Catherine Breillat

Directing

Catherine Breillat

Born

1948-07-13 (78)

Place of birth

Bressuire, Deux-Sèvres, Poitou-Charentes, France

Known for

Directing

Credits

67 titles

Catherine Breillat (born 13 July 1948 in Bressuire, Deux-Sèvres) is a French filmmaker, novelist and Professor of Auteur Cinema at the European Graduate School.

Known for

Film credits

2020s · 3 titles

2010s · 6 titles

Venice 70: Future Reloaded poster
5.0

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

2013

30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing poster
5.3

Over 30 filmmakers and friends of Strand Releasing have come together to honor the company’s indelible contribution to independent cinema over the past thirty years. The participating filmmakers have each created a short film for the project, all shot on iPhones.

30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing

2019

Abuse of Weakness poster
5.3

A stroke-afflicted filmmaker is manipulated by a notorious con man.

Abuse of Weakness

2013

Images of Women of the Social Corset poster
NR

A man asks himself about the image of women who are offered for his gaze. A documentary about the image of women in fashion, film, and life.

Images of Women of the Social Corset

2011

No artwork available
NR

Luc Moullet’s surprisingly tender look at Catherine Breillat, whose powerful explorations of female sexuality continue to divide audiences while they also gain admirers. Extraordinarily articulate, Breillat offers her own thoughts on the reactions to her films.

Catherine Breillat: The First Time

2013

Les réalisatrices contemporaines:  l'état des choses poster
NR

Right at the heart of the debates on the discrimination of women in the film industry, this documentary raises questions, while offering a voice to women and their cinema. Catherine Breillat, Claire Denis, Mira Nair, Margarethe Von Trotta, Ulrike Ottinger, Micheline Lanctot, Rakshnan Bani-Etemad, María Novaro but also the names of the less visible directors of the general public. Joining the filmmakers are the voices and comments of producers, film specialists and archivists through whom our images are meticulously preserved.

Les réalisatrices contemporaines: l'état des choses

2016

2000s · 9 titles

Anatomy of Hell poster
4.8

A woman employs a gay man to spend four nights at her house to watch her when she's "unwatchable".

Anatomy of Hell

2004

French Beauty poster
10.0

A story about the riddle of femininity in French cinema.

French Beauty

2005

Indie Sex: Teens poster
3.7

Underage sexual activity is one of the most taboo subjects on screen. The film traces the history and representation of adolescent love and sexual behavior from Splendor on the Grass to Thirteen. It examines both the sensational teen films of the 1980s and more modern youth cinema as mediums through which teen movies play a central role in adolescent sex education.

Indie Sex: Teens

2008

The Housekeeper poster
5.6

After his wife leaves him for another man, Jacques hires a housekeeper, Laura, to keep his Paris apartment in order. As he starts increasing her hours and spending more time with her on her days off, Jacques is torn between the pleasure of Laura's company, and the headache that such an intrusion brings to his new domain of singlehood.

The Housekeeper

2002

Mutantes: Punk Porn Feminism poster
4.8

Mutantes sheds light on a feminism that was little talked about in France. This documentary comprises of a series of interviews conducted in the USA, Paris and Barcelona, and documents from the archives about the political action of sex workers, queer activists and post-pornographic performances.

Mutantes: Punk Porn Feminism

2009

Filming Desire: A Journey Through Women’s Cinema poster
8.0

The film consists largely of a series of interviews with female filmmakers from several different countries and filmmaking eras. Some, such as Agnès Varda and Catherine Breillat (both from France), have been making films for decades in a conscious effort to provide an alternative to the male filmmaking model; others, such as Moufida Tlatli (Tunisia) and Carine Adler (England), are relative newcomers to directing, and their approaches seem more personal and less political. The film as a whole manages to cover some important topics in the feminist debate about film -- how does one construct a female gaze, how can one film nude bodies without objectifying the actors (of either sex), what constitutes a strong female role -- while also making it clear that “women’s film” comprises as many different approaches to filmmaking as there are female filmmakers.

Filming Desire: A Journey Through Women’s Cinema

2000

Great Directors poster
6.1

Features conversations with ten of the world's greatest living directors: Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Agnes Varda, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes, Catherine Breillat, Richard Linklater and John Sayles. The film documents Ismailos' voyage of discovering the creative personalities behind the camera.

Great Directors

2009

No artwork available
7.0

A short documentary exploring the ongoing relevance and power of 'Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma'.

Salò: Fade to Black

2001

Children of Salò poster
5.0

No synopsis available yet.

