Classics
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THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT - LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT

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young_girls_rochefort
  • Region 4 - Suitable for Australia
  • 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
  • Audio: French Dolby Digital 2.0
  • Subtitles: English
  • Release Year: 1967
  • Running Time: 120 minutes
  • Release Date: 19/03/2008
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

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donkey_skin
  • Encoding: Region 4 - Suitable for Australia
  • Rated: G - General
  • Actors: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais
  • Director: Jacques Demy
  • Distributor: Madman Entertainment
  • Label: Aztec International
  • Feature: Original Theatrical Trailer
  • Audio: French
  • Subtitles: English
  • Release Year: 1970
  • Running Time: 100 minutes

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.

LES MISERABLES

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les_miserables
- Réalisateur : CLAUDE LELOUCH 
- Interprète : MICHEL BOUJENAH   JEAN-PAUL BELMONDO   ALESSANDRA MARTINES
- Année : 1995
- Genre : COMEDIE DRAMATIQUE / VIDEO
- Editeur : AVENTI
Language: French - No subtitles - Region 2
"J'ai souvent rêvé de pouvoir porter à l'écran l'une d'entre elles. C'est donc naturellement que je suis allé vers Victor Hugo et son Jean Valjean ; cet homme simple qui s'efforce de traverser un monde compliqué, et compliqué qu'on peut se demander si ces Misérables n'intéressent pas seulement les romanciers, et les hommes politiques en période électorale... C'est donc à eux que je dédie ces Misérables de tous les temps avec, bien sûr, le souhait qu'un jour le bonheur sera encore mieux que la vie. " Claude Lelouch

PARIS VU PAR...

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paris_vu_par
  • Encoding: Region 4 - Suitable for Australia
  • Rated: PG - Parental Guidance
  • 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
  • Audio: French
  • Subtitles: English
  • Release Year: 1965
  • Running Time: 95 minutes
  • 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.

    L'AILE OU LA CUISSE

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    l'aile ou la cuisse

    - Réalisateur : CLAUDE ZIDI 
    - Interprète : COLUCHE   LOUIS DE FUNES   CLAUDE GENSAC
    - Année : 1976
    - Collection : LOUIS DE FUNES
    - Genre : COMEDIE / VIDEO
    - Editeur : UNIVERSAL MUSIC FRANCE S.A.S.
    - Label : STUDIO CANAL

    DVD Zone 2 - Language: French, English - Subtitles: French

    Charles Duchemin, le directeur d'un guide gastronomique qui vient d'être élu à l'Académie Française, se trouve un adversaire de taille en la personne de Jean Tricatel, le PDG d'une chaîne de restaurants. Son fils Gérard anime en cachette une petite troupe de cirque.

    Prenez la plus grande vedette comique française - de Funès - qui effectue son retour dans un rôle taillé sur mesure après trois ans d'absence. Adjoignez-lui un espoir venu du café-théâtre et du music-hall - Coluche - qui tient là son premier grand rôle au cinéma. Mitonnez-leur une histoire aux petits oignons où l'un serait le père de l'autre, où quiproquos et malentendus s'enchaînent sans discontinuer. Ajoutez-y un méchant d'anthologie - Tricatel, interprété par l'excellent Julien Guiomar. Placez enfin aux fourneaux un expert en artillerie comique, Claude Zidi (La moutarde me monte au nez, Les Ripoux). Résultat : vous obtenez l'une de ces comédies au fumet bien de chez nous dont on reprend volontiers une louche à chaque passage ! --Sylvain Lefort

    LA SOUPE AUX CHOUX

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    la soupe aux choux

    - Réalisateur : JEAN GIRAULT 
    - Interprète : JACQUES VILLERET   LOUIS DE FUNES   JEAN CARMET
    - Année : 1981
    - Collection : LOUIS DE FUNES
    - Genre : COMEDIE / VIDEO
    - Editeur : UNIVERSAL MUSIC FRANCE S.A.S.
    - Label : STUDIO CANAL

    DVD Zone 2 - Language: French, English - Subtitles: French

    Le Claude et Le Bombé, deux paysans du Bourbonnais portés sur la bouteille et la misanthropie, vivent dans un petit hameau, à la périphérie d'un village. Le premier est veuf, et le second célibataire. Une nuit, ils font la connaissance d'un extra-terrestre qui atterrit dans le champ du Claude dit Le Claude. L'extra-terrestre surnommé La Denrée découvre la soupe aux choux qui mijote chez le veuf et en rapporte sur sa planète. Le lendemain, l'extra-terrestre revient racontant que la soupe a fait sensation, et propose à Claude de venir habiter sur sa planète. Le Claude finit par accepter et entraîne avec lui Le Bombé.

