
Acting
Sylvie Vartan
Born 1944-08-15 · Iskretz, Bulgaria
Sylvie Vartan (born Sylvie Georges Vartanian on 15 August 1944) is a Bulgarian-Armenian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured elaborate show-dance choreography,[and she made many appearances on French and Italian TV. Yearly shows with then-husband Johnny Hallyday attracted full houses at the Olympia and the Palais des congrès de Paris throughout the 1960s and mid-1970s. In 2004, after a break in performances, she began recording and giving concerts of jazz ballads in francophone countries. Sylvie Vartan was born in Iskrets, Sofia Province, in the then Kingdom of Bulgaria. Her father, Georges Vartanian (1912–1970), was born in France to a Bulgarian mother named Slavka and an Armenian father. He worked as an attaché at the French embassy in Sofia. The family shortened the name Vartanian to Vartan. Her mother, Ilona (née Mayer 1914–2007), daughter of prominent architect Rudolf Mayer, was of Hungarian-Jewish descent. When the Soviet Army invaded Bulgaria in September 1944, the Vartanian family house was nationalised and they moved to Sofia. In 1952, a friend of Sylvie's father, film director Dako Dakovski, offered her the role of a schoolgirl in the movie Pod igoto, a film about Bulgarian rebels against the Ottoman occupation. Participating in the film made her dream of becoming an entertainer come true. The hardships of postwar Bulgaria made the family emigrate to Paris in December 1952. At first they stayed in the Lion d'Argent hotel near Les Halles, where Georges found a job, then for the next four years they stayed in a single room at the Angleterre Hotel. Young Sylvie had to work hard to keep up at school and blend in with her schoolmates. She spent two years learning French. In 1960, her family moved to an apartment in Michel Bizot Avenue. Thanks to the influence of her music producer brother Eddie, music became teenage Sylvie's main interest. Her most influential genres were jazz and, out of spite toward her strict high school, rock 'n' roll. Her favourite artists included Brenda Lee, Bill Haley, and Elvis Presley. In 1961, Eddie offered Sylvie the chance to record the song "Panne d'essence" with French rocker Frankie Jordan. The Decca Records EP was a surprise hit. Although she was not credited on the sleeve, "Panne d'essence" provided Vartan her first appearance on French television. The journalists gave her the nickname la collégienne du twist. After the "twisting schoolgirl" had finished the Victor Hugo High School, she was free to sign a contract with Decca Records to start recording her own EP; carrying the title song "Quand le film est triste", a cover of Sue Thompson's "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)", the EP was on sale by the beginning of December 1961. ... Source: Article "Sylvie Vartan" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Acting credits
7.0In 1963, Esther gives birth to Roland, the youngest of a large family. Roland is born with a club foot that prevents him from standing. Against everyone's advice, she promises her son that he will walk like the others and that he will have a fabulous life. From then on, Esther will do everything in her power to keep this promise. Through decades of trials and miracles of life, this film is the story of a true, funny and moving story, that of an incredible destiny and the greatest love there is: that of a mother for her child.
Once Upon My Mother
2025
4.6François Naulet turns his bedroom into an island of drugs, loneliness and despair.
Repeated Absences
1972
5.4Stephane, the wife of a prominent magistrate, shoots and kills a man in her home and claims he tried to rape her. While investigating her case, her lawyer becomes hopelessly enmeshed in a web of lies and subterfuges concerning her past.
The Black Angel
1994
5.0No synopsis available yet.
25 ans de Laurent Gerra à la radio
2025
9.3An intimate cinéma vérité style documentary following french mega star Johnny Hallyday's summer tour.
J'ai tout donné
1972
6.555 years ago, on October 1 1968, the first brand advertising spot appeared on the French television screen. Over the next three decades, thousands of creative little films would seduce and build our collective memory. Kitschy or cult spots, humor, slogans, music, stars, gimmicks, grand spectacle or sex appeal: during its golden age, how did advertising convince? Thierry Ardisson has brought together almost 400 advertising clips to relive the era of the conquest of minds and wallets.
L'Âge d'or de la pub
2023
5.3Zef’s stormy relationship with his brother Roni is further aggravated when Roni marries his daughter just as he is attending to his wife’s funeral. The two brothers have never got on with each other. One is faithful to his religion, the other lives only for the present. Between London, Paris, Saint-Tropez and New York, a series of confrontations and betrayals threatens to drive the family further apart, but out of this confusion will come a great love story, perhaps even two...
It Happened in Saint-Tropez
2013
NRNo synopsis available yet.
David Hallyday
2023
6.4After stealing a diamond from Mylène Demongeot, Richard hides it inside a guitar. But on returning to the music shop he discovers that the precious instrument has just been sold! The problem is complicated by the fact that five stars all bought the same model that morning...
Cherchez l'idole
1964
6.4A young sailor finds himself trapped in the labyrinthine mansion of his occultist uncle, along with a number of eccentric and mysterious relatives who all seem to be harboring a dark secret.
Malpertuis
1972
8.3No synopsis available yet.
