Marie-France Santon

Mother

Henri Verneuil was born Achod Malakian of Armenian parentage on October 15, 1920, in Rodosto, Turkey, and his family fled to France and settled in Marseilles when he was a young child. He later recounted his childhood experience in the novel Mayrig, which he dedicated to his mother and made into this 1991 film with the same name.

Love Affairs Usually End Badly

Zina, young theater opener, hesitates between the love of Slim, taxi driver who hopes to become a lawyer and that of Frederic, who holds the poster at the theater. Why not keep her two loves?

Anything for Her

Lisa and Julien are married and lead a happy uneventful life with their son Oscar. But their life radically changes one morning, when the police comes to arrest Lisa on murder charges. She's sentenced to 20 years of prison. Convinced of his wife's innocence, Julien decides to act. How far will he be willing to go for her?

The Crisis

Victor is a legal advisor who finds himself abandoned by his wife and fired the same day. He tries to seek comfort from different friends and family members, but everyone he meets is concerned with their own problems. His morale begins to falter when he realizes that no one cares about him.

Evasions

In the hot summer of 1940 the German troops are just outside Paris, and numerous Parisians are leaving the city in a complete panic. Luce Ader, the sensitive daughter of a factory owner, decides somewhat belatedly to escape as well, together with her arrogant fiancé Bruno. Since they have a luxury automobile, the elderly society lady Daine Lessing decides to join them, and brings along the sensitive homosexual diplomat with her. The four of them finally leave the city in the hopelessly overloaded luxury car, only to get stuck in the middle of a seemingly endless column of refugees along a dusty road outside Paris...

Sachs' Disease

Dr. Bruno Sachs, the only medical practitioner in a small French town, seems on the surface to be compassionate and dedicated. However, in private he is not happy in his work and does not like most of his patients. Here he meets Pauline Kasser, a young woman, and they are attracted to each other...

Never Say... Never!

Paris, 1830. Valentin loses himself in alcohol, gambling and women. He does not believe in life and especially not in love. His uncle Van Buck believes only in the virtues of money and trade. Everything separates them until the day when Van Buck, to improve his public image, wants to make Valentin marry the young and impoverished Baroness Cécile. Valentin, who has absolutely no desire to get married, bets that he can easily seduce her in 24 hours and thus prove that she, like all the others, is not worth loving... But Cécile, who believes in true love, will prove much more difficult to woo than envisaged and Valentin will have to use all possible stratagems to try and win his bet. The game of cat and mouse starts... But who is the cat?

The Poisoner

Loudun, October 1947. Leon Besnard and Marie celebrate their eighteenth wedding anniversary with friends and Ady, a former German prisoner they have "adopted". A few days later, Leon dies. Louise, a friend of the couple's and probably Leon's mistress claims that, on his deathbed, the deceased told her that Marie was poisoning him. The whole town soon condemns Marie and she is arrested and sent to jail. Did she really kill Léon as well as twelve other members of her family as she finds herself charged with?

Mother

Henri Verneuil was born Achod Malakian of Armenian parentage on October 15, 1920, in Rodosto, Turkey, and his family fled to France and settled in Marseilles when he was a young child. He later recounted his childhood experience in the novel Mayrig, which he dedicated to his mother and made into this 1991 film with the same name.

Love Affairs Usually End Badly

Zina, young theater opener, hesitates between the love of Slim, taxi driver who hopes to become a lawyer and that of Frederic, who holds the poster at the theater. Why not keep her two loves?

Anything for Her

Lisa and Julien are married and lead a happy uneventful life with their son Oscar. But their life radically changes one morning, when the police comes to arrest Lisa on murder charges. She's sentenced to 20 years of prison. Convinced of his wife's innocence, Julien decides to act. How far will he be willing to go for her?

The Crisis

Victor is a legal advisor who finds himself abandoned by his wife and fired the same day. He tries to seek comfort from different friends and family members, but everyone he meets is concerned with their own problems. His morale begins to falter when he realizes that no one cares about him.

Evasions

In the hot summer of 1940 the German troops are just outside Paris, and numerous Parisians are leaving the city in a complete panic. Luce Ader, the sensitive daughter of a factory owner, decides somewhat belatedly to escape as well, together with her arrogant fiancé Bruno. Since they have a luxury automobile, the elderly society lady Daine Lessing decides to join them, and brings along the sensitive homosexual diplomat with her. The four of them finally leave the city in the hopelessly overloaded luxury car, only to get stuck in the middle of a seemingly endless column of refugees along a dusty road outside Paris...

Sachs' Disease

Dr. Bruno Sachs, the only medical practitioner in a small French town, seems on the surface to be compassionate and dedicated. However, in private he is not happy in his work and does not like most of his patients. Here he meets Pauline Kasser, a young woman, and they are attracted to each other...

