1.
Rouen
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Rouen is a city on the River Seine in the north of France. It is the capital of the region of Normandy, formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy during the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th to the 15th centuries. The population of the area at the 2007 census was 532,559. People from Rouen are known as Rouennais, Rouen and its metropolitan area of 70 suburban communes form the Agglomeration community of Rouen-Elbeuf-Austreberthe, with 494,382 inhabitants at the 2010 census. Rouen was founded by the Gaulish tribe of Veliocasses, who controlled an area in the lower Seine valley. The Gauls named the settlement Ratumacos and the Romans called it Rotomagus, Roman Rotomagus was the second city of Gallia Lugdunensis, after Lugdunum. In the 5th century, it became the seat of a bishopric, in the 10th century Rouen became the capital of the Duchy of Normandy and the residence of the dukes, until William the Conqueror established his castle at Caen. During the early 12th century the population reached 30,000. In 1150, Rouen received its charter, which permitted self-government. During the 12th century, Rouen was probably the site of a Jewish yeshiva, at that time, about 6,000 Jews lived in the town, comprising about 20% of the total population. The well-preserved remains of a medieval Jewish building, that could be a yeshiva, were discovered in the 1970s under the Rouen Law Courts. In 1200, a destroyed part of Rouens Romanesque cathedral, leaving just St Romains tower, the side porches of its front. New work on the present Gothic cathedral of Rouen began, in the nave, transept, choir, on 24 June 1204, Philip Augustus entered Rouen and annexed Normandy to the French Kingdom. The fall of Rouen meant the end of Normandys sovereign status and he demolished the Norman castle and replaced it with his own, the Château Bouvreuil, built on the site of the Gallo-Roman amphitheatre. A textile industry developed based on wool imported from England, competing with the northern County of Flanders, the city found its market niche in the Champagne fairs. Rouen also depended on the traffic of the Seine for its prosperity. Wine and wheat were exported to England, with tin and wool received in return, in the late 13th century urban strife threatened the city, in 1291, the mayor was assassinated and noble residences in the city were pillaged
2.
Love, Loss, and What I Wore
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Love, Loss, and What I Wore is a play written by Nora and Delia Ephron based on the 1995 book of the same name by Ilene Beckerman. It is organized as a series of monologues and uses a rotating cast of five principal women, the subject matter of the monologues includes womens relationships and wardrobes and at times the interaction of the two, using the female wardrobe as a time capsule of a womans life. The show was presented as a part of the 2008 summer series at Guild Hall in East Hampton, New York. The production and its cast received positive critical attention, the production won the 2010 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience as well as the 2010 Broadway. com Audience Award for Favorite New Off-Broadway Play. The show has produced on six continents and more than eight countries. It began a tour in the United States in September 2011 in Chicago. It is making a performance in Paris in January 2012. Nora Ephron was a writer, director and producer best known for writing the screenplays of romantic comedy films and she received three Academy Award nominations for Original Screenplay, for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally. and Sleepless in Seattle. She had also written five best-selling books, and she wrote the 2002 play Imaginary Friends, Ephron sometimes co-authored screenplays with her sister, writer-producer Delia Ephron, including Youve Got Mail, Hanging Up and Bewitched. Nora Ephron wrote the introduction to Beckermans eponymous 1995 book, which she thought had dramatic possibilities. Soon after its publication, Ephron gave the book to eight of her friends for Christmas and she became interested in writing her own version of the book. Once she decided to adapt Love, Loss, and What I Wore into a play, she, the shows monologues are sourced largely from Beckermans book. The Ephrons wove together a collection of adapted from the book with recollections of friends. One of the monologues that became a highlight of the production was based on Nora Ephrons 2006 best-seller I Feel Bad About My Neck. A character called Gingy acts as the narrator, the show opens with her sketching various parts of her wardrobe that stir the most poignant memories. She weaves her life story among the tales, describing her three marriages, motherhood and the death of a child, each turning point marked by a particular item of clothing. Her life is represented beginning with experiences in a Brownies uniform, another character serves as the vixen, another plays a vulnerable gang member from Chicago, a third portrays a brave cancer patient, and the last serves as a mature woman pierced by vivid memories. One of these characters, named Heather, chooses conservative think shoes over high heels in her youth, the gang member likes insignias that are prominent on sweaters and their creator
3.
