Nelly Kaplan

In 1930, Honorin, the mayor of a small village, receives a visit from a young girl claiming to be his child.

Polly West, a very rich American star, has bought the castle of Sainte Apolline, a small village in Provence. As soon as she arrives, the dynamic actress causes trouble among the inhabitants. After having received her in confession, the priest seems to be taken by madness. To add to the turmoil, the country warden and the grocer enter her service. Honorin, the mayor, tries to cope and maintain order. While the people of the village keep asking questions, Polly flies to the rescue of the beautiful Italian girl Clara, who has been raped by the landlord Léonce. Soon, Honotin discovers that Polly is buying up the village's land using a few nominees. He then understands that this woman is not a stranger and that, a few years ago, the villagers chased her away because she was a mother, and these same villagers caused the death of her parents. Polly has returned to seek revenge.

Guillaume de Burlador is a private tutor who hits a low point sufficiently severe for him to contemplate a somewhat theatrical suicide. Instead he is taken off by flying boat to a mad French colonial possession bedecked by mad servants and crazy decor. Three educated and rather gorgeous women live there, and they hire him to tutor a young teenager, but more with plans to seduce him in mind.

Guillaume de Burlador is a private tutor who hits a low point sufficiently severe for him to contemplate a somewhat theatrical suicide. Instead he is taken off by flying boat to a mad French colonial possession bedecked by mad servants and crazy decor. Three educated and rather gorgeous women live there, and they hire him to tutor a young teenager, but more with plans to seduce him in mind.

A small village lies peacefully nestled in the hills beneath the Provence sun... until the arrival of an odd group of vacationers. Who are these gorgeous young women from the big city strolling on the village square under the watchful eye of a chaperone as beautiful as she is authoritarian? Scandal arises when it’s learned these dreamy creatures are none other than the employees of a Marseille brothel come to enjoy the good clean air of the country. All hell breaks loose as the villagers take a stand for or against the presence of these "ladies of pleasure". The mayor is called on to relay women of the moral rules of the region to the women. But the fact remains, they can’t be forced to leave: while they have no intention of plying their trade, no law exists to bring their country retreat to a premature end. Different mentalities are revealed, passions unbridled, love kindled... and doesn’t love always solve everything in the end?

This documentary focuses on the making of the 235-minute, silent epic Napoleon, the masterpiece of French director/writer/actor Abel Gance. Napoleon showcased Gance's talents with the camera, his use of multiple-images (like a split screen), and his handling of crowded action scenes -- all brought forward in this documentary by his later assistant, Nelly Kaplan. While Gance was shooting Napoleon in 1925-26, he and his crew were also being filmed for a documentary titled Autour de Napoleon. The only extant reels from that documentary are included in this film, as well as views of Gance's unique "triptychs" -- three different scenes lined up side-by-side across a super-wide screen to convey the effect of a panorama, or of three separate interludes. Nelly Kaplan put together this documentary using old footage, such as Gance filming the famous snowball fight at the Brienne military school and still photographs and excerpts from Gance's production diaries.

Charles and Lucie, an old and poor couple, inherits a luxurious house in the South of France.

Charles and Lucie, an old and poor couple, inherits a luxurious house in the South of France.

Charles and Lucie, an old and poor couple, inherits a luxurious house in the South of France.

In Genève, bookseller and publisher Axel Thorpe catches willful, rich 16-year old Sibylle Ashby shoplifting. She brags about her writing, so he challenges her to produce a book. She writes an erotic novel that Thorpe publishes anonymously, and it becomes a best seller. She also tries to capture the love of this 40-year old publisher. When he drops her for her older sister, should she seek revenge or recapture? In subplots, she gets along badly with her sister and her father, and she encourages her mother's affair with dad's sister. Axel has problems too besides the determined Sibylle: he must come to terms with the drowning death of his mother years ago.

In Genève, bookseller and publisher Axel Thorpe catches willful, rich 16-year old Sibylle Ashby shoplifting. She brags about her writing, so he challenges her to produce a book. She writes an erotic novel that Thorpe publishes anonymously, and it becomes a best seller. She also tries to capture the love of this 40-year old publisher. When he drops her for her older sister, should she seek revenge or recapture? In subplots, she gets along badly with her sister and her father, and she encourages her mother's affair with dad's sister. Axel has problems too besides the determined Sibylle: he must come to terms with the drowning death of his mother years ago.

Richard is a private detective. He makes a good money from marital infidelity: the deceived husband and wife generously paid him for proof of their infidelity "halves"...

In this whimsical French comedy, Cookie is a tough, sweet little rich girl, and is rather smart, too. She's smart enough and charming enough to outwit her kidnappers by setting one against the other until they have all killed each other or died trying to prove thier worth to her.

In this whimsical French comedy, Cookie is a tough, sweet little rich girl, and is rather smart, too. She's smart enough and charming enough to outwit her kidnappers by setting one against the other until they have all killed each other or died trying to prove thier worth to her.

In this whimsical French comedy, Cookie is a tough, sweet little rich girl, and is rather smart, too. She's smart enough and charming enough to outwit her kidnappers by setting one against the other until they have all killed each other or died trying to prove thier worth to her.

In this whimsical French comedy, Cookie is a tough, sweet little rich girl, and is rather smart, too. She's smart enough and charming enough to outwit her kidnappers by setting one against the other until they have all killed each other or died trying to prove thier worth to her.

In this whimsical French comedy, Cookie is a tough, sweet little rich girl, and is rather smart, too. She's smart enough and charming enough to outwit her kidnappers by setting one against the other until they have all killed each other or died trying to prove thier worth to her.

Uma tragédia muda a vida de Marie, que começa a se prostituir para conseguir se sustentar. Sua decisão abala a pequena e pacata aldeia onde vive.

Uma tragédia muda a vida de Marie, que começa a se prostituir para conseguir se sustentar. Sua decisão abala a pequena e pacata aldeia onde vive.

Uma tragédia muda a vida de Marie, que começa a se prostituir para conseguir se sustentar. Sua decisão abala a pequena e pacata aldeia onde vive.

Uma tragédia muda a vida de Marie, que começa a se prostituir para conseguir se sustentar. Sua decisão abala a pequena e pacata aldeia onde vive.

On the 1967 huge Picasso exhibition in Paris, celebrating the 85 anniversary of the painter.

A short film by Nelly Kaplan on Victor Hugo's drawings.

Documentary on erotic drawings by the painter André Masson.

A story of "La Pasta", a renowned prima donna, and her extraordinary rival.

The life and work of Abel Gance as told by himself. Includes extracts from many of his films and considers his contribution to the cinema.

The life and work of Abel Gance as told by himself. Includes extracts from many of his films and considers his contribution to the cinema.

The life and work of Abel Gance as told by himself. Includes extracts from many of his films and considers his contribution to the cinema.

A brilliant analysis of 19th century French Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau, known for his fantastical and mythological subjects, and who remains to these days an influential figure in the birth of modern art.

Short film by Nelly Kaplan about the life and works of Rodolphe Bresdin

Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself emperor and fights the English, Austrians and Russians in 1802.

A portmanteau work in four segments,designed to illustrate the expressive possibilities of director Abel Gance,s creation, Polyvision, which preceded the American invention of Cinerama, and used three screens to present a drama of simultaneous images.

France, the beginning of the XIV century. Every night, Queen Margaret of Burgundy and her two sisters arrange orgies, to which beautiful nobles are invited. The young men were brought blindfolded, and after a night of love they were killed and their corpses thrown into the river, because the queen was afraid that her husband would learn about her adventures. One of her lovers managed to escape death. He knows the secrets of the queen, knows that she once gave birth to a son from him, claims that he has evidence that Margarita wanted to kill her father and blackmails her.