Jean Poiret

A look back at "La Cage aux Folles", which ran non-stop for five years, from February 1973, on the stage of the Théâtre du Palais Royal in Paris. At a time when homosexuality was considered a crime by the law, Poiret and Serrault achieved great success in boulevard theater. Their success continued on the silver screen, with three Oscar nominations and a Broadway musical. Combining never-before-seen archives from the play, extracts from the film, confessions by Poiret and Serrault, and interviews with witnesses, this is the story of a wild epic.

No synopsis available yet.

On 9 January 1836, Pierre Lacenaire goes to the guillotine, a murderer and a thief. He gives Allard, a police inspector, his life story, written while awaiting execution. He also asks Allard to care for Hermine, a lass to whom he has been guardian for more than ten years. In flashbacks, from the prison as Lacenaire writes, from Allard's study as he and Hermine read, and from other readers' memory after the book is published, we see Lacenaire's childhood as he stands up to bullies, including priests, his youthful thieving, his first murder, his brief army career, his seduction of a princess, and his affair with Avril, a young man who dies beside him.

The immature young ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Joseph, was extremely shy around women but (according to this film) was constantly being propositioned, lewdly or otherwise, by ambitious courtesans. When he was finally married to his Empress, the teen-aged Bavarian princess Sisi (Elizabeth), it seems that his relief knew no bounds, for he was now sure that he would never have to think about sex ever again. According to the filmmakers, this is the true history of that marriage. This story is a complete reversal of the romantic legend depicted in the popular 1955 film Sissi, which helped brighten the emerging stardom of Romy Schneider.

No synopsis available yet.

In occupied Paris, an actress wed to a Jewish theater owner must keep him hidden from the Nazis while doing both of their jobs.

Bastien Grimaldy, a man driven to heightened anxiety as the plot against him begins to take effect. Bastien's personal relationships give him enough cause for anxiety -- between his new lover Laura and a feisty mother, life provides its own insecurities. When he goes to the police with his problems, Bastien is assigned an off-beat inspector to protect him but is still faced with skepticism about his dilemma.

Inspector Lavardin is called to a provincial village to investigate a murder – only to find that one of his ex-lovers is the victim’s widow.

A Hollywood studio is producing another spectacular when the top billed male stars suddenly show up as corpses, killed before the critics could ever put pen to paper. Under suspicion is a talent agent. Is he guilty or not? These macabre events have everyone off their feed, from the producers down to the lowest gofer.

Unorthodox detective Jean Lavardin is called to a provincial French town after a prank turns deadly.

Charles and Emmanuelle organize as every year, the congress of perfumers who distribute their products in their castle. Garibaldi, their mutilated and somewhat disturbed son-in-law, will be the butler.

The cynical boss of a big insurance agency invites his top-salary employees to spend a week-end in his country house. A modest clerical worker, also invited, discovers the hidden reason for this party - and decides to take advantage of it.

Martin Morel wants to spend Sylvester with both his wife and family and his girlfriend Agnes. So he asks his clumsy friend Bertin to pretend she'd be his wife. But the two can't stand each other... at first.

A parody of the French Revolution, on Arabian Nights background. Bagdad Calif is in Paris in 1789, where he decides to visit the Executionner equipment exhibition.

The leader of a nudist camp enlists the help of left-wing militant when he mistakenly believes he should receive the Legion of Honor.

1944. Léon Duchemin owns a restaurant with his sister. His clients are Germans, Résistance et black marketeers. Léon unwillingly joins the Résistance when a British pilot is shot down and hides in his attic and, through a series of mishaps, he accidentally steals the plans for Hitler's V1 missiles.

Martial Perrin is the president of a right-wing political party which is gearing itself up for a forthcoming election. When he learns that a notorious criminal named Kraus has escaped from prison, Perrin panics and goes into hiding. His deputy, Constant, hires Perrin’s cousin, Gilbert, an actor who is a perfect double of Perrin, to replace him. What Gilbert does no know is that the killer Kraus is bumping off the people who were implicated in the affair for which he was arrested, and that Perrin is next on his list.

La Cage aux Folles "The Cage of Madwomen") is a 1973 French farce by Jean Poiret centring on confusion that ensues when Laurent, the son of a Saint Tropez night club owner and his gay lover, brings his fiancée's ultraconservative parents for dinner.

No synopsis available yet.

Gabriel Pelletier's life is no bed of roses. Not because of his job: he is a successful sales manager. But on account of the various wrongdoings committed by his kin. First, there is his daughter Nicole, who has just developed an infatuation with a young man who is not only a revolutionary student but the the son of a Sicilian mobster as well. Then he has to cope with Bernard, his brother-in-law, a ladies'man who has been vamped by one of the sexy daughters of the Sicilian. Let's not forget Albert, his own brother, an avant-garde filmmaker also in trouble with Lombardi, the omnipresent gangster. To crown it all, Maryse, his domestic worker, is a Maoist militant!... In the end, poor Gabriel can't take it anymore. He hits the road and calls it quits.

No synopsis available yet.

A film made up of four sketches. In Marc Allégret's Sophie, a naive high-school girl invents a love affair with her mother's lover. But it's a guitarist with whom she falls in love. In Françoise, by Claude Barma, a young woman returning to France after living in the United States has an affair with her best friend's lover. In Antonia, by Michel Boisrond, a middle-aged woman tries to convince her ex-lover that she still has many assets to seduce. In Ella, by Jacques Poitrenaud, a Pigalle dancer meets a man in a cab.

The seven stages in the life of the modern Frenchwomen are disclosed by seven directors in a witty way: 1 - Childhood, 2 - Adolescence, 3 - Virginity, 4 - Marriage, 5 - Adultery, 6 - Divorce, 7 - The Single Woman.

Pétepan learns that his money has been lost by Robinhoude brothers.He asks his assistants to withdraw his amount from the bank.

Arsène Baudu and Hyacinthe, a pair of small-time crooks, fall prey to Alexandre Larsan-Bellac, who involves them (against their will) in high-profile swindling, but their success is quite limited. For starters they are deceived by Mrs. Paterson, a charming widow. Later on, Ribeiro, a Portuguese contractor and former victim of the two crooks, traces them and forces them to work on one of his building sites for damages. Just then, Larsan-Bellac resurfaces with plans to lure Ribeiro once again. —Guy Bellinger

Auguste is about an eponymous bank clerk who finds fame and fortune. Auguste happens to be in the right place at the right time to save young starlet Francine from killing herself -- or more accurately, pretending to kill herself. His supposed heroism hits the news, and before Auguste knows what is happening, a Machiavellian publicist is using him for his own ends. The bank clerk is no fool and soon thinks of a way to come out on top.

Gabriel Pelletier, sales manager for a major industrial firm, would be the happiest of men if he didn't have a family of rare originality. The day Gabriel Pelletier is asked by the firm's management to welcome and accommodate an important American industrialist who has come to Paris to handle a major contract, he realizes the difficulties that lie ahead. How will Mr. Strumberger, who has the reputation of a fierce puritan, react to the behavior of the various members of the family?

Sickened to see his students always sleeping in class, a teacher with a colleague and an anarchist start a war against the television. They climbed on Paris roofs to coat the T.V. antennas with a special product cutting the signal reception.

A precious work of art from the Italian Renaissance is stolen and passes through many hands before ending up in the shed of the farmhouse of Mr. and Mrs. Dujardin, fishmongers, who are inaugurating their luxury fish shop that very day. But the antique dealers, the free-riders and the bargain-hunters are there. They are jealously careful not to pass on the fruit of their clever investigations to their rivals, for all of them, after a picturesque treasure hunt, know that the Dujardin family own the famous Duranti altarpiece. But where have they hidden it themselves?

Georges Lachaunaye is a member of an impoverished aristocratic family which needs money to live but of course doesn't want to work for it. He therefore has to think of something drastic in order for the family to survive. And then it comes to him: he'll rob the collection boxes in churches.

A small-scale cabaret troupe is touring the provinces. One afternoon while canoeing, Monique Darzel, one of the troupe's singers, spots an angler whose resemblance to Fernand Raynaud strikes her. She discusses this with Jean Duroc, the troupe's director, who laments the meagre revenues his show is raking in. He then had the idea of meeting this fisherman to convince him to imitate Fernand Raynaud in his shows. It turns out that the Fernand Raynaud impersonator is in fact Fernand Raynaud himself, who has come for a week's incognito vacation in the provinces. Raynaud is finally persuaded to play the novice comedian, in order to further develop the script for his next film, Les cabotins à travers les âges.

"Les quatre vérités" aka "The Four Truths" is a movie anthology that consists of four segments, all loosely parodying fables from the 17th-century French poet Jean de la Fontaine. The US cut usually features only 3 segments.

An automobile tribute

Henri has a beautiful wife, Sophie. Unfortunately, suffering from an unhealthy jealousy, he spends much of his time watching his wife's every move, and a few domestic scenes often ensue.

The story of five girls that lose their virginity.

Bernard, a young, serious publisher of religious books, finds himself embroiled in amusing and eventful adventures with Sophie, a wacky twist dancer. Having lost his own situation, he joins Editions du Soleil thanks to his friend Marcel's manuscript "Comment réussir en amour". Freed of his shyness, he succeeds brilliantly in his career; and having put to good use the teachings of the manuscript, Bernard ends up marrying Sophie. But he soon finds himself confronted by the impetuous young woman's fantasies.

Charming and innocent, Candide is vigorously chased away by the Baron, for his close encounters with the pretty Cunégonde. World War II breaks out, and when he is drafted and taken prisoner, he is forced to take German nationality and ends up guarding the camp where he was imprisoned. He crossed into Switzerland, but as he had no bank account, he was incarcerated for eight days for trespassing. Hunted by the Gestapo, he kills two men to free Cunégonde, who has finally been found. They both flee to Argentina, and their world tour begins. In Paris, Moscow, New York, Borneo and Alexandria. They try to follow Dr. Pangloss' optimistic rule of life. Tossed about, separated, they find themselves grown old and wiser, thinking only of cultivating their garden on the shores of the Mediterranean.

A scientist from the East happens in France where it is supposed to improve one of his inventions. But it is much more interested in the fact to enjoy it and have fun ...

An illegal gambling den where players can lose millions... and the owners make their fortune.

The Eloi family, who have just won the "model family" competition, set off for winter sports. Also on the trip are Aunt Gabrielle and Dagobert, the village warden. For the eccentric little group, the initiation to the joys of skiing begins with a lot of excitement. The vacation gets complicated when a Hindu prince has a precious diamond stolen from the local hotel.

A playwright has to murder if he does not want to be murdered.

No synopsis available yet.

On prize-giving day, a few dunces recall various incidents that marked their school year.

A man has found a way to win any bet he places on a horse. However, he himself must never be the person to place the bet.

Mr. Follavoine plans to supply the French army with chamber pots. In preparation for this lucrative contract, he invites a doctor from the Ministry of War. The business dinner takes a different turn when Mme Follavoine appears, obsessed by their son Toto's constipation.

No synopsis available yet.

The umpteenth adaptation of Dumas' novel finds d'Artagnan and his friends promoting the love affairs of Anne of Austria and the Duke of Buckingham, incurring the wrath of the Cardinal and exposing themselves to the cold cruelty of Milady de Winter. Also featured are the tender Mme Bonacieux, the hilarious Planchet, the Queen's ferrets and Bethune's executioner, against a backdrop of clanging swords.

Accused of dealing in counterfeit, Paul entrusts his daughter Brigitte to the care of a friend, Jean Clary. The girl, a walking catastrophe, finally wins Jean's heart. They unmask the forgers, clearing Paul's name and can now concentrate on their love.

Annibal Onnis, a good man and major laundry manufacturer, has his wife's necklace stolen by a young starlet, Regina Rex, who has tried to seduce him. He hires two private detectives, Willis Sr. the father, and Willis Jr. the son, to track down the young woman. Tracking her down in La Baule at a beauty contest, Willis Jr. falls in love with Liliane, known as Régina Rex, and sets out to clear her name, convinced as he is of her innocence. After several comic twists and turns (including the temporary loss of the necklace), we learn that the starlet was hired by Mrs. Onnis to have her husband caught in the act of infidelity, a contract between the spouses stipulating that the unfaithful member of the household would pay 100 million francs to the other. Willis's dedication enables Annibal to catch his wife in the act. The Onnis are happily reunited, and Liliane and Willis Jr. look to the future with a smile.

A rich kid, the daughter of an oil tycoon, lives a life of luxury. Bad guys kidnap the heiress.

No synopsis available yet.

Married against her will to the Comte de Trivelin, Paulette Dupont shares her anxieties with her childhood friend Labaule. Warned too late to prevent the ceremony from taking place, Labaule follows the couple on their honeymoon and prevents the consummation of the marriage by repeatedly intruding on the couple's privacy. Put on notice by Paulette's parents to consummate the marriage, Trivelin - who believes himself to be at fault - consults a psychiatrist. The latter advises him to visit a lady of lesser virtue: Gloria. But Gloria's clientele includes Dupont himself - Paulette's father - and Labaule!

A husband plans to shoot the man having an affair with his wife, but both come to realise their desire to escape the tyrannical woman in their lives.

No synopsis available yet.

Aimé Morin, a good-natured bookseller, is also one of the candidates in the local elections of his small town. He is well-liked by most but he also has political enemies. Among them is Lagarde, a journalist close to the latter. Lagarde takes advantage of Morin being on holiday in Paris to try and tarnish his reputation. His machination unfortunately works and poor Aimé finds himself mistaken for a sex maniac.

Miguel foils a bank robbery and becomes a successful nightclub singer, but he doesn't know that his wife is being courted by an Italian fitness instructor.

The gifts and bequests department is particularly eccentric, including Lahrier, a fervent absentee and songwriter in his spare time.

An accordionist playing in disreputable halls is mistaken for a gangster by a special envoy from the American crime syndicate in charge of investigating the French milieu. The American will prepare a hold-up with a gang of women specialized in scamming tourists. But the accordionist will make the hold-up fail and all the criminals will end up behind bars.

Clarisse cheats on her husband with a vain insurance agent. Zamore, the cuckold (and a magician) wouldn't let his wife be stolen so easily. Poiret and Serrault play the rivals in this twisted love story. A poetic absurd fantasy.

A man becomes the lover of his former persecutor's wife.