1.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
2.
Michel Serrault
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Michel Serrault was a French stage actor and film star who appeared from 1954 until 2007 in more than 150 films. Although he wanted to be a clown, Serraults parents sent him to a seminary to study for the priesthood. He spent only a few months there before taking-up acting and his first professional job was in a touring production in Germany of Molières Les Fourberies de Scapin. After military service in Dijon, he returned to Paris and joined Robert Dherys burlesque troupe and appeared in their hit show. In 1948, he began his career in the theatre with Robert Dhéry in Les Branquignols, Les belles bacchantes, starring Robert Dhéry, Colette Brosset, and Louis de Funès, directed by Jean Loubignac in 1954. Serrault played in the 1955 suspense thriller Les Diaboliques, starring Simone Signoret and directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. He met and worked with Jean Poiret in the early 1950s, which led to a song and comedy act and their playing together in 18 films from 1956 to 1984. The films they worked together in included Cette sacrée gamine, with Brigitte Bardot, from February 1973 through 1978, he portrayed the role of Albin/Zaza opposite Jean Poiret in the play La Cage aux Folles, written by Poiret. He recreated the role for the version of the play. Serrault died from relapsing polychondritis at his home in Équemauville on 29 July 2007 at age 79 and he was survived by his daughter, actress Nathalie Serrault. pt The Guardian Obituary Michel Serrault at Find a Grave
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Niels Arestrup
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Niels Arestrup is a French actor, film director and screenwriter. He was born in Paris into a family of modest means, his father was Danish, Arestrup has won three César Awards for Best Supporting Actor for The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet, then Quai dOrsay. The two first films were directed by Jacques Audiard and he is the most awarded in this category. Movies starring Niels Arestrup with more than a million of entries in France, Niels Arestrup at the Internet Movie Database
4.
Mathieu Amalric
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Mathieu Amalric is a French actor and filmmaker. He has also won the César Award and the Lumières Award, amalrics father is French while his mother was born in Poland, to Jewish parents, and moved to France at the outbreak of World War II. Amalric first gained fame in the film Ma Vie Sexuelle, for which he won a César Award and he was selected to play the James Bond villain Dominic Greene alongside Daniel Craig in the 2008 film Quantum of Solace. In 2007, he starred in the acclaimed movie Le Scaphandre et le Papillon. His 2010 film, On Tour, premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, the 2014 film The Blue Room, which he directed and starred in, was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. Amalric has three sons, two with his ex-wife Jeanne Balibar, and one with his girlfriend, a writer, with whom he lives in the Belleville neighbourhood of Paris. Mathieu Amalric at the Internet Movie Database
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Fabrice Luchini
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Fabrice Luchini is a French stage and film actor. He has appeared in such as Potiche, The Women on the 6th Floor. For his role in the 2015 film Courted he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, Fabrice Luchini was born in Paris, into an Italian immigrant family from Assisi who were greengrocers. He grew up around the neighbourhood of Goutte dOr in Pariss 18th arrondissement. When he was 13, his mother apprenticed him to a hairdresser in a parlour in Avenue Matignon. His first film role was in Tout peut arriver in 1969 and he then appeared in Éric Rohmers Le Genou de Claire in 1970 playing a small role as an adolescent. He went on to appear in Rohmers Perceval le Gallois and Les Nuits de la pleine lune, in 1990 he appeared in Christian Vincents La Discrète. In 2011, he collaborated in a book by Philippe Muray, also in 2011, he released Fabrice Luchini lit fragments dun discours amoureux through Audiolib. In 2012, he released Variations on CD and DVD on Barclay / Universal Music France Prix Jean Gabin César Award for Best Supporting Actor, for Tout ça. pour ça. Prix du Brigadier Silver George for Best Actor at the 29th Moscow International Film Festival Fabrice Luchini at the Internet Movie Database
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Jean-Pierre Marielle