    LA ZIZANIE

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    la zizanie

    - Réalisateur : CLAUDE ZIDI 
    - Interprète : LOUIS DE FUNES   JULIEN GUIOMAR   ANNIE GIRARDOT
    - Année : 1978
    - Collection : LOUIS DE FUNES
    - Genre : COMEDIE / VIDEO
    - Editeur : UNIVERSAL MUSIC FRANCE S.A.S.
    - Label : STUDIO CANAL

    DVD Zone 2 - Language: French, English - Subtitles: French

    Guillaume DAUBRAY, maire de sa petite ville de province, est un industriel spécialisé dans la fabrication de machines dépolluantes. Le CX 22 avaleur de fumée intéresse grandement la délégation japonaise qui signe un contrat de 3000 pièces. En contre-partie DAUBRAY n'a que 90 jours pour livrer les machines. Le préfet lui refuse l'autorisation de s'étendre sur un terrain voisin. Guillaume décide alors d'agrandir son usine en envahissant sa maison et en détruisant le potager que Bernadette, sa femme passionnée d'horticulture avait confectionné avec le plus grand soin. Furieuse, elle le quitte et part vivre à l'hôtel. Lors des élections municipales, Bernadette se présente contre lui sous la banière 'Défense de la nature'.

    L'AVARE

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    L'AVARE
    - Réalisateur : JEAN GIRAULT   LOUIS DE FUNES 
    - Interprète :
    MICHEL GALABRU   LOUIS DE FUNES   BERNARD MENEZ
    - Année : 1980
    - Collection : LOUIS DE FUNES
    - Genre : COMEDIE / VIDEO
    - Editeur : UNIVERSAL MUSIC FRANCE S.A.S.
    - Label : STUDIO CANAL

    POUIC POUIC

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    puic pouic

    - Réalisateur : JEAN GIRAULT 
    - Interprète : LOUIS DE FUNES   MIREILLE DARC   JACQUELINE MAILLAN
    - Année : 1963
    - Collection : LOUIS DE FUNES
    - Genre : COMEDIE / VIDEO
    - Editeur : UNIVERSAL MUSIC FRANCE S.A.S.
    - Label : STUDIO CANAL

    DVD Zone 2 - Language: French, English - Subtitles: French

    Pour se débarrasser d'Antoine, un amoureux quadragénaire, la précieuse Patricia propose à un jeune chauffeur de passer pour son époux. L'élu joue presque le jeu, au sein d'une famille mise sens dessus dessous par l'achat inconsidéré d'un faux gisement de pétrole sur les bords de l'Orénoque...

    Le premier grand rôle de Fufu, dans un personnage qu'il a peaufiné tout au long de sa carrière : celui d'un grand bourgeois irascible, gesticulant, grimaçant, aux prises avec son business et ses affaires de famille. Dans la grande tradition du vaudeville, les portes claquent, les coups de théâtre déboulent, l'action pétarade. Sous la houlette de Jean Girault – qui inaugure là une série de 12 films avec le comique français, des Grandes Vacances à La Soupe aux choux, en passant par la série des GendarmesPouic-Pouic bénéficie d'un casting de premier choix : dans le rôle de son épouse, Jacqueline Maillan s'en donne à cœur joie ; et le film use et abuse des potentialités boulevardières de ce couple d'anthologie ! À leurs côtés, on retrouve pêle-mêle Daniel Ceccaldi, Guy Tréjan, Philippe Nicaud, Roger Dumas, Christian Marin – bref toute la fine fleur des Grands Boulevards. Sans oublier une jeune débutante, Mireille Darc, et le fameux Pouic-Pouic... Quarante ans après, ce petit frère d'Oscar fonctionne toujours au quart de tour, malgré une réalisation un peu plate. --Sylvain Lefort

    LA FOLIE DES GRANDEURS

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    folie des grandeurs
    - Réalisateur : GERARD OURY 
    - Interprète :
    YVES MONTAND   LOUIS DE FUNES   ALICE SAPRITCH
    - Année : 1971
    - Genre : COMEDIE / VIDEO
    - French or English language with French subtitles
    Pour se venger de sa disgrâce, Don Salluste, ministre du roi d'Espagne, décide de compromettre la reine en la jetant dans les bras de son valet Blaze...

