Mila Parély

More than fifty years after its making, we return to the set of Jean Cocteau's 1946 film "La Belle et la Bete" (Beauty and the Beast). Included are interviews with the the lead actors, the cinematographer, along with excerpts read from the director's journal.

Adrien does not see eye to eye with his patrician father about much. It is 1912, and the old man still believes in the old rules which strait-jacket "men of class." He believes that the elite have the right to conquer where they can, that they should refrain from publicizing their improprieties, and he is rabidly pro-military. Adrian, kicked out of his military school for his own improprieties (and hiding that from his father), is naturally drawn to Vicky a beautiful divorced woman and friend of the family who is staying at their mansion. The family tutor, a man of ordinary background (with some ideas which seem radical in this household) is similarly smitten. On the basis of their shared attraction, the two men form a friendship. Meanwhile, the object of their affection finds it diverting to toy with them.

Discharged by his employer, a private eye stays on a jewel theft case after a model with information for him is murdered.

Three stories about the pleasure. The first one is about a man hiding his age behind a mask to keep going to balls and fancying women - pleasure and youth. Then comes the long tale of Mme Tellier taking her girls (whores) to the country for attending her niece's communion - pleasure and purity. And lastly, Jean the painter falling in love with his model - pleasure and death.

The king orders viscount Florestan to take mademoiselle de Solanges for his wife. But the viscount doesn't know the young lady at all. The latter decides to seduce her future husband by introducing herself to him with the name Veronique...

During the Second World War, Georges Masse undergoes a dangerous mission by taking secret documents from Tangiers to London.

Good and bad characters are stuck in a ski chalet near buried Nazi gold in the Alps.

Philippe and Sylvie have to do with Alvarez, a dangerous gang leader. They break up with him and commit robbery and murder. Sylvie suggests that Philippe take refuge in his quiet family. His younger sister Antoinette attracts and charms Philippe and excites the jealousy of Sylvie who informs Alvarez. The police get involved and Philippe is killed during a merciless fight.

Paris, 1833. The famous composer Franz Liszt is friends with Chopin who introduces him to Countess Marie d'Agout. Very quickly Liszt falls in love and she, who is already married and has two children, abandons honor and reputation to follow him. They leave to live a great passion in Italy. Then, Franz Liszt gives concerts, the triumph awaits him everywhere. Little by little the fame of the composer will move the two lovers away.

This is the story of two brothers: the good one, the virtuous gent, an acclaimed singer, and the bad one who leads a wild life.

The story of a gentle-hearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a key, telling her that if she doesn't return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief. She is unable to return the key on time, but it is revealed that the Beast is the genuinely handsome one. A simple tale of tragic love that turns into a surreal vision of death, desire, and beauty.

The agency À Votre Service has the reputation of meeting all needs. This is what Stanislas observes when his uncle replaces his mistress with a fiancée provided by the agency.

An aspiring singer tries to break into films during the early talkie era. She is hired to dub the singing and speaking voice of a silent-movie favorite. Sworn to secrecy, the fill-in must stand by in silence as the star receives all the praises and plaudits.

An accomplished young man, Prince Stéphane is destined for a brilliant future but when he finds out that Marie, his beloved fiancée, has had an affair with the man he respects the most, Tsar Nicolas 1er in person, the shock is terrible. Unable to recover, he chooses religion and becomes a monk and a hermit. He becomes known as a healer and worshiped as a saint, although he himself is aware of his many weaknesses. The day he learns Marie is seriously ill Le père Serge formerly known as Prince Stéphane leaves sanctity behind and hits the road for Saint Petersburg.

In Flanders in the eighteenth century, Ramon de Ortila, a young lord who has been dispossessed of property has turned into a gentleman brigand. His main target is Monsieur de Saint-Brissac, the salt tax farmer. But Solange, his daughter, sets a trap and lures the young man to her father's manor. Little does she know that love is at the rendezvous.

In a lost village in Lapland, Gérard comes to the aid of his friend Anders, in conflict with his father, a rich owner of gold mines.

France, 1880. Francois Roquevillard is a respected lawyer in Chambery and the head of a family that prides itself on its impeccable morals. Francois's world rapidly begins to fall apart when his son Maurice elopes to Italy with Edith Frasne, the wife of an esteemed notary.

A well-off young woman decides to become a nun, joining a convent that rehabilitates female prisoners. Through their program, she meets a woman named Thérèse who refuses any help because she says she was innocent of the crime she was convicted for. After being released from prison, Thérèse murders the actual perpetrator of the crime and comes to seek sanctuary in the convent.

A young man from an aristocratic family tires of the country life and moves to Paris where he squanders his inheritance. Returning to his home with remorse, he reconciles with his father and becomes engaged to his true love.

It's a sailors' story; they often sail away and when they return, the first thing they do is searching girls in the harbor. One of them -Jean- is shy and he does not know how to go with women. One day, he meets Yvonne and falls in love with her. But, alas, she prefers his good friend René. Another suitor, Pierre, owns the "À la Belle frégate" a café where Yvonne works as a waitress. Madam(e )Juliette, pretends she helps Yvonne and tries to make her an "entraineuse"(hostess) for less-than -handsome guests. But the girl knows better and will choose one of her suitors.

A young mechanic is given a strange job: to convey the king of the gypsies' embalmed dead body on a very long route.

A renowned sculptor aged about fifty years, François Bressolles falls for the young Catherine Collet whom he convinces without difficulty to pose for him. Complications ensue when he starts to go blind.

Father Boquet, old and sad, hopes that François, his son, will be a fisherman like him. Alas, François follows his evil genius Simon to town and succumbs to the charms of the great Lisa. The wise village teacher sets out to find him when his father is ill, and brings François back in a violent storm. Love is on the way

In his prison cell, the composer Remi Bonvent composed an opera, The columns bed. The director of the prison, Porey Cave, succeeds made believe he is the author of this work. The death of the two protagonists will prevent the discovery of the truth.

The owner of the place of Chamonix covets the inn, run by the Michel's uncle, whose business goes bad. Michel decides to participate in a ski competition to help uncle.

Considering his wife as his property, a smuggler bullies the unfortunate woman and does not allow her to turn to another man.

Early in the war, a group of women decide to help the soldiers in the war front. They enlist the help of the wealthy Madame Marion.

French version of the Selma Lagerlof story, most famously filmed in 1921 by Victor Sjostrom, about a poor sinner who only realizes what misery he's wrought when he dies on New Year's Eve and is collected by Death in his carriage.

Harsh Parisian judge Gaetan (known as Monsieur Maximum), chafing in the idleness of retirement, leaves for a seaside holiday. But Gabriel the chauffeur has his mind on his girl, not the car; Gaetan and wife Nathalie are stranded in the country, where they find shelter in a low class bistro patronized by cheerful jail birds. Once the ice is broken, they have a wonderful time, but as the judge tries to trick his new friends into reforming, inevitable exposure approaches...

A weekend at a marquis’ country château lays bare some ugly truths about a group of haut bourgeois acquaintances.

Mireille, a Frenchwoman, marries a westernized Turkish diplomat and, thinking that she will live a dream life in an Arabian Nights setting, follows him back to his native country, only to discover that, in a staunchly traditional society, she will not be a free woman there any longer.

The history of one of France's most famous streets is retold, featuring multiple performances from Guitry himself.

A Russian emigrant sings in a Shanghai nightclub under the assumed name of Kay Murphy. All she dreams of is a peaceful life with her daughter Vera. But this is only a pipe dream as she has been forced by her former lover Ivan to work for a secret criminal organization, "The Black Dragon". Vera, who studies in a Hong Kong boarding-school, knows nothing about her mother's past. When Ivan, who is also Vera's father, resurfaces and blackmails Kay, the young woman is determined to fight back...

A wealthy banker who takes his accountant's name after multiple incidents is forced to pass off his girlfriend as his daughter. But the truth is coming out. The banker's wife then favors the marriage of the young girl, which creates a new intimacy in her household.

Jeanne supports supports his family on his modest salary. Her boss is arrested for fraud. Jeanne is forced, out of poverty, in the street.

Story of the Siberian monk Gregory Rasputin and the hold he exerted over the court of the last Russian czar, Nicholas.

While still behind bars, a crook manages several schemes including one that almost gets his penniless young lawyer into trouble.The crook's mistress, married to a rich man, then becomes attracted to the lawyer.

Slapstick inheritance comedy based on the confusion between twin brothers, both played by the great Raimu who also plays their father.

Slapstick inheritance comedy based on the confusion between twin brothers, both played by the great Raimu who also plays their father.

The young Paulette is placed by her tutor in a boarding school in Lausanne. It is at the neighboring dance hall, by running away for a short time, that she will find love.

In 1852, the young Austrian emperor Franz Joseph persuades his friend, Count Michel de Thalberg, to act as a go-between in his love affair with the Bavarian duchess Elisabeth. Not long after his arrival in Munch, Thalberg has an embarrassing encounter in a public garden with an attractive young woman. The innocent incident is misinterpreted by a passer-by who, recognising the woman as the youngest daughter of Ludwig Tomasini, a highly respected caterer, persuades her father that she should marry the man who flirted with her to avoid a scandal (FilmsdeFrance).

In 1721, at the end of his career as a bandit, Cartouche, touched by the grace of an honest young girl, and falling into the hands of justice under the charge of the father of his beloved, asks as a last resort, that the young girl may, before her execution, come and forgive her.

A young aristocrat whose ruined father decided to marry her spends one last night as a bachelor at the boarding school ball. But there, cheerful students strip her of her clothes and she finds refuge precisely with her future husband whom she did not know. Of course, the marriage that was so repugnant to them fills them with joy.