Georges Franju

Directing

Georges Franju

Born — Died

1912-04-12 — 1987-11-05

Place of birth

Fougères, Ille-et-Vilaine, France

Known for

Directing

Credits

48 titles

Georges Franju was a French filmmaker. He was born in Fougères, Ille-et-Vilaine. Before working in French cinema, Franju had several different jobs. Franju was also briefly in the military in Algeria and was discharged in 1932. On his return, Franju studied to become a set designer and later created backdrops for music halls including Casino de Paris and the Folles Bergère. In the mid-thirties, Franju and Henri Langlois met through Franju's twin brother Jacques Franju. As well as creating the 16 mm short film Le Métro, Langlois and Franju also started a short-lived film magazine and created a film club called Le Cercle du Cinema with 500 francs he borrowed from Langlois' parents. The club …

Known for

Film credits

Series credits

Behind the camera

Eyes Without a Face poster
7.6

Dr. Génessier is riddled with guilt after an accident that he caused disfigures the face of his daughter, the once beautiful Christiane, who outsiders believe is dead. Dr. Génessier, along with accomplice and laboratory assistant Louise, kidnaps young women and brings them to the Génessier mansion. After rendering his victims unconscious, Dr. Génessier removes their faces and attempts to graft them on to Christiane's.

Eyes Without a Face

1960

Spotlight on a Murderer poster
6.5

An old count hides just before he dies to annoy his heirs. The heirs search a manor for the count's body and are killed off one by one. Jean-Marie, his fiancée Micheline, and Edwige investigate the deaths and search for the count's body.

Spotlight on a Murderer

1961

Spotlight on a Murderer poster
6.5

An old count hides just before he dies to annoy his heirs. The heirs search a manor for the count's body and are killed off one by one. Jean-Marie, his fiancée Micheline, and Edwige investigate the deaths and search for the count's body.

Spotlight on a Murderer

1961

Judex poster
6.9

Georges Franju's Judex is an arch, playful tribute to the serials of the influential silent filmmaker Louis Feuillade. Franju shuffles through the plot of Feuillade's lengthy serial of the same name, about an adventurer named Judex whose revenge against the corrupt banker Favraux unleashes a complicated series of schemes.

Judex

1963

Blood of the Beasts poster
7.5

An early example of ultra-realism, this movie contrasts the quiet, bucolic life in the outskirts of Paris with the harsh, gory conditions inside the nearby slaughterhouses. Describes the fate of the animals and that of the workers in graphic detail.

Blood of the Beasts

1949

Blood of the Beasts poster
7.5

An early example of ultra-realism, this movie contrasts the quiet, bucolic life in the outskirts of Paris with the harsh, gory conditions inside the nearby slaughterhouses. Describes the fate of the animals and that of the workers in graphic detail.

Blood of the Beasts

1949

Dust of Life poster
7.5

The planet is filled with dust and particles of all kinds, natural or originated by man. Such a state of things has of course a great many consequences for public health, with diseases like silicosis, inherent in various human activities, some of which are detailed (farming, notably the treatment of flax; industrial activity, particularly porcelain and cement work, coal mining).

Dust of Life

1953

Dust of Life poster
7.5

The planet is filled with dust and particles of all kinds, natural or originated by man. Such a state of things has of course a great many consequences for public health, with diseases like silicosis, inherent in various human activities, some of which are detailed (farming, notably the treatment of flax; industrial activity, particularly porcelain and cement work, coal mining).

Dust of Life

1953

Head Against the Wall poster
6.8

An aimless young man is committed to a psychiatric hospital by his father in an attempt to cure him of his delinquent tendencies.

Head Against the Wall

1959

Le Théâtre National Populaire poster
6.5

The T.N.P., the Théâtre National Populaire, an important experimental theater directed by Jean Vilar. Franju combines sequences from theatrical performances with documentary images, creating links and confrontations between theater and the real world.

Le Théâtre National Populaire

1956

Shadowman poster
5.9

Clad in a featureless red mask, The Man Without A Face is involved in a single-minded pursuit of the fabled treasure of the Knights Templar in this tribute to the pulp adventure stories of Louis Feuillade.

Shadowman

1974

Notre Dame, cathédrale de Paris poster
7.5

An in-depth tour of the cathedral, combining history, architecture and contemplation.

Notre Dame, cathédrale de Paris

1957

Notre Dame, cathédrale de Paris poster
7.5

An in-depth tour of the cathedral, combining history, architecture and contemplation.

Notre Dame, cathédrale de Paris

1957

Mon chien poster
7.3

A family goes on holiday, abandoning the little girl’s dog.

Mon chien

1955

Mon chien poster
7.3

A family goes on holiday, abandoning the little girl’s dog.

Mon chien

1955

Sur le pont d’Avignon poster
NR

Shot as something of an afterthought to Le Theatre national populaire, during the fortnight in July 1956, when Franju and his crew had to wait between the two Avignon theatrical performances that were to feature in the longer film.

Sur le pont d’Avignon

1956

Sur le pont d’Avignon poster
NR

Shot as something of an afterthought to Le Theatre national populaire, during the fortnight in July 1956, when Franju and his crew had to wait between the two Avignon theatrical performances that were to feature in the longer film.

Sur le pont d’Avignon

1956

The Demise of Father Mouret poster
4.3

Serge Mouret is a frail and devout young priest in a tough country parish. When he falls down and loses his memory, he is nursed back to health by Albine, the beautiful carefree niece of the outspoken atheist Jeanbernat. After Serge and Albine fall in love, Serge recovers his memory and realizes the grave sin he has committed.

