Didier Decoin

Why did Simenon, a novelist who contributed so much to the seventh art, like to say that he hated the cinema? Because he could never become a director? Because, claustrophobic, he was unable to lock himself in a projection room? Clearly, there is an affair between the writer and the cinema and Georges Simenon is the main protagonist. An investigation that is more than ever topical as Patrice Leconte has announced his plan to adapt an investigation by the famous Inspector Maigret.

Documentary about the making of Marcel Carné's 1942 film.

An interview of French film director Marcel Carné by Didier Decoin

A look back at ten years in the life of the French writer Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870). From financial straits to wealth, from glory to bankruptcy, the decade from 1842 to 1852 summarises his extravagant life filled with twists and turns, characterised by a compulsive creativity and extraordinary appetite for life. We follow Alexandre Dumas as he travels throughout Europe, from Florence to Montecristo, from Marseille to Saint-Germain-en-Laye and from Paris to Brussels. We meet the father of "The Three Musketeers" who, with his remarkable sense for action, took his inspiration from his own story to breathe life into his characters.

In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being caught out after curfew. While waiting for the German Kommondant, Jakob overhears a German radio broadcast about Russian troop movements. Returned to the ghetto, the shopkeeper shares his information with a friend and then rumors fly that there is a secret radio within the ghetto.

Paul Berthier, an ambitious public prosecutor, is witness to the accidental drowning of a young girl in the Charente but does nothing to help. It starts to look like the girl was murdered, and the case lands on Berthier's desk. Suspicion turns to Guillaume Vauban, the rich son of a local industrialist and ex-boyfriend of the dead girl. Paul Berthier finds himself entangled in a web of lies as he opens the case against Guillaume, who has now been arrested. With a conscience far from clear, Berthier agrees with the judge's decision to remand the young man in custody. Through cowardice Berthier clings to his reputation, determined to save face at any cost. Drunk with judicial power, he's caught in a downward spiral.

Louis XIV, the French sun-king has two passions, establishing absolute rule over the realm -after decades of religious/civil wars- by divine right and artistic brilliancy as a dancer

Following the assassination of President Marc Jarry, a member of the investigation committee refuses to sign off on the committee's final findings.

Two boys in their early teens in a strictly-run pre-WWII Catholic School form a firm friendship which is troubled by an abbot who is obsessed with the younger of the students.

This is the sprawling saga of Honoré de Balzac, a man who created a great literary oeuvre from the dramas and adventures of his own life - a life that he shaped into one spectacular and unforgettable blaze of passion. At the heart of the story are the women in Balzac's life. Although gruff, unsophisticated, and far from handsome, Balzac exerts an irresistible fascination on women.

Morasseix, a village hidden away in the remote depths of the French countryside, presents a gallery of astonishing portraits, characters by turn violent, absurd, occasionally touching in their innocence. “All of them cracked”, according to Lili, the hairdresser’s daughter, who dreams of leaving for America.César, however, has no desire to leave. He’s greedy for life, a jovial fellow. He loves the locals. Loves them so much that he happily pushes them around, provoking them for the sake of it. To him, despite their individual quirks, they all lack a sense of insolence. Particularly his friend Twelve, named for the calibre of his shotgun.

Alice is the widow of a Jewish surgeon who helps the former diplomat Jerome smuggle Jews out of Austria to save them from the Nazis. The duo recruits Charles, a shoe manufacturer whose uncle is a Nazi sympathizer in the Vichy government. Charles and Alice become lovers when they are picked up in Paris by Nazi soldiers on a curfew violation.

Claire (Laure Marsac) is a 16-year-old young woman who discovers her father Pierre (Bernard Giraudeau) is not a healing physician but a killer with a bloody war record in the Lebanese conflict. She runs away from home and into the arms of Kamal (Michal Albertini). While Pierre stalks two terrorists, Claire and Kamal are violently confronted by Kamal's abandoned wife and family. The ravages of the conflict extend to those who are never participants in the battle but are among the casualties of war.

In a small French village, an angel appears disguised as a beautiful young blond.

In the 17th century, under Louis XIII, the policy of Cardinal de Richelieu aimed at the definitive establishment of a monarchic power, and gave rise to a struggle against the great feudal lords, who favored a weak central power. Numerous conspiracies against the Cardinal were led by the high nobility. The one led by Henri Coiffier de Ruzé d'Effiat, marquis de Cinq-Mars, was the last and most famous of them.

Patrick Perrault, a photo-journalist covering the war in Beirut in the late 1980s, is himself caught up in the hostilities when one day he is picked up and bundled into a car at gun-point. Blind-folded, he is taken to an unknown location where he discovers that he is being taken hostage by Lebanese guerrillas.

Jean-Francois Abgrall, today the head of a private detective agency, was just a simple provincial gendarme back in 1989 when he was assigned to investigate a murder on a beach. Instead, his investigation put him on the trial of one of France's most terrifying serial killers, Francis Heaulme, who for eight years wandered the country committing some of the most brutal murders in the annals of modern crime. This is the true story of that manhunt, a tale of terror, suspense and determination.

The girlfriend of an associate of a gangland boss, is persuaded by a police detective to inform about her lover's associates.

A French army journalist bears witness to the atrocities of the Algerian war in 1962 in this gripping French war movie. It is based on the 1967 novel by Philippe Labro. The film begins in Paris as Jerome Carier, ready to embark to Algiers, is beaten and questioned about the politically sensitive photographs he has. The photos were sent to him by Francois, a friend stationed in Algiers. Francoise is trying to get the French and the Algerians to reconcile. Jerome arrives in the war-torn country and finds himself faced with unbelievable carnage. The French are behind most of it. Because he took the pictures, Francois life is in jeopardy. He is murdered and Jerome finds himself attracted to his girl friend, a radio station announcer. The film contains graphic pictures of the slaughter.

The Basilica of Monreale, near Palermo in Sicily acts as subject and springboard of Carné's final film; Its hundreds of gorgeous and intricate tiled mosaics vividly depict scenes from the Bible. Kinetic camerawork and dramatic narration of each scene compliment these stunning pieces in order to retell the Holy Book's age-old Story.

No synopsis available yet.

The story of Pierre Brossolette, who was a talented student, journalist and a defender of human rights.

Doctor Fournier arrives in Beirut as the civil war is raging. He finds himself with a colleague working in a hospital controlled by a Shiite militia and treating the injured. Driven by his doctor’s oath, he crosses the demarcation line to treat Christian casualties of the ongoing clashes. This causes Muslims in his neighborhood to brand him a traitor. He is kidnapped to be exchanged for a fighter captured by Christian militiamen. The film is part of the TV series *Médecins des hommes *(*Doctors of men*). It was considered the best movie in the series.