Johnny Hallyday : Parc des Princes 93
1993
7.2In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became President of the Republic and wanted to bring about a new era of modernity. One of his first decisions was to break up the ORTF with the creation of three new television channels: TF1, Antenne 2 and FR3. Three new public channels but autonomous and competing. It is a race for the audience which is engaged then, and from now on the channels will make the war! This competition will give birth to a real golden age for television programs, with variety shows in the forefront. The stars of the song are going to invade the living rooms of the French for their biggest pleasure. This unedited documentary tells the story of the metamorphosis of this television of the early 1970s, between freedom of tone, scandals, political intrigues and programs that have become mythical.
La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
2022
NRSylvie Vartan, the farewell of an icon, "Je tire ma révérence" invites you to her concert event marking an exceptional career spanning more than sixty years on French and international stages. During this final concert, the artist revisits the songs that have accompanied her career and shared the lives of several generations, and thanks the audience that has followed her with loyalty and affection since her debut. An emotionally charged event... Recorded in January 2025 at the Palais des Congrès in Paris.
Sylvie Vartan - Je tire ma révérence
2025
7.0For over a year, from Paris to Los Angeles, David Hallyday agreed to open the doors to his private life and his clan. The artist opens up like never before about his life as a man, son, husband, brother, and father. Drawing on personal archives and rare insights from his inner circle, this is a unique account of a life and a family of which David Hallyday is now the pillar.
Hallyday par David
2025
5.4Leon Rollo whose nickname is "Patate" is an inventor adored by his wife and is daughter. He is mostly happy but his best friend Noël seems to succeed in everything he undertakes... Patate become increasingly jealous of this incredible luck.
Friends of the family
1964
7.5The portrait of a woman who remembers. Sheila tells the story of Sheila, without concessions or evasions. Her childhood, her parents, her beginnings, the rumors, her love affairs, her marriage, her son, her successes, her farewells, her return, her mourning. The journey of an extraordinary popular icon who never stopped fighting. The courage of an artist who never gives up. "Sheila, toutes ces vies-là" is also a journey through time. 60 years of pop music, punctuated by numerous archives, personal films, timeless hits and illustrations by Marc-Antoine Coulon. But also 60 years of fashion, through a legendary wardrobe (her TV show outfits) that Sheila invites us to rediscover.
Sheila, toutes ces vies-là
2022
5.5On the occasion of his 80th birthday, we look back in pictures at the unusual and flamboyant career of the prodigy from Liverpool.
Paul McCartney - Eine Beatles-Legende
2022
8.0Sylvie Vartan has had an extraordinary life: a Bulgarian child forced into exile, who became the icon of a youth in the midst of revolution in France. After a career spanning 64 years, with nearly 50 albums recorded and 40 million records sold, she has decided to bow out. During her farewell tour, the singer chose to open up to Augustin Trapenard.
Sylvie Vartan, vous et moi
2025
NRPhotographer and make-up artist François Nars reveals his visually stunning inner world in this feature-length documentary by filmmaker Lisa Immordino Vreeland. Mr. Nars takes us on a tour of the fashions, designers and models of '70s Paris, the underground of '90s New York, and the timeless world of cinema, filled with actors, actresses, and directors who have shaped his visual aesthetics.
Unknown Beauty: François Nars
2023
NRFifty years after her first recording in Nashville, Sylvie Vartan decided to record the album she sings on to mark this anniversary there. In one of the songs, she says: I have forged my own path, without turning back. Leaving my mistakes behind me. I ventured into unknown territory, avoiding pitfalls, and I came back. It is on this "road," both public and personal, starting from her native Bulgaria to Paris, passing through a thousand places around the world, traversing fashions and overcoming the trials of an extraordinary life, that this film sets out to illuminate the trajectory of a shy young girl who became an international icon and a resolutely free woman.
Sylvie raconte Vartan
2015
4.0Adapted from a best-selling novel by Frédéric Dard. Agnès Taride has a closet full of skeletons. A beautiful woman, accustomed to using her body to get what she wants, she persuades her lover to murder her ex-husband for the life insurance money that will otherwise go to her daughter when she reaches her upcoming 18th birthday. The murder attempt goes awry, and not only does the ex survive, but a witness calls on his underworld connections to avenge the attack on his friend. From here, the plot and counter-plot become ever more complicated, with blackmail, kidnap, murder, seduction and suicide on the agenda, and a surprise twist in the ending.
Mausolée pour une garce
2001
5.3When the government cuts the quota of musical programs permitted on television, teenagers Mark and Cherry lead others youngsters in forming their own political party.
Just for Fun
1963
5.2The rise and fall of a journalist, named Max Torp, who runs a youth magazine, a private club, a tour agency and a pirate radio.
The Ponies
1967
8.0Sunset Boulevard stretches 27 miles from Los Angeles’ Chinatown all the way to the ocean – a ride made famous by Philip Marlowe in the Chandler books. Film star mansions give way to tatty motels; exclusive offices stand alongside nightclubs with aspiring comics, and amateur nude contests. Then the famous ‘strip’ and Hollywood’s legendary coffee shop, Schwabs, where (they say) a girl in a tight sweater turned into Lana Turner. Meet some of Sunset’s most colourful and improbable residents – the failed showbiz impresario who made his millions selling cookies, and the high-rise developer who let John Wayne take his cow up in the lift… the lucky ones have achieved a peculiarly Hollywood brand of success, but every day on Sunset you meet the other ones: still looking for a break, for a job, for a deal. All of them still trying to play their part in the Hollywood dream.
Sunset People
1984