Nelly Kaplan

Directing

Nelly Kaplan

Born — Died

1931-04-11 — 2020-11-12

Place of birth

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Known for

Directing

Credits

44 titles

Born in Argentina to a Russian Jewish family, Nelly Kaplan relocated to Paris at age seventeen, where she became an assistant to legendary director Abel Gance before directing her first feature, the caustic revenge comedy A Very Curious Girl. Transgressive, satirical, and surreal, Kaplan's films are defined by their proactive female protagonists.

Known for

Film credits

1990s · 3 titles

Birth of a Nation poster
7.0

Jonas Mekas assembles 160 portraits, appearances, and fleeting sketches of underground and independent filmmakers captured between 1955 and 1996. Fast-paced and archival in spirit, the film celebrates the avant-garde as its own “nation of cinema,” a vital community existing outside the dominance of commercial film.

Birth of a Nation

1997

Polly West est de retour poster
8.0

Polly West, a very rich American star, has bought the castle of Sainte Apolline, a small village in Provence. As soon as she arrives, the dynamic actress causes trouble among the inhabitants. After having received her in confession, the priest seems to be taken by madness. To add to the turmoil, the country warden and the grocer enter her service. Honorin, the mayor, tries to cope and maintain order. While the people of the village keep asking questions, Polly flies to the rescue of the beautiful Italian girl Clara, who has been raped by the landlord Léonce. Soon, Honotin discovers that Polly is buying up the village's land using a few nominees. He then understands that this woman is not a stranger and that, a few years ago, the villagers chased her away because she was a mother, and these same villagers caused the death of her parents. Polly has returned to seek revenge.

Polly West est de retour

1993

The Cocottes poster
5.2

A small village lies peacefully nestled in the hills beneath the Provence sun... until the arrival of an odd group of vacationers. Who are these gorgeous young women from the big city strolling on the village square under the watchful eye of a chaperone as beautiful as she is authoritarian? Scandal arises when it’s learned these dreamy creatures are none other than the employees of a Marseille brothel come to enjoy the good clean air of the country. All hell breaks loose as the villagers take a stand for or against the presence of these "ladies of pleasure". The mayor is called on to relay women of the moral rules of the region to the women. But the fact remains, they can’t be forced to leave: while they have no intention of plying their trade, no law exists to bring their country retreat to a premature end. Different mentalities are revealed, passions unbridled, love kindled... and doesn’t love always solve everything in the end?

The Cocottes

1991

1970s · 3 titles

Series credits

Midi Première poster
9.0

Midi Première is a French variety show presented by Danièle Gilbert, directed by Jacques Pierre and broadcast from January 6, 1975 until January 1, 1982 on TF1. The program was generally broadcast between 12:15 p.m. and 12:55 p.m., then giving way to the 1:00 p.m. TV news. However, the broadcast schedule could change, depending on the guests, and the setting where the recording of the program was shot. Certain performances by artists who have become cult like the one where Ringo jostles with a demonstrator in interpretation (1977), that of Dalida with the title There is always a song with the soundtrack that does not start, twice, at the right speed (1978), Claude François and his Clodettes, who, in the provinces, are unable to join "the set" in order to interpret his song, the latter being taken by the crowd of delirious fans (summer 1977) . The group Supertramp performed there with the title "Dreamer" on March 8, 1975.

Midi Première

1975

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche poster
6.0

A talk show presented by Michel Drucker

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche

1975

Midi trente poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

Midi trente

1972

No artwork available
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

Samedi soir

1971

Le Regard dans le miroir poster
7.0

Dora Stern, an American photographer living in Paris, wakes up from the same nightmare over and over again. In a small antique store she finds a collage with fearful eyes that haunt her. At home she removes the layers of the collage until she can see the original photo showing a young woman in fear who looks exactly like Dora Stern. But who is this woman?

Le Regard dans le miroir

1985

Behind the camera

Austerlitz poster
6.7

Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself emperor and fights the English, Austrians and Russians in 1802.

Austerlitz

1960

A Very Curious Girl poster
6.2

Treated as an outcast and exploited by the villagers of a small town, a young woman liberates herself through sex, which she uses as a tool of economic gain and an instrument of revenge against those who have wronged her.

A Very Curious Girl

1969

A Very Curious Girl poster
6.2

Treated as an outcast and exploited by the villagers of a small town, a young woman liberates herself through sex, which she uses as a tool of economic gain and an instrument of revenge against those who have wronged her.

A Very Curious Girl

1969

A Very Curious Girl poster
6.2

Treated as an outcast and exploited by the villagers of a small town, a young woman liberates herself through sex, which she uses as a tool of economic gain and an instrument of revenge against those who have wronged her.

A Very Curious Girl

1969

One Must Live Dangerously poster
4.6

Richard is a private detective. He makes a good money from marital infidelity: the deceived husband and wife generously paid him for proof of their infidelity "halves"...

One Must Live Dangerously

1975

One Must Live Dangerously poster
4.6

Richard is a private detective. He makes a good money from marital infidelity: the deceived husband and wife generously paid him for proof of their infidelity "halves"...

One Must Live Dangerously

1975

Papa, the Lil' Boats poster
4.6

In this whimsical French comedy, Cookie (aka Venus de Palma) is a tough, sweet little rich girl, and is rather smart, too. She's smart enough and charming enough to outwit her kidnappers by setting one against the other until they have all killed each other or died trying to prove thier worth to her.

Papa, the Lil' Boats

1971

Papa, the Lil' Boats poster
4.6

In this whimsical French comedy, Cookie (aka Venus de Palma) is a tough, sweet little rich girl, and is rather smart, too. She's smart enough and charming enough to outwit her kidnappers by setting one against the other until they have all killed each other or died trying to prove thier worth to her.

Papa, the Lil' Boats

1971

Papa, the Lil' Boats poster
4.6

In this whimsical French comedy, Cookie (aka Venus de Palma) is a tough, sweet little rich girl, and is rather smart, too. She's smart enough and charming enough to outwit her kidnappers by setting one against the other until they have all killed each other or died trying to prove thier worth to her.

Papa, the Lil' Boats

1971

Charles and Lucie poster
5.8

An old and poor couple, Charles and Lucie, scrape by working as a concierge and an untalented antique dealer, respectively. But one day, their dreary daily routine is disrupted by the surprising news that they have inherited a luxurious house in the South of France.

Charles and Lucie

1979

Charles and Lucie poster
5.8

An old and poor couple, Charles and Lucie, scrape by working as a concierge and an untalented antique dealer, respectively. But one day, their dreary daily routine is disrupted by the surprising news that they have inherited a luxurious house in the South of France.

Charles and Lucie

1979

Honorin et l'enfant prodigue poster
5.6

In 1930, Honorin, the mayor of a small village, receives a visit from a young girl claiming to be his child.

Honorin et l'enfant prodigue

1994

The Pleasure of Love poster
4.6

Guillaume de Burlador is a private tutor who hits a low point sufficiently severe for him to contemplate a somewhat theatrical suicide. Instead he is taken off by flying boat to a mad French colonial possession bedecked by mad servants and crazy decor. Three educated and rather gorgeous women live there, and they hire him to tutor a young teenager, but more with plans to seduce him in mind.

The Pleasure of Love

1991

The Pleasure of Love poster
4.6

Guillaume de Burlador is a private tutor who hits a low point sufficiently severe for him to contemplate a somewhat theatrical suicide. Instead he is taken off by flying boat to a mad French colonial possession bedecked by mad servants and crazy decor. Three educated and rather gorgeous women live there, and they hire him to tutor a young teenager, but more with plans to seduce him in mind.

The Pleasure of Love

1991

Nea poster
4.9

In Genève, bookseller and publisher Axel Thorpe catches willful, rich 16-year-old Sibylle Ashby shoplifting. She brags about her writing, so he challenges her to produce a book. She writes an erotic novel that Thorpe publishes anonymously, and it becomes a best seller. She also tries to capture the love of this 40-year-old publisher but he drops her for her older sister.

Nea

1976

Nea poster
4.9

In Genève, bookseller and publisher Axel Thorpe catches willful, rich 16-year-old Sibylle Ashby shoplifting. She brags about her writing, so he challenges her to produce a book. She writes an erotic novel that Thorpe publishes anonymously, and it becomes a best seller. She also tries to capture the love of this 40-year-old publisher but he drops her for her older sister.

Nea

1976

Gustave Moreau poster
NR

A brilliant analysis of 19th century French Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau, known for his fantastical and mythological subjects, and who remains to these days an influential figure in the birth of modern art.

Gustave Moreau

1962

Abel Gance, Yesterday and Tomorrow poster
6.0

The life and work of Abel Gance as told by himself. Includes extracts from many of his films and considers his contribution to the cinema.

