1980s French Movies

In 1914, sixteen year old Roger returned home from boarding school during vacation to find his puberty hit hard in a house filled with beautiful women. These women have previous engagements with other men who are away, and during this time, Roger impregnates them all, including his aunt and sister, then devises plans to cuckold the men.

A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair.

Three teenage girls decide to visit a romantic island and find love. They get shipwrecked and end up on different sides of the island. Each girl begins her own romantic adventure either with a man, a boy or even another girl.

Rémi is a man trapped in a deteriorating marriage. When his wife is unexpectedly killed in a car accident, Rémi is left with his stepdaughter, Marion, who chooses to stay with him rather than live with her birth father. After the initial shock passes, Rémi is caught off-guard when Marion begins expressing her attraction to him. Initially repulsed, Marion's mature beauty wears him down as he finally caves to her seductions.

The story of one shepherd's single-handed quest to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the French Alps throughout the first half of the 20th century.

14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence; which is considerable.

Ambitious Emma Eckhert successfully makes her way into a world previously reserved for men: that of high finance. She quickly becomes popular with small savers, but leads a scandalous life that will cost her.

Childhood friends Jacques and Enzo share a passion for the danger of free diving. Jacques, following in the footsteps of his father, who died at sea when Jacques was a boy, harbors a remarkable ability to adjust his heart rate and breathing patterns in the water, with his vital signs more closely resembling those of dolphins than men.

In France in the near future, revolt and chaos erupt. A right-wing politician, Philippe Muphand, is set to take control when his lady friend Caroline walks out, announcing she will take up with the first fool she sees. The fool is Serge Laine, a professor and author of the prize-winning "Le voyage qui ne finit pas," headed to the train station for tickets to Barcelona where he and his wife will enjoy a second honeymoon and he will lecture at the university. Caroline seduces Serge, and he soon abandons wife, family, job, and honesty to embrace Caroline, the romanticism of Jack London, and murder.

The last film made by Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker. Trois thèmes was made on the pinscreen, and first shown in Milan, Italy, in March 1980. It was based on three works by Mussorgsky.

Mércedès, an actress from Paris attempts to break off a difficult relationship with the jealous and possessive stalker Johnny. She meets newspaper writer Pierre and goes with him for an afternoon fling. Before the sweat even dries, she finds herself hopelessly in love with him. But soon after their affair begins, he is called off on a business trip leaving the suddenly distraught Mércedès alone. Though preparing for a new play, she is unable to concentrate and barely able to function. Mércedès quits the production, locks herself in Pierre's apartment and quietly begins falling apart, collapsing into a bleak, reclusive madness until his return.

A philosophy professor has an illicit affair with one of his students, a bright yet troubled girl who lives alone.

A man's bathroom routine triggers a miraculous vision in a nearby church.

When churlish mobster Albert Spica acquires an upscale French restaurant in London, he dines there nightly, effectively scaring off the clientele with his bad manners. His wife, Georgina, is especially disgusted by him, and soon begins an affair with regular guest Michael. Despite their best efforts to keep it secret, Spica learns about their trysts, and he plots a terrible revenge.

Marc and Laurent, two worrying misfits, break into a large isolated property in the middle of the countryside. Marc discovers with amazement that the place belongs to his idol, the movie star Jessica Melrose, of whom he is crazy. After a strange night, in the morning, Jessica meets the two "explorers" who will make her live a day of waking nightmare .

Reel 34 of Gérard Courant’s on-going Cinematon series.

Unable to resist the allure of the quick fix, a young West African executive falls for the mirage of financial success, too spectacular to be honest.

A handheld video camera explores image-surfaces as a visual collective unconscious: a TV screen, Polaroids, photos. A conceptually and formally compelling film about the idea of change, the loss of a revolution, the defying memory of the 70s decade.

Jeanne has been divorced for seven years now and her life is centered around Sarah, her fifteen year-old daughter. They appear to have a perfectly harmonious life together, a relationship based on deep mutual understanding and trust. So when Sarah needs a contraceptive, it's her mother who goes alone to the drugstore with her. However, under this idyllic surface there are tensions at work. Jeanne's on and off affair with Pierre does not save her from feeling lonely, and Sarah is bored by school. Both of them dream of an independent life, though neither will admit it.

After the end of World War II, a collaborationist seeks redemption.

In-between essay and fiction, La dernière énigme established Ossang's formal territory: a contemporary mythology. Inspired by the book On Terrorism and the State by Gianfranco Sanguinetti, it evokes visual echoes of political events, where a generation forfeits all revolutionary aspirations due to state terrorism. Shot using two cans of Kodak XX 16mm film. - IFFR

Josselin Beaumont, a French secret agent, is tasked with assassinating Njala, the president for life of Malawi in Africa. A shift in French policy means that assassinating Njala is no longer an option. But instead of recalling their agent, high-ranking officials deliberately sacrifice Beaumont by handing him over to the Malawian authorities. Arrested, tried, and imprisoned, he nevertheless manages to escape. Back in Paris after a two-year absence, he informs his superiors through Colonel Martin that he will fulfill his contract during Njala’s upcoming official visit to Paris between the 12th and 15th of this month, and that he has a few scores to settle with the D.G.S.E. The question is, should Beaumont be stopped or not?

No overview available

Francis Lebovic, an ex-voyou turned sex worker, is not lacking in charm or elegance. David, his thirteen-year-old godson, accepts Francis' proposal to record a record without much enthusiasm. His voice, combined with his physique, gives rise to hope. Francis will be able to pay off his debts; Lino and Daisy, David's parents, will be able to do some work in their café. Everything would be just fine if Frédérique Henriot, a young lawyer, hadn't come to live in the house where they all live, in this village in the center of Paris called the Marais.

A thirteen-year-old French girl deals with moving to a new city and school in Paris, while at the same time her parents are getting a divorce.

After losing both her parents, young Sylvie is enrolled in a strict boarding school of Victorian English education. The school readily and willingly resorts to a very strict regime of correction and corporal punishment to discipline its female pupils and the young girls compensate for the rigors of their education by devoting themselves to all kinds of kinky schoolgirl sexual encounters.

Teenage Julien loves his teenage cousin Julia among flowers in summer of '39 France.

A lackadaisical handyman and aspiring novelist tries to support his younger girlfriend as she slowly succumbs to madness.

James Pembroke, a powerful industrialist, has become a nuisance to his rivals. That is the reason why they have decided to neutralize him. To this end they call on O, who has turned from victim to dominatrix. Her mission is to compromise not only James in person but his whole family as well. And to tell the truth, O does not find much resistance on her way...

The eight-hour series of interviews between Gilles Deleuze and Claire Parnet, filmed by Pierre-André Boutang in 1988-1989.

Gérald, former champion of motorcycle competitions, after an accident that causes him to lose the use of his right becomes a trainer for young riders. But because he can not make enough money, he takes part in a burglary.

To make his neighbor no longer eye his wife, Paulo decides to put on the wall in front of his house a painting representing New York. A waste of time, the neighbor continues to look at his wife...

A recitation of "Le bateau ivre" by Arthur Rimbaud, delivered during a dissection.

An inexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed'. The film director, a Czech immigrant in Paris, takes over her life, and in a short time she is unable to draw the line between acting and reality. She winds up playing a real-life role posing as the dead wife of another Czech immigrant, who is manipulated by the filmmaker into commiting a political assassination.

In order to escape from her former lover Marc, Sylvia goes to Brazil where Dr. Santamo transforms her into the beautiful Emmanuelle...

No overview available

A bisexual petty criminal named Bob encounters a married couple arguing in a bar. Bob breaks up the fight and proceeds to seduce first the wife and then the husband. Then Bob teaches the couple how to be burglars and they join him in his criminal exploits.

In this avant-garde exercise in self-reflection, director Joseph Morder reminisces about his youth in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where his Jewish parents settled after they left Poland. The heat of August in Paris brings forth memories and at the same time the adult Morder is involved in a love affair. There are no scenes from Ecuador here, and none of the images in the film are used to carry the narration; instead they vaguely illustrate what Morder happens to be saying at the moment.

Good dope is becoming rare in the North of Paris. Drugstores are being raided by junkies and gangs are nervous, fighting each others: the 'Viets', the 'Blackies', the 'Arabs', the neo-nazis 'Justiciers' and some mean gays. Vincent (Daniel Auteuil) is the good cop coming from Marseilles where he was a gangster. He's a soft method guy but also kicks assses hard and throw lethal dialog lines when needed. With the precious help of 'l'Arbalète'* (Marisa Berenson**), a tox' prostitute ex-member of Vincent's former gang, he will try to put order in that mess. There's also a violent and racist cop (Marcel Bozzuffi), Algeria veteran with hard methods, whose role could be more than to protect and to serve.

Focusing on key Arab films produced in the last 20 years. Férid Boughedir traces the development of the film-makers' concern to produce more socially aware cinema. Themes include the issue of Palestinian homeland rights and the nature of Arab identity. The film-makers also share a desire to develop a strong poetic tradition.