Judex

La Discorde

A man comes back to his old haunts and surveys the changes around him

Le Dernier Mélodrame

A travelling company makes its way round the small villages of France. Shot for the program Cinéma 16 broadcast by the French channel FR3, where Franju adapted an argument written by one of his favourite actors, Pierre Brasseur, and worked with his fetish actress, Edith Scob.

Eyes Without a Face

Dr. Génessier is riddled with guilt after an accident that he caused disfigures the face of his daughter, the once beautiful Christiane, who outsiders believe is dead. Dr. Génessier, along with accomplice and laboratory assistant Louise, kidnaps young women and brings them to the Génessier mansion. After rendering his victims unconscious, Dr. Génessier removes their faces and attempts to graft them on to Christiane's.

Blood of the Beasts

An early example of ultra-realism, this movie contrasts the quiet, bucolic life in the outskirts of Paris with the harsh, gory conditions inside the nearby slaughterhouses. Describes the fate of the animals and that of the workers in graphic detail.

Dust of Life

The planet is filled with dust and particles of all kinds, natural or originated by man. Such a state of things has of course a great many consequences for public health, with diseases like silicosis, inherent in various human activities, some of which are detailed (farming, notably the treatment of flax; industrial activity, particularly porcelain and cement work, coal mining).

Notre Dame, cathédrale de Paris

An in-depth tour of the cathedral, combining history, architecture and contemplation.

L'Homme sans visage

A team of police officers are tracking down a criminal nicknamed “The Faceless Man,” who wants to steal the Templars' treasure with the help of a mad scientist and an accomplice called “The Woman.” L'Homme sans visage (shot in 16mm) is a series consisting of eight 56 minute episodes broadcast on television a year after Nuits rouges (shot in 35mm), whose story they expand, although Franju shot the film and series at the same time.

Mon chien

A family goes on holiday, abandoning the little girl’s dog.

Le Métro

This silent film on the Paris Metro was the first foray into film by Georges Franju and only foray into the realization of the future creator of the Cinémathèque Française, Henri Langlois.

Passing through Lorraine

This Government-commissioned documentary was intended to reflect the modernisation of French industry. However, in Franju’s hands it became an ode to fire and a fascinating portrayal of industrial architecture.

Le Grand Méliès

A biographical film about cinematic illusionist Georges Méliès featuring Méliès’s widow, Jeanne d’Alcy, as herself, and their son André as his own father.

Head Against the Wall

An aimless young man is committed to a psychiatric hospital by his father in an attempt to cure him of his delinquent tendencies.

The First Night

A residential area schoolboy discovers the odd universe of the Parisian metro. At one point, he glimpses the beautiful face of a blond-haired girl. Later on, he falls asleep and possibly dreams his first love dream…

Therese

Thérèse is living in a provincial town, unhappily married to Bernard, a dull, pompous man whose only interest is preserving his family name and property. They live in an isolated country mansion surrounded by servants. Early in her marriage her only comforts are her fondness for Bernard's pine-tree forest, which was her primary reason for marrying him, and her love for her sister-in-law and Bernard's half-sister, Anne. The movie recounts in flashback the circumstances that led to her being charged with poisoning her husband.

The Shadow Line

Story of a young, inexperienced ship captain named Marlow, who struggles in solitude during the voyage with disease, insubordinate crew and vagaries of weather.

Thomas the Impostor

In the First World War, when Paris is expected to fall to the Germans, the attractive widow, Princesse de Bormes, organises a convoy of cars to evacuate the wounded from the front, and bring them back to her villa in Paris to recuperate. The authorities will not give them passes until an innocent 16-year-old boy, Guillaume Thomas de Fontenoy, joins them and is mistaken as the nephew of the popular General de Fontenoy. The Princess is enraptured by Thomas and her daughter, Henriette, falls in love with him. However Thomas feels impelled to see more of the action of the war.