Paul Cayatte

Movies

Question of Love
Editor
Architect Dumas dies from a bullet of his own gun in front of his house. The police suspect his young Swedish wife Catherine and her English lover Tom Hastings. After numerous interrogations, in which they entangle themselves in contradictions, they try to flee, but are soon both caught and brought to trial, he in England, she in France. Only when Catherine keeps on proclaiming her innocence, superintendent Corbier finally considers believing her.
The Teasers Go to Paris
Editor
7 American high school girls visit Paris.
Love School
Editor
Disguising himself as a geisha and introducing himself as Madame Mufiko, a certain Max Fox opens a school in Paris where he proposes to teach the Japanese art of love. He recruits a few students, boys and girls, to whom he teaches to imitate the positions represented on old prints. The young people set themselves to it with such ardor that soon the girls are pregnant. In addition, the school is put under police surveillance and the false Mufiko sees her true identity revealed.
I Am a Nymphomaniac
Producer
A young woman falls down a staircase, and suddenly becomes... a nymphomaniac.
Malpertuis
Sound Editor
Malpertuis is the name of an old, rambling mansion which is in reality a labyrinth where characters from Greek mythology are imprisoned by the bedridden Cassavius (Welles). He manages to keep them (as well as his nephew and niece) prisoners even after his death, through a binding testament. As Jan, the nephew, (Carrière) unravels the mystery, he discovers that he cannot escape the house because Malpertuis is far more significant than he was led to believe.
Borsalino
Editor
In 1930 Marseilles two small-time crooks join forces when they meet brawling over a woman. Starting with fixed horse races and fights, they start to find themselves doing jobs for the local gangster bosses. When they decide to go into the business for themselves, their easy-going approach to crime starts to change.
Her and She and Him
Production Manager
A stylish sensual sample of European erotica about an aspiring model in Paris who becomes a participant in a relationship with a lesbian.Her female lover becomes too possessive, the model takes a job with an homosexual painter.
The Swimming Pool
Editor
Set in a magnificent villa near a sun-drenched St. Tropez, lovers Jean-Paul and Marianne are spending a happy, lazy summer holiday. Their only concern is to gratify their mutual passion - until the day when Marianne invites her former lover and his beautiful teenage daughter to spend a few days with them. From the first moment, a certain uneasiness and tension begin to develop between the four, which soon escalates in a dangerous love-game.
Diabolically Yours
Editor
A wealthy amnesiac begins to suspect that his devoted wife is not really his wife and that he is not the man people keep telling him he is.
A Trap for Cinderella
Editor
Based on Sébastien Japrisot's novel, the story revolves around a young girl who suffers from amnesia after surviving a terrible fire.
The Uninhibited
Editor
Vincent is recovering from a nervous breakdown in a seaside village on the Costa Brava. He enters into an affair with nightclub owner Jenny, but their relationship changes when she falls for alcoholic author Pascal Regnier, who is struggling to resume his writing career. Vincent eventually returns home, leaving Jenny to stay on with Pascal and his young son Daniel.
A Mouse with the Men
Editor
Marcel and Francis are busy people. Marcel owns a café and spend all his nights running from meetings to meetings with members from the high society... at least, that's what he say to his barman! Francis leaves his home, loving wife and adorable daughter, frequently to attend meetings and demonstration with customers. His boss trusts him so much that his agenda is always full... at least, that's what he say to his wife! In fact, Marcel and Francis' incomes come from their night job: thieves! Here at least, they are professional. Troubles arise when, during one robbery, they encounter a young, high-pitched voice, candid girl who takes the decision to become their associate in crime... for the fun!
Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Françoise
Editor
The story of the couple from the very first meeting to break up told from a view of a woman, Francoise. The film shares the same plot with "Jean-Marc ou La vie conjugale", that tells the same story from another perspective.
Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Jean-Marc
Editor
The story of the couple from the very first meeting to break up told from a view of a man, Jean-Marc. The film shares the same plot with "Françoise ou La vie conjugale", that tells the same story from another perspective.
