret the collages, and was not relying that much on the legends. The book was about a woman who was living among ghosts and ants, and was an allegory of the immaculate conception.Read More »
Synopsis:
Less ambitious than his previous Golgotha, Julien Duvivier’s La Bandera is nonetheless more entertaining. A Foreign Legion yarn, La Bandera downplays spectacular battle scenes in favor of a romantic triangle. Accused of murder, Pierre (Jean Gabin) joins the Legion, with detective Lucas (Robert Le Vigan) hot on his trail. Both Pierre and Lucas fall in love with beautiful Bedouin girl Aischa (Annabella), which only intensifies their hatred of one another. The two antagonists are eventually forced to bury the hatchet when fighting shoulder to shoulder against uprising natives. The ending is rather startling, inasmuch as the audience was expected the actor with the best screen billing to get the girl.
— Hal Erickson (New York Times).Read More »
In a near future where artificial intelligence reigns supreme, human emotions have become a threat. To get rid of them, Gabrielle must purify her DNA by going back into her past lives. There, she reunites with Louis, her great love. But she’s overcome by fear, a premonition that catastrophe is on the way.Read More »
In an interwar France struggling with profound social and political change, 18-year-old Violette Noziere rebels against the constraints of her claustrophobic, working-class (and possibly incestuous) family, with troubling consequences.Read More »
Allmovie synopsis:
“Radical chic” was a phenomenon of the upper classes in the late ’60s and early ’70s: liberal, socially concerned and very wealthy people would emulate the attitudes, mannerisms and style of the radicalized and revolutionary poor. They would even go so far as to socialize with revolutionaries and provide them with funding for their activities. In this drama, a similar group of bored rich people gets more involved with the radical element than they had planned, and things get out of hand.Read More »
Quote:
Originally broadcast on television over four suspenseful weeks in 1965, BELPHEGOR: PHANTOM OF THE LOUVRE was an unprecedented pop sensation that captivated and terrified all of France.
The sinister, ghostly presence of the mysterious Belphegor is haunting the Louvre, seeking the Treasure of the Kings of France. Against him are pitted the indomitable Commissioner Menadier and an intrepid young student, André Bellegarde, who has his own reasons for wanting to catch this eerie apparition. A duel to the death begins between the murderous Phantom of the Louvre and his enemies throughout the City of Lights.Read More »
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A young couple marry in France in the 1940s and the film follows the arc of their marriage over the next decade. As France recovers from the trauma of the war, the wife finds herself increasingly caught up in acquiring material possessions while the husband prefers a more traditional lifestyle.Read More »
Synopsis:
“Thanks guys, and Merry Christmas!” It’s the end of the working day for Roger, a television cameraman. He leaves the Buttes-Chaumont to spend Christmas Eve with his family, at the wheel of his brand-new 2CV, and comes to the aid of a stranded motorist. Loaded down with gifts, this mysterious passenger takes him on an eventful night out…Read More »
Synopsis:
Janine Bazin and André Labarthe approached Chantal Akerman about making a film for the series; eagerly, Akerman proposed a number of filmmakers—but all had already been done. So she suggested…“How about me?” Akerman creates a fascinating self-portrait that takes us through her career, aided by critics Emmanuel Burdeau and Jean Narboni and filmmaker Luc Moullet.Read More »