In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.
A penetrating study of a marriage on the rocks, set against the backdrop of a small Mediterranean fishing village. Both a stylized depiction of the complicated relationship between a married couple and a documentary-like look at the daily struggles of the inhabitants of Sète in the South of France.
A well-off young woman decides to become a nun, joining a convent that rehabilitates female prisoners. Through their program, she meets a woman named Thérèse who refuses any help because she says she was innocent of the crime she was convicted for. After being released from prison, Thérèse murders the actual perpetrator of the crime and comes to seek sanctuary in the convent.
The orphan Catherine Maguet, nicknamed "La grande Maguet", was taken in by a young and good chatelaine, Suzanne de Norvaisis. Edmond, the husband of the latter, during a trip abroad, falls madly in love with another and will go, to conquer this one, to poison his wife. Imprisoned then released, the lord will finally marry the one for whom he has become a criminal. But the great Maguet will avenge her beloved murdered benefactress...
A Paris-based doctor tries to spread the gospel of Natural Childbirth. Working in a cloistered rural community, Gabin runs up against the stone walls of fear and prejudice. His theories are proven sound when unwed mother Nicole Courcel gives birth within Gabin's methodology. The childbirth sequence is filmed straight-on with a delicate combination of taste and frankness. Nonetheless, the lurid ad campaign of Cas Du Dr. Laurent sensationalized this sequence all out of proportion.
Eric, a 14-year-old boy, is now almost alone. His mother, faced with her husband's bizarre behavior, left the marital home. Eric's father, for his part, leads a triple existence. On the other hand, he maintains apparently normal relations with his son, but at the same time he leads an unacknowledged, secret life "elsewhere", where confused, equivocal relations bind him to a strange, elusive woman, whose vision sometimes inspires feelings of filial love, sometimes reveals to him the bitter taste of a passion faded by time.
Vicky de Berlin, a female gangster, haunted by wartime memories , runs a floating night-club in Brussel. Marcel, her partner and lover, is in charge of the banknotes forgery manufacture concealed in the bottom of the boat. He decides to rob the Bank of Belgium and exchange a huge sum of counterfeit money for its equivalent in genuine one. But things get complicated when Yoko, the she leader of another gang and her lover The Bug interfere...
Political intrigue and psychological drama run parallel. The queen is in seclusion, veiling her face for the ten years since her husband's assassination, longing to join him in death. Stanislas, a poet whose pen name is Azrael, is a suicidal anarchist, his imagination haunted into hate by longing for this queen who's drawn apart. He enters her private quarters intent on killing her then himself, but they fall in love, in part because he looks like the king. Stanislas wants her to regain political power by appearing to the public, and she tries to convince him to find hope and escape. All the while, the queen's enemies plot to keep the lovers together but to thwart their plans.
During the Second World War, in 1943, two French prisoners, François and Michel, escape from Stalag B377 in northern Germany near the Baltic Sea. They meet another escaped compatriot, Pierre, who has donned the uniform of a German officer and joins them. Their goal: to reach neutral Sweden. To get there, they'll have to walk part of the way, then take a train to the coast and, from there, find a way to cross the sea to the shores of Sweden.
It was the reign of Louis XV and, in 1750, France was at war all the time, and the people, suffocated by taxes, liked their beloved Louis less and less. When the governor of Dauphiné arrived in Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs, he had to deal with opponents of the regime who had gathered around cooper Louis Mandrin. Mandrin becomes the vigilante who respects his king, but does not tolerate the oppression of the poor through taxation.
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.
Filmmaking icon Agnès Varda, the award-winning director regarded by many as the grandmother of the French new wave, turns the camera on herself with this unique autobiographical documentary. Composed of film excerpts and elaborate dramatic re-creations, Varda's self-portrait recounts the highs and lows of her professional career, the many friendships that affected her life and her longtime marriage to cinematic giant Jacques Demy.
Simone and Jean have just married and, looking for a home in the Paris region, are lucky enough to find a house with a garden in a residential suburb. Expecting their first child, the young couple began to observe how the parents of neighboring families were raising theirs.
The T.N.P., the Théâtre National Populaire, an important experimental theater directed by Jean Vilar. Franju combines sequences from theatrical performances with documentary images, creating links and confrontations between theater and the real world.
On the morning of January 30, 1889, the Archduke Rodolphe de Habsbourg and his mistress Marie Vetsera were found dead. The remains of Rodolphe are discreetly repatriated to Hofburg, while that of Mary is hastily thrown into the depths of a tomb.
At Christmastime, the love affairs of five clothing models working for Pierre Roussel, a renowned Paris fashion designer. Marlène hesitates between two suitors. Blanche, who loves Jean, Roussel's son, wants him to talk to his father about their relationship. Catherine learns that her lover has a wife and two kids. Jeannette throws herself into the arms of an Oriental prince. In despair the fifth one attempts to commit suicide...
An aging King invites disaster when he abdicates to his corrupt, toadying daughters and rejects his one loving, but honest one.
A television adaptation of Jean Cocteau's surréalist take on the tragedy of Oedipus.