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Classics

Please note that we stock both DVDs imported from France (region 2), and local Australian releases (region 4). Region 2 DVDs require a multiregion DVD player to be viewed.

Region 4 DVDs are suitable for Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South America, Central America, Pacific Islands and Caribbean.

MISSISSIPPI MERMAID (LA SIRENE DU MISSISSIPPI)

Rated: M
Actor: Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Belmondo
Distributor: Shock
Format: PAL
Running Time: 123 minutes
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

"This compelling mystery drama from writer/director Francois Truffaut is about a French mail-order bride (Catherine Deneuve) who is not what her husband-to-be (Jean-Paul Belmondo) expected."

LOUIS DE FUNES - FRENCH COMEDY GREATS

Rated: PG
Actor: Louis de Funes
Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Discs: 4
Format: PAL
Running Time: 380 minutes
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

Louis de Funès was the quintessential funnyman in France. Reminiscent of the characters created by Jacques Tati and Peter Sellars, de Funès' awkward filmic persona was beloved by French and international audiences throughout his prolific film career. Four of his side-splitting classics are collected here:

GRANDES VACANCES
MR LEGUIGNON LAMPISTE
PEEK-A-BOO
THE LITTLE BATHER

CRAZY PETE

Rated: M
Actor: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina, Graziella Galvani
Director: Jean-Luc Godard, Lionel White Distributor: Universal Pictures Home Video
Format: PAL
Running Time: 110 minutes
Region 2 - 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

Fernand takes to the road with Marianne, a student he once loved. But their cosy journey soon turns into a chase. A gang of crooks who seem to have something to do with Marianne are watching them…

BELLE DE JOUR

Rated: M

Actors: Catherine Deneuve, Geneviève Page, Michel Piccoli, Jean Sorel
Director: Luis Buñuel
Distributor: Universal Studios Home Video
Format: PAL
Running Time: 101 minutes
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

Belle de jour is an adaptation of the novel by Joseph kessel, Screen icon Catherine Deneuve (Repulsion) plays Séverine, the glacially beautiful, sexually unfulfilled wife of a surgeon, whose blood runs icy with ennui until she takes a day-job in a brothel. There she meets a charismatic but sinister young gangster (Pierre Clément) and ignites an obsession that will court peril.

AND GOD CREATED WOMAN

Rated: PG
Actors: Brigitte Bardot, Curd Jurgens, Jane Marken, Jean-Louis Trintignant
Director: Roger Vadim
Distributor: Umbrella Entertainment
Format: PAL
Release Year: 1956
Running Time: 88 minutes
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

Brigitte Bardot stars as 18-year-old nymphette Juliette, whose sun-kissed hedonism cannot be tamed by her newly-wed husband Michel.

SLOGAN

Rated: M 15+
Label: AZTEC FILM
Release Date: 18/10/2008
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

A totally crazy film anchored by the ultimate role for Serge Gainsbourg as a devil-may-care advertising director who leaves broken hearts in his trail. Or in this instance, a pregnant wife. And he leaves her for a whirlwind romance with Jane Birkin that takes the viewer all over the world. There’s colour and humour throughout and of course, a sensational Gainsbourg soundtrack. In many ways, a French cousin of Get Smart or Austin Powers.

LE PLAISIR

Rated: PG
Director: Max Ophüls
Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Feature: Audio Commentary by Adrian Martin, Senior Research Fellow, Film and Television Studies, Monash University and Co-editor of ROUGE magazine - Featurette: A JOURNEY THROUGH LE PLAISIR - Introduction by Todd Haynes - Featurette FROM SCRIPT TO SCREEN
Format: PAL
Release Year: 1905
Running Time: 97 minutes
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

One of Max Ophüls most successful films?and a favourite of Jean-Luc Godard and Stanley Kubrick? Le Plaisir is a portmanteau film adapted from three short stories by the father of modern short-story writing, Guy de Maupassant. Each segment tells a tale of pleasure: the first, a story of an old man who regains his youth with the aid of a magic mask; in the second, a prostitute experiences a romantic encounter; and the third story focuses on the love between an artist and his model.

Using beautifully fluid lensing, Ophüls' camera drinks in the decadent ballrooms, countryside estates and urban structures of the late nineteenth-century France, demonstrating the skill so greatly admired by audience, critics and filmmakers alike. Le Plaisir pinpoints the ironic moments and necessary compromises of life with charm and sophistication. An enchanting tribute to desire and pleasure.

LA GRANDE BOUFFE

Actors: Marcello Mastroianni, Philippe Noiret, Michel Piccoli, Ugo Tognazzi

Director: Marco Ferreri

Release Year: 1973

Running Time: 130 minutes

Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

Marco Ferreri’s scandalous classic sees four world-weary, middleaged men (superbly portrayed by Marcello Mastroianni, Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Piccoli and Philippe Noiret) decide to gorge themselves to death in one final orgiastic weekend full of gourmet food, call girls and a hefty, lusty schoolteacher. Over 30 years later, this blackly humorous parable of modern society’s collapse continues to challenge audiences’ sensibilities and test the limits of bad taste.

