
Jean Dasté
1904 - 1994Although Jean Dasté is best known for his career on stage as both an actor and director in a variety of works including those by Shakespeare and Molière, he made his first appearance on screen in a 1932 Jean Renoir film (Boudu sauvé des eaux), and 57 years later appeared in his final film at the age of 85. He played also the main character in two Jean Vigo movies, L'Atalante and Zéro de conduite. Later, he worked also with Alain Resnais and François Truffaut.
He married Danish-born actress Marie-Hélène Copeau (1902–1994), the daughter of the influential French writer, editor, and drama critic Jacques Copeau (1879–1949) and Agnès Thomsen.
In 1947, he became the founding director of the Comedie de St.-Etienne stage company in the town of Saint-Étienne in the Loire département. The success of his theater was such that there is a college and a theater in Saint-Étienne named in his honor.
Source: Article "Jean Dasté" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
La Grande Illusion
Jean Renoir
Jean Gabin, Dita Parlo
A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal, grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. When the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein, who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.
Grand Illusion
Z
Costa-Gavras
Yves Montand, Irene Papas
Amidst a heated political climate, the opposition leader is killed in what appears to be a traffic accident. When a magistrate finds evidence of a government cover-up, witnesses start to get targeted. A thinly-fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963, Z captures the outrage about the military junta that ruled Greece at the time.
Z
L'Atalante
Jean Vigo
Michel Simon, Dita Parlo
Capricious small-town girl Juliette and barge captain Jean marry after a whirlwind courtship, and she comes to live aboard his boat, L'Atalante. As they make their way down the Seine, Jean grows weary of Juliette's flirtations with his all-male crew, and Juliette longs to escape the monotony of the boat and experience the excitement of a big city. When she steals away to Paris by herself, her husband begins to think their marriage was a mistake.
L'Atalante
Molière
Ariane Mnouchkine
Philippe Caubère, Marie-Françoise Audollent
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin is raised by his father and his grandfather because his mother dies when he's still very little. He works as a handyman, studies the law at a university and travels the country as an actor before he becomes the celebrated playwright Molière who impresses firstly the Duke of Orleans and then even King Louis XIV.
Molière
My American Uncle
Alain Resnais
Gérard Depardieu, Nicole Garcia
Prof. Henri Laborit uses the stories of the lives of three people to discuss behaviorist theories of survival, combat, rewards and punishment, and anxiety. René is a technical manager at a textile factory and must face the anxiety caused by corporate downsizing. Janine is a self-educated actress/stylist who learns that the wife of her lover is dying and must decide to let them reunite. Jean is a controversial career-climbing writer/politician at a crossroads in life.
My American Uncle
L'Enfant sauvage
François Truffaut
Jean-Pierre Cargol, François Truffaut
In 1798, a feral boy is discovered outside the town of Aveyron, France. Diagnosed as mentally impaired, he is relegated to an asylum. A young doctor named Jean Itard becomes convinced that the boy has normal mental capacity, but that his development was hindered by lack of contact with society. He brings the boy home and begins an arduous attempt at education over several years.
The Wild Child
L'Homme qui aimait les femmes
François Truffaut
Charles Denner, Brigitte Fossey
At Bertrand Morane's burial there are many of the women that the 40-year-old engineer loved. In flashback Bertrand's life and love affairs are told by himself while writing an autobiographical novel.
The Man Who Loved Women
Boudu sauvé des eaux
Jean Renoir
Michel Simon, Marcelle Hainia
Michel Simon gives one of the most memorable performances in screen history as Boudu, a Parisian tramp who takes a suicidal plunge into the Seine and is rescued by a well-to-do bookseller, Edouard Lestingois. The Lestingois family decides to take in the irrepressible bum, and he shows his gratitude by shaking the household to its foundations. With Boudu Saved from Drowning, legendary director Jean Renoir takes advantage of a host of Parisian locations and the anarchic charms of his lead actor to create an effervescent satire of the bourgeoisie.
Boudu Saved from Drowning
Le Crime de Monsieur Lange
Jean Renoir
René Lefèvre, Florelle
A man and a woman arrive in a cafe-hotel near the Belgian frontier. The customers recognize the man from the police's description: his name is Amedee Lange, and he murdered somebody in Paris. Lange was an employee in a printing works. His boss was a real bastard, swindling every one, seducing female workers... One day he fled to avoid facing his creditors, and the workers set up a cooperative to go on working. What then made Lange a killer?
The Crime of Monsieur Lange
La guerre est finie
Alain Resnais
Yves Montand, Ingrid Thulin
Diego is one of the chiefs of the Spanish Communist Party. On his way from Madrid to Paris, he is arrested at the border for an ID check but manages to get free. When he arrives in Paris, he starts searching for one of his comrade to prevent him from going to Madrid where he could be arrested.
The War Is Over
Muriel, ou le Temps d'un retour
Alain Resnais
Delphine Seyrig, Jean-Pierre Kérien
In the seaside town of Boulogne, no one seems to be able to cope with their past, least of all Hélène, an antique furniture saleswoman, her stepson Bernard, and her former lover Alphonse.
Muriel, or the Time of Return