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Jean-Pierre Marielle is a French actor. He is well known for his outspokenness and especially for his warm, Marielle was born in 1932 in Paris to an industrialist father and a dressmaker mother. His first experiences of acting date back to his years of school during which he staged some Chekhov’s plays with his comrades. But disappointed by his first movie roles, he turned a moment to the cabaret and he obtained a little more consistent roles in the 1960s in movies such as Faites sauter la banque. Starring alongside Louis de Funès, Weekend at Dunkirk and in particular Un monsieur de compagnie, but his popularity really exploded during the 1970s as he appeared in a lot of comedies. In La Valise he played an Israeli spy having to hide in a trunk in order to be extracted from a country of the Middle East, Les Galettes de Pont-Aven, Que la fête commence and Coup de Torchon confirmed him as a great actor. One of his best performances, which is probably his darkest, lies in his wonderful interpretation of a disillusioned. The other major role of his career is Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe in Tous les matins du monde and he also made at the same time a brilliant stage career and received the highest French award for a theater actor, the Molière, in 1994. He plays Jacques Sauniere in The Da Vinci Code and he was awarded the Légion d’Honneur in 1992. He has been married to French actress Agathe Natanson since 4 October 2003 and has a son from a previous union and he is a great fan of jazz music and New York City. 1995, Golden Goblet Award for Best Actor for the film Les Milles,1992,7 dOr Award for Best Actor for the TV film La controverse de valladolid. 1987, Mystfest Award for Best Actor for the film Les mois davril sont meurtriers,2008, Honorary Lumières Award 2004 – César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the film La Petite Lili. 1993 – César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the film Max et Jérémie,1992 – César Award for Best Actor for the film Tous les matins du monde. 1989 – César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the film Quelques jours avec moi,1982 – César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the film Coup de Torchon. 1976 – César Award for Best Actor for the film Les Galettes de Pont-Aven, jean-Pierre Marielle at the Internet Movie Database
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Les Visiteurs
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Les Visiteurs is a French fantasy comedy film directed by Jean-Marie Poiré and released in 1993. In this comedy, a 12th-century knight and his servant travel in time to the end of the 20th century and find themselves adrift in modern society. Les Visiteurs was the Number 1 box office film in France in 1993, with 13,782,846 ticket sales, the publicity for the film used the tagline Ils ne sont pas nés dhier. Reno and Clavier reprised their roles in a sequel in 1998, the American remake Just Visiting in 2001, the castle of Ermenonville, in Oise département, served as decoration for the castle of Montmirail in the current time and the Cité de Carcassonne for medieval period. In the year 1123, Godefroy Amaury de Malfête, Count of Apremont and Papincourt, saves the life of his beloved sovereign, for this action of bravery, the King makes him Count of Montmirail and promises him the woman he loves, the beautiful Frénégonde de Pouille. On his way to the castle to marry Frénégonde, Godefroys drinking flask is drugged by the witch he had taken prisoner. Hallucinating, he believes the Duke of Pouille, father of his wife, is a ferocious bear. In an attempt to repair his mistake, Godefroy asks the wizard Eusebius to send him back in time to a moment before he shot the Duke, the old wizard muddles his magical spell, accidentally sending Godefroy and Jacquouille to the year 1992. Jacquouille, meanwhile, is befriended by Ginette la Clocharde, a vagrant they meet early in their adventure. Béatrice, thinking Godefroy to be her long-lost stuntman cousin Hubert, gets Godefroy out of the hospital and takes them back to her home. Seeing the family seal on Godefroys hand, Beatrice assumes he stole the jewel from the castle de Montmirail and they go there and meet the owner of the castle, the effete Jacques-Henri Jacquard, the unwitting descendant and close likeness of Jacquouille. The jewel on Godefroys hand starts to burn as they get closer to the castle, the two seals explode and destroy Jacquards brand new Range Rover. Godefroy books a room for the night and finds a passage known only to him. There he finds a letter telling him to go to an address, where an aged Monsieur Ferdinand. Jacquouille, however, wants to stay, enjoying Ginettes company and having proved more adaptable than Godefroy in discovering toothpaste, modern clothing, furious at his behavior, Godefroy finally brings him to the hotel room by force. While Godefroy is talking with Béatrice, Jacquouille swaps jackets with his descendant, closes the curtains, dims the lights, in the dark, Godefroy gives Jacquard the potion which then sends him back to the year 1123. The bewildered Jacquard finds himself stranded in the past in the role of Godefroys servant as Godefroy leaves on horseback with Frénégonde, another sequel, The Visitors, Bastille Day, was released in 2016. The Navigator, A Medieval Odyssey Les Visiteurs at the Internet Movie Database
8.
The Intouchables
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The Intouchables is a 2011 French buddy comedy-drama film directed by Olivier Nakache & Éric Toledano. It stars François Cluzet and Omar Sy, nine weeks after its release in France on 2 November 2011, it became the second biggest box office hit in France, just behind the 2008 film Welcome to the Sticks. The film was voted the event of 2011 in France with 52% of votes in a poll by Fnac. The film has received award nominations. At night in Paris, Driss is driving Philippes Maserati at high speed and they are chased through the streets by the police, and eventually cornered. Driss claims the quadriplegic Philippe must be driven to the emergency room, Philippe pretends to have a seizure. Driss, a candidate, has no ambitions to get hired and he is just there to get a signature showing he was interviewed and rejected in order to continue receiving his welfare benefits. He is told to back the next morning to get his signed letter. The next day, Driss returns and learns that he is on a period for the live-in caregiver job. Despite being uninterested in the job and his lack of experience, Driss does well caring for Philippe. Driss learns the extent of Philippes disability and accompanies Philippe in every moment of his life, a friend of Philippes reveals Drisss criminal record which includes six months in jail for robbery. Philippe states he does not care about Drisss past because he is the one that does not treat him with pity. He says he will not fire him as long as he does his job properly, Philippe discloses to Driss that he became disabled following a paragliding accident and that his wife died without bearing children. Gradually, Philippe is led by Driss to put order in his private life. Driss discovers modern art, opera, and even takes up painting, for Philippes birthday, a private concert of classical music is performed in his living room. Feeling that the concert is too boring, Driss plays Earth, Wind & Fires Boogie Wonderland, Driss discovers that Philippe has a purely epistolary relationship with a woman called Eléonore, who lives in Dunkirk. Driss encourages him to meet her, but Philippe fears her reaction when she discovers his disability, Driss eventually convinces Philippe to talk to Eléonore on the phone. Philippe agrees with Driss to send a photo of him in a wheelchair to her, a date between Eléonore and Philippe is agreed
9.
Subway (film)
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Subway is a 1985 French comedy drama film directed by Luc Besson and starring Isabelle Adjani and Christopher Lambert. The film is classified as part of the cinema du look movement, there he joins the dwellers and befriends several colourful characters, including others who are living under the subway to avoid police arrest. While the gangsters try to find Fred, he develops a romance with the gangsters young trophy wife Héléna. She had originally invited Fred to the party featured at the opening of the film, Fred forms a pop band with some of his friends, such as The Drummer and Enrico, who compose the songs. While Fred is working on project, Hélénas powerful husband pressures the police to find the fugitive. One of Freds sidekicks, The Rollerskater, who has been wanted by the police for a time, is captured by Commissioner Gesberg. Fred and his friend The Florist rob a train carrying money, The Florist escapes, Fred uses money from the robbery to pay off a band scheduled to perform in the subway station. His new band replaces them but, at their performance, Fred is searched for by both the police and a henchman of Hélénas husband, the henchman shoots Fred just as Héléna was about to reach and warn him of danger. The film ends with Héléna kneeling beside Fred, who is lying on his back, looking content and they are playing and being applauded by the audience in the background. The opening car chase scene is said to pay homage to the 1971 film The French Connection, Éric Serras score and other musical pieces from the soundtrack, such as Freds bands song, Its Only Mystery, were released on vinyl and cassette in 1985. The soundtrack sold over 100,000 copies in France, the soundtrack was released on CD in 1996. Subway was the third-most popular French film in France in 1986, after Trois Hommes et un Couffin, the film grossed $390,659 at the box office in the United States. The film holds an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on seven reviews, Subway was nominated for the Foreign Language Film award at the 40th British Academy Film Awards. The film was nominated for 13 César Awards in 1986, winning 3, Best Actor, Best Production Design, the film was released on DVD in the USA in November 2001. The DVD presents the film in 2.35,1 anamorphic widescreen, aaron Beierle of DVD Talk gave the DVD3 out of 5 stars for video quality, and 2½ stars for audio quality. Jason Bovberg of DVD Talk gave the film 3 stars for video and audio quality. Both reviewers gave the only a ½ star for its extra features, noting only cast. Both the UK and French versions of the Blu-ray were released in September 2009, both only contained the film in its original French audio, though with optional English subtitles
10.
Polisse
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Polisse is a 2011 French drama film written, directed by and starring Maïwenn. It also stars Joeystarr, Karin Viard, Marina Foïs, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Emmanuelle Bercot, the film centres on the Child Protection Unit of the Paris Police, and a photographer who is assigned to cover the unit. The title is derived from Maïwenns sons misspelling of the word police, the film won the Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and in 2012, was nominated for thirteen César Awards. In moments of relaxation the squad gossip, quarrel, drink, dance, relationships tremble and their boss is a political policeman, not wholly sympathetic to the demands of their consciences, and ready to tighten the leash if the man they are questioning has powerful friends. At the centre of the story is a hard-edged, bitter yet tender policeman, Maïwenn got the idea for the film when she saw a documentary about the Child Protection Unit on television. She was allowed to stay with the officers of the unit to research the subject, all the cases in the screenplay were based either on things the director had witnessed during her time with the unit or older cases they told her about. Not letting the viewers know the verdicts of the defendants was a conscious choice, Maïwenn wrote a first draft for the screenplay on her own, and was then joined by Emmanuelle Bercot. The film was produced for €6.14 million through Les Films du Trésor in co-production with Arte France Cinéma, the production received pre-sales investment from Canal+ and CinéCinéma. Two former members of the CPU were hired to train the actors, filming took place in Paris between 30 August and 29 October 2010. The film was recorded with two or three cameras in each scene. The world premiere took place at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, the regular French release was on 19 October through Mars Distribution. At the Cannes Film Festival, Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter compared the film to a season of The Wire packed into a single two-hour-plus film. And even with its loose threads and frenzied structure, it jumps from laughter to tears and back again. In Screen Dailys review from the festival, Jonathan Romney called Maïwenn undeniably a very strong director of actors, shes less adept, though, at judging what is dramatically essential and what is surplus to requirements. The film won the Cannes Film Festivals Jury Prize, peter Bradshaw from the Guardian newspaper was much less positive. He described the film as a contender for the most awful film of the competition and much of it feels like a pretty dodgy evening in front of the television. But I dont think any director of The Bill would have permitted the toe-curlingly embarrassing overacting we get in this movie, peter Schöning, defined in his review for German Der Spiegel Poliss as a cry for help which became a film. He added this was not merely because of the abused children, but. as well because of those policemen who have to enforce the law but moreover have to perform a great deal of social work - hereby permanently being overstrained
11.
