The Roads of Exile

Léon Blum : Thérèse et Léon

In 1936, the political and marital tribulations of Léon Blum, elected President of the Council at the head of the Popular Front.

Orfeo

Claude Goretta brings to life the age-old tale of Orpheus and Eurydice in a fresh adaptation of Monteverdi’s Orfeo. Monteverdi’s fabled opera Orfeo was long described as the first opera to have been written. Although modern scholarship has proven this to be untrue, the work remains one of the pillars of western music history, a musical creation which laid the foundations for much of what was to come. As musicologist Jack Westrup explains, Orfeo marked a major milestone not because it broke new ground, but because imagination had taken precedence over theory. While Monteverdi may not have been a revolutionary, his music represents the culmination of centuries of musical evolution, and shows him as the clear master of both polyphony and monody.

Maigret

The pragmatic, reserved and refined Maigret investigates murders in his singular unhurried manner and inevitably discovers the truth.

Le Dernier Été

The story of Georges Mandel, an anti-Nazi French parliamentarian who refused to abdicate to the Vichy regime.

The Salamander

Pierre and Paul, journalist and writer respectively, team up to write a screenplay based on the real story of a young woman accused by her uncle of trying to kill him. They decide to meet her.

Goupi-Mains rouges

The Lacemaker

Pomme is a meek and mild French beautician whose life takes a fateful turn during a vacation to Normandy. She becomes the lover of middle-class literature-student François. The relationship sours when François takes her home to meet his parents, thanks in no small part to their differing social backgrounds.

The Madman

George is a middle-aged man who lives with his disabled wife. He faces dire financial straits after an investment firm wipes out his life savings and forces him into early retirement. Consequently, he becomes increasingly disillusioned and desperate, which ultimately drives him to the brink of insanity.

The Death of Mario Ricci

A TV reporter and his assisstant go to a small Swiss village to do a programme with a reclusive scientist, an expert on world food shortages. During this time, an Italian immigrant worker is killed in a road crash and the reporter becomes involved in uncovering the truth about his death.

The Invitation

Rémi, a confirmed bachelor and model bureaucrat, invites his colleagues and superiors to a magnificent house to celebrate an inheritance. Under the influence of drink, they drop all pretence and reveal their true selves. But what will remain of this brief interlude the following day?

Sartre, Years of Passion

Biographical film about French writer Jean-Paul Sartre, concentrating on his passionate affairs with women.

Nice Time

A montage of the night-life of Piccadilly Circus across the hours, from early evening to the last lingering passers-by.

Jean-Luc Persécuté

Jean-Luc, mountain farmer, married Christine. She accepted this marriage because the man she loved, Augustin, left. Jean-Luc knows this but he hopes that the birth of a child will allow them to live together possible. Unfortunately, daily life between work in the fields and Sunday mass destroys their understanding. After Augustin's return, Christine becomes his mistress and Jean-Luc discovers it. He chases Christine away and remains alone with their child but the latter drowns shortly after in a pond. Refusing to believe in the death of his son, Jean-Luc descends into madness. When a few years later, he sees Christine again with Augustin's child, out of jealousy, he kills the mother and the child, before killing himself.

If the Sun Never Returns

In a remote Swiss mountain village, the self-proclaimed prophet and sorcerer Anzevui foretells that the sun will never return, plunging the community into eternal winter. As fear and panic spread among the villagers, most succumb to despair. However, a young woman named Isabelle courageously resists the collective hysteria, ultimately rallying a group to ascend above the fog-covered valley in search of the elusive sun.

La provinciale

When Christine, young and out of work, arrives in Paris without money, a job or support, vulnerable and ignorant of the rules of the game, she seems to be an easy victim. But she is determined not to let herself be destroyed.

The Wonderful Crook

A manufacturer of furniture sees his business go down and decides to rob banks to pay his staff. Het gets romantically involved with one of his victims.