Louis XV, known as Louis the Beloved, was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity on 15 February 1723, the kingdom was ruled by his grand-uncle Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, as Regent of France. Cardinal Fleury was chief minister from 1726 until his death in 1743, at which time the king took sole control of the kingdom.
Claude Henri Jean Chabrol was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues and contemporaries Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, Chabrol was a critic for the influential film magazine Cahiers du cinéma before beginning his career as a film maker.
The 120 Days of Sodom, or the School of Libertinage is an unfinished novel by the French writer and nobleman Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, written in 1785 and published in 1904 after its manuscript was rediscovered. Described as both pornographic and erotic, its plot revolves around the activities of four wealthy libertine men who spend four months seeking out the ultimate sexual gratification through orgies, sealing themselves away in an inaccessible castle in the heart of the Black Forest in Germany with four madams and a harem of thirty-six victims, mostly male and female teenagers. The madams relate stories of their most memorable clients, whose crimes and tortures inspire the libertines to likewise and increasingly abuse and torture their victims to their eventual deaths.
Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry was the last maîtresse-en-titre of King Louis XV of France. She was executed by guillotine during the French Revolution due to accounts of treason—particularly being suspected of assisting émigrés flee from the Revolution.
Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg was a Swedish actress active in American and European films, known for her beauty and stunning figure. She became prominent in her iconic role as Sylvia in the Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita (1960). Ekberg worked primarily in Italy, where she became a permanent resident in 1964.
Robert Patsy Sacchi was an Italian-American character actor who, since the 1970s, was known for his close resemblance to Humphrey Bogart. He appeared in many films and TV shows playing either Bogart or a character who happens to look and sound like him. He was best known for his role in the 1980 film The Man with Bogart's Face.
In Italian cinema, Giallo is a genre of Murder mystery fiction that often contains slasher, thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural horror elements.
The Affair of the Poisons was a major murder scandal in France during the reign of King Louis XIV. Between 1677 and 1682, a number of prominent members of the aristocracy were implicated and sentenced on charges of poisoning and witchcraft. The scandal reached into the inner circle of the king. It led to the execution of 36 people.
Rosalba Neri is a retired Italian actress.
Don't Torture a Duckling is a 1972 Italian giallo film directed by Lucio Fulci, starring Florinda Bolkan, Tomas Milian and Barbara Bouchet. The plot follows a detective investigating a series of child murders in an insular village in Southern Italy whose residents are riddled with superstition and mistrust. The film's score was composed by Riz Ortolani and features vocals by Ornella Vanoni.
Oscar Méténier was a French playwright and novelist. In 1897 he founded Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol in Paris, planning it as a space for naturalist performance.
Marquis de Sade: Justine is a 1969 film directed by Jesús Franco. The film is based on the 1791 novel Justine by the Marquis de Sade. The film is set in 1700s France where Justine and her sister Juliette are orphans in Paris. Juliette becomes a prostitute and marries a rich noble. Justine is falsely arrested and sentenced to death, then escapes from prison to become a fugitive.
Catherine Mouchet is a French actress.
Julia Bulette, was an English-born American prostitute in Virginia City, Nevada, a boomtown serving the Comstock Lode silver mine. She was murdered in 1867, and French drifter John Millain was quickly convicted and hanged for the crime. Subsequent legends surrounding Julia's life and status as a sex worker and madam have grown over time and become a part of Virginia City folklore.
Silvio Amadio was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He directed 24 films between 1957 and 1981. His film Wolves of the Deep was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival. He is known to horror film fans for directing Amuck! (1972), a giallo film starring Rosalba Neri and Barbara Bouchet, and to Commedia sexy all'italiana fans for directing some of the best Gloria Guida sex comedies of the mid 1970s.
The Bloodstained Butterfly is a 1971 giallo film directed by Duccio Tessari. It starred Helmut Berger and Ida Galli.
The authorities of medieval Paris attempted to confine prostitution to a particular district. Louis IX (1226–1270) designated nine streets in the Beaubourg Quartier where it would be permitted. In the early part of the 19th century, state-controlled legal brothels started to appear in several French cities. By law, they had to be run by a woman and their external appearance had to be discreet. The maisons were required to light a red lantern when they were open (from which is derived the term red-light district and the prostitutes were only permitted to leave the maisons on certain days and only if accompanied by its head. By 1810, Paris alone had 180 officially approved brothels.
Knife+Heart is a 2018 horror-thriller film directed by Yann Gonzalez, who co-wrote the screenplay with Cristiano Mangione. It was produced by Charles Gillibert and stars Vanessa Paradis, Nicolas Maury, Kate Moran, Jonathan Genet and Romane Bohringer. An international co-production of France, Mexico and Switzerland, the film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. The lead character is loosely based on Anne-Marie Tensi, a female producer specialized in gay pornography who was active in France in the 1970s and 1980s.
Evelyne Kraft was a Swiss businesswoman and former actress. She was best known for her roles in the films Lady Dracula and The Mighty Peking Man.
Vanesa Campos was a trans sex worker and an undocumented migrant from Peru living in Paris. She was 36 when she got killed at the Bois de Boulogne during the night of 16 to 17 August 2018. Her murder occurred after she resisted a group of men armed with a gun stolen from a police officer.