La Haine
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La Haine is a 1995 French black-and-white drama/suspense film written, co-edited, and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. It is commonly released under its French title in the English-speaking world and it is about three young friends and their struggle to live in the banlieues of Paris. The title derives from a spoken by one of them, Hubert. Vinz, who is Jewish, is filled with rage and he sees himself as a gangster ready to win respect by killing a cop, manically practising the role of Travis Bickle from the film Taxi Driver in the mirror secretly. His attitude towards police, for instance, is a simplified, stylized blanket condemnation, Hubert is an Afro-French boxer and small-time drug dealer, the most mature of the three, whose gymnasium was burned in the riots. The quietest, most thoughtful and wisest of the three, he contemplates the ghetto and the hate around him. He expresses the wish to leave this world of violence and hate behind him. Saïd – Sayid in some English subtitles – is an Arab Maghrebi who inhabits the ground between his two friends responses to their place in life. A friend of theirs, Abdel Ichaha, has been brutalized by the police shortly before the riot, Vinz finds a policemans.44 Magnum revolver, lost in the riot. He vows that if their friend dies from his injuries, he use it to kill a cop. The three go through a daily routine and struggle to entertain themselves, frequently finding themselves under police scrutiny. They sleep in a mall and wake to a news broadcast informing them that Abdel is dead. Vinz suddenly arrives, and his gun allows him to break up the fight, early in the morning, the trio returns to the banlieue and split up to their separate homes, and Vinz turns the gun over to Hubert. However, Vinz and Saïd encounter a policeman, whom Vinz had insulted earlier in the day whilst with his friends on a local rooftop. The policeman grabs and threatens Vinz, making reference to the incident on the roof. Hubert rushes to their aid, but as the policeman holding Vinz taunts him with a gun held to Vinzs head. Kassovitz has said that the idea came to him when a young Zairian and he was killed at point blank range while in police custody and handcuffed to a radiator. The officer was reported to have been angered by Makomes words, Kassovitz began writing the script on April 6,1993, the day MBowole was shot
12.
A Prophet
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A Prophet is a 2009 French prison drama-crime film directed by Jacques Audiard from a screenplay he co-wrote with Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri and Nicolas Peufaillit. The film won the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language and nine Césars and it was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards. Malik El Djebena, a 19-year-old French youth of Algerian descent, is sentenced to six years in prison for attacking police officers, alone and illiterate upon his arrival, he falls under the sway of Corsican mobsters, led by César Luciani, who enforces a brutal rule. The prison is divided between two factions, the Corsicans and the Muslims. When Luciani forces him to be the assassin of Reyeb. Malik serves as a servant to the Corsicans, who treat him with disdain. All the while, he is haunted by visions of the murdered Reyeb, when the bulk of the Corsicans are transferred or released, Luciani is forced to give Malik more responsibility. Having secretly learned Corsican, Malik acts as Lucianis eyes and ears in the prison, when Malik earns the privilege of day-long furloughs outside the prison, Luciani relies on him to conduct his criminal business outside. Ryad, a Muslim friend, teaches Malik to read and write, Ryad teaches Malik about his own heritage, introducing him to two other Muslims, Tarik and Hassan, and increasing his power within the prison. Malik also becomes involved with a drug dealer, Jordi. When Ryad gains an early release due to cancer, the three partners organize a drug-running enterprise to sell hashish. But when Ryad is kidnapped by the drug dealer Latif, Malik tracks down Latifs relative inside the prison and he kidnaps the relatives family and forces Latifs gang to release Ryad. When Luciani discovers that Malik is using his day-releases for his own personal enterprise, Malik is sent to meet Brahim Lattrache in Marseille, another Muslim, who is involved in a deal between Luciani and the Lingherris, an Italian mafia group. Lattrache is bitter toward the Corsicans for the murder of Reyeb, when Malik spots a deer warning sign, he remembers a recent dream of deer running in the road. He tells his kidnappers that they are in danger of hitting wild animals, Lattrache is impressed by Malik, calling him a prophet and agreeing to do criminal business with him instead of Luciani, even though Malik admitted that he killed Reyeb. Luciani believes there is a mole in his organization and decides to use Malik to assassinate Jacky Marcaggi, but Malik and Ryad have their own plan for Marcaggi, they kill his bodyguards and dump him in a van with his Corsican enemy Vettori, Lucianis henchman. Malik takes refuge at Ryads house with his wife and young son, Ryads cancer has returned, his decision against more chemotherapy leaves him just six months to live. He gets Malik to promise to care of his family when hes gone
13.
