FRENCH RIVIERA

On the border of Nouvelle Vague and neorealism, with a war out of sight and the anarchic ecstasy of youth as a showcase, Jacques Rozier's film takes us on a journey to Corsica and claims its place as an overlooked masterpiece of the time. — Michel is a young man who is going to do his military service in two months during the war in Algeria. Juliette and Liliane are inseparable best friends and aspiring actresses, hanging out outside the TV studio. Michel invites them to watch, flirts with both of them, and starts dating them – separately. When Michel goes on holiday to Corsica, just before he is drafted, the girls follow him.

In the casino world of Nice, Jacques Demy sets the action of one of his most realistic, dark and emotionally penetrating works. With Jeanne Moreau in one of her greatest roles and an enchanting score by the legendary Michel Legrand. — Jean is a young bank employee who is pushed into gambling by his colleague, Caron. He gives up everything and devotes himself to the game, until in the casinos he meets and falls in love with Jackie, a divorced mother who rarely visits her child. She warns him that her passion for gambling can only get worse.

Truffaut's last film pays tribute to the cinema of Alfred Hitchcock, which the French director adored. Pairing it with the conventions of film noir, he produces a delightfully cinephile union. — Based on Charles Williams' "The Long Saturday Night", the film takes place over a few days in a small town in southern France. The manager of a real estate agency is a suspect for the double murder of his wife and her lover. Faced with evidence against him as well as the charge of a third murder, the man escapes. Meanwhile, his secretary, conducting her own research to uncover the truth, gets entangled in difficult situations. — Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film | BAFTA Awards | 1984

The first part of Marcel Pagnol's iconic "Marseille Trilogy" is adapted by the legendary producer Alexander Korda ("The Third Man"), taking the audience of the time on a formidable journey with an emotional drama that carries you away, and the weight of personal choice. — Marius has known and adored the beautiful fishmonger Fanny since they were children, but he is torn between his love for her and his love for the sea. Fani, meanwhile, is courted by the older, kind shopkeeper Panisse, who offers wealth and stability. Marius and Fanny are torn between freedom and responsibility, and each decision they make leads to more disappointment.

Varda insisted she had only seen a handful of films before making her first movie, but both the film critics and her future peers were stunned when they watched one of the most mature and sophisticated debuts in French film history. — A man arrives at a train station to meet his wife. After 4 years of marriage, the couple has problems, but they decide they belong together. When they return to Paris, she is armed with a better understanding of her husband after having visited the area where he grew up. It’s a place of poor and proud people. Fishermen gather shellfish from a bacteria-laden lagoon. A toddler dies from an unidentified disease. A young man is allowed to flirt with a neighbor's daughter after winning a tournament.