French Cinema: A Critical Filmography (1940-1958)
List activity
930 views
• 6 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
100 titles
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsRaimuFernandelJosette DayA rural maiden's two suitors go off to war, leaving her pregnant.
- DirectorHenri DecoinStarsDanielle DarrieuxRosine LuguetGabrielle DorziatMicheline Chevassu is a naive young woman living in an orphanage. Through classified ads, she makes a date with an unknown man. She escapes from the orphanage to meet him, dreaming of her Prince Charming, but waiting for her is unattractive, middle-aged Nicolas Rougemont. He pretends not to be the author of the letters, who could not come.
- DirectorChristian-JaqueStarsHarry BaurRenée FaureMarie-Hélène DastéThe story concerns an old globe-maker who is mysteriously killed while going through the town portraying Pere Noel ("Father Christmas" aka Santa Claus).
- DirectorLouis DaquinStarsLouise CarlettiGilbert GilAndré BrunotA student from an elementary school accidentally breaks the glass roof of his school. His comrades decide to support it by working during the summer holidays in order to pay for reconstruction.
- DirectorHenri DecoinStarsRaimuJuliette FaberGabrielle FontanLoursat, a lawyer, lives with his daughter Nicole. Abandoned by his wife about 20 years ago, he has sunk into alcoholism. One day, the corpse of a stranger is discovered in the attic of his residence.
- DirectorRoland TualStarsFernand LedouxMichèle AlfaOdette JoyeuxOn the banks of a peaceful river,towers up a jail .The prison governor is making rough all over for everyone :the inmates,the wardens and even his family ;it's just a mask : this man is longing for love .In a cell ,a prisoner,Rémi Bonvent, sings ; the harsh man realizes that this captive has talent going for him,he writes songs,pieces of music and even an opera ,"Le lit A Colonnes" (=the fourposter bed).His daughter ,who is also the musician's muse ,-though they never met ,he only sees her silhouette at night-is dreaming of an union with aristocratic families who do not invite her to their fetes or their balls.And the inmate's work may mean glory and success..
- DirectorMarcel L'HerbierStarsFernand GraveyMicheline PresleSaturnin FabreDenis is distracted: he's studying all day for philosophy exams and working all night at the flower market; plus, whenever he closes his eyes, he dreams of a mysterious woman in white. His girlfriend Nina is annoyed at him for his inattention, so she steps out behind his back with a friend of his. One night, while napping at the flower mart, he pursues the mystery woman in what he thinks is a dream, and finds himself with her in a restaurant with her father and her fiancé, then on to a magic shop, the Louvre, a nightclub, and a mental asylum. During the night, he discovers a plot against her, and still believing it's a dream, goes to great lengths to try to save her.
- DirectorClaude Autant-LaraPierre GuerlaisStarsOdette JoyeuxAndré LuguetJacques Dumesnil"Chiffon" is an eccentric young aristocratic girl, who is struggling to comply with the social conventions of the community.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsPierre FresnaySuzy DelairJean TissierInspector Wens moves into a Paris boarding house to catch a serial killer.
- DirectorJean StelliStarsGaby MorlayElvire PopescoAndré AlermeIn 1914, in the first months of World War I, Louise Jarraud loses her husband, killed on the front. Shortly after, she gives birth to a baby, who soon dies. Devastated by this double misfortune, Louise decides to dedicate her life to caring for the children of others. She becomes a nurse with several employers, giving her affection to little boys or girls. A widower and another man propose to her but she refuses twice determined as she is to live only for the children in her charge.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsArlettyMarie DéaFernand LedouxIn medieval France, the Devil intervenes when one of his two envoys, sent to seduce and deceive mortals, falls instead for a victim.
- DirectorJean DelannoyStarsPierre BlancharAnnie DucauxSuzy CarrierFor 15 years after Waterloo, a baron refuses to accept the defeat. He reluctantly marries one of 2 Bourbon sisters but lands up dueling with the wife's former lover. Finally he gets a chance to prove himself again in battle.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsFernand LedouxGeorges RollinBlanchette BrunoyIn a lost French village, an old woman is killed and her savings stolen. Several members of her family, all called "Goupi", are suspected.
