
Directing
Michel Deville
Born — Died
1931-04-13 — 2023-02-16
Place of birth
Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Known for
Directing
Credits
47 titles
Deville started his filmmaking career in the late 1950s, paralleling the emergence of the French New Wave directors. He never achieved the level of critical and international recognition of some of his contemporaries such as François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and Claude Chabrol, possibly because of his more conventional filmmaking style. Nevertheless, his films, especially his comedies from the 1970s and 1980s, were popular in his native France.
Known for
9.5Marcello Mastroianni, Isabelle Adjani, Alain Delon, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen... the biggest stars in cinema were welcomed by Christian Defaye on his show Spécial cinéma. Between intimate confessions from actors and immersion in the world of the greatest filmmakers, Christian Defaye took viewers on a journey into the fascinating world of cinema for nearly thirty years.
Spécial cinéma
1974
6.0A talk show presented by Michel Drucker
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
1975
6.0No synopsis available yet.
Midi trente
1972
8.0No synopsis available yet.
Discorama
1959
6.0A wealthy wife's affair with her daughter's guitar tutor is threatened when the tutor is attacked and rescued by a hired killer, leading him to suspect their secret is out.
Death in a French Garden
1985
6.1A shy bank employee unexpectedly invites a young woman to a café, leading to a one-night stand. When he shares this with his disillusioned friend, the writer helps him navigate a dazzling social ascent.
Love at the Top
1974
Film credits
2000s · 2 titles
7.0Documentary showing one day of work of over 90 actors and filmmakers from French cinema on the same day. On 27 March 2002, 27 teams filmed actors, directors, producers and technicians at work, from Hawaii to Paris and from New York to Lisbon.
A Day in the Life of French Cinema
2002
A movie lesson from famous French director Michel Deville - Nude in the town and village.
Lesson movie from Michel Deville: Nude in the town and village
2009
Series credits
9.5Marcello Mastroianni, Isabelle Adjani, Alain Delon, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen... the biggest stars in cinema were welcomed by Christian Defaye on his show Spécial cinéma. Between intimate confessions from actors and immersion in the world of the greatest filmmakers, Christian Defaye took viewers on a journey into the fascinating world of cinema for nearly thirty years.
Spécial cinéma
1974
6.0A talk show presented by Michel Drucker
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
1975
6.0No synopsis available yet.
Midi trente
1972
8.0No synopsis available yet.
Discorama
1959
Behind the camera
6.0A wealthy wife's affair with her daughter's guitar tutor is threatened when the tutor is attacked and rescued by a hired killer, leading him to suspect their secret is out.
Death in a French Garden
1985
6.0A wealthy wife's affair with her daughter's guitar tutor is threatened when the tutor is attacked and rescued by a hired killer, leading him to suspect their secret is out.
Death in a French Garden
1985
6.1A shy bank employee unexpectedly invites a young woman to a café, leading to a one-night stand. When he shares this with his disillusioned friend, the writer helps him navigate a dazzling social ascent.
Love at the Top
1974
5.2A thief falls in love with a maid and goes on the run after stealing Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa."
The Mona Lisa Has Been Stolen
1966
5.2A thief falls in love with a maid and goes on the run after stealing Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa."
The Mona Lisa Has Been Stolen
1966
6.5A French diplomat is surveilled by a secret service to find a weakness for political control, his private life becoming 'File No. 51'.
Dossier 51
1978
6.5A French diplomat is surveilled by a secret service to find a weakness for political control, his private life becoming 'File No. 51'.
Dossier 51
1978
6.7Lucky Jo and his three friends are little criminals, who try to live from small burglaries. But they never have luck - ever so often something inpredictable happens to Jo and gets one of them arrested. While Jo is in prison once again, they decide they'd better do without him in future. He decides to help them secretly...and unfortunately.
Lucky Jo
1964
6.7Lucky Jo and his three friends are little criminals, who try to live from small burglaries. But they never have luck - ever so often something inpredictable happens to Jo and gets one of them arrested. While Jo is in prison once again, they decide they'd better do without him in future. He decides to help them secretly...and unfortunately.
Lucky Jo
1964
6.5A young woman passionate about reading immerses herself in the adventures of a fictional character who makes reading her profession. As she explores different neighborhoods and wintertime Provence, her imagination blends with reality, revealing the mysteries behind each word.