Children of Salò

2002

1970s · 4 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

Last Summer poster
6.1

One summer, a French teenager who has been living with his mother in the city moves in with his estranged father’s family in the countryside, where he clashes with his stepmother.

Last Summer

2023

Last Summer poster
6.1

One summer, a French teenager who has been living with his mother in the city moves in with his estranged father’s family in the countryside, where he clashes with his stepmother.

Last Summer

2023

A Real Young Girl poster
5.3

Reluctantly, a sulky adolescent returns to her parents' house for yet another boring summer vacation, dabbling in desire and the art of desirability, eventually mixing reality with vision, caged fantasies with the fierce female sexuality.

A Real Young Girl

1999

A Real Young Girl poster
5.3

Reluctantly, a sulky adolescent returns to her parents' house for yet another boring summer vacation, dabbling in desire and the art of desirability, eventually mixing reality with vision, caged fantasies with the fierce female sexuality.

A Real Young Girl

1999

Bilitis poster
5.4

A coming of age story centering on the exploits of a teenage girl during summer vacation.

Bilitis

1977

Fat Girl poster
6.1

Anaïs is twelve and bears the weight of the world on her shoulders. She watches her older sister, Elena, whom she both loves and hates. Elena is fifteen and devilishly beautiful. Neither more futile, nor more stupid than her younger sister, she cannot understand that she is merely an object of desire. And, as such, she can only be taken. Or had. Indeed, this is the subject: a girl's loss of virginity. And, that summer, it opens a door to tragedy.

Fat Girl

2001

Fat Girl poster
6.1

Anaïs is twelve and bears the weight of the world on her shoulders. She watches her older sister, Elena, whom she both loves and hates. Elena is fifteen and devilishly beautiful. Neither more futile, nor more stupid than her younger sister, she cannot understand that she is merely an object of desire. And, as such, she can only be taken. Or had. Indeed, this is the subject: a girl's loss of virginity. And, that summer, it opens a door to tragedy.

Fat Girl

2001

Anatomy of Hell poster
4.8

A woman employs a gay man to spend four nights at her house to watch her when she's "unwatchable".

Anatomy of Hell

2004

Anatomy of Hell poster
4.8

A woman employs a gay man to spend four nights at her house to watch her when she's "unwatchable".

Anatomy of Hell

2004

Venice 70: Future Reloaded poster
5.0

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

2013

36 Fillette poster
5.0

A 14-year-old pursues romance with a man while vacationing with her family in Switzerland.

36 Fillette

1988

36 Fillette poster
5.0

A 14-year-old pursues romance with a man while vacationing with her family in Switzerland.

36 Fillette

1988

Romance poster
5.5

Frustrated by the lack of intimacy in her relationship, a young schoolteacher goes through a series of intimidating and often violent sexual partners.

Romance

1999

Romance poster
5.5

Frustrated by the lack of intimacy in her relationship, a young schoolteacher goes through a series of intimidating and often violent sexual partners.

Romance

1999

The Last Mistress poster
5.8

Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy.

The Last Mistress

2007

The Last Mistress poster
5.8

Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy.

The Last Mistress

2007

Zanzibar poster
5.1

In this "inside look" at French filmmaking, Marechal - who is a has-been director - a producer, Vito Catene and Camile Dor, a big-name actress, have agreed to make a film about drugs, but don't have a story, financing, or any of the other elements needed to make it. This doesn't stop them; they cobble together the financing and begin shooting anyway. The producer is very fond of the leading actress, and when she gets hooked on drugs for real in the course of shooting what he feels to be a farcical imitation of a film, he gives up his shares in the film and heads off for the back of beyond (Zanzibar) to lick his wounds. To add insult to injury, the film winds up being a critical and commercial success.

Zanzibar

1989

Nocturnal Uproar poster
5.0

A filmmaker engages in a routine series of sexual encounters to pass the time while editing her latest film. When one man refuses to play by her rules, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him.

Nocturnal Uproar

1979

Nocturnal Uproar poster
5.0

A filmmaker engages in a routine series of sexual encounters to pass the time while editing her latest film. When one man refuses to play by her rules, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him.

Nocturnal Uproar

1979

The Skin poster
6.4

Based on the memoirs of author Curzio Malaparte, diplomatic liaison between the Allied and Italian forces after the defeat of the Nazis in Italy, The Skin follows the collapse of Italian society under the US occupation and the desperate measures required for survival.

The Skin

1981

Sex Is Comedy poster
5.8

A director struggles with a difficult sex scene between a young actor and actress who can't stand one another. Aided by her loyal assistant, she is hell-bent on getting the scene right without compromise.

