Michel Fessler

Writing

Michel Fessler

Born — Died

1955-03-19 — 2025-08-19

Place of birth

Lyon, France

Known for

Writing

Credits

28 titles

Known for

Bambi: A Tale of Life in the Woods poster
6.5

The life of Bambi, a male roe deer, from his birth through childhood, the loss of his mother, the finding of a mate, the lessons he learns from his father, and the experience he gains about the dangers posed by human hunters in the forest.

Bambi: A Tale of Life in the Woods

2024

Little Nicholas: Happy as Can Be poster
6.8

Somewhere between Montmartre and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Jean-Jacques Sempé and René Goscinny lean over a large white sheet of paper and bring to life a mischievous and endearing boy, Little Nicolas. From schoolyard games and fights to summer camp pranks and camaraderie, Nicolas lives a merry and enriching childhood – and brings friendship and newfound life to his creators, too.

Little Nicholas: Happy as Can Be

2022

Visions poster
5.8

An experienced airline pilot, Estelle leads a perfect life between long-haul flights with her loving, protective husband Guillaume. One day, by chance, in an airport corridor, she crosses paths with Ana, a photographer with whom she had a passionate affair twenty years earlier. Little does Estelle know that this reunion will send her into a nightmarish spiral, turning her life upside down and irrational.

Visions

2023

March of the Penguins poster
7.1

Every year, thousands of Antarctica's emperor penguins make an astonishing journey to breed their young. They walk, marching day and night in single file 70 miles into the darkest, driest and coldest continent on Earth. This amazing, true-life tale is touched with humour and alive with thrills. Breathtaking photography captures the transcendent beauty and staggering drama of devoted parent penguins who, in the fierce polar winter, take turns guarding their egg and trekking to the ocean in search of food. Predators hunt them, storms lash them. But the safety of their adorable chicks makes it all worthwhile. So follow the leader... to adventure!!

March of the Penguins

2005

The Lady in the Portrait poster
5.9

An empress commissions a painting of herself from a French outsider in hopes of stirring her husband's interest in this lavish period piece. The Lady in the Portrait is a period yarn evoking the unique rapport between a French missionary and the Manchurian Empress whose portrait he's ordered to paint.

The Lady in the Portrait

2017

Ridicule poster
6.9

To get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles.

Ridicule

1996

Behind the camera

Bambi: A Tale of Life in the Woods poster
6.5

The life of Bambi, a male roe deer, from his birth through childhood, the loss of his mother, the finding of a mate, the lessons he learns from his father, and the experience he gains about the dangers posed by human hunters in the forest.

Bambi: A Tale of Life in the Woods

2024

Bambi: A Tale of Life in the Woods poster
6.5

The life of Bambi, a male roe deer, from his birth through childhood, the loss of his mother, the finding of a mate, the lessons he learns from his father, and the experience he gains about the dangers posed by human hunters in the forest.

Bambi: A Tale of Life in the Woods

2024

Little Nicholas: Happy as Can Be poster
6.8

Somewhere between Montmartre and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Jean-Jacques Sempé and René Goscinny lean over a large white sheet of paper and bring to life a mischievous and endearing boy, Little Nicolas. From schoolyard games and fights to summer camp pranks and camaraderie, Nicolas lives a merry and enriching childhood – and brings friendship and newfound life to his creators, too.

Little Nicholas: Happy as Can Be

2022

Visions poster
5.8

An experienced airline pilot, Estelle leads a perfect life between long-haul flights with her loving, protective husband Guillaume. One day, by chance, in an airport corridor, she crosses paths with Ana, a photographer with whom she had a passionate affair twenty years earlier. Little does Estelle know that this reunion will send her into a nightmarish spiral, turning her life upside down and irrational.

Visions

2023

March of the Penguins poster
7.1

Every year, thousands of Antarctica's emperor penguins make an astonishing journey to breed their young. They walk, marching day and night in single file 70 miles into the darkest, driest and coldest continent on Earth. This amazing, true-life tale is touched with humour and alive with thrills. Breathtaking photography captures the transcendent beauty and staggering drama of devoted parent penguins who, in the fierce polar winter, take turns guarding their egg and trekking to the ocean in search of food. Predators hunt them, storms lash them. But the safety of their adorable chicks makes it all worthwhile. So follow the leader... to adventure!!

March of the Penguins

2005

The Lady in the Portrait poster
5.9

An empress commissions a painting of herself from a French outsider in hopes of stirring her husband's interest in this lavish period piece. The Lady in the Portrait is a period yarn evoking the unique rapport between a French missionary and the Manchurian Empress whose portrait he's ordered to paint.

The Lady in the Portrait

2017

Ridicule poster
6.9

To get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles.

Ridicule

1996

Hanuman poster
5.8

Hanuman is the most lovable baby monkey one can imagine. He meets Tom who comes to visit the temple in the Valley of Monkeys and tries to protect it from the robbers. A warm relationship develops between the two.

Hanuman

1998

Heart of an Oak poster
7.6

Once upon a time, there was a pedunculate oak (Quercus robur), born in 1810, 210 years old and a pillar in its kingdom. This spectacular adventure features an extraordinary cast: squirrels, barnacles, jays, ants, field mice... This vibrant, whirring, marvelous little world seals its destiny around the majestic tree that welcomes them, feeds them and protects them from its roots to its crown. A poetic ode to life, in which nature alone expresses itself.

Heart of an Oak

2022

African Safari poster
6.8

A documentary that leads the audience from Namibia to Kilimanjaro to explore the African wildlife.

