Esther's Notebooks

Once upon a time, a poor woodcutter and his wife lived in a great forest. Cold, hunger, poverty, and a war raging all around them meant their lives were very hard. One day, the woodcutter's wife rescues a baby. A baby girl thrown from one of the many trains that constantly pass through the forest. This baby, this "most precious of cargoes", will transform the lives of the poor woodcutter's wife and her husband, as well as those whose paths the child will cross—including the man who threw her from the train. And some will try to protect her, whatever the cost. Their story will reveal the worst and the best in the hearts of men.

Michael is a little orphan who lives a carefree life with his grandparents. By day he goes to school. But at night he hangs out with Little Vampire, a friendly nocturnal creature, and his monster friends in his haunted house. Little Vampire would love to be a real living boy like his pal Michael. Both are enchanted by the others existence and enjoy discovering their alternative worlds.

Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.

Roméo and Juliette are two young actors. They fall in love at first sight, move in together and make a baby. A love story and the founding of a home like millions of others. Except that their little boy, Adam, behaves abnormally. The young parents try hard to persuade themselves that everything is okay but, with the passing of time, they cannot delude themselves anymore: their son has a problem. From now on, war is declared. A war against illness. A war against Death. A war against despair.

To celebrate this anniversary, CANAL+ is presenting a special prime-time program titled “40.” It’s an opportunity to defy the passage of time by revisiting some of the defining moments of pop culture in general and CANAL+ in particular. More than sixty—that’s the number of talents, artists, and actors whom the channel has had the privilege of watching emerge, flourish, or grow, and who have reimagined in their own way the films, series, and short-form programs that have shaped our shared history since November 4, 1984. On the stage of the Folies Bergère, Antoine de Caunes gracefully and effortlessly bridges the gap between 1984 and 2024 to host this evening, which alternates between studio segments, pre-recorded footage, and live performances.

In 1967, during the making of “La Chinoise,” film director Jean-Luc Godard falls in love with 19-year-old actress Anne Wiazemsky and marries her.

Camille was only sixteen and still in high school when she fell in love with Eric, another student. They later married and a child and were happy for a while. But now twenty-five years have passed and Eric leaves her for a younger woman. Bitter and desperate Camille drinks so much liquor at a New Year Eve's party that she falls into an ethylic coma and she finds herself... propelled into her own past! Camille is sixteen again when she wakes up this morning, her parents are not dead anymore and she must go to school, where she will meet her schoolmates and, of course, Eric. Is she going to fall for him again and... be miserable twenty-five years later? Or will she avoid him with the result never having her beloved daughter? Who ever said that time traveling was fun?

An awkward adolescent boy and his angst-ridden friends try their best to fit in amongst a cast of varied characters.

In a country where women are in charge, a man goes to unusual lengths to make his dream of marrying the daughter of a military leader come true.

Rita Cerveau ("Brain"), the most intelligent woman in the world, is depressive.