Abel Gance, Yesterday and Tomorrow

1963

Velvet Paws poster
8.0

Bernadette Lafont and Michel Bouquet reteam with Kaplan as, respectively, a clairvoyant and a criminologist drawn into the orbit of widow Caroline Sihol; when the latter’s late husband Pierre Arditi turns out to yet have surprises up his sleeve for all of them, Kaplan hones in on the women’s by-necessity connection. The director foregoes her own cameo in favor of ones for colleagues Jean Chapot and Claude Makovski, both as nurses.

Velvet Paws

1987

Velvet Paws poster
8.0

Bernadette Lafont and Michel Bouquet reteam with Kaplan as, respectively, a clairvoyant and a criminologist drawn into the orbit of widow Caroline Sihol; when the latter’s late husband Pierre Arditi turns out to yet have surprises up his sleeve for all of them, Kaplan hones in on the women’s by-necessity connection. The director foregoes her own cameo in favor of ones for colleagues Jean Chapot and Claude Makovski, both as nurses.

Velvet Paws

1987

Abel Gance et son Napoléon poster
5.5

This documentary focuses on the making of the 235-minute, silent epic Napoleon, the masterpiece of French director/writer/actor Abel Gance. Napoleon showcased Gance's talents with the camera, his use of multiple-images (like a split screen), and his handling of crowded action scenes -- all brought forward in this documentary by his later assistant, Nelly Kaplan. While Gance was shooting Napoleon in 1925-26, he and his crew were also being filmed for a documentary titled Autour de Napoleon. The only extant reels from that documentary are included in this film, as well as views of Gance's unique "triptychs" -- three different scenes lined up side-by-side across a super-wide screen to convey the effect of a panorama, or of three separate interludes. Nelly Kaplan put together this documentary using old footage, such as Gance filming the famous snowball fight at the Brienne military school and still photographs and excerpts from Gance's production diaries.

Abel Gance et son Napoléon

1984

The Cocottes poster
5.2

A small village lies peacefully nestled in the hills beneath the Provence sun... until the arrival of an odd group of vacationers. Who are these gorgeous young women from the big city strolling on the village square under the watchful eye of a chaperone as beautiful as she is authoritarian? Scandal arises when it’s learned these dreamy creatures are none other than the employees of a Marseille brothel come to enjoy the good clean air of the country. All hell breaks loose as the villagers take a stand for or against the presence of these "ladies of pleasure". The mayor is called on to relay women of the moral rules of the region to the women. But the fact remains, they can’t be forced to leave: while they have no intention of plying their trade, no law exists to bring their country retreat to a premature end. Different mentalities are revealed, passions unbridled, love kindled... and doesn’t love always solve everything in the end?

The Cocottes

1991

No artwork available
NR

Documentary on erotic drawings by the painter André Masson.

À la source, la femme aimée

1965

No artwork available
9.0

Short film by Nelly Kaplan about the life and works of Rodolphe Bresdin

Rodolphe Bresdin

1962

Les Années 25 poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Les Années 25

1966

I Accuse! [Magirama] poster
NR

Magirama version, which is one of the four segments of the Magirama program, designed to illustrate the expressive possibilities of director Abel Gance's creation, Polyvision and Sonore Perspective, which used three screens to present a drama of simultaneous images. This program was shown the first time in 1956 in the Cinema theater "Studio 28" in Paris. After serving in the trenches of World War I, Jean Diaz recoils with such horror that he renounces love and personal pleasure to immerse himself in scientific research, seeking a machine to prevent war. He thinks he has succeeded, but the government subverts his discovery, and Europe slides with seeming inevitability toward World War II. In desperation, Diaz summons the ghosts of the war dead from the graves and fields of France to give silent, accusing protest.

I Accuse! [Magirama]

1956

The Picasso Look poster
7.0

On the 1967 huge Picasso exhibition in Paris, celebrating the 85 anniversary of the painter.

The Picasso Look

1967

Magirama poster
7.0

A portmanteau work in four segments,designed to illustrate the expressive possibilities of director Abel Gance,s creation, Polyvision, which preceded the American invention of Cinerama, and used three screens to present a drama of simultaneous images.

Magirama

1958

No artwork available
NR

A short film by Nelly Kaplan on Victor Hugo's drawings.

Dessins et merveilles

1966