Alice Sapritch

55 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.

In 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.

No synopsis available yet.

The Griswolds win a vacation to Europe on a game show, and so pack their bags for the continent. They do their best to catch the flavor of Europe, but they just don't know how to be be good tourists. Besides, they have trouble taking holidays in countries where they CAN speak the language.

Movie producer Léon Blachurpe is about to produce a big budget movie about Adam and Eve. In order to get the money, he agrees to hire ex movie star La Maldiva to play the lead part, but she's old and ugly, so the scenes are actually shot with the stunt woman !

In the small town of Louvun, Marie and Léon Besnard live quite comfortably. But on 25 October 1947 Léon passes away. Nobody, including the doctor who issued the burial permit, is doubtful that his death was natural. Nobody except Louise Paniou, a friend of the couple's, who is persuaded that Marie has poisoned her husband.

One of the comtesse de Ségur's most popular works,it tells the tale of an orphan ,Charles,mistreated by his wicked old cousin Madame Mac Miche;nevertheless,Charles has many friends including sweet blind young Juliette and her sister Marianne, Mac Miche's maid ,Betty,her boyfriend Donald ,and even the judge. (by dbdumonteil)

This film, in two parts, is considered a cultural work admirably embodied by Alice Sapritch. The TV movie focuses on the period of the late 16th century in France, ravaged by religious wars, and highlights the efforts of Catherine de Medici to defend the throne of her sons and maintain the unity of the kingdom. The role of Catherine de Medici in this TV movie is an interpretation that gives more humanity to this historical figure often presented in a negative light in history.

No synopsis available yet.

Asterix and Obelix depart on an adventure to complete twelve impossible tasks to prove to Caesar that they are as strong as the Gods. You'll roar with laughter as they outwit, outrun, and generally outrage the very people who are trying to prove them "only human".

Don Sallust is the minister of the King of Spain. Being disingenuous, hypocritical, greedy and collecting the taxes for himself, he is hated by the people he oppresses. Accused by The Queen, a beautiful princess Bavarian, of having an illegitimate child to one of her maids of honor, he was stripped of his duties and ordered to retire to a monastery.

Henry Roubier, a French promoter, and Enrico Mazzini, an Italian, have signed an agreement guaranteeing them a stranglehold on European highways. While driving on the roads of the south, Roubier takes two young hitchhikers, but an unfortunate swerve the car rushes by Henri and its occupants on the top of a pine tree onto the side of a cliff.

Marco Mazzetti, a driving instructor, lives with his wife Irène and their young son. After a series of nauseous dizzy spells he goes to the doctor and discovers that he is four-months pregnant. Marco then becomes internationally famous.

In a small presbytery in Yorkshire, England, living under the watchful eyes of their aunt and father, a strict Anglican pastor, the Bronte sisters write their first works and quickly become literary sensations.

A large bed recounts stories from its brief existence. Clumsy burglars, adulterated husbands and wives, homosexuals, lesbians, a lady, and her gigolo, a doctor who tries an erotic measurement machine on his assistant.

France and Germany are at war. Adolf Hitler challenges the Allies to seal the fate of the war by playing a football match.

Colinot is a young, happy man, until the day three highway robbers abduct his fiancée. The search leads him to meet so many young, lovely women – that when he finally encounters his fiancée, he's no longer sure he loves her.

In Paris, in 1942, on a Thursday, the Parisian police herded together some 13,000 Jews for deportation to German territory. In this story, Paul (Christian Rist) is a teenager who tries to prevent this from happening. At first he attempts to save two elderly Jews, but they are resigned to their fate and comply with the order to assemble. For a short while, he is able to keep Jeanne (Christine Pascal) from joining them, but, after a long and strenuous day, she finally escapes from him he is too tired to chase after her.

Jean Diserens has a double life: he's a property developer and... drug dealer. He's looking for a new way to sell it. But his superior, Crazy Capo, doesn't see things the same way.

The eventful and incredible vacation of a Parisian family come to rest in a small village located in the heart of Alsace.

Christophe Merignac, a youngESCP graduate with a law degree but still unemployed, gets a job as a concierge in a luxury building. Using charm and cunning, he makes himself indispensable. He makes a fortune and marries a young, pretty and rich tenant, whom he happily deceives. The conclusion is bittersweet: he's "made it", but he doesn't love anyone. What's more, a young concierge who looks like a brother has just arrived in his building.

Alice sets off in pursuit of a mysterious white rabbit in a hurry. After a dizzying fall into a deep well, she discovers a strange world populated by beasts who behave like humans. She changes size, is invited to a wacky tea-time party and becomes a witness to a momentous trial conducted by the Queen of Hearts.

The guardian of a nursing home lends a compassionate ear to the complaints of two new pensioners who love each other and have only one dream: to see the sea. To help them realize their dream, the brave man steals the car of the director. She quickly discovers the crime and drags her pale husband to the pursuit of the trio, aboard a tanker truck...

Two unemployed men, heavily in debt due to losses at the racetrack, are hired by a criminal mastermind to harass the guests of a hotel he hopes to purchase at a below-market price in order to access a tunnel below the building that leads directly to a nearby bank.

Because he dishonored the daughter of a mafia boss, Ernesto must leave Rome and take shelter with his uncle in Paris. There, he thinks of only one thing: to seduce girls.

He is a sales rep. She is a secretary. They live in the suburbs but she works in Paris. They don't see much of each other and spend much of their time in commuter trains. They try desperately to change job locations to be more often together, but... The plot is not the important thing in the film ; what makes it emblematic of the early and mid-seventies is the insouciant atmosphere. The '74 oil crisis had not yet morphed into a recession, and life was good - even though it was as hard as ever to find a home near one's workplace (or the reverse) ! Marthe Keller and Jacques Higelin are both excellent. The movie is not an all-time great, but it captures the "zeitgeist" of French life in the Seventies.

Jean, nicknamed Brasse-Bouillon, and his brother Ferdinand live with their paternal grandmother, who is responsible for their upbringing. But when their parents returned from Japan, they settled in Belle-Angerie and resumed their role with the children, while their grandmother had to leave for cousins. The boys soon come up against the contempt of their mother, Marthe. Faced with this shrew, whom he nicknamed "Folcoche" (a contraction of "madwoman" and "pig"), Jean decided to join the resistance.

Three priests in cassocks visit a modest and naive country priest in a village in the South of France. They claim to be sent by the bishop for the purpose of recovering a precious reliquary currently in the hands of a vigorously anti-clerical squire. The non apostolic behavior of the three priests causes the disturbance in the village without altering the confidence of the priest. But the situation is complicated at the Sunday Mass: one is drunk on the sacristy, the other improvises a sermon not very Catholic and the third is a mess in the choir of singing. With the naive complicity of the priest, their scam is about to end ...

Bernard, a journalist, and his friend Jules, a butcher by trade, are both passionate about horse racing.

With her nose buried in her books, a librarian broods bitterly over her failure in love. But a theft of jewelry will suddenly give her the perfect opportunity to win back her lover's heart and get rid of her rival. Will she take the plunge?

Vincent and his friend Antoine are convinced to find fortune by following precisely their horoscope. But as they go along the zodiac forecasts, they accumulate absurd misunderstandings.

Charlie is a former classical pianist who has changed his name and now plays jazz in a grimy Paris bar. When Charlie's brothers, Richard and Chico, surface and ask for Charlie's help while on the run from gangsters they have scammed, he aids their escape. Soon Charlie and Lena, a waitress at the same bar, face trouble when the gangsters arrive, looking for his brothers.

An 18th century poet travels through time in search of divine wisdom. In a mysterious wasteland, he has a series of enigmatic encounters with symbolic phantoms with whom he muses about the nature of art and his own career. Ultimately, the poet strives to achieve his rebirth as a celestial being.

A model tells a television crew about her dreams of a life with prince charming all while fending off the lecherous advances of a horde of men.

Lamiel is a poor orphan girl who climbs to the social elite in this 19th-century costume drama. Sansfin, provincial doctor, lives vicariously through her, as he oversees the progress of his female protégé. Defiant and rebellious, Lamiel goes to Paris to escape boredom and to know love.

A story about two girls who grew up as sisters, were separated and finally met again.

A 1963 TV film directed by Michel Mitrani.