Jules Maigret
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Seventy-six novels and twenty-eight short stories about Maigret were published between 1931 and 1972, starting with Pietr-le-Letton and concluding with Maigret et Monsieur Charles. The Maigret stories were adapted for television and radio. Maigret is described as a large, broad shouldered man, he is gruff, recurring characters in the series include Maigrets wife Louise and in particular The Faithful Four, a group consisting of his four loyal police colleagues. List of Maigret novels by date of French-language publication, list of Maigret short stories by date of publication. Charles Laughton played the first English-language Maigret in the 1950 film, the film co-starred Franchot Tone, Burgess Meredith and Wilfrid Hyde-White. In France, Jean Gabin played the part in three films, released in 1957,1959 and 1963, there have been numerous incarnations of Maigret on the small screen all around the world. He has been portrayed by French, British, Irish, Austrian, German, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, later, Bruno Cremer played the character in 54 adaptations during 1991–2005. The Italian actor Gino Cervi played the character on Italian television, starting from 1964 up to 1972, in the Soviet Union Russian theater actor Boris Tenin portrayed Maigret in a number of TV films in the 1970s. In Soviet cinema, apart from Boris Tenin, Maigret was portrayed by cinema actors Vladimir Samoylov, the title role in the British Maigret TV series was played by the actor Rupert Davies who made his debut on 31 October 1960. Davies took over the part after Basil Sydney, who appeared as Maigret in the original transmitted pilot, Davies went on to star in 52 adaptations for BBC TV in the 1960s. His portrayal won two of the highest accolades, his versions were dubbed into French and played across the Channel, the theme tune to the TV series was composed by Ron Grainer. Granada Television produced an adaptation of Maigret for ITV in 1992 and 1993, in which Michael Gambon starred as Maigret, an earlier version on ITV cast Richard Harris in the lead role, with a somewhat idiosyncratic reading of the character. Rowan Atkinson played Maigret in Maigret for TV-films made by ITV from 2016, the first two episodes were adapted from Maigret Sets a Trap and Maigrets Dead Man. Two further episodes have been commissioned for broadcast in 2017, maurice Denham played Chief Inspector Maigret in a series of half-hour dramatizations of the novels on BBC Radio 4 from 1992 to 2002, with Michael Gough playing Georges Simenon. After Denhams death, the series was continued in 2003 with Nicholas Le Prevost playing a gruffer, more earthy Maigret, jacques Blondeau adapted the novels into the comic series Maigret, published in Samedi Soir and Paris Journal. Rumeu and Camille Dulac adapted the Maigret story L Affaire Nahour into the comic strip Maigret in 1969, between 1992 and 1997 the series Maigret inspired five albums, drawn by Philippe Wurm and Frank Brichau. Inspector Juzo Megure from Detective Conan is loosely based on Maigret, both are police inspectors, and are known for wearing hats and overcoats. The rendering in the Japanese syllabary for Megure and Maigret is the same, the character of Detective Marcel Guillame appears as a visiting investigator on the fourth season episode Monsieur Murdoch of Murdoch Mysteries
4.
Mathieu Kassovitz
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Mathieu Kassovitz is a French director, screenwriter, producer, editor, and actor probably best known in Anglophone countries for his role as Nino Quincampoix in Amélie. Kassovitz is also the founder of MNP Entreprise, a production company. He has won three César Awards, Most Promising Actor for See How They Fall, and Best Film and he also received Best Director and Best Writing nominations. Kassovitz was born in Paris, the son of Chantal Rémy, an editor, and Peter Kassovitz. His mother is a French Roman Catholic, and his father is a Hungarian Jew who left during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, as a filmmaker, Kassovitz has made several artistic and commercial successes. He wrote and directed La Haine, a film dealing with themes around class, race, violence, the film won the César Award for Best Film and netted Kassovitz the Best Director prize at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. He used the money he made from Gothika to develop a far more personal project Babylon Babies, Kassovitz established the film production firm MNP Entreprise in 2000 to develop and produce feature films by Kassovitz and to represent him as a director and actor. MNP Entreprise is responsible for the co-productions of a number of films including Avida in which Kassovitz acts, Kassovitz purchased the film rights for the novel Johnny Mad Dog by Congolese writer Emmanuel Dongala. The film was also co-produced by MNP Entreprise, and directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, the premiere of the film was made at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival where it was screened within the Un Certain Regard section. In 2011, he starred in and directed Rebellion, a war based on a true story of French commandos who clashed with tribes in New Caledonia. His future project science fiction film MNP is named after Mir Space Station, whose writing in Cyrillic letters look like the letters MNP, Kassovitz is most famous outside France for his acting role as Nino Quincampoix in Jean-Pierre Jeunets film Amélie. Among many other credits, he also had roles in La Haine, Birthday Girl. He played a role in Amen. by Costa-Gavras. Kassovitz is also recognizable for playing a conflicted Belgian explosives expert in Steven Spielbergs controversial 2005 film Munich, alongside Eric Bana, Kassovitz was a jury member for the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Kassovitz was married to French actress Julie Mauduech, whom he directed and acted alongside in his 1993 film Métisse, Kassovitz also has two children with his former partner, actress Aurore Lagache. In 2009, Kassovitz won with Tesla Roadster the Rallye Monte Carlo des Véhicules à Énergie Alternative in the category reserved to electric vehicles, Kassovitz is also known for his outspokenness, frequently making controversial comments on socio-political issues. Sarkozy stirred controversy and outrage when he said the rioters were rabble, in a 2012 interview, he labeled the outgoing Sarkozy administration as horrible. Official website Mathieu Kassovitz at the Internet Movie Database
5.
Delia Ephron
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Delia Ephron is an American bestselling author, screenwriter, and playwright. Ephron was born in New York City, the second eldest of four daughters of screenwriters Phoebe and her movies include Youve Got Mail, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Hanging Up, and Michael. She has written novels for adults and teenagers, books of humor and her journalism has appeared in The New York Times, O the Oprah Magazine, Vogue and More, The Wall Street Journal, and The Huffington Post. In 2011, she won an Athena Film Festival award for creativity, Ephron collaborated with her elder sister, Nora, on Love, Loss, and What I Wore, which ran for over two and a half years Off Broadway. It has played in cities across the U. S. as well as in cities around the world including Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Manila, and Sydney. Of Citi Bikes, Ephron writes, for change to a billionaire. Official website Delia Ephron at the Internet Movie Database Hey and you Stole My Name. by Delia Ephron, in The New York Times
6.
Alain Tanner
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Alain Tanner is a Swiss film director. Tanner studied economics at the University of Geneva, in 1951, he joined the film club which Claude Goretta had recently established at the university. After his graduation and a time working for international shipping companies. Tanner found work at the British Film Institute in 1955, subtitling, translating and his first film, Nice Time, a short documentary film about Piccadilly Circus during weekend evenings, was made with Claude Goretta. Produced by the British Film Institute Experimental Film Fund, it was first shown as part of the third Free Cinema programme at the National Film Theatre in May 1957, the debut film won a prize at the film festival in Venice and much critical praise. Tanner went to France for a while where he assisted with several commercial films, there, he met some of the most important directors of the French New Wave in Paris as well as Henri Langlois, the director of the Cinémathèque Française. Some critics have found the influences of Jean-Luc Godard and Robert Bresson in his films, but the atmosphere in the film circles of Paris displeased him, he described it as cutthroat. Between 1960 and 1968, Tanner returned to Switzerland, and he more than 40 films as well as documentaries for French-language television there. In 1962, he became the co-founder of the Swiss young filmmakers Groupe Cinque and his first feature film, Charles, Dead or Alive, won the first prize at the international film festival in Locarno. Dans la ville blanche was entered into the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival, médecin de campagne Une ville à Chandigarh Les Apprentis LÉcole Ramuz, passage dun poète Nice Time Alain Tanner at the Internet Movie Database Alain Tanner at the Swiss Film Directory
7.