Jean-Louis Trintignant
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Jean-Louis Xavier Trintignant is a French actor, screenwriter and director who has enjoyed international acclaim. He won the Best Actor Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival as well as the Best Actor Award at the César Awards 2013, Trintignant was born in Piolenc, Vaucluse, France, the son of Claire and Raoul Trintignant, an industrialist. At the age of twenty, Trintignant moved to Paris to study drama, trintignant’s acting was interrupted for several years by mandatory military service. After serving in Algiers, he returned to Paris and resumed his work in film and he had the leading male role in the classic A Man and a Woman, which at the time was the most successful French film ever screened in the foreign market. Throughout the 1970s, Trintignant starred in films and in 1983 he made his first English language feature film. Following this, he starred in François Truffauts final film, Confidentially Yours, and reprised his role in the sequel A Man. In 1994, he starred in Krzysztof Kieślowskis last film, Three Colors, though he takes an occasional film role, he has, as of late, been focusing essentially on his stage work. After a 14-year gap, Trintignant came back on screen for Michael Hanekes film Amour, haneke had sent Trintignant the script, which had been written specifically for him. Trintignant comes from a wealthy family and he is the nephew of race car driver, Louis Trintignant, who was killed in 1933 while practising on the Péronne racetrack in Picardy. Another uncle, Maurice Trintignant, was a Formula One driver who won the Monaco Grand Prix as well as the 24 hours of Le Mans. Raised in and around automobile racing, Jean-Louis Trintignant was the choice of film director Claude Lelouch for the starring role of race car driver in the 1966 film, A Man. He suffered a leg injury from an accident in June 2007. His first wife was actress Stéphane Audran and his second wife, Nadine Marquand, was also an actress as well as a screenwriter and director. They had three children, Vincent Trintignant, Pauline and Marie Trintignant, at the age of 17, Marie performed in La terrazza alongside her father and later became a successful actress in her own right. She was killed at the age of 41 by her boyfriend, singer Bertrand Cantat, in a room in Vilnius. Trintignant is good friends with Anouk Aimée and it was he who recommended Aimée to film director Claude Lelouch for the female lead in A Man and a Woman. Jean-Louis Trintignant biography on newwavefilm. com Jean-Louis Trintignant at the Internet Movie Database Jean-Louis Trintignant at New Wave Film
14.
Jacques Villeret
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Jacques Villeret was a French actor, best known internationally for his role as François Pignon in the comedy Le Dîner de Cons. During his career, he earned many awards including the prestigious medal, Villeret was born Mohamed Boufroura in Loches, Indre-et-Loire, France, to an Algerian father and a French mother. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris in the class of Louis Seigner, when his career was at its height, with the success of Le Dîner de Cons, a separation with his wife and an enormous financial turnaround to do with tax, plunged him into depression. Villeret turned to alcohol as a source of comfort, and it became a problem, one which he sought to resolve by isolating himself. In retrospect at this episode in his life, he is quoted to have said, Alcohol is a friend and his love of his profession helped to bring his career back from the brink. He married Irina Tarassov, an actress and writer, on 26 December 1979, having met Seny, an African widow, she and Jacques were about to start life together in Paris when he died in Evreux following a liver haemorrhage brought about by his previous alcoholism
15.
Vincent Lacoste
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Vincent Lacoste is a French actor. He began his career at the age of fifteen, playing the lead role of Hervé in the film The French Kissers. The role won him the Lumières Award for Most Promising Actor and he was awarded the Prix Patrick Dewaere in 2016. Vincent Lacoste at the Internet Movie Database
16.
