Claude Melki
1939 - 1994Salut, voleurs!
Frank Cassenti
Jacques Higelin, László Szabó
In this French crime caper film, a young misfit (Jacques Higelin) who has grown tired of his job as a bank teller deliberately gets fired. When some underworld characters ask him to share the layout of the bank so that they can more effectively rob it, he does. He also joins in the robbery. But when members of the gang start shooting at one another, it becomes clear that he is definitely in over his head.
Salut, voleurs!
Contretemps
Jean-Daniel Pollet
Philippe Sollers, Julia Kristeva
As a rereading of his films, "Contretemps" (in the fight against time), Jean-Daniel Pollet brings together excerpts of his films and a report by Jean Baronnet. The author Philippe Sollers and philosopher Julia Kristeva voice their thoughts.
Contretemps
The Big Softie
Pierre Granier-Deferre
Jacques Perrin, Eva Renzi
A young man who lives with his aunt falls for a free-spirited German model in this uninspired drama. Although he runs off with her for the summer, he returns to his aunt to live off her money after the model and an old flame rekindle their romance. The story unfolds in a series of flashbacks.
The Big Softie
Parpaillon
Luc Moullet
Jean Abeillé, Clément Boutterin
A bicycle race is held every year in a pass of the Alps called Parpaillon. With the energy of a skillful cyclist perhaps as a great tribute to François, the mailman played by Tati in The Big Day, Moullet makes a comedy by pedaling at a pace that allows him to reinvent the possibilities of film gags. La Cabale des oursins is a guided tour to the northern France, transformed into a Geography lesson in the pataphysical style of an Alfred Jarry disciple.
Up and Down
Gala
Jean-Daniel Pollet
Claude Melki, Gésip Légitimus
Gala (1961), a more polished version of Pourvu, set in a black cha-cha nightclub. Relying more upon looks, faces, and unease, rather than gags or dialogue, Pollet sets the cool elegance of the club's manager against the decidedly uncool Melki and his sartorial inadequacies. - Village Voice
Gala
Six in Paris
Jean Rouch, Jean-Daniel Pollet
Jean-Pierre Andréani, Stéphane Audran
Six vignettes set in different sections of Paris, by six directors. St. Germain des Pres (Douchet), Gare du Nord (Rouch), Rue St. Denis (Pollet), and Montparnasse et Levallois (Godard) are stories of love, flirtation and prostitution; Place d'Etoile (Rohmer) concerns a haberdasher and his umbrella; and La Muette (Chabrol), a bourgeois family and earplugs.
Six in Paris
Pourvu qu'on ait l'ivresse…
Jean-Daniel Pollet
Claude Melki
Jean Daniel Pollet’ was 22 when he made his debut short movie, "Pourvu qu’on ait l’ivresse" in 1957. It is a study of loneliness set in the dance hall of suburban Paris in the 50's starring Claude Melki, a young unknown non-actor whom Pollet discovered and who would become the director’s acteur fétiche. Melki was also the central charcter in Gala which was filmed 3 years later. - TOFU magazine
As Long as You Get Drunk...
Subway
Luc Besson
Isabelle Adjani, Christopher Lambert
Fred, a raffish safe blower, takes refuge in the Paris Metro after being chased by the henchmen of a shady businessman from whom he has just stolen some documents. While hiding out in the back rooms and conduits of the Metro, Fred encounters a subterranean society of eccentric characters and petty criminals.
Subway
La maison
Gérard Brach
Michel Simon, Patti D'Arbanville
Former professor of natural history, Louis Compiegne lives in retirement in a big house, with Pascal, his faithful servant. The arrival of a young American student comes to disorder the quiet life of the pensioner.
The House
L'homme qui valait des milliard
Michel Boisrond
Frederick Stafford, Raymond Pellegrin
A U.S. Treasury Department agent is sent to Morocco to find a fortune in counterfeit money hidden by the Nazis during World War II. The agent escapes from prison with the only man who knows the location of the bogus bills. The duo is shadowed by a group of former Nazi soldiers who hope they will lead them to recover the lost loot. The feature plays as a crime drama with overtones of international espionage.
Million Dollar Man
Le Sang
Jean-Daniel Pollet
Claude Melki, Les Tréteaux Libres de Genève
An apocalyptic vision of man after a cosmic catastrophe, this film is a terrifying metaphor of a dehumanized future. The Brazilian Cinema Novo, German expressionism of the twenties, and the ideologically motivated ‘cruelty’ of a Buñuel come together in this ferocious work of a French theatre collective – an ambitious, almost completely successful example of visual cinema at its best.
Le Sang
Le seuil du vide
Jean-François Davy
Dominique Erlanger, Odette Duc
The young artist Wanda Leibovitz comes to Paris, hoping to forget unfortunate love. Soon after arrival directly at the station Wanda meets the mysterious old woman suggesting to rent at it the room (whom the old woman, allegedly, held ready for the now deceased sister). Wanda doesn't know yet that this room will change all her life shortly after it slightly opens a mysterious forbidden door.
Threshold of the Void
L'événement le plus important depuis que l'homme a marché sur la lune
Jacques Demy
Marcello Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve
Marco Mazzetti, a driving instructor, lives with his wife Irène and their young child. After a series of dizzy spells, he goes to the doctor and discovers that he is four-month pregnant. Marco then becomes internationally famous...
A Slightly Pregnant Man
L'amour c'est gai, l'amour c'est triste
Jean-Daniel Pollet
Bernadette Lafont, Claude Melki
In a cul-de-sac in the Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, Leon shares two rooms with his sister Marie. In one, he receives his clients: he is a tailor. In the other, Marie receives her own: she is a clairvoyant. Leon was happy until he learned what Marie was hiding from him. She is actually a prostitute, and Maxime, her supposed fiancé, is her pimp. On the same day, Leon also discovers love in the form of Arlette, a provincial young woman picked up by Marie.
Love Is Gay, Love Is Sad
