Georges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer, most famous for his fictional detective Jules Maigret. One of the most popular authors of the 20th century, he published around 400 novels, 21 volumes of memoirs and many short stories, selling over 500 million copies.
A Man and a Woman is a 1966 French romantic drama film directed by Claude Lelouch and starring Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant. Written by Pierre Uytterhoeven and Lelouch, the film concerns a young widow and widower who meet by chance at their children's boarding school and whose budding relationship is complicated by the memories of their deceased spouses. The film is known for its lush photography, which features frequent segues among full color, black-and-white, and sepia-toned shots, and for its music score by Francis Lai.
A Woman of Paris is a feature-length American silent film that debuted in 1923. The film, an atypical drama film for its creator, was written, directed, produced and later scored by Charlie Chaplin. It is also known as A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate.
Total Eclipse is a 1995 erotic historic drama film directed by Agnieszka Holland, based on a 1967 play by Christopher Hampton, who also wrote the screenplay. Based on letters and poems, it presents a historically accurate account of the passionate and violent relationship between 19th-century French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, at a time of soaring creativity for both men. Warner Bros. has included the film in the catalogue of Warner Archive Collection.
The Soft Skin is a 1964 French-Portuguese romantic drama film directed by François Truffaut and starring Jean Desailly, Françoise Dorléac, and Nelly Benedetti. Written by Truffaut and Jean-Louis Richard, it is about a married successful writer and lecturer who meets and has an affair with a beautiful flight attendant half his age. The film was shot on location in Paris, Reims, and Lisbon, and several scenes were filmed at Paris-Orly Airport. At the 1964 Cannes Film Festival, the film was nominated for the Palme d'Or. Despite Truffaut's recent success with Jules and Jim and The 400 Blows, The Soft Skin did not do well at the box office.
Beauty and the Beast is a 1946 French romantic fantasy film directed by French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. Starring Josette Day as Belle and Jean Marais as the Beast, it is an adaptation of the 1757 story Beauty and the Beast, written by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont and published as part of a fairy tale anthology.
Ma vie en rose is a 1997 Franco-Belgian drama film directed by Alain Berliner. It tells the story of Ludovic, a transgender girl, and depicts her family and community struggling to accept her gender identity.
Baabul is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language drama film, directed by Ravi Chopra. The movie stars Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Salman Khan, Rani Mukherji and John Abraham. The film celebrates B. R. Chopra's 50 years in cinema, though it was unsuccessful at the box office.
The Hound of Death and Other Stories is a collection of twelve short stories by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom in October 1933. Unusually, the collection was not published by Christie's regular publishers, William Collins & Sons, but by Odhams Press, and was not available to purchase in shops.
A Tale of Winter is a 1992 French drama film written and directed by Éric Rohmer, and starring Charlotte Véry, Frédéric van den Driessche, Hervé Furic and Michael Voletti. It is the second instalment in Rohmer's "Contes des quatre saisons" series, which also include A Tale of Springtime (1990), A Summer's Tale (1996) and Autumn Tale (1998). The film was entered into the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.
Paris is a 2008 French film by Cédric Klapisch concerning a diverse group of people living in Paris. The film began shooting in November 2006 and was released in February 2008. Its UK release was in July 2008. Commentators have noted the similarity in style of this film to Woody Allen's Manhattan and Robert Altman's Short Cuts.
Tell No One is a 2006 French thriller film directed by Guillaume Canet and based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Harlan Coben. Written by Canet and Philippe Lefebvre and starring François Cluzet, the film won four categories at the 2007 César Awards in France: Best Director, Best Actor, Best Editing and Best Music Written for a Film.
La Vérité is a 1960 French drama film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, and starring Brigitte Bardot. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Madame Bovary is a 1991 French drama film directed by Claude Chabrol and based on the 1857 novel Madame Bovary by French author Gustave Flaubert.
Zouzou is a French film by Marc Allégret released in 1934. Josephine Baker, who plays the title character, was the first black woman to play the leading role in a major motion picture.
Thérèse Couderc - born Marie-Victoire Couderc - was a French Roman Catholic professed religious and the co-founder of the Sisters of the Cenacle. Couderc underwent humiliations during her time as a nun for she was forced to resign from positions and was ridiculed and mocked due to false accusations made against her though this softened towards the end of her life. She was a spiritual writer having written on sacrifice and service to God. After her death, she left a series of spiritual writings.
Rider on the Rain is a 1970 French mystery thriller film starring Marlène Jobert and Charles Bronson, directed by René Clément and scripted by Sébastien Japrisot, produced by Serge Silberman, with film music composed by Francis Lai. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
C'est la vie is a semi-autobiographical 1990 French drama written and directed by Diane Kurys. Like Peppermint Soda, Cocktail Molotov, and Entre Nous the plot revisits the theme of divorce and its effects. Set in the French beach resort of La Baule-les-Pins in the summer of 1958, it is mainly narrated in voice-over from the thirteen-year-old Frédérique's diary.
The 19 martyrs of Algeria were a group of nineteen individuals slain in Algeria between 1994 and 1996 during the Algerian Civil War. They all were priests or professed religious belonging to religious congregations, including seven Trappist Cistercian monks; one was a bishop. Their nations of origin were France (15), French protectorate of Tunisia (1), Spain (2), and Belgium (1).
La Belle et la Bête is an opera for ensemble and film, composed in 1994 by Philip Glass based on a libretto in French by the composer according to the script of the film by Jean Cocteau released in 1946. This is the second part of a trilogy in homage to the French poet after Orphée (1993) and before Les Enfants terribles (1996). The world premiere of the work took place on 4 June 1994 in Seville, with Michael Riesman conducting.