La Lectrice
1988
6.5A young woman passionate about reading immerses herself in the adventures of a fictional character who makes reading her profession. As she explores different neighborhoods and wintertime Provence, her imagination blends with reality, revealing the mysteries behind each word.
La Lectrice
1988
5.2Lucette and Edouard: Two lovers passionate about sex, money and life. He is a spoiled but penniless child who wants it all while she is a celebrated figure of la vie parisienne who knows what she wants and what she is worth. Edouard is marrying a young, pretty and rich heiress. He comes to confess this to Lucette and to make their parting official, but he doesn’t want to leave her. He struggles with all his might to hide his betrayal but her opportunities to learn of it are countless and unpredictable.
The Art of Breaking Up
2005
6.0Set in 18th century France, a naive 17-year-old orphan named Benjamin is taken in by his wealthy aunt, the Countess de Valandry. There, he is seduced by a variety of women, including a few flirtatious maidservants and neighboring countesses who all want to be Benjamin's "first".
The Diary of an Innocent Boy
1968
6.0Set in 18th century France, a naive 17-year-old orphan named Benjamin is taken in by his wealthy aunt, the Countess de Valandry. There, he is seduced by a variety of women, including a few flirtatious maidservants and neighboring countesses who all want to be Benjamin's "first".
The Diary of an Innocent Boy
1968
8.3In post-revolutionary France, two neighbouring aristocrats embark on a dangerous game when they agree to help a Polish agent.
Les Capricieux
1984
5.6Unable to sleep in the sweltering heat, a young couple bares their bodies --- and their souls --- to each other over one life-changing night. They didn't know each other when the night began. It got hot, they stayed in. Now they know each other better than most.
Summer Night in Town
1990
6.3Two lifelong best friends spend a weekend at a secluded cabin. Through intimate conversations and silent moments, they explore their deep understanding of each other's personalities and desires.
A Sweet Journey
1980
6.3Two lifelong best friends spend a weekend at a secluded cabin. Through intimate conversations and silent moments, they explore their deep understanding of each other's personalities and desires.
A Sweet Journey
1980
7.0A compilation of 30 French filmmakers, Alain Resnais and Jean Luc Godard among them, who use film to make a plea on behalf of a political prisoner. Jean Luc Godard and Anne Marie Mieville's film concerns the plight of Thomas Wanggai, West Papuan activist who has since died in prison. The short films were commissioned by Amnesty International.
Lest We Forget
1991
5.7Set during the largely unexplored period immediately following World War II, the film follows a group of mostly Jewish Parisians who attempt to restart their lives and rekindle their capacity for happiness in the shadow of unspeakable horrors. Variety called it "thoroughly charming. Sad, gentle, and funny in the best French tradition of high quality cinema." A film by Marcelo Gomes
Almost Peaceful
2002
6.1In 1830s France, a virtuous widow falls for a self-destructive debauchee obsessed with death. Initial resistance gives way to a desperate and cynical romance.
Raphael or the Debauched One
1971
6.0Each evening, four men – a doctor, a journalist, a professor and a merchant – meet up in a deserted bar to play cards. As they play, the bar’s owner, her downtrodden barman (nicknamed “le paltoquet”) and a strange woman in white watch from a distance. One night, the card game is disturbed when a police inspector suddenly appears and declares that a dead body has been found nearby. Certain that one of the four men is the murderer, the inspector starts his investigation. All the evidence suggests that the doctor did the deed, but we soon learn that nothing is quite what it seems…
The Nonentity
1986
6.0Each evening, four men – a doctor, a journalist, a professor and a merchant – meet up in a deserted bar to play cards. As they play, the bar’s owner, her downtrodden barman (nicknamed “le paltoquet”) and a strange woman in white watch from a distance. One night, the card game is disturbed when a police inspector suddenly appears and declares that a dead body has been found nearby. Certain that one of the four men is the murderer, the inspector starts his investigation. All the evidence suggests that the doctor did the deed, but we soon learn that nothing is quite what it seems…
The Nonentity
1986
5.2This movie is about love affairs, simple pleasures of a few men and women who will gather for a few days in a villa, around a piano and the music of Gottschalk who is perhaps the main actor.