The Demise of Father Mouret

1970

The Demise of Father Mouret poster
4.3

Serge Mouret is a frail and devout young priest in a tough country parish. When he falls down and loses his memory, he is nursed back to health by Albine, the beautiful carefree niece of the outspoken atheist Jeanbernat. After Serge and Albine fall in love, Serge recovers his memory and realizes the grave sin he has committed.

The Demise of Father Mouret

1970

Le Grand Méliès poster
6.9

A biographical film about cinematic illusionist Georges Méliès featuring Méliès’s widow, Jeanne d’Alcy, as herself, and their son André as his own father.

Le Grand Méliès

1952

Le Grand Méliès poster
6.9

A biographical film about cinematic illusionist Georges Méliès featuring Méliès’s widow, Jeanne d’Alcy, as herself, and their son André as his own father.

Le Grand Méliès

1952

The Shadow Line poster
6.6

Story of a young, inexperienced ship captain named Marlow, who struggles in solitude during the voyage with disease, insubordinate crew and vagaries of weather.

The Shadow Line

1973

The Shadow Line poster
6.6

Story of a young, inexperienced ship captain named Marlow, who struggles in solitude during the voyage with disease, insubordinate crew and vagaries of weather.

The Shadow Line

1973

Therese poster
6.7

Thérèse is living in a provincial town, unhappily married to Bernard, a dull, pompous man whose only interest is preserving his family name and property. They live in an isolated country mansion surrounded by servants. Early in her marriage her only comforts are her fondness for Bernard's pine-tree forest, which was her primary reason for marrying him, and her love for her sister-in-law and Bernard's half-sister, Anne. The movie recounts in flashback the circumstances that led to her being charged with poisoning her husband.

Therese

1962

Therese poster
6.7

Thérèse is living in a provincial town, unhappily married to Bernard, a dull, pompous man whose only interest is preserving his family name and property. They live in an isolated country mansion surrounded by servants. Early in her marriage her only comforts are her fondness for Bernard's pine-tree forest, which was her primary reason for marrying him, and her love for her sister-in-law and Bernard's half-sister, Anne. The movie recounts in flashback the circumstances that led to her being charged with poisoning her husband.

Therese

1962

La Discorde poster
9.0

A man comes back to his old haunts and surveys the changes around him

La Discorde

1978

Rendez-vous avec Fantômas poster
NR

A portrait of feuilleton author, Marcel Allain, creator of one of Franju’s favourite heroes: Fantômas.

Rendez-vous avec Fantômas

1966

The Metro poster
7.0

This silent film on the Paris Metro was the first foray into film by Georges Franju and only foray into the realization of the future creator of the Cinémathèque Française, Henri Langlois.

The Metro

1934

Monsieur and Madame Curie poster
5.7

The life and work of the pioneering scientists, told through the words of Marie Curie.

Monsieur and Madame Curie

1956

Thomas the Impostor poster
6.5

In the First World War, when Paris is expected to fall to the Germans, the attractive widow, Princesse de Bormes, organises a convoy of cars to evacuate the wounded from the front, and bring them back to her villa in Paris to recuperate. The authorities will not give them passes until an innocent 16-year-old boy, Guillaume Thomas de Fontenoy, joins them and is mistaken as the nephew of the popular General de Fontenoy. The Princess is enraptured by Thomas and her daughter, Henriette, falls in love with him. However Thomas feels impelled to see more of the action of the war.

Thomas the Impostor

1965

The Moment of Peace poster
10.0

The movie "L'instant de la paix" consists of three segments: 1. "Les rideaux blancs" (France) 2. "Berlin N 65" (West Germany) 3. "Matura" (Poland)

The Moment of Peace

1965

The First Night poster
6.8

A residential area schoolboy discovers the odd universe of the Parisian metro. At one point, he glimpses the beautiful face of a blond-haired girl. Later on, he falls asleep and possibly dreams his first love dream…

The First Night

1958

Hôtel des Invalides poster
5.9

A short documentary tour of Paris’s Hôtel des Invalides that uses ironic narration and museum imagery to question the logic and legacy of war.

Hôtel des Invalides

1952

Hôtel des Invalides poster
5.9

A short documentary tour of Paris’s Hôtel des Invalides that uses ironic narration and museum imagery to question the logic and legacy of war.

Hôtel des Invalides

1952

About a River poster
8.0

A lyrical evocation of times past and a reflection on the inevitable passing of time through the recollections of an old fisherman.

About a River

1955

About a River poster
8.0

A lyrical evocation of times past and a reflection on the inevitable passing of time through the recollections of an old fisherman.

About a River

1955

Le Magicien du fer poster
NR

Television documentary about Gustave Eiffel.

Le Magicien du fer

1967

Le Dernier Mélodrame poster
8.0

A travelling company makes its way round the small villages of France. Shot for the program Cinéma 16 broadcast by the French channel FR3, where Franju adapted an argument written by one of his favourite actors, Pierre Brasseur, and worked with his fetish actress, Edith Scob.

Le Dernier Mélodrame

1979

Passing through Lorraine poster
7.0

This Government-commissioned documentary was intended to reflect the modernisation of French industry. However, in Franju’s hands it became an ode to fire and a fascinating portrayal of industrial architecture.

Passing through Lorraine

1950

Passing through Lorraine poster
7.0

This Government-commissioned documentary was intended to reflect the modernisation of French industry. However, in Franju’s hands it became an ode to fire and a fascinating portrayal of industrial architecture.

Passing through Lorraine

1950