Jacques Rispal

La Lanterne des morts (1985)

That evening, in the Vosges mountains, a snowstorm swept through the valley. Within the walls of a farmhouse, another deluge descends on a family watching over one of its members on his deathbed in a heavy atmosphere, favorable to the return of old superst ...

Les Beaux Quartiers (1983)

Lucie sur Seine (1982)

Louis works for a dry cleaner in the Parisian suburbs. He lives in a council flat with his wife, Chantal, who works as a cashier in a local supermarket. Their relationship is tumultuous and lackluster; Louis longs to escape his humdrum existence. He wants ...

Beau Pere (1981)

Rémi is a man trapped in a deteriorating marriage. When his wife is unexpectedly killed in a car accident, Rémi is left with his stepdaughter, Marion, who chooses to stay with him rather than live with her birth father. After the initial shock passes, Rà ...

For a Cop's Hide (1981)

Victim of manipulation, Cop Choucas is wanted for two murders and searched for by every cop in town. ...

My American Uncle (1980)

Professor Henri Laborit uses three people's stories to discuss behaviourist theories of survival, combat, rewards and punishment, and anxiety: René is a technical manager at a textile factory and must face the anxiety caused by corporate downsizing; Janin ...

French Postcards (1979)

French Postcards rings both comic and true. The believable, fresh-faced characters are young naives from American colleges spending their French-English dictionaries, they compulsively seek out hundreds of monuments, romanticize the nomadic artist's life, ...

The Adolescent (1979)

In the summer of 1939, 13-year-old Marie goes with her parents to visit her grandparents in a small town near Avignon. Marie discovers her femininity and falls for a young Jewish doctor, but he prefers Eva, Marie's mother. ...

Why Not! (1977)

Alexa, Fernand, and Louis form a tender yet unconventional trio in a quiet suburban home. Fleeing failed marriages and societal expectations, they build a life rooted in love and mutual support. But their unorthodox arrangement stirs suspicion, especially ...

Peppermint Soda (1977)

In the fall of 1963, Anne is becoming a teenager. She lives in Paris with her mother and her older sister, Frédérique. They're just back from summer at the beach with their father. School starts. A turbulent year awaits them both. ...

The Goodbye Singing (1977)

In her suburban house, Madame Vaussart brings together a group of solitaries every Wednesday. Everyone tries to forget their problems, their complexes, their sadness. Between Mr. Michel, very shy, Mrs. Lebris, a former actress, a former colonial soldier an ...

La Menace (1977)

Henri Savin has managed a trucking company for his lover, Dominique Montlaur, for many years. Now he is planning to leave her for Julie Manet, the woman he has made pregnant, and Dominique is hysterical. She first threatens suicide, then shows up at a meet ...

As the Moon (1977)

Normandy, France, 1976. After 2 years of wild love with Nadia, Pouplard, an unemployed heating engineer working in his girlfriend's butcher shop, decides to marry her and leave his wife and daughter. He'll have to struggle against his own jealousy and Nadi ...

Femmes Fatales (1976)

Two men, fortyish, worn out by their wives, abandon everything to go and live in the back of beyond. There they meet a truculent priest, a boozer, Émile who recalls them to life's simple pleasures. Calm is what they want. But soon their example inspires t ...

The French Detective (1975)

When political thugs murder an opponent's volunteer and also kill a cop, chief inspector Verjeat believes the politician who hired them is as guilty as the murderous goon. Verjeat's pursuit of the councilman, Lardatte, gets him a warning from his superiors ...

The Gypsy (1975)

Two thieves, Hugo Sennart and Yan Kuq, wanted by the same police inspector, cross paths by chance. ...

One Must Live Dangerously (1975)

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"... ...

Cher Victor (1975)

A pair of elderly men, friends for 40 years, find their relationship stressed when they set up housekeeping together in order to save money. Exploring similar ground to that covered in Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple, which spawned a movie and a televisio ...

La Face Nord (1975)

Act of Aggression (1975)

After his wife and daughter are raped and killed by a motorbike gang, a man sets out to take revenge. ...

The Night Caller (1975)

A serial-killer frightens Paris by phoning young ladies at night, telling them insults about their lives. Minos, as he calls himself, wants to prevent the world from free women and he targets at first these ones. Commissaire Letellier is given the investig ...

