With its starkly realist portrayal of juvenile delinquency and
deprivation between the wars, Dans
les rues is a poignant social drama which bears some similarity
with William A... [More...]
Le Bonheur is pretty typical of Marcel L’Herbier’s
output in the 1930s, a conventional piece of melodrama intended to showcase the stars
of the day... [More...]
One of the many towering cinematic achievements that miraculously came out of France’s
darkest hour, L’Éternel retour unites the creative talent of director Jean
Delannoy and writer Jean Cocteau... [More...]
This is one of the most important films in the history of cinema. By pushing film
technology to its creative limits and avoiding sentimentality, Jean Cocteau succeeds in
creating a film that is both visually entrancing... [More...]
Political intrigue and 19th century romanticism form the basis for this haunting tale
of love from one of France’s greatest creative talents, Jean Cocteau... [More...]
Whilst Jean Cocteau is generally best remembered for his extraordinary artistic flights
of fancy (amply illustrated by his 1946 film La
Belle et la bête)... [More...]
In this film, which can best be described as visual poetry, Jean Cocteau retells the familiar
tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, but in a original and fascinating way... [More...]
Henri Decoin shows his mastery of the crime thriller genre in this entertaining whodunnit,
which owes more to Agatha Christie than to the French film noir tradition... [More...]
Towards the end of his career, writer and film director Sacha Guitry made three major
historical films, each of which earned him critical acclaim and each of which has retained
an enduring popularity... [More...]
The scope of this film and its scale are breathtaking – but the end result is only partially
successful. Even in his formidable epic of the 1920s... [More...]
