The Call of Life

A French-language remake of Douglas Sirk's "The Court Concert" (1936).

Molière pour rire et pour pleurer recounts the life of Jean‑Baptiste Poquelin, from his childhood in an artisan family to his rise as Molière, a central figure of French theatre. The series shows his difficult decision to abandon the family trade and join Madeleine Béjart to found L’Illustre Théâtre, marked by debts and repeated setbacks. While touring the provinces, he shapes his style and discovers the power of comedy. Back in Paris, he makes a name for himself with Les Précieuses ridicules, but his sharp satires provoke fierce opposition, especially during the Tartuffe scandal. Supported by Louis XIV, he continues despite attacks, literary rivalries, and tensions within his troupe, particularly with Armande Béjart. The miniseries also follows his growing exhaustion, his determination to perform at any cost, and his final breath after Le Malade imaginaire, the ultimate symbol of an artist who lived — and died — for the stage.

François Vidocq has been sentenced to eight years' hard labor for a crime he didn't commit. Escaped with the help of his faithful friends Desfossés and Fil de fer, the convict is pursued by his lifelong enemy: the policeman Flambart. Between scams and disguises, Vidocq initially leads an undercover life in 19th-century Paris. Eventually, the two men team up to fight criminals... And Vidocq succumbs to Annette's charms.

"Everybody is ill: you just don't know it yet". Knock, a newly arrived physician takes over a small town through fear and authority. NB : this is a different movie from the 1951 version where Louis Jouvet also plays Dr Knock.

It all happens in a hospital waiting room. While his young wife has just had a serious accident and is undergoing surgery, the husband relives, in his memory, the reality of their near past, or what he would have liked his marital union to be. At the outset, this young couple took as their model the famous couple from "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" and their line of conduct: complete freedom for everyone, as long as they confide in each other about their adventures.

Based on the memoirs of Eugène-François Vidocq, this series follows the adventures of this former convict turned policeman in the early 19th century. In these new adventures, Vidocq comes up against a ravishing “baronne”, a formidable gang leader. The cases entrusted to Vidocq are not only police affairs, but also delicate, political and even diplomatic affairs.

Saint-Maurice, an ordinary peaceful village, lived healthily so much so that the local doctor's practice was scant. But that was before Dr. Parpalaid retired and was replaced by a charlatan by the name of Knock. A real genius this one, for he soon managed to persuade everyone that they were ill. And not only didn't they resent him but they even loved their physician, who made a fortune and brought prosperity to the village by turning it into a big hospital.

A Dutch slave captain, on a voyage to Cuba, faces a revolt fomented by a newly captured African slave, Tamango. The slaves capture the captain's mistress, forcing a showdown.

Madame de Montespan, the Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XIV, has been in disgrace since the King set eyes on a younger beauty, Marie-Angélique Scorailles. Having had enough of the situation, the rejected mistress decides to visit La Voisin, a woman known as a fortune teller, a doctor, a midwife and who is also said to arrange black masses and sell poisons. Some time later Marie-Angélique, now Duchess of Fontanges, dies mysteriously aged only twenty...

Director Jean Delannoy's immediate followup to his brilliant Les Jeux sont Faits was the more conventional Aux Yeux du Souvenir (aka Souvenir and To the Eyes of Memory). The film is based on a true story, wherein an France airliner managed to survive a journey from Rio De Janeiro to Dakar with two of its engines incapacitated. To this already intensely dramatic situation has been added a romantic subplot involving Claire Magny (Michele Morgan) and Jacques Forester (Jean Marais). The love story adds very little to the film; fortunately, neither does it detract from the film's overall quality. As was the case with many French productions of the 1940s, Aux Yeux du Souvenir benefits immeasurably from the Wagnerian musical score by Georges Auric.

Michel has stolen from his employer, Mr Bellanger, for the love of Juliette. He is now in jail. One night, while sleeping in his cell, he wakes up all of a sudden, the gates open and he finds himself in a strange village where all the inhabitants have lost their memory. There, meets Juliette again who seems to agree to marry a powerful man, who might well be Bluebeard...

A slippery femme fatale, a spy for Germany during the Great War, is sent to Thessaloniki in Greece and becomes involved with a man on the other side, a French military officer.

By mutual agreement, a man and a woman are separated to allow the wife to join her lover.