The Ambassadors (1975)

"Each of you is an ambassador, and we are sure that each of you will be the best ambassador of our country." This is how the film begins; a speech to emigrant workers for France. Salah left his three sisters and his mother to become an ambassador, going to ...

The arrest (1975)

A young writer has just written a new novel, which has been accepted by an editor. A simple and familiar story about the terrifying power the state has over people's lives. ...

Black Thursday (1974)

In Paris, in 1942, on a Thursday, the Parisian police herded together some 13,000 Jews for deportation to German territory. In this story, Paul (Christian Rist) is a teenager who tries to prevent this from happening. At first he attempts to save two elderl ...

France, Incorporated (1974)

In the year 2222, a former drug dealer is kept in a state of hibernation. Reanimated, he tells his story. Leader in the narcotics market, his situation was prosperous until, during a political change, the government legalized its use. ...

A Cloud in the Teeth (1974)

Malisard is a reporter at "Soir de Paris", his colleague Prévot is a photographer. Together, they roam the streets of Paris. ...

We Were Mistaken About a Love Story (1974)

Anne and Pierre work in the same company, they date but do not consider a long-term relationship until Anne learns that she is expecting a child. Having already had an abortion, she fears repeating the experience, so Pierre proposes to marry her. ...

Les Trois SÅ“urs (1974)

Olga, Masha, and Irina Prozoroff lead lonely and purposeless lives following the death of their father who has commanded the local army post. Olga attempts to find satisfaction in teaching but secretly longs for a home and family. Masha, unhappy with her m ...

Going Places (1974)

Two whimsical, aimless thugs harass and assault women, steal, murder, and alternately charm, fight, or sprint their way out of trouble. They take whatever the bourgeoisie holds dear, whether it's cars, peace of mind, or daughters. Marie-Ange, a jaded, pass ...

By the Blood of Others (1974)

In a little French town everything goes on as usual and people seem friendly and good-natured, until the day two women arrive from Paris. A man gets off the same bus, and that very night he seizes the two women and asks for the most beautiful woman in town ...

Lacombe, Lucien (1974)

In Louis Malle's lauded drama, Lucien Lacombe is a young man living in rural France during World War II who seeks to join the French Resistance. When he is rejected due to his youth, the resentful Lucien allies himself with the Nazis and joins the Gallic a ...

L'Inconnu (1973)

The descent into hell begins for Edouard, a disillusioned marginal, when he loses his job, and his wife leaves with his son. His meeting with a mysterious stranger, who claims to work for the secret services, leads him to commit the irreparable. Was it a t ...

The Last Train (1973)

Two people, a Frenchman and a Jewish German woman, meet on a train while escaping the German army entering France. ...

Two Men in Town (1973)

A former bank robber is released after 10 years in prison. He gets help from a social-worker, but gets harassed by an old cop from his past. ...

The Invitation (1973)

Rémi, a confirmed bachelor and model bureaucrat, invites his colleagues and superiors to a magnificent house to celebrate an inheritance. Under the influence of drink, they drop all pretence and reveal their true selves. But what will remain of this brief ...

The Dominici Affair (1973)

In August 1952, a family of British tourists is found by the roadside in Haute Provence, brutally murdered. In the ensuing, very public, investigation a local landowner, 75 year old Gaston Dominici, is arrested for the murders, having been denounced by his ...

The Pariah (1972)

For more than 15 years, two Marseille friends and criminals battle the law, rival gangs, prison authorities and even mined beaches in order to survive. ...

The Big Shots (1972)

Thia and Murelli, who live from car stunt shows, make ends meet by carrying out small burglaries. When Murelli's daughter, whom he has tried to keep away from his business falls in love with a young thug, her father feels he must help the couple by includi ...

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)

In Luis Buñuel's deliciously satiric masterpiece, an upper-class sextet sits down to dinner but never eats, their attempts continually thwarted by a vaudevillian mixture of events both actual and imagined. ...

Le Soldat Laforêt (1972)

When he gets separated from his unit, Laforet (Roger Van Hool) becomes a de facto deserter during 1939 fighting in the French provinces. Most of the story concerns his love affair with a local farmgirl, as he competes for her affection with a refugee from ...