- DirectorAlbert ValentinStarsRenée Saint-CyrJules BerrySaturnin FabreThe story of Marie-Martine ,told backwards.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsMadeleine RenaudPierre BrasseurMadeleine RobinsonA shimmering glass hotel at the top of a remote Provençal mountain provides the setting for a tragicomic tapestry about an obsessive love pentangle.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsRenée FaureJany HoltSylvieAnne-Marie joins a Dominican convent as a novice where she knows Therese. After shooting a man for which she was imprisoned, Therese protests her innocence, reluctant to tell her secret.
- DirectorPierre PrévertStarsCharles TrenetPierre BrasseurJulien CaretteA bungling thief is threatened by one target with blackmail, unless the thief will kill his own cousin, a wealthy eccentric who is considered the village idiot.
- DirectorPierre BillonStarsAnnie DucauxAndré LuguetGermaine Reuver
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsPierre FresnayGinette LeclercMicheline FranceyA French village doctor becomes the target of poison-pen letters sent to village leaders, accusing him of affairs and practicing abortion.
- DirectorJean DelannoyStarsMadeleine SologneJean MaraisJean MuratThis is a retelling of Tristan and Isolde, set in 1940s France. The script was written by Jean Cocteau.
- DirectorChristian-JaqueStarsSimone RenantJean MaraisPaul BernardAn escaped convict needing funds for a getaway by sea takes advantage of a prosperous looking young traveler he meets.A nightclub singer involved with them both complicates things.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsMadeleine RenaudCharles VanelJean DebucourtThe wife of a mechanic and former fighter pilot falls in love with the idea of flying herself. This soon becomes an obsession and she undertakes a lofty feat: the longest solo flight ever made by a woman.
- DirectorJean AnouilhStarsPierre FresnayPierre RenoirBlanchette BrunoyA WW1 amnesiac comes back to a family he does not recognize.
- DirectorLouis DaquinStarsIrène CordayAndré Le GallMarcel DelaîtreZian Servettaz is a dedicated mountain man. His Italian-born wife Bianca does not adjust well to his mountain village in France, and to the ever life-threatening dangers presented by his mountain guiding and climbing.
- DirectorLéo JoannonStarsRené DaryRaymond BussièresJean MercantonTroubled youth hope for a home they can create, in the south of France during the turbulent war years, that will not repeat the prison like bureaucracies that have previously confined them.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsArlettyJean-Louis BarraultPierre BrasseurThe theatrical life of a beautiful courtesan in 1830s Paris and the four men who love her.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsPaul BernardMaría CasaresElina LabourdetteA society lady engineers a marriage between her lover and a cabaret dancer who is essentially a prostitute.
- DirectorChristian-JaqueStarsMicheline PresleBerthe BovyLouise ConteTen people fleeing Rouen invaded by the Prussians, Rousset nicknamed ball of tallow among them, give to a Prussian to save other passengers who still despise. However, on later nobody could underestimate her being how brave .
- DirectorChristian-JaqueStarsFernand LedouxRenée FaureMadeleine RobinsonThe story begins with the murder of a horse trader, which sets free a black stallion that roams through the snow and the village terrifying the people as it gallops.
- DirectorRené ClémentStarsMarcel BarnaultJean ClarieuxJean DaurandRecounts the courageous efforts by French railroad workers who were part of an organized resistance during German World War II occupation.
- DirectorAndré CayatteStarsTino RossiJacqueline GauthierJacques LouvignySylvio, a successful singer, has found a way to take a peaceful vacation, safe from his female adulators: to travel incognito. He puts up at an old castle whose landlord, Count Fabrice, a ruined nobleman, seeks a hidden treasure. Posing as the nephew of the castle gardener, Sylvio enjoys happy days and even finds the time to fall in love with Gracieuse, the count's daughter. Unfortunately for him, his impresario ends up locating him...
- DirectorHenri DecoinStarsPierre FresnayFernand LedouxThérèse DornyA gangster who's got a lot of dough takes refuge in his hometown.
