Tag Archives: France

La Main du Diable / Carnival of Sinners (1943) Maurice Tourneur, Pierre Fresnay, Josseline Gaël, Noël Roquevert, Fantasy, Horror

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A man arrives at an isolated mountain inn clutching a small box. The man is panic-struck when, during a sudden blackout, the box disappears. To the assembled guests at the inn he tells his tragic story. The man, Roland Brissot, was once a penniless artist who, one day, bought a talisman from the owner of a restaurant for one franc.
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Two Weeks in September / À coeur joie (1967) Serge Bourguignon, Brigitte Bardot, Laurent Terzieff, Jean Rochefort, Drama, Romance

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Cecile is a young and beautiful Frenchwoman married to a much older Englishman. She loves her husband and seems to be content with her life, until she meets a younger man and feels forgotten passions stirring within her. She now finds herself confronted with a choice: to stay with the steady and peaceful love of her husband, or to run off for excitement and adventure with a new love?
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Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s (2012) Mike Malloy, Franco Nero, John Saxon, Henry Silva, Documentary, Action, Crime

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A documentary concerning the violent Italian ‘poliziotteschi’ cinematic movement of the 1970s which, at first glance, seem to be rip-offs of American crime films like DIRTY HARRY or THE GODFATHER, but which really address Italian issues like the Sicilian Mafia and red terrorism. Perhaps even more interesting than the films themselves were the rushed methods of production (stars performing their own stunts, stealing shots, no live sound) and the bleed-over between real-life crime and movie crime.
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L’invitation / The Invitation (1973) Claude Goretta, Jean-Luc Bideau, François Simon, Jean Champion, Comedy

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After the death of his mother, middle-aged insurance employee inherits her small cottage surrounded by a garden. Selling the cottage which is situated on unexploited ground near the center of a big city makes him a rich man and he buys a big house in the countryside. He takes some time off and decides to throw a big garden party at the house and invite all his colleagues from the office. Aided by alcohol, the guests gradually lose all their inhibitions and reveal personality traits and frustrations that they normally keep hidden.
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Presque rien avec Luc Ferrari (2005) Jacqueline Caux, Olivier Pascal, Documentary

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Documenting the work of one of the most groundbreaking and seductive composers of the Twentieth Century, this film also shows Luc Ferrari’s “extremely libertarian personality: his spontaneity, his inclination towards hedonism and sensuality, his curious and open character, his rejection of all kind of power and of all stable position within institutions, his pronounced taste for jeux, his sense of self-derision and his ferocious refusal of all dogmatism”.
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Pierrot le fou / Pierrot Goes Wild (1965) Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina, Graziella Galvani, Crime, Drama, Romance

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Ferdinand Griffon is married with his wealthy Italian wife and has been recently fired from the television station where he worked. His wife forces him to go to a party in the house of her influential father that wants to introduce Ferdinand to a potential employer. Her brother brings the babysitter Marianne Renoir to take care of their children.
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Beyond the Walls / Hors les murs (2012) David Lambert, Matila Malliarakis, Guillaume Gouix, David Salles, Drama, Romance

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Paulo, a young pianist, meets Ilir, a bartender and bass guitar player originally from Albania. They become lovers. Confronted by his girlfriend Anka, Paulo finds himself out on the street. Despite Ilir’s misgivings, Paulo moves in with him. One day, when Paulo promises that he will love Ilir for the rest of his life, Ilir leaves the city and doesn’t return. A few days later, Paulo finds out that Ilir is in jail, and their relationship faces unexpected challenges.
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