Thomas Langmann
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Thomas Langmann is a French film producer and actor, known for producing The Artist, for which he received an Academy Award for Best Picture as producer in 2012. He became a producer in the early 2000s. During the filming of Asterix at the Olympic Games, he was arrested for employing prostitutes, in 2011, Langmann produced the black and white, silent film The Artist with director Michel Hazanavicius. He was unable to attract investors to the project and self-financed the film. He won the Academy Award for the film at the 2012 Oscars and he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012 along with 175 other individuals. Langmann was born in Paris, France, the son of Anne-Marie Rassam and his uncle was the late producer Jean-Pierre Rassam and his brother was the late French actor Julien Rassam. Both his mother and his brother committed suicide, in 1997 and in 2002, respectively and he has a younger half-brother from his fathers later relationship, Darius Langmann. His father Claude Berri was Jewish, and his mother Anne-Marie Rassam, in 2008, Langmann was sentenced to four months in prison for assaulting his long-term girlfriend Frédérique, with whom he had a daughter in 2002. Langmann married French journalist Céline Bosquet on June 21,2013
17.
Philippe Noiret
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Philippe Noiret was a French film actor. Noiret was born in Lille, France, the son of Lucy and Pierre Noiret and he was an indifferent scholar and attended several prestigious Paris schools, including the Lycée Janson de Sailly. He failed several times to pass his exams, so he decided to study theater. He trained at the Centre Dramatique de lOuest and toured with the Théâtre National Populaire for seven years, where he met Monique Chaumette, whom he married in 1962. During that time he developed a career as a comedian in a duo act with Jean-Pierre Darras. In these roles they satirized the politics of Charles de Gaulle, noirets screen debut was an uncredited role in Gigi. In 1955 he appeared in La Pointe Courte directed by Agnès Varda and she said later - I discovered in him a breadth of talent rare in a young actor. Sporting a pudding-basin haircut, Noiret played a youth in the southern fishing port of Sète. He later admitted, I was scared stiff, and fumbled my way through the part - I am totally absent in the film and he was not cast again until 1960 in Zazie dans le Métro. For actors of my generation—all the men of 50 or 60 now in French movies—all of us were thinking of being stage actors, even people like Jean-Paul Belmondo, all of us, we never thought wed become movie stars. So, at the beginning, I was just doing it for the money, but after two or three years of working on movies, I started to enjoy it, and to be very interested in it. And Im still very interested in it, because Ive never really understood how it works, I mean, what is acting for the movies. Noiret won his first César Award for his role in Vieux Fusil in 1976 and his second César came in 1990 for his role in Life and Nothing But. Noiret appeared in Hollywood-financed films by Alfred Hitchcock, George Cukor, Ted Kotcheff, Peter Yates, but he may be best known for his roles as Alfredo in Cinema Paradiso, Pablo Neruda in Il Postino, and Major Dellaplane in Bertrand Taverniers Life and Nothing But. By the time of his death from cancer in Paris in 2006, aged 76 and he often joked with interviewers about his virtually non-stop work schedule, telling Joe Leydon in 1989, You never know what will be the success of a film. And its always comfortable to be making another film when youre reading terrible notices for your last film and you can say, Well, thats a pity, but Im already working on another job. You see, if youre only making one film a year, or one every year. Because when its a failure, what do you do
18.
Le vieux fusil
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Le vieux fusil is a 1975 French film directed by Robert Enrico, and starring Philippe Noiret, Romy Schneider and Jean Bouise. It won the 1976 César Award for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Music, the film is based on the Massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane in 1944. In Montauban in 1944, during the German retreat from France, Julien Dandieu is an ageing, frightened by the German army entering Montauban, Dandieu asks his friend Francois to drive his wife and his daughter to the remote village where he owns a chateau. One week later, Dandieu sets off to them for the weekend. He finds that all the villagers have been herded into the church, in the château, now occupied by the Germans, he finds his daughter shot and his wife immolated by a flame-thrower. Dandieu decides to kill as many Germans as possible to avenge his family, trapped inside the castle, the Germans begin to think they are surrounded by many partisans and do not realise that he is, in fact, the only one. When a Resistance detachment drops by, Dandieu refuses their offer to help him, eventually, with no more cartridges for the shotgun, he collects the flame-thrower which killed his beloved wife and uses it to kill the leading SS officer as he is about to commit suicide. Alerted by the partisans, the inhabitants of a nearby village, Dandieu is picked up by Francois, but has suffered a nervous breakdown following the aftermath of the slaughter, behaving as if his family was still alive. The film ends with a flashback to one of his happier days now gone, château de Bruniquel, the landmark of the village, where most of the film was shot. Le vieux fusil at the Internet Movie Database Le vieux fusil at AllMovie Le vieux fusil at Rotten Tomatoes
19.