- DirectorGeorges LampinStarsEdwige FeuillèreLucien CoëdelJean DebucourtMuichkine, a young Russian prince, returns home to St. Petersburg from a mental institution, determined to spread decency and kindness in the harsh and cruel world. He becomes betrothed to an innocent young girl while trying to save a less-innocent woman from her own travail, but jealousy and his own naivete conjoin to bring about unimaginable tragedy.
- DirectorJean DelannoyStarsPierre BlancharMichèle MorganLine NoroA minister falls in love with a blind young woman he sheltered, but so does his son.
- DirectorRené ClémentNoël-NoëlStarsNoël-NoëlMaurice ChevitAlice LeitnerIn the Charente, during the Nazi occupation, Edouard Martin, a fifty-year-old man with apparently peaceful life is in fact the leader of a resistance network.
- DirectorChristian-JaqueStarsLouis JouvetGaby MorlayFrançois PérierA ballet producer returns to his native town and schemes to avenge himself on the family who tried to murder him 20 years before.
- DirectorJean CocteauRené ClémentStarsJean MaraisJosette DayMila ParélyA beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.
- DirectorJacques FeyderMarcel BlistèneStarsFrançoise RosayPaul MeurisseAndrée ClémentMadame Rose runs a seedy hotel in a suburb of Paris. Strong-minded but without the least moral scruple, she once killed her husband, whose honesty was a hindrance to her business. Under a suspended sentence, she now indulges in smuggling. One day, Victor, one of her former accomplices hounded by the police, finds sanctuary with her. During a drinking spree, he has the bad idea to entrust to her a suitcase filled with bank notes, loot with which he hopes to rebuild his life in South America. But Rose, lured by temptation, betrays Victor, who is arrested. However, he manages to escape with only one thing in mind: to take revenge on Rose.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsPierre BrasseurSerge ReggianiYves MontandIt's Paris in the winter after its liberation. A tramp who may also be Destiny predicts that Jean Diego will fall in love with a beautiful girl. That same evening, Jean meets Malou.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsViviane RomanceMichel SimonMax DalbanAfter an elderly maid is murdered, opinions are manipulated, evidence is planted, violence erupts, and panic ensues.
- DirectorGeorges RouquierOne year in the life of a French peasant family, whose existence is closely tied with the changing of the seasons.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsMaurice ChevalierFrançois PérierMarcelle Derrien1910. A friend leaves his daughter, Madeleine, with Emile a French film producer. Emile falls in love with her. Problems starts when his young friend Jacques returns from military service complaining his misfortune with women. Once he follows Emile's advice to have an affair, he meets Lucette and falls in love with her instead.
- DirectorClaude Autant-LaraStarsMicheline PresleGérard PhilipeDenise GreyDuring World War I, the star-crossed affair of an underage French student with a woman engaged to a soldier.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsLouis JouvetSimone RenantBernard BlierA flirtatious wife runs off to meet an older man and the husband closes in with intend to murder him, but finds the deed already done.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsRoger PigautClaire MafféiNoël RoquevertWorking class couple Antoine and Antoinette dream of a better life. In the midst of constantly fending off the unwanted attention of men, especially the grocer Monsieur Roland, Antoinette purchases a winning lottery ticket. But when Antoine loses their ticket out of poverty, their dreams seem like they'll remain just that.
- DirectorMaurice ClocheStarsPierre FresnayAimé ClariondJean DebucourtSt. Vincent de Paul struggles to bring about peace and harmony among peasants and nobles in the midst of the Black Death in Europe, carrying on his charitable work in the face of all obstacles.
- DirectorRoger LeenhardtStarsOdile VersoisMichel FrançoisJean LaraA schoolboy remembers his last holiday in the big house of his family in the country, before it was sold.
- DirectorYves AllégretStarsBernard BlierSimone SignoretMarcello PaglieroDedee is a prostitute who works in Monsieur Rene's nightclub on Antwerp's harbour. The porter is Marco, her pimp. Dedee is not happy until she meets Francesco, an Italian sailor. They fall in love and Dedee starts to dream about escaping her daily dull grind.
- DirectorMaurice TourneurStarsPaul MeurisseSimone SignoretMarcel HerrandStage actress Marianne has decided to give up her career to marry wealthy nobleman Marquis Antoine de Fontaines. As a wedding present, Antoine gives his future wife a precious diamond necklace, which is coveted by a gang of crooks. Jean, one of them, is given the mission to approach Marianne and steal the necklace from her. The only trouble is that when he meets her, she recognizes him as the man she once loved.
- DirectorJean CocteauStarsJean MaraisJosette DayYvonne de BrayMichel is in love with Madeleine, so he decides to tell his parents of his intention to marry her. He thinks his announcement is innocent enough; his engagement, however, threatens to reveal dark secrets lurking within his family's home.
- DirectorMarcel CravenneStarsErich von StroheimDenise VernacPalauA sinister fortress on an island where the sun never seems to shine. An officer whose values have long gone a thing of the past.
- DirectorYves AllégretStarsMadeleine RobinsonGérard PhilipeJean ServaisDuring the cold and rainy off-season a man arrives in a seaside town and, giving his name only as Pierre, checks into the only hotel which remains open. His arrival arouses curiosity and a degree of suspicion, as people note that he appears to know the area, yet gives no explanation for his presence at that bleak time of year in the dead-end town.
- DirectorJean-Paul Le ChanoisStarsBernard BlierJuliette FaberÉdouard DelmontSoon after the Great War, the Provence village of Salezes gets a new boys' teacher: Mr. Pascal, a war hero with a diploma from a teachers' college. He rejects old methods: boys' sitting still with arms folded memorizing facts. He uses modern methods: he becomes their guide. The boys build a water-powered electric generator, interview their parents about shoe-making and cooking, draw, write poetry, and, after Pascal brings a box of type, put their own magazine together, printed on the backs of old ballots. Their new interest in critical thinking stirs opposition from the mayor and others. The teacher offers a deal: if even one student fails the national exam, he'll resign. All eyes are on Albert, an older youth who has failed three times.
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsHoward VernonNicole StéphaneJean-Marie RobainIn occupied France, an elderly man and his niece are forced to give shelter to a German army lieutenant who seemingly loves their country and culture.
- DirectorJacques TatiStarsJacques TatiGuy DecomblePaul FrankeurA village postman with no sense of humour delivers his mail via bicycle on the day the travelling fair comes to town. He is disrupted by a short film about US speed and efficiency and the playful teasing of the village folk.
- DirectorGeorges RégnierStarsLouis ArbessierAntoine BalpêtréGeorges HubertGuillon, a young administrator is appointed by the French government in Ivory Coast to replace the former one, who has been assassinated. He is soon confronted to a caste oppressing the local peasants. By joining forces with the doctor and engineer he manages to restore calm. The oppressors then try terror. But the administrator refuses to be intimidated, and with the support of the natives, will be able to avenge the former administrator.
- DirectorAndré CayatteHenri-Georges ClouzotJean DrévilleStarsBernard BlierLouis JouvetNoël-NoëlFive prisoners, a woman and four men, return to France after WW2. We follow their rocky road to life. It's a movie which consists of five different stories.
- DirectorRené ClémentStarsJean GabinIsa MirandaVera TalchiA French fugitive arrives in Genoa, where he becomes entangled with an Italian woman and her daughter.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsDaniel GélinBrigitte AuberNicole CourcelHopes and love and ambitions and friendship in a group of young jazz-loving Parisians.
- DirectorYves AllégretStarsBernard BlierSimone SignoretJacques BaumerAfter spending all his money to fulfill the smallest wish of his wife Dora, Robert is still madly in love with her. Now she is in agony, and her mother comes. She will reveal to Robert how he has been fooled. Flashbacks show the story through Robert's or his mother-in-law's eyes. Through some flashbacks, we will see the story through Robert's or his mother-in-law's eyes. A very misogynous movie.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsMichel SimonGérard PhilipeNicole BesnardThe Faust story retold, with an aged alchemist accepting the gift of renewed youth from the devilish Mephistopheles.
- DirectorAndré CayatteStarsMichel AuclairAntoine BalpêtréRaymond BussièresA trial of a mercy killing.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsAnton WalbrookSimone SignoretSerge ReggianiSoldiers, chambermaids, poets, prostitutes, aristocrats-all are on equal footing in this multi-character merry-go-round of love and infidelity.
- DirectorJean CocteauStarsJean MaraisFrançois PérierMaría CasaresA poet in love with Death follows his unhappy wife into the underworld.
- DirectorRichard PottierStarsFernandelMireille PerreyJacques VarennesNoel Annequin is the black sheep of a social-climbing bourgeois family who married for love and stayed in the country while his professional brothers were improving their social position. When his beloved wife, dying of an incurable disease, begs him to end her misery, he finally agrees, but his desire to atone for his "crime" runs afoul of his heartless family, and all would be lost without his rebellious niece, played by 22-year-old Jeanne Moreau.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsClaude LayduNicole LadmiralJean RiveyreA young priest taking over the parish at Ambricourt tries to fulfill his duties even as he fights a mysterious stomach ailment.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsGérard PhilipeSuzanne CloutierJean-Roger CaussimonMichel has stolen from his employer, Mr Bellanger, for the love of Juliette. He is now in jail. One night, while sleeping in his cell, he wakes up all of a sudden, the gates open and he finds himself in a strange village where all the inhabitants have lost their memory. There, meets Juliette again who seems to agree to marry a powerful man, who might well be Bluebeard...
- DirectorClaude Autant-LaraStarsFernandelFrançoise RosayMarie-Claire OliviaA group of travelers, including a monk, stay in a lonely inn in the mountains. The host confesses the monk his habit of serving a soporific soup to the guests, to rob their possessions and to bury them in the backyard. The story unfolds as the monk tries to save the guest's lives without violating the holy secrecy of the confession.
- DirectorHenri DecoinStarsDanielle DarrieuxJean GabinJacques CastelotFrançois Donge, a wealthy mature man, is about to die. Flashback: many years ago, the seducer François meets Bébé, an idealistic young woman, and marries her. Her idealism crashes against François' personality.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsJean GabinDanielle DarrieuxSimone SimonThree separate stories about the same thing: le plaisir (pleasure).
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsSimone SignoretSerge ReggianiClaude DauphinThree gangsters and an ex-con carpenter all fall for the same beautiful golden-haired woman in Belle Époque France.
- DirectorRené ClémentStarsGeorges PoujoulyBrigitte FosseyAmédéeA young French girl orphaned in a German air attack is befriended by the son of a poor farmer, and together they try to come to terms with the realities of death.
- DirectorAndré CayatteStarsMarcel MouloudjiRaymond PellegrinAntoine BalpêtréThe problem of the reasonableness of capital punishment.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsFernandelGino CerviVera TalchiA determined priest and a Communist mayor develop a grudging friendship in spite of their official rivalry.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsGérard PhilipeMartine CarolGina LollobrigidaA young composer has vivid dreams of the past that reflect, yet conflict with his waking life.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsDany RobinMichel AuclairHildegard KnefAfter the rejection of their latest--preposterous--scenario, two scriptwriters get back to basics to prepare a new movie. The new scenario centers on Henriette, a pretty, lively Parisian, and how she spends the 14th of July in Paris with her fiancé. We follow the tribulations of Henriette as various other characters enter the story and turn a traditional festive day into something more adventurous than expected.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsEdmond ArdissonHenri AriusAndré BervilTo avenge her father's death, Manon blocks the source of water for local villagers.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsAnna MagnaniOdoardo SpadaroNada FiorelliThree men of varying social standing - a viceroy, a bullfighter, and a soldier - vie for the affections of an actress in 18th-century Peru.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsYves MontandCharles VanelPeter van EyckIn a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.
- DirectorBernard BorderieStarsEddie ConstantineDominique WilmsHoward VernonFBI Agent Lemmy is sent after a missing two million in Casablanca while mob boss mistress Carlotta plays both sides of the law.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsCharles BoyerDanielle DarrieuxVittorio De SicaWhen an aristocratic woman known only as "Madame de . . ." sells a pair of earrings given to her by her husband in order to pay some debts, she sets off a chain reaction of financial and carnal consequences that can end only in despair.
- DirectorYves AllégretRafael E. PortasStarsMichèle MorganGérard PhilipeVíctor Manuel MendozaLife in a small Mexican village where joy and misery, hope and pain, passion and guilt, love and decay, life and death are mixed in the peasants life and two French citizens who end up stranded in there, during a typhoid epidemic.
- DirectorSacha GuitryStarsMichel AuclairJean-Pierre AumontJean-Louis BarraultThe history of the palace of Versailles from its founding to the present.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsJean GabinRené DaryDora DollAn aging, world-weary gangster is double-crossed and forced out of retirement when his best friend is kidnapped and their stash of eight stolen gold bars demanded as ransom.
- DirectorJean GrémillonStarsMicheline PresleMassimo GirottiGaby MorlayMarie Prieur, a young doctor, decides to settle down on Ushant, a remote island belonging to Brittany. Little by little she manages to be accepted by the population. One day she meets André Lorenzi, a handsome engineer, and it is love at first sight. Life is wonderful for a while but André wants to marry her only if she remains at home. Despite her strong feelings for André, Marie refuses to give up her vocation and the two lovers part. Marie finds herself alone, with a broken heart.
- DirectorClaude Autant-LaraStarsDanielle DarrieuxGérard PhilipeAntonella LualdiIt's no holds barred for Julian in pursuit of upward mobility. Although expected to channel career aspirations into the Church of the post- Napoleonic era, his intensely romantic liaisons propel him forward at a pace he cannot control.
- DirectorJules DassinStarsJean ServaisCarl MöhnerRobert ManuelFour men plan a technically perfect crime, but the human element intervenes...
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinFrançoise ArnoulMaría FélixThis comedy drama from Jean Renoir chronicles the revival of Paris' most notorious dance as it tells the story of a theater producer who turns a humble washerwoman into a star at the Moulin Rouge.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsMichèle MorganGérard PhilipeJean DesaillyA French lieutenant makes a bet that he can seduce any woman in town in the two weeks before his regiment leaves for maneuvers, but his chosen target (a Parisian divorcée) isn't like other girls he's known.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsMartine CarolPeter UstinovAnton WalbrookWhen she is reduced to appearing in a circus, a notorious beauty thinks back on her past loves.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsGeorges MarchalLucia BosèJulien BertheauOn a Mediterranean island, an honorable doctor hides a hunted criminal. The doctor is soon hunted by a police commissioner.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsPablo PicassoHenri-Georges ClouzotClaude RenoirA filmed record of Pablo Picasso painting numerous canvases for the camera, allowing us to see his creative process at work.
- DirectorClaude Autant-LaraStarsJean GabinBourvilLouis de FunèsTwo men carry at night four suitcases of contraband meat across German-occupied Paris during WWII. Their opposite personalities and strange encounters provoke different adventures - until they are arrested by the police.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsFrançois LeterrierCharles Le ClaincheMaurice BeerblockA captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a German prison in France.
- DirectorRoger VadimStarsBrigitte BardotCurd JürgensJean-Louis TrintignantIn sunny St. Tropez, a young woman loves one brother but marries the other.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsPierre BrasseurGeorges BrassensHenri VidalAn old bum becomes infatuated with a pretty young girl who gets entangled with a young gangster.
- DirectorJacques TatiStarsJacques TatiJean-Pierre ZolaAdrienne ServantieMonsieur Hulot visits the technology-driven world of his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, but he can't quite fit into the surroundings.
- DirectorFrançois VilliersStarsPascale AudretCharles BlavetteHenri AriusOld Félix, a prosperous land owner in Haute Provence, will be expropriated because a dam is being built on the River Durance and his estate is to be flooded. He receives thirty million francs in compensation but dies soon after. Hortense, his only daughter, inherits the money but the trouble is that Félix has hidden the loot somewhere and it is nowhere to be found. All of Hortense's next of kin suddenly take an interest in the "poor orphan" and those greedy ones - with the exception of kind-hearted uncle Simon - put pressure on the girl, and try - through wile, threat and even murder, to inveigle her inheritance. But however young and frail Hortense is, she is nobody's fool.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsPascale PetitAndréa ParisyJacques CharrierBob Letellier, a good looking rich kid who studies science, makes the acquaintance of Alain, a cynical and immoral young man. The latter introduces him to the existentialist circles of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Bob is invited to a party and becomes Clo's lover, a rich heiress.