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 young student visits the home of a friend who has all the good looks, women and luck. Every day, through binoculars from his friend's window, he sees a young girl in front of her home. Although attractive, the woman's face has been badly scarred. He finds out her phone number and the two engage in pleasant conversation. He gets up enough nerve to ask to meet her in person, but the socially inept young man becomes paralyzed with fear. He again summons the courage to meet with her before he is plagued with fear once again.

Josepha is on the verge eighteen living with her drunken washed up actor uncle. She longs for the companionship of a group of her mo-ped riding peers who dabble in activities on the shady side of a legal dividing line. In order to get the semi-delinquent group to accept her, Josepha runs to the police with a tall tale about the local druggist, Savary. The police are looking for a sex murderer, and Josepha insists Savary is their man. What she does not know, however, can do her considerable damage.

A skirt-chasing fashion photographer meets a charming young woman who captures his interest immediately. She is not wholly forthcoming, but after a period of time, he realizes that he is in love with her -- she is not just another conquest. It takes awhile before he also realizes that she is the partner of his femme associate who is possessive, at the very least.

No synopsis available yet.

An adaptation of the novel by Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly.

Meant to be a psychological study of a dysfunctional couple and an equally unbalanced maid, this slow-paced, murky melodrama stars Michele Morgan and Robert Hossein as Thelma and Jess, two Americans who move into a down-at-the-heels Paris neighborhood. The couple is still suffering from the loss of their only son in an automobile accident that happened some time in the distant past. Thelma tends to drown her sorrows in alcohol, while Jess is introspected and morose. After they hire a maid to help out with the housework, she falls for the taciturn Jess. Her interest seems to be only a simple attraction, yet appearances, as it turns out, are deceiving.

The psychotic son of a film producer becomes obsessed with a beautiful blonde starlet while in Cannes, lures her to his hotel room and strangles her. His mother finds out, but can she keep her mouth shut to protect her son? Meanwhile, the young killer meets another pretty blonde...

At the start of the First World War, two next-door neighbors find themselves companions in misfortune. Faced with the horror of the trenches and the fear of death, they grow closer and become friends. But will these strong feelings that the war engendered survive a return to daily monotony?

Élisabeth Fischer, a farmer's daughter and cousin of Adeline Fischer, now Baroness Hulot d'Ervy, has been furiously jealous of the latter since their early childhood. After arriving in Paris as a passementerie worker, she set out to harm the Hulot d'Ervy family by any means necessary. She pushed the Baron into debauchery and tried to destroy the relationship between his niece Hortense Hulot and Wenceslas Steinbock. But her schemes bring her no satisfaction, and she dies of rage.

On this beautiful May 1st, Thérèse is about to give birth. Their presence at home is undesirable, so Jean, her husband, decides to take François, their little boy, to a soccer match. Their plans change when they meet a former factory mate who seems to have made a success of his life. This man, Blanchot, decides to return to Jean a sum of money he had once borrowed. Trusted, Jean is drawn into a clandestine circle, where his apparent luck delivers him without ulterior motive to Blanchot, who is one of the ringleaders. The police interrupt the dangerous game, putting Jean, who has no identity papers, in an awkward situation.

In 1866, a young Muscovite named Alexei Ivanovitch arrives in Baden Baden, then the gambling capital of Austria, and is soon engaged by General Zagorianski to look after his children. Alexei discovers that his employer is a compulsive gambler who has been almost ruined by his addiction. The only money the General has is provided by the Marquis de Grieux, an adventurer who intends to marry Zagorianski’s sister, Pauline. In doing so, de Grieux hopes to profit from the vast inheritance that will come the General’s way from his Aunt Antonina, who is presently very ill. Alexei is appalled by this society which lives only for money. He loves Pauline and wants to take her to a healthier place, but when she refuses to marry him, he begins to gamble at the casino…

How did Master Brown turn from a man of faith into a cantankerous, distrustful and cynical man? Nathaniel Hawthorne's character recounts the night when everything changed. In Canada, in a village where everyone seems more virtuous than he is, Tom Brown meets a man who claims to be the devil.

Cochu, a peasant, is the whipping boy of his regimental comrades. He is called "buffer of the capiston", that is to say the captain's order. But he finds himself in the service of Hortense, the captain's sister.

A poacher nicknamed "Le Bouif" is accused of having murdered his son-in-law, trainer of a horse stable in Maisons-Laffitte.

No synopsis available yet.