Claude Piéplu
1923 - 2006
The Phantom of Liberty
Luis Buñuel
Adriana Asti, Milena Vukotić
This Surrealist film, with a title referencing the Communist Manifesto, strings together short incidents based on the life of director Luis Buñuel. Presented as chance encounters, these loosely related, intersecting situations, all without a consistent protagonist, reach from the 19th century to the 1970s. Touching briefly on subjects such as execution, pedophilia, incest, and sex, the film features an array of characters, including a sick father and incompetent police officers.
The Phantom of Liberty
The King and the Mockingbird
Paul Grimault
Jean Martin, Renaud Marx
The kingdom of Takicardie quakes under the rule of the tyrannical King Charles V-et-III-font-VIII-et-VIII-font-XVI, whose favourite pastime is shooting birds. His archenemy is a cheeky mockingbird, whose favourite pastime is thwarting the king’s attempts to shoot birds. One night, a portrait of the king comes to life and disposes of the real king, taking his place. The portrait king falls in love with a young shepherdess in another painting and intends to marry her. But, alas, the shepherdess has fallen in love with a chimneysweep and together they elope from the king’s palace. Enraged, the king sends his police to capture them and once they are within his power he forces the shepherdess to marry him. The mockingbird must use all his guile and courage to once more thwart the king and bring his evil reign to an end.
The King and the Mockingbird
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Luis Buñuel
Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig
In Luis Buñuel’s deliciously satiric masterpiece, an upper-class sextet sits down to dinner but never eats, their attempts continually thwarted by a vaudevillian mixture of events both actual and imagined.
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Beau temps mais orageux en fin de journée
Gérard Frot-Coutaz
Xavier Deluc, Tonie Marshall
This slice-of-life drama about an elderly couple and their estranged son covers twenty-four fateful hours that begin with the usual daily routine for the retired pair of former teachers (Micheline Presle and Claude Pieplu). Then their son telephones to say he will be coming over with his girlfriend and the normal pattern is changed, as he visits them rarely. While the mother is obsequious to her son when he arrives, past hurts and resentments bubble up during lunch, making it difficult for the son to tell them he is getting married. This is news enough, but the effect that announcement has on the son and his fiancée is unexpected and events later on in the day take a turn for the worse.
Beau temps mais orageux en fin de journée
Section spéciale
Costa-Gavras
Louis Seigner, Michael Lonsdale
In occupied France during the WWII, a German officer is murdered. The collaborationist Vichy government decides to pin the murder on six petty criminals. Loyal judges are called in to convict them as quickly as possible.
Special Section
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
Gérard Oury
Louis de Funès, Suzy Delair
In this riot of frantic disguises and mistaken identities, Victor Pivert, a blustering, bigoted French factory owner, finds himself taken hostage by Slimane, an Arab rebel leader. The two dress up as rabbis as they try to elude not only assasins from Slimane's country, but also the police, who think Pivert is a murderer. Pivert ends up posing as Rabbi Jacob, a beloved figure who's returned to France for his first visit after 30 years in the United States. Adding to the confusion are Pivert's dentist-wife, who thinks her husband is leaving her for another woman, their daughter, who's about to get married, and a Parisian neighborhood filled with people eager to celebrate the return of Rabbi Jacob.
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
The Best Way to Walk
Claude Miller
Patrick Dewaere, Patrick Bouchitey
In 1960, Marc and Philippe are counselors at a summer camp in the French countryside. One night, Marc finds Philippe dressed and made up as a woman, and from now on, he will keep on humiliating Philippe.
The Best Way to Walk
Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez
Jean Girault
Louis de Funès, Geneviève Grad
The ambitious police officer Cruchot is transferred to St. Tropez. He's struggling with crimes such as persistent nude swimming, but even more with his teenage daughter, who's trying to impress her rich friends by telling them her father was a millionaire and owned a yacht in the harbor.
Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez
La prisonnière
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Laurent Terzieff, Bernard Fresson
Gallery director Stanislas bolsters the development of modern art with his collection of surprising works. His newest acquisition is a sculpture by Gilbert, whose wife Josée is captivated by Stanislas. But unbeknownst to her, Stanislas is amassing photographs of a very perverse, disturbed nature.
Woman in Chains
Wedding in Blood
Claude Chabrol
Michel Piccoli, Claude Piéplu
Lucienne Delamare and Pierre Maury are having an affair. Lucienne's husband Paul is the mayor, and a French deputy. Pierre's wife Clotilde has been weak and sickly for years. Lucienne's husband holds no excitement for her, and he is always away in Paris on business. Pierre is now the vice-mayor, thanks to Paul. Lucienne and Pierre have a secret meeting spot by a lake along a country lane. Pierre's wife dies suddenly, by suicide the town gossips believe. Pierre confesses otherwise to Lucienne. Paul proposes a shady land deal which will "benefit the town", and wants Pierre's political support and collusion. Then Paul discovers proof of his wife's affair...
Wedding in Blood
Rob the Bank
Jean Girault
Louis de Funès, Jean-Pierre Marielle
Shopkeeper Victor Garnier has naively invested his family's life savings in an African mine, on his banker's recommendation. When the mine is nationalized, rendering the stock worthless, he considers himself shamelessly robbed by the bank; it seems only fair to him to return the 'favor' and rob the bank, teaming up with the whole family as they were all duped. Even for professionals such an enterprise -he decides to dig a tunnel- is quite demanding, but for simple commoners it's daunting, as they also have their personal downsides; thus Victor's wife has a most unwelcome tendency to blurt out the truth, even to the grumpy local copper: a crazy risk when you need to keep a criminal plan secret.
Rob the Bank
Le voyage de Pénélope
Patrick Volson
Guillaume Canet, Micheline Presle
Maxime and Paulo are two young men in their very early twenties. Maxime is spending his summer holidays with his parents in a camping resort, which he hates, and Paulo is working in the nearest cafeteria. They hope to win a cruise to Bora-Bora by collecting capsules from pop-soda bottles. They are missing only one capsule, which is unfortunately found by Penelope, who works in the local supermarket. Unfortunately, because Penelope is not very attractive. The two boys make Penelope believe that Paulo is going to go on the cruise with her, but Maxime decides to ride along with them, in Penelope's old car, to Marseille, where the ship is leaving from. Actually the two boys plan to steal Penelope's capsule, get rid of her, and go on the cruise together. But, on their way to Marseille, they are going to meet a couple of very strange elderly people, Hermine and Gaspard.
The Voyage of Penelope
Le diable par la queue
Philippe de Broca
Yves Montand, Madeleine Renaud
In this comedy, a run-down hotel drums up customers by sabotaging passing cars. The stuck motorists are then obliged to stay. Unfortunately, one of the sabotaged cars belongs to a bank robber. The hotel staff wants the robber out, but they also want to keep his ill-gotten money.
The Devil by the Tail
Hibernatus
Édouard Molinaro
Louis de Funès, Claude Gensac
The frozen body of Paul Fournier is discovered in Greenland where he had disappeared during a scientific expedition in 1905. Perfectly conserved he is brought back to life in the 1960s. His descendants take care of him: to spare him the cultural shock they behave so to make believe it's 1905 and they are his cousins, uncle...
Hibernatus