Sex Is Comedy

2002

Sex Is Comedy poster
5.8

A director struggles with a difficult sex scene between a young actor and actress who can't stand one another. Aided by her loyal assistant, she is hell-bent on getting the scene right without compromise.

Sex Is Comedy

2002

Brief Crossing poster
6.0

A young French man and an older English woman spend one night together on a ship.

Brief Crossing

2001

Brief Crossing poster
6.0

A young French man and an older English woman spend one night together on a ship.

Brief Crossing

2001

30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing poster
5.3

Over 30 filmmakers and friends of Strand Releasing have come together to honor the company’s indelible contribution to independent cinema over the past thirty years. The participating filmmakers have each created a short film for the project, all shot on iPhones.

30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing

2019

Dirty Like an Angel poster
4.9

Georges Deblache, a despondent middle-aged cop, falls for his partner's wife.

Dirty Like an Angel

1991

Dirty Like an Angel poster
4.9

Georges Deblache, a despondent middle-aged cop, falls for his partner's wife.

Dirty Like an Angel

1991

Perfect Love poster
5.3

In Dunkirk, a man and a woman meet and fall in love, then hate each other.

Perfect Love

1996

Perfect Love poster
5.3

In Dunkirk, a man and a woman meet and fall in love, then hate each other.

Perfect Love

1996

The Eyes, the Mouth poster
5.5

A rich Italian's shocking suicide means different things to his twin brother, mother and pregnant lover.

The Eyes, the Mouth

1982

Milan noir poster
9.0

The story of a woman whose past comes back to haunt her after a former lover re-enters her life.

Milan noir

1987

Bluebeard poster
5.6

Anne reads her younger sister, Marie-Catherine, the story of Bluebeard. In 17th-century France, another set of sisters — also named Anne and Marie-Catherine — are left impoverished by their father's death. Marie-Catherine dreams of marrying into money, and soon falls for wealthy divorcé Bluebeard. Grateful for the chance at a life of comfort, Marie-Catherine marries Bluebeard — in spite of rumors that he has made a hobby of murdering his wives.

Bluebeard

2010

Bluebeard poster
5.6

Anne reads her younger sister, Marie-Catherine, the story of Bluebeard. In 17th-century France, another set of sisters — also named Anne and Marie-Catherine — are left impoverished by their father's death. Marie-Catherine dreams of marrying into money, and soon falls for wealthy divorcé Bluebeard. Grateful for the chance at a life of comfort, Marie-Catherine marries Bluebeard — in spite of rumors that he has made a hobby of murdering his wives.

Bluebeard

2010

Police poster
6.0

Mangin, a police inspector in Paris, leans hard on informants to get evidence on three Tunisian brothers who traffic in drugs. He arrests one, Simon, and his girl-friend Noria. Simon's brothers go to their lawyer. He springs Noria, who promptly steals 2 million francs that belong to the Tunisians. They suspect her of the theft; her life as well as the lawyer's is in danger. Meanwhile, Noria is playing with both the lawyer and Mangin's affections. Mangin is mercurial anyway: intimidating and bloodying suspects, falling for a police commission trainee before flipping for Noria, wearing his emotions on his sleeve. Can he save the lawyer and Noria, and can he convince her to love?

Police

1985

Abuse of Weakness poster
5.3

A stroke-afflicted filmmaker is manipulated by a notorious con man.

Abuse of Weakness

2013

Abuse of Weakness poster
5.3

A stroke-afflicted filmmaker is manipulated by a notorious con man.

Abuse of Weakness

2013

The Satin Spider poster
2.8

The setting is Les Fauvettes School for Girls just after WWI, where sternly Teutonic headmistress Ingrid Caven vies with Catherine Jourdan, a morphine addicted, fabric fetishist gym teacher, for the sexual favours of liquid eyed nymphet Scyluna. Meanwhile the chaplain conducts a nude exorcism.

The Satin Spider

1986

Catherine & Co. poster
3.2

Catherine, a young British prostitute living in Paris, decides to start her own "company" after learning the basics of big businesscom from her clients. She encounters both interest and setbacks in her search for investors.

Catherine & Co.

1975

To Mathieu poster
6.0

Matthieu and Eric are two brothers who work at the same factory as their father in Normandy. When his father is dismissed for smoking on the factory floor, Matthieu is incensed and tries to have him reinstated, in vain. His brother has just got married and, with a child and mortgage on the way, is reluctant to stir up trouble...

To Mathieu

2001

The Sleeping Beauty poster
4.5

A young princess is the subject of a tug-of-war among witches, as each struggles to find the suitable antidote to a death sentence inculcated by an evil sister.

The Sleeping Beauty

2010