African Safari

2013

Versailles: The Dream of a King poster
6.1

Docudrama about the life of Louis XIV nicknamed "the Sun King", the King of France who ran a glamorous court, expanded the borders of France, loved women and parties and built an incredible palace for himself - the Versailles.

Versailles: The Dream of a King

2008

The Sea Wall poster
5.3

The film centers on a young French widow and her two adolescent children as they attempt to carve out a meager life for themselves by farming rice fields alongside the ocean in French Indo-China in the 1930s. Their efforts are hampered each year by the presence of the sea, which invariably floods the fields with saltwater and wipes out the crops. In desperation, the mother realizes that their only hope lies in the construction of a sea wall to prevent continued flooding, but the mother must cut a swath through the local bureaucracy in an almost Sisyphean attempt to make this happen. Meanwhile, her obstinate daughter, Suzanne, draws the romantic obsessions of a well-to-do Chinese gentleman, Monsieur Jo. Though he could easily provide a way out, the possibility of a romantic relationship between Jo and Suzanne could just as easily fall prey to local racial prejudices that would damage or ruin the lives of both.

The Sea Wall

2009

The Year of Awakening poster
5.0

A sensitive, 14 year old orphan in a military school learns about life and love from his classmates and teachers.

The Year of Awakening

1991

A Jew Must Die poster
4.8

A film based on Jacques Chessex' novel of the same title; featuring André Wilms as Chessex and Bruno Ganz as Arthur Bloch, Swiss Jew killed by Swiss Nazis.

A Jew Must Die

2016

Land of the Bears poster
7.5

Set in the wilderness of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the land of legends and the kingdom of wild brown bears, we follow the daily adventures of five wild brown bears.

Land of the Bears

2014

The Way to Happiness poster
5.9

Saul escaped the coming Shoah as a child by being sent from Vienna to Brussels by a Kindertransport. Now in 1986, he is on the road to resilience and owner of a Delicatessen dedicated to the "Septième Art" - the movies. With Joakin, his protégé, a young Chilean director, they decide to write the story of Saul's childhood and make it into a film. But love comes knocking at his door and confronts him with his past as a hidden child...

The Way to Happiness

2022

Serko poster
5.9

In 1889, mounted on a small gray horse named Serko, Dimitri leaves his garrison on the Asian borders of the Russian Empire on the banks of the Amur River. After extraordinary adventures, they both arrive in St. Petersburg, at the court of the Tsar. Having covered more than 9000 kilometers in less than 200 days, this young rider has achieved the most fantastic equestrian feat of all time.

Serko

2006

Birth of Civilization poster
7.5

With the help of state of the art special effects, this National Geographic documentary attempts to recreate what civilization looked like during the first 8,000 years that human beings lived on Earth.

Birth of Civilization

2007

No artwork available
NR

In the heart of Greenland’s vast frozen wilderness, 12-year-old Pipaluk lives with her mother and brother in an isolated village. Her dream: to compete in the most prestigious dog sled race, a challenge reserved for the greatest mushers, all men. Mocked by her peers and ignored by her family, Pipaluk develops a friendship with an adorable husky puppy named Ashia, and finds an unexpected ally in Tulok, a solitary and enigmatic old hunter. Under Tulok’s guidance, she slowly opens to the wonders of nature, discovers the true reason for his support, and soon realises that their destinies are intertwined. Will Pipaluk find the strength to defy tradition and achieve the impossible?

Pipaluk

—

Louis XV, le Soleil noir poster
3.6

How Louis XV, a young king loved by his people, sensitive to the artistic and intellectual turmoil of his century (that of the Enlightenment), will end his reign in decay and hatred? Only fifteen years after his death, it's the Revolution.

Louis XV, le Soleil noir

2009

Charley & Mimmo poster
6.7

Accompanied by his extraordinary confidant Doudou, T'choupi discovers with wonder the small village of the seaside where he will live. The beautiful days of summer, the beach, freedom - Very quickly, the holidays are rich in encounters and adventures. He shares with Doudou all the events of his life, where joy and jealousy mingle; the family is growing, T'choupi now has a little sister, Fanny. But a mysterious shadow disturbs the happiness of the village children by stealing their favorite toys. With Pilou and Lalou, his new friends, T'choupi will conduct a thrilling investigation to unmask the culprit.

Charley & Mimmo

2004

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Tamara

—

Sidecar poster
3.3

The gloomy life of a high school censor is turned upside down the day he meets an old classmate.

Sidecar

1997

Quand tu descendras du ciel poster
8.0

A mayor wants to get rid of homeless people who blacken his Christmas.

Quand tu descendras du ciel

2003

My Heart Laid Bare poster
NR

Inspired to Boccaccio's Decameron, the story takes place in the Roman suburbs between the Port of Fiumicino and Ostia: it is about the end of love.

My Heart Laid Bare

2008

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

T'choupi à table

2009

No artwork available
5.3

When an American plane crashes in the Cambodian jungle, the pilot is taken captive by the Khmer Rouge. They instruct the kids of a village to keep an eye on the prisoner. While the younger kids gradually become friends with the stranger, the older boy called Pang has a different attitude. Since he grew up without parents, he accepted the Khmer rouge as his replacement parents and endears himself to them by betraying villagers. When Pang becomes responsible for watching the prisoner, things become worse for the pilot.

The Catch

2011

T'choupi et ses amis - Font du poney poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

T'choupi et ses amis - Font du poney

2011