Cousin Cousine
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Cousin Cousine is a 1975 French romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Charles Tacchella and starring Marie-Christine Barrault, Victor Lanoux, and Marie-France Pisier. Written by Jean-Charles Tacchella and Danièle Thompson, the film is about two cousins by marriage who meet at a wedding and develop a close friendship, after their spouses prove unfaithful, the cousins friendship leads to a passionate love affair. In 1989, an English language remake was released, Cousins, two cousins related by marriage, Marthe and Ludovic, meet at a family wedding for the first time. Marthe is the daughter and Ludovic is the grooms nephew. After a raucous wedding reception with plenty of dancing and drinking, Marthe and Ludovic are left waiting for their spouses, Pascal and Karine. While they wait, they get to each other, Marthe is a secretary. Later they dance together, even after the lights are turned off, eventually Pascal and Karine show up, slightly disheveled, and the couples part. Ludovic meets Marthe for lunch and tells her that her husband is having an affair with his wife, later Pascal shamelessly informs her that hes broken off all of his affairs and that from now on she will be the only one. When Marthe tells him she knows about Karine, he says he only had her three times in the bushes, sometime later at a family gathering at Marthes mothers house, Ludovics daughter, Nelsa, shows slides she took at the wedding—including compromising photos of Pascal and Karine. During the slide show, Marthas mothers new husband dies, at the funeral, Ludovics father arrives and extends his condolences, he too lost his spouse recently. On the way back from the cemetery, Marthe and Ludovic get better acquainted, later that week, Marthe and Ludovic meet for lunch, buy bathing suits, and going swimming in a public pool. They enjoy each others company so much that they decide to take the rest of the day off together to go shopping, although their relationship is platonic, Pascal and Karine begin to grow jealous. Marthe and Ludovic playfully arrange to meet by chance at a restaurant with their families, to see how Pascal. Later that week Marthe and Ludovic meet again at the pool and acknowledge that their relationship is special and must remain that way. At another family wedding, with Pascal and the grooms father fighting over a deal gone wrong, Marthe and Ludovic decide to leave. They return to find a drunken Pascal harassing the guests, Marthes mother and Ludovics father develop a close friendship and plan to spend time at his vineyard. Marthe and Ludovic discuss their own relationship and decide that it is absurd to keep it platonic, for once they will do something for themselves, and not for their spouses and families. That Saturday, Marthe and Ludovic meet and spend the day together in a hotel making love and they decide to keep the room for the night and order food in
20.
Cookies (film)
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Cookies is a French drama film directed by Joël Séria. Henri Serin is a middle-aged travelling umbrella salesman from Saumur who lives a sexless and unhappy married life with his puritan wife, painting is the only true passion of Henri but he also has an affection for female buttocks. One night, on the roads of Brittany he hits a boar with his car, Émile, a rude and carefree painter who lives in a cottage near Riec-sur-Belon meets Henri and invites him to stay at his house while the car is being fixed. Henri falls in love with Émiles Canadian live-in girlfriend Angela who draws Henris attention with her beautiful buttocks, Henri and Angela leave Émile after a violent confrontation and move to Pont-Aven, the city of painters. Angela encourages Henri to continue his life as a painter and he sees this as an opportunity to leave his life behind. However, Angela soon dumps him for Émile and Henri becomes a drunkard, butt of jokes in the town, and a painter unable to sell a single painting. Marie, the maid working at the pension Henri stays, is apparently in love with him. However, at a kermesse where the two sing Kenavo by Théodore Botrel, Henri faces his true feelings for Marie and he finds pure love and a pair of beautiful buttocks in her and decides to make a new start in his life. Eventually, Henri and Marie begin to live together and are seen happily selling galettes and toffee apples on a Névez beach
21.
The Judge and the Assassin
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The Judge and the Assassin is a 1976 French drama film directed by Bertrand Tavernier. The film won two César Awards in 1977 and it is based on the life of mass murderer Joseph Vacher. Philippe Noiret as Judge Rousseau Michel Galabru as Sgt, Joseph Bouvier Isabelle Huppert as Rose Jean-Claude Brialy as Villedieu, Attorney Renée Faure as Mme
22.
