Vincent de Paul, commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was a French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor. In 1622 Vincent was appointed a chaplain to the galleys. After working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley slaves, he returned to be the superior of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the "Vincentians". These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages. Vincent was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there was great laxity, abuse, and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries, and founder of the Congregation of the Mission and Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul.
The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where it was founded. The members of the Society add the nominal letters PSS after their names to indicate membership in the Congregation. Typically, priests become members of the Society of the Priests of St. Sulpice only after ordination and some years of pastoral work. The purpose of the society is mainly the education of priests and to some extent parish work. As their main role is the education of those preparing to become priests, Sulpicians place great emphasis on the academic and spiritual formation of their own members, who commit themselves to undergoing lifelong development in these areas. The Society is divided into three provinces, operating in various countries: the Province of France, Canada, and the United States.
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon is a large oil painting created in 1907 by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. The work, part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, portrays five nude female prostitutes in a brothel on Carrer d'Avinyó, a street in Barcelona, Spain. Each figure is depicted in a disconcerting confrontational manner and none is conventionally feminine. The women appear slightly menacing and are rendered with angular and disjointed body shapes. The figure on the left exhibits facial features and dress of Egyptian or southern Asian style. The two adjacent figures are shown in the Iberian style of Picasso's native Spain, while the two on the right are shown with African mask-like features. The ethnic primitivism evoked in these masks, according to Picasso, moved him to "liberate an utterly original artistic style of compelling, even savage force."
In the philosophy of existentialism, bad faith is the psychological phenomenon whereby individuals act inauthentically, by yielding to the external pressures of society to adopt false values and disown their innate freedom as sentient human beings. Bad faith also derives from the related concepts of self-deception and ressentiment.
Going Places is a 1974 French comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Bertrand Blier, and based on his own novel. Its original title is Les Valseuses, which translates into English as "the waltzers" (female), a vulgar French slang term for "the testicles". It stars Miou-Miou, Gérard Depardieu and Patrick Dewaere.
Le Sphinx was a maison close (brothel) in Paris in the 1930s and 1940s. Along with the "Le Chabanais" and "One-Two-Two" it was considered one of the most luxurious and famous Parisian brothels.
Mademoiselle Fifi is a 1944 American period film directed by Robert Wise for RKO, in his solo directorial debut. It was written by Josef Mischel and Peter Ruric based on two short stories by Guy de Maupassant, "Mademoiselle Fifi" and "Boule de Suif". The film features an ensemble cast headed by Simone Simon, John Emery and Kurt Kreuger, and was produced by noted B-film producer Val Lewton. The movie is set during a time when the Prussian Army occupied part of France in 1870. Since it was produced in Hollywood during the Second World War, in the same year Paris was liberated from Nazi rule, it contains elements of wartime propaganda, evoking Jeanne D’Arc among other heroes of French history, and holding up French people in occupied territory who follow orders as objects of pity or outrage, depending on their circumstances.
Partie de campagne is a 1936 French featurette written and directed by Jean Renoir. The film is based on the short story "Une partie de campagne" (1881) by Guy de Maupassant, who was a friend of Renoir's father, the renowned painter Auguste Renoir. It chronicles a love affair over a single summer afternoon in 1860 along the banks of the Seine.
Get Out Your Handkerchiefs is a 1978 French romantic comedy film directed by Bertrand Blier and starring Carole Laure, Gérard Depardieu, Patrick Dewaere and Riton Liebman. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 51st Academy Awards.
Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont was a French explorer who documented his travels on the Missouri and Platte rivers in North America and made the first European maps of these areas in the early 18th century. He wrote two accounts of his travels, which included descriptions of the Native American tribes he encountered. In 1723, he established Fort Orleans, the first European fort on the Missouri River, near the mouth of the Grand River and present-day Brunswick, Missouri. In 1724, he led an expedition to the Great Plains of Kansas to establish trading relations with the Padouca.
Jean, the Soldier, and Eulalie, the Devil's Daughter is a French fairy tale collected by Achille Millien.
The Comet Line was a Resistance organization in occupied Belgium and France in the Second World War. The Comet Line helped Allied soldiers and airmen shot down over occupied Belgium evade capture by Germans and return to Great Britain. The Comet Line began in Brussels where the airmen were fed, clothed, given false identity papers, and hidden in attics, cellars, and people's homes. A network of volunteers then escorted them south through occupied France into neutral Spain and home via British-controlled Gibraltar. The motto of the Comet Line was "Pugna Quin Percutias", which means "fight without arms", as the organization did not undertake armed or violent resistance to the German occupation.
The Tammari people, or Batammariba, also known as Otamari, Ottamari, or Somba, are an Oti–Volta-speaking people of the Atakora Department of Benin and neighboring areas of Togo, where they go by the name of Taberma. They are famous for their two-story fortified houses, known as Tata Somba, in which the ground floor houses livestock at night, internal alcoves are used for cooking, and the upper floor contains a rooftop courtyard that is used for drying grain, as well as containing sleeping quarters and granaries. These evolved by adding an enclosing roof to the clusters of huts, joined by a connecting wall that is typical of Gur-speaking areas of West Africa.
The Man in the Raincoat is a French-Italian comedy-thriller film directed by Julien Duvivier, scripted by the director and René Barjavel, from the 1954 novel Tiger by the Tail by James Hadley Chase. It was released in 1957 and shown at the 7th Berlin International Film Festival in competition for the Golden Bear. It stars Fernandel,, and Bernard Blier.
How Much Do You Love Me? is a 2005 French romantic comedy film written and directed by Bertrand Blier. It was released on 26 October 2005 in France and Belgium, and had a limited United States release on 18 March 2006. It was entered into the 28th Moscow International Film Festival where Blier won the Silver George for Best Director.
Requiem pour un Vampire is a 1971 erotic horror/fantasy film directed by Jean Rollin, about two young women who find themselves trapped in a haunted castle ruled by vampires.
Les Hussards, is a French comedy film from 1955, directed by Alex Joffé, written by Gabriel Arout, starring Bernard Blier, Giovanna Ralli, Bourvil, and with Georges Wilson, Virna Lisi, Louis de Funès playing supporting roles. The film is known under the titles "Cavalrymen", "Les hussards", "De husaren", "La piccola guerra" (Italy), "Huszárok" (Hungary).
Our Story is a 1984 French drama film starring Alain Delon and Nathalie Baye.
Le cave se rebiffe is a 1961 French comedy film directed by Gilles Grangier, written by Michel Audiard and starring Jean Gabin, Bernard Blier and Martine Carol. The film was retitled The Counterfeiters of Paris for English-speaking countries.
Chair de poule is a 1963 French crime film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Robert Hossein, Catherine Rouvel, Jean Sorel and Georges Wilson. The screenplay is based on the 1960 novel Come Easy, Go Easy by James Hadley Chase, which took several plot elements from the 1934 novel The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain. The film was released in the United States as Highway Pickup.