Symphony for a Massacre
Editor
A band of gangsters devise a plan to steal a game contested between two drug gangs of drug traffickers: the five fraudsters will face bigger problems than them.
La croix des vivants
Editor
Yan, who has just been acquitted of a crime he has not committed, returns to his Flemish village, where he meets hostility, particularly from Franz, the garage owner. Fortunately, Gus, his childhood friend refuses to follow the pack and talks his mother, the richest person in the area, into getting him a job. But Yan is soon drawn to Maria, the sultry girl Gus lives with.
The Burning Court
Editor
A group of people visit a weird old man who is a student of the black arts. The man lives in an ancient, cursed castle. Soon people in the group start being killed off.
Sweet Ecstasy
Editor
Olivier, a handsome but callow and moody young student, picks up an enthusiastic actress during a theatre rehearsal, and is introduced to her acquaintances -- a group of jaded rich kids who spend their time storming around the Riviera harassing passersby, throwing wild parties and following all the latest trends. When sexy Elke gives him the eye, he leaves the actress in the lurch and joins the gang for a decadent party aboard a yacht. However, Elke's wanton ways and Olivier's inexperience do not mesh, and in a snit, he accidentally sets the yacht afire. The gang wreaks its vengeance by luring him into a dangerous contest of bravura on a construction site.
The Old Guard
Editor
Le cercle vicieux
Editor
A young artist, an occasional gigolo, marries an older woman for her dough; however, he has not broken with his younger lover.
Œil pour œil
Editor
In North Africa, an anguished husband tests the character of the doctor he believes is responsible for his wife’s death.
Blood to the Head
Editor
François Cardinaud is one of the richest shipowners in the region. But this success arouses resentment and jealousy. When Marthe, his wife, leaves the home without warning, Cardinaud sees her life cracking little by little.
Black Dossier
Editor
The title of this French noir drama translates to The Black File. Jean-Marc Bory plays Jacques Arnaud, an idealistic young investigator who comes to work in a small French town. He is soon involved in a mysterious case incriminating a town notable. Arnaud devotes himself to the case but the upshot of this is rather surprising to all concerned, not to mention the audience. Like Cayatte's previous efforts, Le Dossier Noir is based on the proposition that the phrase "French justice" can at times be oxymoronic.
Before the Deluge
Editor
The title of this French "reality" drama, which translates to Before the Deluge, is a play on Louis XVI's famous prognostication, "Apres moi, le deluge." Set in 1950, the film concentrates on five Parisian adolescents. Certain that the next war will herald the apocalypse, the youngster make plans to run off to a desert island and set up a new society. This, however, will require money, which is why the boys decide to pull off a "necessary" robbery. Idealism collapses in the face of cold reality, as the five youths suffer from the consequences of their actions. Avant le Deluge was one of a group of films cowritten by director Andre Cayatte and Charles Spaak which endeavored to explore the touchy social issues of the day: others in the Cayatte-Spaak canon include the euthanasia-themed Justice est Faite and the capital-punishment tract Nous sommes tous des assassins.
Rhine Virgin
Editor
Reported missing in 1940, Jacques Ledru comes back to Strasbourg as Martin Schmidt. He tracks down his wife Genevieve, but she's remarried and has taken the head of his shipping company. She and her husband will do anything to get rid of Jacques and keep his company.
We Are All Murderers
Editor
Originally titled Nous Sommes Tout des Assassins, We Are All Murderers was directed by Andre Cayette, a former lawyer who detested France's execution system. Charles Spaak's screenplay makes no attempt to launder the four principal characters (Marcel Mouloudji, Raymond Pellegrin, Antoinine Balpetre, Julien Verdeir): never mind the motivations, these are all hardened murderers. Still, the film condemns the sadistic ritual through which these four men are brought to the guillotine. In France, the policy is to never tell the condemned man when the execution will occur--and then to show up without warning and drag the victim kicking and screaming to his doom, without any opportunity to make peace with himself or his Maker. By the end of this harrowing film, the audience feels as dehumanized as the four "protagonists." We Are All Murderers was roundly roasted by the French law enforcement establishment, but it won a special jury prize at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival.