Pierre Philippe

Paris 36

A star is born in a time of both celebration and instability in this historical drama with music from director Christophe Barratier. In the spring of 1936, Paris is in a state of uncertainty; while the rise of the Third Reich in Germany worries many, a leftist union-oriented candidate, Léon Blum, has been voted into power, and organized labor is feeling its new power by standing up to management.

René Clair by Bronja Clair

Interview with the wife of French film director René Clair about his life and work.

Hecate

Set amid the European community in an unspecified North African country, a colony on the verge of nationalism just before the war. And colonized is what happens to a French diplomat, Julien Rochelle, when he meets the mysterious beauty Clothilde de Watteville. Schmid 's favorite axiom, that love is projection, never had such a thorough airing. Is Clothilde really the wife of a French official now holed up in Siberia? Or is she Hecate, goddess of black magic and devourer of the Arab boys she meets far from the European quarter? Only our projections know for sure; for the rest, she is a "woman looking out into the night." Drawn from a novel by Paul Morand, who based the main character on his wife Helene, Schmid's film achieves an atmosphere of magic in which psychological credibility is not so much absent as irrelevant-a film that distances itself from the drama it invokes, perhaps as the elusive Clothilde turns her back on the madness she provokes.

We Forget Everything!

Anne, who has just had an argument with her boyfriend Vassili, is put up for the night by Jacques and Odile, a couple of friends. But when Jacques takes her home the next day, he is arrested by the police, who mistake him for Vassili. In reality, Vassili is a terrorist.

The Porcelain Anniversary

Guests gather for the porcelain anniversary of a couple. When another woman's husband leaves her in front of everyone's eyes, the anniversary-celebrating husband gallantly makes loves to her in front of the same people. Then a sexual and confessional free-for-all erupts, until one of the wives, repulsed, runs away.

Noon and Midnight

A woman marries into a family of insane psychopaths in this bizarre French horror film with strong sadomasochistic overtones.

Noon and Midnight

A woman marries into a family of insane psychopaths in this bizarre French horror film with strong sadomasochistic overtones.

OSS 117 Takes a Vacation

OSS 177 goes on holiday to Brazil, but is called into action when he finds himself being stalked by a double.

The Good Lady

A kind old lady is not all that she seems to be, and gets more than she bargained for when she rents out a room to a handsome young student.

The Good Lady

A kind old lady is not all that she seems to be, and gets more than she bargained for when she rents out a room to a handsome young student.