Never Say... Never!

Paris, 1830. Valentin loses himself in alcohol, gambling and women. He does not believe in life and especially not in love. His uncle Van Buck believes only in the virtues of money and trade. Everything separates them until the day when Van Buck, to improve his public image, wants to make Valentin marry the young and impoverished Baroness Cécile. Valentin, who has absolutely no desire to get married, bets that he can easily seduce her in 24 hours and thus prove that she, like all the others, is not worth loving... But Cécile, who believes in true love, will prove much more difficult to woo than envisaged and Valentin will have to use all possible stratagems to try and win his bet. The game of cat and mouse starts... But who is the cat?

The Poisoner

Loudun, October 1947. Leon Besnard and Marie celebrate their eighteenth wedding anniversary with friends and Ady, a former German prisoner they have "adopted". A few days later, Leon dies. Louise, a friend of the couple's and probably Leon's mistress claims that, on his deathbed, the deceased told her that Marie was poisoning him. The whole town soon condemns Marie and she is arrested and sent to jail. Did she really kill Léon as well as twelve other members of her family as she finds herself charged with?

Agathe et le grand magasin

A bygone symbol of the luxury of yesteryear and a true institution in a provincial town, the "Grand Magasin" is living its last hours. Indeed, the management, which can no longer afford the establishment, is preparing to sell the store to a large distribution group. Agathe, a saleswoman in the men's department for more than 25 years, is shocked to discover that all the staff will be laid off. Feeling both betrayed and responsible for the future of the "Grand Magasin", she becomes a passionaria, leading her colleagues to revolt, a true leader. The operation finally seems to bear fruit when the sale is cancelled and a new director is appointed.

Jaune revolver

Angele kills the bank robber who has taken her as hostage and deposits the money. The police and a privat eye of the insurance compnay are suspicious. Leslie, the girlfriend of the robber, attracts Angele and they start a journey to the mountains. Do they become real friends?

Imogène McCarthery

Elle est rousse. Elle est écossaise. Elle aime le rugby et la cornemuse. Elle vit à Londres, mais se considère en exil. Elle a un fichu caractère et une sacrée descente au whisky. Elle s’appelle Imogène Mc Carthery… du clan des McLeod !

Le Voleur et la menteuse

The thief: a gangster on the lam, is waiting for a boat which is to sail away from this harbor,a dead end. The liar: a young woman he meets in a restaurant tells him the story of her life based on the screenplay of a movie she was to make. They fall head over heels in love. The convict who has just escaped from jail wants to keep her out of his predicament, but after a night of desperate love, she refuses to leave him.And the police are tracking him down.

Strange Place for an Encounter

France is a haughty, bourgeoise wife who is abandoned at the side of the road by her husband after a vicious quarrel. She meets Charles, a doctor. The meeting of the two strangers is the focus of the film, along with their encounters with characters at a truck stop.

Joyeuses Pâques

Bras de fer

Complex and more cerebral than a wartime action-thriller, this espionage drama focuses on the relationship of two former buddies who were fencing masters before the war and in love with the same woman. Now Delancourt (Bernard Giraudeau) is apparently living a good life managing a gym in a Paris hotel under Nazi control, where he meets his former friend Pierre (Christophe Malavoy), who is on a secret assignment to mislead the Nazis on the date of the Normandie invasion. Pierre, alias Augustin, cannot figure out if Delancourt is a real resistance fighter or if he is a double agent. Circumstances create a larger and larger gap between the former friends while the plot goes through several twists and turns before Pierre's doubts are resolved.

L'Apprentissage de la ville

Reduced to poverty, a young man is taken in by a rich lady who asks him for some dangerous services in exchange.

The Superb Trip

Argenteuil, July 1973. Five unstable, insecure buddies pass the boredom by pilfering in the stores and revving up their motorcycles. On the eve of July 14th, during a trip to Bastille, a motorcycle paradise, one of them, Roger, gets into a fight with a policeman and is wounded. While fleeing, he meets a young "runaway" who helps him escape the search and rejoin Anne, "his wife". Despite a rather incredible maneuver, the two boys break into an apartment and kidnap the occupants. Anne and Roger don't manage to reach each other "discreetly", and the adventure ends stupidly: surrounded by the police, Roger makes a false move and throws the motorcycle into the ditch. When they get out of hospital or prison, life starts all over again.

The Poisoner

Loudun, October 1947. Leon Besnard and Marie celebrate their eighteenth wedding anniversary with friends and Ady, a former German prisoner they have "adopted". A few days later, Leon dies. Louise, a friend of the couple's and probably Leon's mistress claims that, on his deathbed, the deceased told her that Marie was poisoning him. The whole town soon condemns Marie and she is arrested and sent to jail. Did she really kill Léon as well as twelve other members of her family as she finds herself charged with?