Claude Autant-Lara
Claude Autant-Lara was a French film director and later Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Born at Luzarches in Val-d'Oise, Autant-Lara was educated in France and at London's Mill Hill School during his mother's exile as a pacifist. Early in his career, he worked as an art director and costume designer, his best-known work in this vein was possibly for Nana (1926), a silent film directed by Jean Renoir. Autant-Lara also acted in the film. As a director, he frequently created provocative movies, saying "if a film does not have venom, it is worthless". In the 1960s, he turned his back on the New Wave movement, and from then on he had no popular successes. On 18 June 1989, he came to public notice again, controversially, when he was elected to the European Parliament as a member of the National Front and the oldest member of the assembly. In his maiden speech, in July 1989, he caused a scandal by expressing his "concerns about the American cultural threat", provoking a walkout by the majority of the deputies. In an interview granted to the monthly magazine Globe in September 1989, he accused ex-President of the European Parliament and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil of playing "ethnic politics" to try and "infiltrate and dominate", saying that "If they try to speak to me about genocide, I say they missed mother Veil!" He also described Nazi gas chambers as a "string of lies". The resulting scandal led to his resignation as European deputy. Moreover, the members of ...
Ciboulette (1933)
Duparquet is the controller of Les Halles, and plays matchmaker between the young farm-girl Ciboulette and Antonin, a young spoiled aristocrat. (more)
Duparquet is the controller of Les Halles, and plays matchmaker between the young farm-girl Ciboulette and Antonin, a young spoiled aristocrat. (more)
The Oldest Profession (1967)
A collection of sketches that tells the story of prostitution through the ages. (more)
A collection of sketches that tells the story of prostitution through the ages. (more)
Sylvia and the Ghost
(1946)
A teenager becomes fixated on a painting of the handsome suitor who died in a duel for her grandmother's love. On her sixteenth birthday, her father hires three men who pretend to be the ghost of the suitor to entertain her. Little do they know, the ghost of the ... (more)
A teenager becomes fixated on a painting of the handsome suitor who died in a duel for her grandmother's love. On her sixteenth birthday, her father hires three men who pretend to be the ghost of the suitor to entertain her. Little do they know, the ghost of the ... (more)
Love Letters
(1942)
A plucky businesswoman agrees to receive love letters to a prefect’s wife from a young official, and soon finds herself embroiled in a scandal that inflames a town’s class tensions. (more)
A plucky businesswoman agrees to receive love letters to a prefect’s wife from a young official, and soon finds herself embroiled in a scandal that inflames a town’s class tensions. (more)
My Name Is Anna Magnani (1980)
Traces the life of Anna Magnani, her creations, her successes, her triumphs, her boycotted career, her nonconformism, her anxieties, her generosity ... Punctuated with photos that tell her career in theater and cinema, Extracts of films, this documentary portrait ... (more)
Traces the life of Anna Magnani, her creations, her successes, her triumphs, her boycotted career, her nonconformism, her anxieties, her generosity ... Punctuated with photos that tell her career in theater and cinema, Extracts of films, this documentary portrait ... (more)
News Item (1923)
An experimental short from 1923 France which offers silent narrative in diverse, optical multi-exposures and severe close-ups offering dense montages which create psychological constructs that unfold a Parisian love affair which turns into a threesome of great ... (more)
An experimental short from 1923 France which offers silent narrative in diverse, optical multi-exposures and severe close-ups offering dense montages which create psychological constructs that unfold a Parisian love affair which turns into a threesome of great ... (more)
The Trip Across Paris
(1956)
Two unlikely companions must smuggle four suitcases filled with contraband pork across Nazi-occupied Paris. (more)
Two unlikely companions must smuggle four suitcases filled with contraband pork across Nazi-occupied Paris. (more)
The Green Mare (1959)
The Gambler (1958)
In 1866, a young Muscovite named Alexei Ivanovitch arrives in Baden Baden, then the gambling capital of Austria, and is soon engaged by General Zagorianski to look after his children. Alexei discovers that his employer is a compulsive gambler who has been almost ... (more)
In 1866, a young Muscovite named Alexei Ivanovitch arrives in Baden Baden, then the gambling capital of Austria, and is soon engaged by General Zagorianski to look after his children. Alexei discovers that his employer is a compulsive gambler who has been almost ... (more)
The Count of Monte Cristo (1961)
Edmund Dantes is falsely accused by those jealous of his good fortune, and is sentenced to spend the rest of his life in the notorious island prison, Chateau d'If. While imprisoned, he meets the Abbe Faria, a fellow prisoner whom everyone believes to be mad. The ... (more)
Edmund Dantes is falsely accused by those jealous of his good fortune, and is sentenced to spend the rest of his life in the notorious island prison, Chateau d'If. While imprisoned, he meets the Abbe Faria, a fellow prisoner whom everyone believes to be mad. The ... (more)
Gloria (1977)
Two ten-year-old children, Gloria and Jacques, meet at the former's birthday party. It is love at first sight and they vow eternal love. Unfortunately, the First World War breaks out and they are separated. The people around them do not understand the deep feelings ... (more)
Two ten-year-old children, Gloria and Jacques, meet at the former's birthday party. It is love at first sight and they vow eternal love. Unfortunately, the First World War breaks out and they are separated. The people around them do not understand the deep feelings ... (more)
The Stream (1938)
When Paul, an officer, discovers Denise, a young orphan escaped from her orphanage, he takes advantage of his naivete to seduce her before changing her mind and sending her to live with her mother while sailing. (more)
When Paul, an officer, discovers Denise, a young orphan escaped from her orphanage, he takes advantage of his naivete to seduce her before changing her mind and sending her to live with her mother while sailing. (more)
Fric-Frac
(1939)
An employee at a jewelry store falls in love with a woman who secretly plans to rob the store. (more)
An employee at a jewelry store falls in love with a woman who secretly plans to rob the store. (more)
The Red Inn (1951)
A group of travelers, including a monk, stay in a lonely inn in the mountains. The host confesses the monk his habit of serving poisoned soup to the guests, to rob their possessions and to bury them in the backyard. (more)
A group of travelers, including a monk, stay in a lonely inn in the mountains. The host confesses the monk his habit of serving poisoned soup to the guests, to rob their possessions and to bury them in the backyard. (more)
Les Patates (1969)
In a village in the Ardennes, during the German occupation, finding rations is becoming almost impossible. Clovis, an ordinary labourer, decides to cross the occupied zone to bring back enough potatoes to feed his family. His plan is a success but Clovis rapidly ... (more)
In a village in the Ardennes, during the German occupation, finding rations is becoming almost impossible. Clovis, an ordinary labourer, decides to cross the occupied zone to bring back enough potatoes to feed his family. His plan is a success but Clovis rapidly ... (more)
Thou Shalt Not Kill (1961)
At the end of World War II, a French pacifist is arrested for refusing to fight. In prison, he befriends a German priest arrested for murder of a French Resistance fighter. They discuss morality, obedience, and religion. (more)
At the end of World War II, a French pacifist is arrested for refusing to fight. In prison, he befriends a German priest arrested for murder of a French Resistance fighter. They discuss morality, obedience, and religion. (more)
Love Is My Profession (1958)
Married French lawyer Andre defends succesfully the case of Yvette, who committed a robbery. He falls in love with her, but she isn't true to him. (more)
Married French lawyer Andre defends succesfully the case of Yvette, who committed a robbery. He falls in love with her, but she isn't true to him. (more)
A Woman in White (1965)
Claude Sauvage, a tenacious young gynecologist takes a months long internship in a Paris hospital. Between her private life and medical career, she set her doubts and desires in a society where the square and the plight of women remain at that time a secondary ... (more)
Claude Sauvage, a tenacious young gynecologist takes a months long internship in a Paris hospital. Between her private life and medical career, she set her doubts and desires in a society where the square and the plight of women remain at that time a secondary ... (more)