MY FATHER'S GLORY

Rated: G
Actors: Nathalie Roussel
Director: Yves Robert
Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Feature: OriginalTheatricaltrailer
Release Year: 1990
Running Time: 106 minutes
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

Based on the childhood memoirs of Marcel Pagnol, author of Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources, La Gloire de Mon Père and its companion Le Château de Ma Mère are two of the greatest and most successful French films ever made.

An adult Marcel fondly recalls one idyllic summer spent with his family in the hills of Provence. A love affair with the country began and during those sundrenched, perfect days he found new respect for his school-teacher father as he adapted to life away from the city.

One of cinema's finest celebrations of childhood, My Father's Glory is filled with warmth, humour and nostalgia for the bygone days of a youth spent among the rocky hills of turn-of-the-century Provence.

MY MOTHER'S CASTLE

Rated: G
Actors: Philippe Caubere, Nathalie Roussel
Director: Yves Robert
Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Feature: OriginalTheatricaltrailer
Subtitles: English
Release Year: 1990
Running Time: 94 minutes
Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

In this companion to My Father's Glory, renowned French author Marcel Pagnol's memoirs of childhood continue to captivate.

Devastated at having to leave the wondrous hills of Provence where his family had spent the summer, Marcel is elated when they return for Christmas and then Easter. Before long they are heading for their rural retreat every weekend, and the long journey there soon brings its own adventure.

As Marcel's affectionate reminiscences draw to a close, we are left with a wonderfully poignant conclusion to these classics of modern French cinema.

MY AMERICAN UNCLE

Rated: PG
Actors: Nelly Borgeaud, Gerard Depardieu, Nicole Garcia, Roger Pierre
Director: Alain Resnais
Distributor: Umbrella Entertainment
Release Year: 1980
Running Time: 121 minutes

Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

Starring Gerard Depardieu (Green Card, Cyrano de Bergerac), the great Alain Resnais recounts the "case history" of 3 tangled lives: René (Gérard Depardieu) has overcome his poor background to become a successful factory manager in France; Jean (Roger Pierre) is a politician who star is on the rise but has started having an affair with Janine (Nicole Garcia), a struggling actress. Their lives are expertly dissected by narrator Henri Laborit, a real-life biologist/philosopher, in a fascinating exploration of the human psyche.

LA CHAMADE

Rated: PG
Directed by Alain Cavalier
Based on the novel "La Chamade" by Françoise Sagan
With Catherine Deneuve, Michel Piccoli, Roger Van Hool
Region 4 DVD - In French, English with French, Englsih, Spanish subtitles

The expensively kept girlfriend of a wealthy older man, Lucille (Catherine Deneuve) is beautiful, bored and blissfully blind to her shallow existence…until she meets Antoine. Passionate but poor, Antoine offers a whole new world experience and kindles Lucille’s smouldering desires.

La Chamade presents a torrid tangle of desire, denial and deception that will leave you breathless!

LE BEAU SERGE

Rated: PG
Directed by Claude Chabrol
With Jean-Claude Brialy, Gérard Blain, Bernadette Lafont
Region 4 DVD - In French with English subtitles

Returning home to his small country town, Sardent, after a long absence, Francois is struck by how little has changed - with the exception, that is, of his long-time friend Serge, who has deteriorated into a depressive alcoholic stuck in an unhappy marriage. As Francois attempts to rescue his friends from a miserable life, the reasons for his sudden return to Sardent become known.

LOVE ON A PILLOW (LE REPOS DU GUERRIER)

Rated: M
Directed by Roger Vadim
With Brigitte Bardot, Robert Hossein, Michel Serrault
Region 4 DVD - In French, German, Spanish, with English, Dutch, Swedish, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian subtitles

Geneviève, a young girl of good family, saves Renaud, a young, cynical and corrupt rebel, from suicide. When she becomes his mistress, she decides to leave her family. Her friends warn her of the evil and destructive influence Renaud has on those around him...

DON'T LOOK NOW WE'RE BEING SHOT AT (LA GRANDE VADROUILLE)

With Louis de Funès
Genre: Movie-Comedy
Label: UNIVERSAL
Release Date: 3/09/2008

Region 4 DVD, In French, German, with English, German and Dutch subtitles

"With the higher Box Office in France for over 40 years (17 millions admissions), DON’T LOOK NOW WE’RE BEING SHOT AT, is one of the greatest French movie of all time. This hilarious comedy stars the famous Bourvil and Louis de Funès duo, two iconic French actors. In 1942, a Royal Air Force plane is shot down over Paris. The three British pilots bail out and are found by two members of the French Resistance (De Funès and Bourvil). With this “odd” couple as their guide, the film follows their madcap and hilarious journey to get past the Germans and get the pilots to the Free French Zone. Absolutely unmissable!"

THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT - LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT

Actors: George Chakiris, Groover Dale, Catherine Deneuve, Francoise Dorleac, Gene Kelly

Director: Jacques Demy

Distributor: Madman Entertainment

Label: Aztec International

Screenwriters: Jacques Demy, Agnes Varda

Release Year: 1967

Running Time: 120 minutes

Release Date: 19/03/2008

Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

In THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT, the follow up to the revolutionary UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (1963), director Jacques Demy continues his experiments with narrative and the musical form, as well as his collaboration with composer Michel Legrand. Characters meet, story lines cross, families expand and all is expressed in booming song, exploding color, and elegant choreography. Catherine Deneuve and her real life sister, Francoise Dorleac play sisters who run a music and ballet school and in their spare time seek love and adventure. Their Mother runs a café in the Town Square which is the eye of the romantic and dramatic storm that runs through the film. A young sailor mopes at the café dreaming of an ideal love, a local music merchant regrets his lost love, a carnival enters town and two of its members convince the sisters to put on a spectacle. Gene Kelley makes an appearance, as do elements from many Hollywood musicals, added in pastiche. As the film reaches a hysterical and breakneck pace, lovers are lost and found, separated and reunited and the glittering, pastel glamour of the town of Rochefort plays a starring role. Love's endurance and the persistence of chance reign as the ridiculous and the sublime combine to create a cinematic experience unlike any other.

DONKEY SKIN - PEAU D'ANE

Rated: G

Actors: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais

Director: Jacques Demy

Distributor: Madman Entertainment

Label: Aztec International

Feature: Original Theatrical Trailer

Release Year: 1970

Running Time: 100 minutes

Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

Jacques Demy’s ode to the classic fairy tale by 17th Century author Charles Perrault (Cinderella) comes to life with breathtaking brilliance. Digitally restored and re-mastered under the supervision of Agnès Varda (The Gleaners and I), this epic tale overflows with dazzling color, elaborate costumes and an enchanting score by Academy Award®-winning composer Michel Legrand (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg). Catherine Deneuve (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Indochine) stars as a Princess whose father, the King (Jean Marais), seeks her hand in marriage after promising his dying wife to only wed a woman more beautiful than she. Listening to her godmother, the Fairy of Lilacs (Delphine Seyrig), the frightened Princess flees to a neighboring farm and hides as a scullery maid, while wearing the skin of her father’s prized donkey as a disguise. A visiting Prince passes by, and an unlikely romance is born.

PARIS VU PAR...

Encoding: Region 4 - Suitable for Australia

Rated: PG

Directors: Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Eric Rohmer, Jean Douchet, Jean-Daniel Pollet, Jean Rouch

Distributor: Madman Entertainment

Label: Directors Suite

Feature: Presentation by Noël Simsolo, Six Paris by Jean Douchet, Jean Douchet: cinéaste au singulier

Release Year: 1965

Running Time: 95 minutes

Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

Six stories of Paris from six different directors. French new wave directors Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer, Jean Rouch, Jean Douchet and Jean-Daniel Pollet team up to tell stories of 1965 Paris. Taking us on a flying tour of Parisian neighbourhoods, from Saint Germain des Prés to Place de l'Étoile and back again, each short film showcases the directors' different styles, approaches and their senses of humour, as well as being a wonderful document of 1960s Paris.

UN CHIEN ANDALOU - LAS HURDES

Directors: Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali

Feature: A Documentary On The Artistic Life Of Luis Bunuel, A Documentary On The Artistic Life Of Savador Dali, Las Hurdes (1933, 30mins) - Bunuel's Only Documentary, The Story Of An Impoverished Spanish Community That Reprised The Director's Fascination With Poverty, Human Cruelty & The Corruption Of The Catholic Church.

Discs: 2

Release Year: 1929

Running Time: 205 minutes

Transfer Aspect Ratio: 4:3

Region 0 (suitable for all regions)

Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali's unfathomable short from 1929 is a masterpiece of filmmaking guile and audacity, a shocking celluloid dreamscape that destroyed film convention with bizarre images that still resonate today.

The film opens with a young Buñuel sharpening a knife, a cloud cutting the moon in the night sky, the said knife slicing a women's tender eyeball before shots of gaping, ant ridden hands and mouths stuffed with armpit hair push the film beyond its surrealist limits. Young subversives hoping to influence Paris's ruling artistic elite, Buñuel and Dalí got more than they bargained for when their film redefined the entire movement.

Proudly presented for the first time on DVD in Australia, this art film masterwork is accompanied by a host of very special features, including two documentaries on the artistic life of Luis Buñuel and Savador Dali.

JULES AND JIM

Rated: PG

Director: Francois Truffaut

Region 4 DVD - In French, with English subtitles

Dans les années 1900, deux hommes s'éprennent de la même femme et vont former le trio amoureux le plus célèbre de l'Histoire du cinéma : Catherine (Jeanne Moreau) et ses deux amants : Jules et Jim (Oscar Werner et Henri Serre). A propos de ce film, Truffaut dira : "Il fallait, en partant de la situation la plus scabreuse qui soit, réussir un film d'amour le plus pur possible."