La Nuit bulgare (1972)

A youngish sales employee of a computer firm is blackmailed into helping a group of mysterious Bulgarian industrialists who have come to his office. A government contract is being sought for a businessman who is in danger of bankruptcy. ...

Le Prussien (1971)

A German prisoner of wars stays in France after the armistice with the woman he loves. ...

The Cat (1971)

Julien Bouin, a former typographist, and his wife Clemence, who used to perform in a circus, hardly talk to each other in their small house, soon to be demolished. His cat Greffier being the only one he still gives affection to, he becomes the object of Cl ...

Portrait of Marianne (1971)

Octave, a young painter, realizes that his wife Marianne has left without a word or explanation. With his best friend Alfred he wanders the streets of Paris, in search of Marianne. ...

Them (1970)

An artist grows hateful of commercial demands on his questionable talents when his friend and artist commits suicide. He puts the blame for his friend's death on an art critic and a shady art dealer. He is able to take out his frustrations on the pretentio ...

Bed and Board (1970)

Parisian everyman Antoine Doinel has married his sweetheart Christine Darbon, and the newlyweds have set up a cozy domestic life of selling flowers and giving violin lessons while Antoine fitfully works on his long-gestating novel. As Christine becomes pre ...

The Confession (1970)

In 1950s communist Czechoslovakia, a government minister, a war veteran long a loyal party man, leads a relatively comfortable life with his wife. However, he soon finds himself under surveillance, then under arrest. Unclear what his offense is, agents for ...

The Uninvited (1969)

When her husband returns from his work abroad with a guest, a young girl, his wife suspects a liaison. She leaves her home. Her boss takes her to the Côte d'Azur. They get closer during the long voyage and the man invites her to his marital home. ...

The Milky Way (1969)

Two men, part tramp, part pilgrim, are on their way from France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. On their way, they meet a vast assortment of characters—some truculent, some violent, and some bizarre; they experience many adventures—some mysterious, ...

Stolen Kisses (1968)

The third in a series of films featuring François Truffaut's alter-ego, Antoine Doinel, the story resumes with Antoine being discharged from military service. His sweetheart Christine's father lands Antoine a job as a security guard, which he promptly los ...

Spray of the Days (1968)

Chick fell in love with Alise because of a shared passion for writer Jean-Sol Partre who gradually devoured their relationship. Soon after, Colin, the main character, also falls in love with a young girl, Chloe, but after their marriage she soon suffers fr ...

Zita (1968)

Because "Tante Zita" main theme is death: a twenty-year old girl, Annie (Shimkus) lives with her mother and her aunt (both played by first-class actresses Suzanne Flon and Katina Paxinou). The auntie is dying, and for the first time in her life, Annie has ...

La Plaie et le Couteau, Charles Baudelaire (1967)

L'Affaire Lourdes (1967)

In Lourdes, in the 1860s, the young Bernadette disturbs despite herself the peaceful life of the small town. She is the only one to see the apparition of The Lady, every day. The villagers take sides, the notables try to stifle the affair. But crowds come ...

If I Were a Spy (1967)

A medical doctor gets into trouble when one of his patients turns out have been involved in espionage (maybe). ...

Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? (1966)

A model tells a television crew about her dreams of a life with prince charming all while fending off the lecherous advances of a horde of men. ...

The War Is Over (1966)

On his way from Madrid to Paris, Diego, a chief of the Spanish Communist Party, is arrested at the border for an ID check but manages to flee. When he arrives in Paris, he searches for one of his comrades to prevent him from going to Madrid where he could ...

A Taste for Women (1964)

A writer discovers a link between a vegetarian restaurant and a series of mysterious deaths. ...

Graduation Year (1964)

In a small provincial town, students meet at a party organized by one of them, and share their thoughts on the difficult year they are leaving : the preparation of high school diploma. ...

A Man Named Rocca (1961)

Roberto goes to Marseilles to give a hand to his friend Xavier, wrongly imprisoned following a frame-up organized by his associate Villanova. Roberto sets out to seduce Villanova's mistress, but when Villanova is killed, Roberto ends up leader of the band. ...

Crimson Curtain (1952)

Bertal, a despotic and hated theater director, is assassinated before a performance of Macbeth in which he was to play with Aurélia Nobli, his companion and Ludovic Arn, her lover. The police arrive on the scene and the investigation begins. Suspicion fir ...