Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo was a French actor. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward. His best known credits include Breathless (1960), That Man from Rio (1964), Pierrot le Fou (1965), Borsalino (1970), and The Professional (1981). He was most notable for portraying police officers in action thriller films and became known for his unwillingness to appear in English-language films despite being heavily courted by Hollywood. An undisputed box-office champion like Louis de Funès and Alain Delon of the same period, Belmondo attracted nearly 160 million spectators in his 50-year career. Between 1969 and 1982 he played four times in the most popular films of the year in France: The Brain (1969), Fear Over the City (1975), Animal (1977), Ace of Aces (1982), being surpassed on this point only by Louis de Funès. The popularity of Jean-Paul Belmondo as actor is mainly due to the characters he interpreted in his movies, loving to highlight the virile man, fighter, but also brave and heroic, which appealed to a wide audience in France and also abroad.
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.
Breathless is a 1960 French New Wave crime drama film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard. It stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as a wandering criminal named Michel, and Jean Seberg as his American girlfriend Patricia. The film was Godard's first feature-length work and represented Belmondo's breakthrough as an actor.
Mississippi Mermaid is a 1969 romantic crime drama film written and directed by François Truffaut and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Catherine Deneuve. Adapted from the 1947 novel Waltz into Darkness by William Irish, the film follows a tobacco planter on the island of Réunion who becomes engaged through correspondence to a woman he does not know. When she arrives, it is not the same woman in the photo, but he marries her anyway.
Henri Decaë gained fame as a cinematographer entering the film industry as a sound engineer and sound editor. He was a photojournalist in the French army during World War II. After the war he began making documentary shorts, directing and photographing industrial and commercial films. In 1947 he made his first feature film.
Paul Gégauff was a French screenwriter, actor, and director. He collaborated with director Claude Chabrol on 14 films. His screenplays include Plein Soleil, for which he and director René Clement received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, Les Biches, This Man Must Die, and the autobiographical Une partie de plaisir.
Les Cousins is a 1959 French New Wave drama film directed by Claude Chabrol. It tells a story about two cousins, the decadent Paul, played by Jean-Claude Brialy, and the naïve Charles, played by Gérard Blain. The film won the Golden Bear at the 9th Berlin International Film Festival.
Le Bouchera.k.a.The Butcher is a 1970 French psychological thriller film written and directed by Claude Chabrol and starring Stéphane Audran and Jean Yanne. Set in the village of Trémolat, it tells the story of butcher Popaul who falls in love with Hélène, the head teacher of the school, while a murder spree is taking place in the area.
Michel Bouquet was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1947 to 2020. He won the Best Actor European Film Award for Toto the Hero in 1991 and two Best Actor Césars for How I Killed My Father (2001) and The Last Mitterrand (2005). He also received the Molière Award for Best Actor for Les côtelettes in 1998, then again for Exit the King in 2005. In 2014, he was awarded the Honorary Molière for the sum of his career. He received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor in 2018.
Sweet Revenge is a 1976 American crime film directed by Jerry Schatzberg. It was entered into the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. It was the second leading role for actress Stockard Channing in a film, following the previous year's The Fortune in which she co-starred opposite Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty.
Web of Passion is a 1959 French/Italian psychological thriller film directed by Claude Chabrol and based on the novel The Key to Nicholas Street by American writer Stanley Ellin. It was Chabrol's first film in colour and his first thriller, which would be his genre of choice for the rest of his career. The film had a total of 1,445,587 admissions in France.
The Champagne Murders is a 1967 French suspense thriller mystery film based on a story William Benjamin, directed by Claude Chabrol and starring Anthony Perkins. It was the first of two films that Chabrol made with Perkins.
Innocents with Dirty Hands a.k.a. Dirty Hands, or in the original French Les innocents aux mains sales, is a 1975 psychological thriller film written and directed by Claude Chabrol from a novel The Damned Innocents by Richard Neely. It stars Romy Schneider and Rod Steiger.
L'Animal is a 1977 French action comedy film directed by Claude Zidi and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Raquel Welch. It was distributed in the United States by Analysis Film Releasing Corp under the title Stuntwoman.
Jean Rabier was a French cinematographer who frequently worked with director Claude Chabrol. He had almost 70 film credits spanning a career from 1961 to 1991.
The Breach, also titled The Breakup, is a 1970 French–Italian–Belgian drama film written and directed by Claude Chabrol, based on the novel The Balloon Man by Charlotte Armstrong. It follows a mother's struggle for custody of her son against her husband's parents.
Just Before Nightfall is a 1971 French crime drama film written and directed by Claude Chabrol and starring Stéphane Audran and Michel Bouquet. Based on the 1951 novel The Thin Line by Edward Atiyah, it follows a married businessman who, after killing his mistress, tries to ease his conscience by confessing to his wife and the victim's husband.
The Inheritor is a 1973 French film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Pierre Georges Cornil Jansen was a French film scores composer. He was in particular the permanent collaborator of Claude Chabrol for whom he composed the music for many films.
Nathalie, Secret Agent is a 1959 French-Italian comedy thriller film directed by Henri Decoin and starring Martine Carol, Félix Marten and Darío Moreno. It is a sequel to the 1957 film Nathalie starring Carol in the title role with Dany Saval also reprising her role as Pivoine. It was shot at the Billancourt Studios in Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art director Robert Clavel.