    UN CHIEN ANDALOU - LAS HURDES

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    un chien andalou
    • Encoding: Region 0 - Suitable for all regions
    • 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
    • Format: PAL
    • Release Year: 1929
    • Running Time: 205 minutes
    • Transfer Aspect Ratio: 4:3

    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

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    jules and jim
    • Encoding: Region 4 - Suitable for Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South America, Central America, Pacific Islands and Caribbean
    • Rated: PG - Parental Guidance
    • Director: Francois Truffaut
    • Languages: French
    • Subtitles: English

    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."

    LOVE ON THE RUN (L'AMOUR EN FUITE)

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    love on the run
  • Actors: Claude Jade, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Marie-France Pisier
  • Rated: M15+
  • Audio: French
  • Subtitles: English
  • Release Year: 1979
  • Running Time: 95 minutes
  • In Truffaut's fifth and final film of his semi-autobiographical "Antoine Doinel" series, we see Doinel in his 30's and newly divorced. Still ambivalent about relationships, the wrath of Doinel's mother forces him to confront his insecurities and rekindle some past
    relationships. Clips and characters from the four previous "Doinel" films makes this charming and sentimental film a must-see for any Truffaut fan.

    LE FEU FOLLET

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    le feu follet
    • Encoding: Region 4 - Suitable for Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South America, Central America, Pacific Islands and Caribbean
    • Rated: M - 15+ Mature
    • Director: Louis Malle
    • Distributor: Madman Entertainment
    • Label: Aztec International
    • Audio:
      • French Dolby Digital 2.0
    • Subtitles: English
    • Release Year: 1963
    • Running Time: 108 minutes
    • Transfer Aspect Ratio: 16:9
    Life has become unbearably painful for Alain who is in his early 30s. He once used alcohol to dull the pain. His estranged wife in New York has paid for a cure at a clinic in Versailles and sends an emissary, one of the many women he has known, to see how Alain is. She sees only the surface as does his doctor, who says it's time for Alain to leave the clinic. He goes to Paris the next morning and has lunch with old friends, a rendezvous in a cafe and is invited to a dinner party. Will Alain make a connection that will change his mind about ending it all?

    BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

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    beauty and the beast
    • Encoding: Region 4 - Suitable for Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South America, Central America, Pacific Islands and Caribbean
    • Rated: PG - Parental Guidance
    • Director: Jean Cocteau
    • Distributor: Madman Entertainment
    • Label: Directors Suite
    • Audio: French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
    • Discs: 1
    • Format: PAL
    • Release Year: 1946
    • Running Time: 118 minutes
    Jean Cocteau's interpretation of the classic fairy tale story of the beautiful young girl who sees the true loneliness of the disfigured beast is much more than a children's story. Illustrating the tale with live-action and fantastic prosthetics for Jean Marais as the Beast, Cocteau's vision is of a very adult dream world, in which the young girl cures the hideously disformed prince of his monstrous curse, demonstrating the awesome power of love.

    ASCENSEUR POUR L'ECHAFAUD

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    ascenseur pour l'echafaud
  • Encoding: Region 4 - Suitable for Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South America, Central America, Pacific Islands and Caribbean
  • Rated: PG - Parental Guidance
  • Director: Louis Malle
  • Distributor: Madman Entertainment
  • Label: Aztec International
  • Feature: Theatrical trailer, Aztec trailers
  • Audio: French Dolby Digital 2.0
  • Subtitles: English
  • Release Year: 1957
  • Running Time: 97 minutes
  • Transfer Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Whether the face of Jeanne Moreau, or the mournful trumpet of Miles Davis, this film is forever etched into the memory of all who have watched it. Narrative centres around a bungled crime of passion, but the lingering memories of the film stem from the black & white photography, the creeping tension of mood and music, and the magnificent face of Jeanne Moreau.

    LA CHINOISE

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    lachinoise
  • Actors: Juliet Berto, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Michel Semeniako, Anne Wiazemsky
  • Director: Jean-Luc Godard
  • Distributor: The AV Channel
  • Label: Directors Suite
  • Encoding: Region 4
  • Rated: M15+
  • Feature: Audio commentary by James Hewison, Director of the Melbourne International Film Festival
  • Audio: French Dolby Digital 2.0
  • Subtitles: English
  • Running Time: 96 minutes
  • Godard's brilliant dialectical farce, distinctly disquieting as well as gratingly funny, in which five Parisian students, members of a Maoist cell, discuss the implications of the Chinese cultural revolution and the chances of using terrorism to effect a similar upheaval in the West. