François Truffaut directs ‘Jules&Jim’ in1961. Portrait of a film: born from the enthusiastic discovery of an autobiographical novel written by Henri-Pierre Roché and love at first sight for the actress Jeanne Moreau, without whom the film would never…

Jean-Luc Godard directs “Contempt” in 1963. Portrait of a film: Brigitte Bardot, who is at the time one of cinema’s global icons, shares the lead in the film with Fritz Lang who plays himself, a creator of movies. The film blends two ruptures: that…

Marcel Carné’s ‘Children of Paradise’ is released in 1945. Portrait of a film: filmed during the Occupation, Marcel Carné draws out the filming so that it would be the first movie projected at the moment of Liberation. At its release, ‘Children of…

Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Notorious’ is released in 1946. Portrait of a film: after the fall of the Third Reich, the U.S. Secret Service, in order to prevent terrorist attacks, infiltrates the web of Nazi expatriates in South America. Hitchcock encrusts a…

Gérard Oury directs ‘The Mad Adventures of ‘Rabbi’ Jacob’ in 1973. Portrait of a film: Louis de Funès, in his usual role - an authoritarian who terrorizes those around him - a role enhanced by racism and anti-semitism, is forced to conspire with an…

Fellini directs La Dolce Vita in 1959. Portrait of a film: in 1950s Rome, Marcello Mastroianni, a celebrity journalist, wanders from party to party, night after night, and above all, from woman to woman. The film is a spectacular portrait of a rich…

Georges Lautner directs «Crooks in Clover» in 1963. Portrait of a film: To the framework of a classic suspense film and gang upheaval following the death of its kingpin, Georges Lautner, Albert Simonin and Michel Audiard add an intergenerational…

Merian C. Coopers’s ‘King Kong’ is released in 1933. Portrait of a film: a cult film in the history of movies.The impossible love story between an Indoniesan gorilla, an oversized brute straight from the dawn of time, with a sexy, out of work New…

Nagisa Oshima directed «In the Realm of the Senses» in 1976. Portrait of a film: a sexually explicit film about absolute love. Considered to be pornographic by its director, it was regarded as an ‘art’ film in many countries. It was filmed in Japan…

Claude Sautet shot Vincent, François, Paul and the others in 1974. Portrait of a film: professional bankruptcy, marital break-up, betrayal of youth ideals, writer’s block: each in their own way, three inseparable fifty somethings (a small company…