Life's Little Treasures
1994
5.7Leading man Michel Piccoli plays Pierre, a young musician who briefly catches sight of a beautiful woman dressed in blue and soon spends all of his time trying to track her down. After roaming the streets of Paris in search of the mystery woman, he recruits an old friend to help find her.
The Woman in Blue
1973
5.7Leading man Michel Piccoli plays Pierre, a young musician who briefly catches sight of a beautiful woman dressed in blue and soon spends all of his time trying to track her down. After roaming the streets of Paris in search of the mystery woman, he recruits an old friend to help find her.
The Woman in Blue
1973
5.4Back from Indochina, Tony and Dick, two French soldiers, are now in possession of more than 20 million, entrusted by a trafficker. They buy a nightclub in the district of Montparnasse but are soon hunted by the thug who wants to recover his money.
A Bullet in the Gun Barrel
1958
5.4Back from Indochina, Tony and Dick, two French soldiers, are now in possession of more than 20 million, entrusted by a trafficker. They buy a nightclub in the district of Montparnasse but are soon hunted by the thug who wants to recover his money.
A Bullet in the Gun Barrel
1958
9.0While an admiral's son is hunted by secret agents, his sister plays his part on a warship.
Tender Sharks
1967
6.1On the island of Jersey, off the French coast, Mélanie, a beautiful woman gifted with a captivating personality, enjoys having unimportant love affairs that her husband Victor, a perfumer older than her, seems to endure with total indifference.
Deep Water
1981
6.1On the island of Jersey, off the French coast, Mélanie, a beautiful woman gifted with a captivating personality, enjoys having unimportant love affairs that her husband Victor, a perfumer older than her, seems to endure with total indifference.
Deep Water
1981
6.2A quiet cellist living in the countryside has his life disrupted when he accidentally bumps into a wealthy, temperamental woman in a Rolls-Royce. Angered by his indifference to her charm, she attempts to seduce him, but he resists her attempts to invade his peaceful life.
The Bear and the Doll
1970
6.2A quiet cellist living in the countryside has his life disrupted when he accidentally bumps into a wealthy, temperamental woman in a Rolls-Royce. Angered by his indifference to her charm, she attempts to seduce him, but he resists her attempts to invade his peaceful life.
The Bear and the Doll
1970
5.6A theatrical director's relationship with his aspiring actress girlfriend begins to unravel when she fails to land a role in his play.
Tonight or Never
1961
5.6A theatrical director's relationship with his aspiring actress girlfriend begins to unravel when she fails to land a role in his play.
Tonight or Never
1961
6.5Dr. Bruno Sachs, the only medical practitioner in a small French town, seems on the surface to be compassionate and dedicated. However, in private he is not happy in his work and does not like most of his patients. Here he meets Pauline Kasser, a young woman, and they are attracted to each other...
Sachs' Disease
1999
6.5Dr. Bruno Sachs, the only medical practitioner in a small French town, seems on the surface to be compassionate and dedicated. However, in private he is not happy in his work and does not like most of his patients. Here he meets Pauline Kasser, a young woman, and they are attracted to each other...
Sachs' Disease
1999
4.5A priceless statuette "Dancing God" is transfered from Africa to France. Scoundrels of all stripes are dreaming of steeling it. The most clever of them are trying to replace the original with the copy. Chases, adventures, breathtaking stunts, shootouts - life is not worth a penny, when the priceless treasure is on stake.
The Gods Must Be Daring
1997
4.5A priceless statuette "Dancing God" is transfered from Africa to France. Scoundrels of all stripes are dreaming of steeling it. The most clever of them are trying to replace the original with the copy. Chases, adventures, breathtaking stunts, shootouts - life is not worth a penny, when the priceless treasure is on stake.
The Gods Must Be Daring
1997
5.1A young man is a collector of feminine conquests. One morning, leaving one of his mistresses he is addressed by one of his past flirts. As revenge, she denounces him later to the police as the murderer of her fiance who was found dead the same morning. With the help of his mistresses and some new ones he makes on the road, the young man goes in search of the man he thinks is the killer, then his blond consort with whom he fell in love at the first sight the evening before.
Because, Because of a Woman
1963