Alain Delon
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Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon is a French actor and businessman. Delon became one of Europes most prominent actors and screen sex symbols in the 1960s and he achieved critical acclaim for roles in films such as Rocco and His Brothers, Purple Noon, LEclisse, The Leopard, Lost Command and Le Samouraï. Over the course of his career Delon worked with well known directors, including Luchino Visconti, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Melville, Michelangelo Antonioni. Delon acquired Swiss citizenship on 23 September 1999, and the company managing products sold under his name is based in Geneva and he resides in Chêne-Bougeries in the canton of Geneva. Delon was born in Sceaux, Seine, Île-de-France, a suburb of Paris and his parents, Édith and Fabien Delon, divorced when Delon was four. Both remarried, and Delon has a half-sister and two half-brothers and his paternal grandmother was Corsican, from Prunelli-di-Fiumorbo. When his parents divorced, Delon was sent to live with foster parents, when they died, his parents shared him but the arrangement proved unsatisfactory. He attended a Roman Catholic boarding school, the first of several schools from which he was expelled because of unruly behavior, teachers once tried to persuade him to enter the priesthood because of his aptitude in religious studies. At 14, Delon left school, and worked for a time at his stepfathers butcher shop. He enlisted in the French Navy three years later, and in 1953-54 he served as a fusilier marin in the First Indochina War, Delon has said that out of his four years of military service he spent 11 months in prison for being undisciplined. In 1956, after being discharged from the military, he returned to France. He had little money, and got by on whatever employment he could find and he spent time working as a waiter, a porter, a secretary and a sales assistant. During this time he became friends with the actress Brigitte Auber, and joined her on a trip to the Cannes Film Festival, at Cannes, Delon was seen by a talent scout for David O. Selznick. After a screen test Selznick offered him a contract, provided he learn English, Delon returned to Paris to study the language, but when he met French director Yves Allégret, he was convinced that he should stay in France to begin his career. Selznick allowed Delon to cancel his contract, and Allégret gave him his debut in the film with Edwige Feuillère, marc Allegret cast him in Be Beautiful But Shut Up, which also featured a young Jean Paul Belmondo. He was then given his first lead, supporting Romy Schneider in a romance, Christine. He and Schneider began a highly publicised romance in real life, the film was the seventeenth most popular movie at the French box office that year. Delon was given the lead in a comedy, Women are Weak and this was a big hit in France and was the first of Delons films to be seen in America
23.
Monsieur Klein
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Monsieur Klein is a 1976 French film directed by Joseph Losey, with Alain Delon starring in the title role. France is occupied by the Nazis, Robert Klein, apparently apolitical, is a well-to-do art dealer, Roman Catholic and Alsatian by birth, who takes advantage of French Jews who need to sell artworks to raise cash to leave the country. One day, the local Jewish newspaper, addressed to him, is delivered to his home and he reports this to the police who remain suspicious that he may be reporting this scheme to disguise his own true identity. When the art dealer cannot locate the other Klein, authorities require him to offer proof of his French heritage, while waiting for the documentation to arrive, he struggles to track down his namesake and learn his motivation. Before he can resolve the situation by means, he is caught up in the July 1942 roundup of Parisian Jews. He is reunited with Jews who once were his clients as they board boxcars for Auschwitz, the film offers no clear resolution of its contradictory evidence and blind alleys. According to Vincent Canby, the filmmakers are not as interested in the workings of the plot as in matters of identity, the film was nominated for the Palme dOr at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival but lost to Taxi Driver. However, Monsieur Klein did win the César Award for Best Film while Losey won the César Award for Best Director, alexandre Trauner won the César Award for Best Production Design, and in addition the film was nominated for Césars in four other categories. Monsieur Klein at the Internet Movie Database Mr. Klein, an article by Christopher Weedman, what Cornelius Gurlitt Could Have Learned from Monsieur Robert Klein, an article by Karen Loew, at Forward
24.
The Last Woman
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The Last Woman is a 1976 French-Italian film directed by Marco Ferreri and starring Gérard Depardieu and Ornella Muti. Depardieu was nominated for best actor for his role in the César ceremony in 1977, Gérard is an engineer who is married to Gabrielle and has a nine-month-old son, for whom he cares deeply. When his wife leaves him for feminist reasons, he is left with custody of their son, to satisfy his romantic longings, Gerard embarks on an affair with Valérie, his sons daycare worker. However, Gabrielle fights for custody of the child, and when Gérards affair with Valérie threatens his custody chances, Gérard responds by mutilating himself
25.
The Best Way to Walk
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The Best Way to Walk is a 1976 French film directed by Claude Miller, his directorial debut. It stars Patrick Dewaere, Patrick Bouchitey, Christine Pascal, Claude Piéplu, Marc and Philippe are two teenage summer-camp counselors at a vacation camp somewhere in the French country in 1960. Marc is very virile, while Philippe is more reserved, one night, Marc surprises Philippe dressed and made-up like a woman. From now on, he keep on humiliating Philippe. Despite their late-adolescent rivalries and sexual confusion, each of them some sort of awakening. The film won the César Award for Best Cinematography, and was nominated for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Writing and Best Sound