Tatie Danielle
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Tatie Danielle is a 1990 French black humor film directed by Étienne Chatiliez. It features Tsilla Chelton as Auntie Danielle Billard, vous ne la connaissez pas encore, mais elle vous déteste déjà. – You may not know her yet, but she hates you already, Danielle Billard, aged 82, is a childless widow of an army colonel. She lives in a home in Auxerre with her faithful housekeeper. Things are not as they appear, Danielle is mean, cruel and malicious. When Odile accidentally dies, Danielle divides her estate between her grand-niece and grand-nephew, Jeanne and Jean-Pierre and she then goes to live in Paris with Jean-Pierre and his family. Although the family believes her to be an elderly lady. The family goes on a vacation leaving their aunt in the care of a young woman. Little does Danielle know, she has met her match. Through many turbulent episodes these two women develop an ostensibly mutual love-hate respect
8.
Delicatessen (film)
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Delicatessen is a French 1991 post-apocalyptic black comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, starring Dominique Pinon and Karin Viard. It was released in North America as presented by Terry Gilliam, like its successor, The City of Lost Children, it was an homage to the works of Gilliam. In a dilapidated apartment building in post-apocalyptic France, food is in short supply, following the departure of the last worker, unemployed circus clown Louison applies for the vacant position. During his routine maintenance, he befriends Clapets daughter, Julie, Louison proves to be a superb worker with a spectacular trick knife and the butcher is reluctant to off him too quickly. During this time several of the fall under Louisons boyish charms. Aware of her fathers motives, Julie descends into the sewers to make contact with the feared Troglodistes, a vegetarian sub-group of French rebels, whom she persuades to help rescue Louison. During the apparent butchering of an old woman, the Troglodistes attack but are repelled, Louison and Julie resist by flooding themselves, floor to ceiling, in an upper floor bathroom until Clapet opens the door releasing the flood and washing the attackers away. Clapet returns with Louisons knife and inadvertently kills himself, Louison and Julie play music together on the roof of the now peaceful apartment building. The trailer ended with the butcher climaxing, each tenants activity ending and then a cut to the title logo. On the UK Region 2 DVD released by Momentum Pictures, the soundtrack is available in four languages and these are French, German, Spanish and Italian. The film was received well critically, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave it 88% from a total of 41 reviews, and that of Metacritic gave it 66 out of 100 out of a total of 17 reviews. The film has won and been nominated for several important European awards, at the Tokyo International Film Festival, it won the Gold Award. The film was nominated for the Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics and it also received nominations for those award ceremonies as well as for the BAFTAs. Delicatessen at the Internet Movie Database Delicatessen at AllMovie
9.
Time Out (2001 film)
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Time Out is a 2001 French drama film directed by Laurent Cantet and starring Aurélien Recoing and Karin Viard. The film is based on the life story of Jean-Claude Romand, and it focuses on one of Cantets favorite subjects. The film received considerable attention internationally and was shown at the Venice Film Festival and it was one of the independent films to be featured at the New York Film Festival. The film tells the story of Vincent, a man who is fired after having spent more than 11 years working for a prestigious consulting firm. Unable to admit to his family that he has been fired, in reality, Vincent spends his time aimlessly driving the highways of France and Switzerland, reading papers, or sleeping in his car. As time progresses, Vincent invents more and more elaborate lies, to sustain his bourgeois lifestyle, Vincent sets up a Ponzi scheme and is eventually enlisted into smuggling by career thief Jean-Michel. Murielle, Vincents wife, after discovering her husbands life of lies attempts to bring him back into the realm of reality, review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 96%, based on 82 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The consensus reads, A haunting psychological drama, Time Out takes a look at the angst of the modern worker. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics. The film was placed at 99 on Slant Magazines best films of the 2000s, number 9 of The Guardians Best Films of the Noughties, clubs top 50 films of the 2000s. Time Out at the Internet Movie Database Time Out at Rotten Tomatoes Time Out at Metacritic Time Out at AllMovie Time Out at Box Office Mojo
