Song of the Clouds

In 1958 in Paris, during the Algerian War, a young trainee lawyer, Maître Chabrier, was assigned to defend an Algerian garbage collector against paratroopers who had beaten him. Stay out of Algerian affairs, his peers advise him because the trial is taking a political turn. Chabrier acquired the reputation of the Fellaghas' lawyer.

Three young men are suspected of kidnapping and murdering a little boy. Most likely, two of them are really involved, but one is not. All of their pasts are questionable, riddled with violence and controversy. Neither the police nor the court can decide how to solve that puzzle.

A teenage girl accuses her primary schoolteacher, Jean Doucet (Jacques Brel), of trying to rape her. The police and the mayor investigate, but Doucet denies the charges. Two other students come forward to reveal more of Doucet's misconduct – one confessing to be his mistress. Doucet faces trial and hard labor if convicted.

The struggles of a small business owner come to light in this film by director André Cayatte. The proprietor of a fabric shop, M. Baudu faces stiff competition when a department store moves in across the street, the first of its kind in 1860s Paris. On top of the stresses associated with the rival retailer, Baudu’s niece and two nephews take up residence with him after recently being orphaned. The niece, Denise Baudu, sees the writing on the wall for her uncle’s business so she takes a job as a shop girl with his competitor and despite her success the decision does not register well with the family.

Roger Laroque, an honest industrialist, is the victim of a criminal machination by Julia de Noirville, his possessive and jealous mistress allied to the perfidious Paul Luversan, meant to make Roger take responsibility for the crime he himself committed. Laroque is sent to prison, from where he escapes by sea. When he is reported missing, it looks like he drowned. But he reappears with revenge as his objective. He also wants his daughter Suzanne back. For his wife, it's too late, she died of grief.

A young woman searches for her biologist lover who disappeared after an Indian scientist made a discovery that could endanger humanity.

Architect Dumas dies from a bullet of his own gun in front of his house. The police suspect his young Swedish wife Catherine and her English lover Tom Hastings. After numerous interrogations, in which they entangle themselves in contradictions, they try to flee, but are soon both caught and brought to trial, he in England, she in France. Only when Catherine keeps on proclaiming her innocence, superintendent Corbier finally considers believing her.

Rose Morgan, who still lives with her mother, is a professor of Romantic Literature who desperately longs for passion in her life. Gregory Larkin, a mathematics professor, has been burned by passionate relationships and longs for a sexless union based on friendship and respect.

Originally titled Nous Sommes Tout des Assassins, We Are All Murderers was directed by Andre Cayette, a former lawyer who detested France's execution system. Charles Spaak's screenplay makes no attempt to launder the four principal characters (Marcel Mouloudji, Raymond Pellegrin, Antoinine Balpetre, Julien Verdeir): never mind the motivations, these are all hardened murderers. Still, the film condemns the sadistic ritual through which these four men are brought to the guillotine. In France, the policy is to never tell the condemned man when the execution will occur--and then to show up without warning and drag the victim kicking and screaming to his doom, without any opportunity to make peace with himself or his Maker. By the end of this harrowing film, the audience feels as dehumanized as the four "protagonists." We Are All Murderers was roundly roasted by the French law enforcement establishment, but it won a special jury prize at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival.

A married tugboat captain falls for a woman he rescues from a sinking ship.

The title of this French "reality" drama, which translates to Before the Deluge, is a play on Louis XVI's famous prognostication, "Apres moi, le deluge." Set in 1950, the film concentrates on five Parisian adolescents. Certain that the next war will herald the apocalypse, the youngster make plans to run off to a desert island and set up a new society. This, however, will require money, which is why the boys decide to pull off a "necessary" robbery. Idealism collapses in the face of cold reality, as the five youths suffer from the consequences of their actions. Avant le Deluge was one of a group of films cowritten by director Andre Cayatte and Charles Spaak which endeavored to explore the touchy social issues of the day: others in the Cayatte-Spaak canon include the euthanasia-themed Justice est Faite and the capital-punishment tract Nous sommes tous des assassins.

Alice, an unhappy young woman in the household, is the mother of a little boy, Pierre. She falls in love with a young doctor and plans to run away with him and his son. Finally, not considering the right to deprive Pierre of his father, she gives up. Twenty years pass, Pierre has grown up, he suspects his little brother, Jean, of just being his half-brother. His suspicions gnaw at him, his mother confesses to him her past fault. Faced with this confession, Pierre will abandon the one who sacrificed her life for him.

A love story between a teacher, Danièle, 32 years and one of her students Gérard, 17 during the heated atmosphere of May 68. Danièle is a fiery young woman, very involved politically. Gérard's parents accuse Danièle of statutory rape and complain. Danièle is trapped and the drama begins...

A desperate woman, whose son is on trial for murder, blackmails the judge and kidnaps his wife.

In France in 1946, the difficult return to civilian life of five deportees and prisoners of war after having lived through the hell of the Second World War.

A teacher runs an ad in the newspaper to find a wife. Afraid of beautiful ladies, he weds an ugly woman. After a car accident, he meets a doctor who offers to reveal his wife's beauty.