1001 Nights

1001 Nights 1990

5.10

Sheherazade has been married to a ruler who wants many wives, but only one at a time. Consequently, as soon as he has bedded them, he has them put to death. In most retellings, the girl staves off this unfortunate conclusion by putting off the connubial event for a thousand and one nights, telling irresistible stories instead. In this one, she gets hold of a magic lamp.

1990

The King and the Mockingbird

The King and the Mockingbird 1980

7.80

The kingdom of Takicardie quakes under the rule of the tyrannical King Charles V-et-III-font-VIII-et-VIII-font-XVI, whose favourite pastime is shooting birds. His archenemy is a cheeky mockingbird, whose favourite pastime is thwarting the king’s attempts to shoot birds. One night, a portrait of the king comes to life and disposes of the real king, taking his place. The portrait king falls in love with a young shepherdess in another painting and intends to marry her. But, alas, the shepherdess has fallen in love with a chimneysweep and together they elope from the king’s palace. Enraged, the king sends his police to capture them and once they are within his power he forces the shepherdess to marry him. The mockingbird must use all his guile and courage to once more thwart the king and bring his evil reign to an end.

1980

Beau Pere

Beau Pere 1981

6.70

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.

1981

Death Watch

Death Watch 1980

6.30

In a future world where the disease has been finally defeated and everything can be sold, even the crude spectacle of death, the rare case of a dying woman becomes the morbid theme of a revolutionary reality show, broadcast through the curious eyes of a peculiar camera.

1980

I... For Icarus

I... For Icarus 1979

7.69

Following the assassination of President Marc Jarry, a member of the investigation committee refuses to sign off on the committee's final findings.

1979

A Bad Son

A Bad Son 1980

7.60

Bruno is released from prison. He looks for a job and tries to start a new life. His first stop is at his father's apartment.

1980

The Road

The Road 1982

7.20

When five Kurdish prisoners are granted one week's home leave, they find to their dismay that they face continued oppression outside of prison from their families, the culture, and the government.

1982

A Week's Vacation

A Week's Vacation 1980

6.00

Laurence, a young schoolteacher from Lyon, takes a week's leave. During the break, she reflects on her career and her personal life.

1980

The Bunker

The Bunker 1981

6.27

Dramatization depicting the events surrounding Adolf Hitler's last weeks in and around his underground bunker in Berlin before and during the battle for the city.

1981

The Medic

The Medic 1979

5.30

The film is set in a modern war, probably between a European country and a country in the Far East. Behind the battle lines, in a medical unit, a surgeon falls in love with an idealistic nurse after an initially difficult meeting.

1979

Germany Year 90 Nine Zero

Germany Year 90 Nine Zero 1991

6.80

The supremely world-weary Lemmy Caution, last seen in Godard's "Alphaville" (France/1965), has several strange encounters while trying to make his way from the former East Germany to "the west."

1991

Extreme Ice

Extreme Ice 1980

10.00

Directed by Jean-Marc Boivin in 1977, Glace Extrême is a documentary about mountaineering and extreme skiing at the Aiguille Verte and the Grand Pilier D'angle in the Mont-Blanc massif chain in France, with the legends of mountaineering Jean-Marc Boivin, Patrick Gabarrou and ski champion Patrick Vallencant. It was broadcast in the Carnet de L'Aventure on France 2 in 1980.

1980

Buffet Froid

Buffet Froid 1979

7.10

An absurd black comedy that cunningly reverses the conventions of the crime thriller to comment on the alienating and dehumanizing effects of contemporary urban life. Alphonse Tram is unwittingly involved in several murders despite having no memory of committing the crimes. His confusion lead him to confess to his neighbour, Inspector Morvandieu. Alphonse and Morvandieu become the axis around which murders occur.

1979

The French as Seen by…

The French as Seen by… 1988

7.00

In 1988, Figaro magazine asked a few famous directors to direct a series of short movies to celebrate the 10 years of the revue. The movies have been released for the French revolution bicentenary. Includes: Werner Herzog's Les Gaulois, David Lynch's The Cowboy and the Frenchman, Andrzej Wajda's Proust contre la déchéance, Luigi Comencini's Pèlerinage à Agen, Jean-Luc Godard's Le dernier mot.

1988

Malevil

Malevil 1981

6.50

In southern France, in a quiet little town, the mayor, who also owns a castle with some cattle, is in the wine cellar with some other people: the pharmacist, the veterinary, and some of his employees. As they are drinking wine, they hear a terrible noise and the heat's getting higher and higher. They don't realize what's happening: when they come out of the cellar, they realize that everything has burned, and all the buildings are destroyed...

1981

Women Reply

Women Reply 1975

6.40

What does being a woman really mean? How do women live the status society reserves for them? A group of women, beautiful or not, young or not, gifted with motherly instinct or not, answer before Agnès Varda's camera.

1975

Nouvelle Vague

Nouvelle Vague 1990

6.20

Composed entirely of literary quotations from many different sources and from several historical periods, the loose narrative concerns a drifter found by a rich woman who soon falls in love with him. A drowning accident takes place and the drifter dies, but some time later he reappears in the woman’s life looking for a job. Or could it be the man’s twin brother?

1990

Le Beau Monde

Le Beau Monde 1981

1

Jean Pierre, a young Parisian salesman, decides to go on vacation by hitchhiking at random. Taken as a jaguar by a rich man, he finds himself invited to his villa in Saint Tropez and discovers a luxurious, idle and decadent universe. A tasty TV movie, written and directed by Michel Polac, with a very young Fabrice Luchini.

1981