Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her 1944 novella Gigi, which was the basis for the 1958 film and the 1973 stage production of the same name. Her short story collection The Tendrils of the Vine is also famous in France.
Camille Rosalie Claudel was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The subject of several biographies and films, Claudel is well known for her sculptures including The Waltz and The Mature Age.
Mathilde Carré, née Mathilde Lucie Bélard and known as "La Chatte", was a French Resistance agent during World War II who betrayed the Franco-Polish resistance organization, Interallie, and, as a double agent, was responsible for the arrest of dozens of Interallié operatives by the German occupiers of France. French Resistance leader Pierre de Vomécourt persuaded her to leave France with him and become an agent for the British. Upon arrival in Britain she was interrogated and imprisoned for the remainder of the war. After the war she was deported to France and convicted of treason and sentenced to death. The sentence was later reduced and she was released from prison in 1954.
The Chartreux is a rare breed of cat from France, and is recognised by a number of registries around the world. The Chartreux is large and muscular with relatively short, fine-boned limbs, and very fast reflexes. They are known for their blue (silver-grey) water-resistant short hair double coats which are often slightly thick in texture and orange or copper-coloured eyes. Chartreux cats are also known for their "smile"; due to the structure of their heads and their tapered muzzles, they often appear to be smiling. Chartreux are exceptional hunters and are highly prized by farmers.
Balthasar Klossowskide Rola, known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. He is known for his erotically charged images of pubescent girls, but also for the refined, dreamlike quality of his imagery.
Le Grand Meaulnes is the only novel by French author Alain-Fournier, who was killed in the first month of World War I. The novel, published in 1913, a year before the author's death, is somewhat autobiographical, especially the name of the heroine Yvonne, for whom he had a doomed infatuation in Paris. Fifteen-year-old François Seurel narrates the story of his friendship with seventeen-year-old Augustin Meaulnes as the latter searches for his lost love. Impulsive, reckless and heroic, Meaulnes embodies the romantic ideal, the search for the unobtainable, and the mysterious world between childhood and adulthood.
Thérèse Raquin is an 1868 novel by French writer Émile Zola, first published in serial form in the literary magazine L'Artiste in 1867. It was Zola's third novel, though the first to earn wide fame. The novel's adultery and murder were considered scandalous and famously described as "putrid" in a review in the newspaper Le Figaro.
Oscar is a 1967 French comedy of errors directed by Édouard Molinaro and starring Louis de Funès. In the movie, Louis de Funès plays an industrialist named Bertrand Barnier who discovers over the course of a single day that his daughter is pregnant, he has been robbed by an employee, and various other calamities have befallen his household and his business.
Love on the Run is a 1979 French romantic comedy-drama film co-written and directed by François Truffaut, his fifth and final film about the character Antoine Doinel. Told in nonlinear fashion, with frequent flashbacks to the four previous films, it stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Marie-France Pisier, Claude Jade, Dani and Dorothée. It was entered into the 29th Berlin International Film Festival.
Full Moon in Paris is a 1984 French romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Éric Rohmer. The film stars Pascale Ogier, Tchéky Karyo and Fabrice Luchini. The score is by Elli et Jacno.
The White Cat is a French literary fairytale written by Madame d'Aulnoy and published in 1698. Andrew Lang included it in The Blue Fairy Book.
French folklore encompasses the fables, folklore, fairy tales and legends of the French people.
The Mouse is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He appears in Chapter II "The Pool of Tears" and Chapter III "A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale".
Hunting and Gathering is a 2007 French romantic film based on the writer Anna Gavalda's 2004 novel Hunting and Gathering. It was directed by Claude Berri, who also wrote the screenplay, and stars Audrey Tautou, Guillaume Canet, Laurent Stocker, Françoise Bertin and Alain Sachs. It premiered on 21 March 2007.
No Trifling with Love is a 1977 French drama film directed by Caroline Huppert. It is based on the theatrical work of Alfred de Musset of the same name.
La chatte métamorphosée en femme is a one-act opéra comique of 1858 with words by Eugene Scribe and Mélesville, and music by Jacques Offenbach.
Goodbye First Love is a 2011 romantic drama film written and directed by Mia Hansen-Løve. It was selected for the main competition section at the 2011 Locarno International Film Festival.
The Phantom Baron is a 1943 French drama film directed by Serge de Poligny and starring Odette Joyeux, Jany Holt, and Alain Cuny. It was made during the German occupation of France, and it was an example of the fantastique genre in film which was among those less likely to face difficulties with the censorship of the time.
Colette Edwidge Hélène Lejeune, who wrote under the pseudonym Colette Vivier, was a French author of children’s literature. In 1972 and 1974, she was highly commended as an author of children's literature by the Hans Christian Andersen Award.
The Weasel and Aphrodite, also known as Venus and the Cat is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 50 in the Perry Index. A fable on the cynic theme of the constancy of one's nature, it serves as a cautionary tale against trusting those with evil temper, for even if they might change their body, they will not change their mind.
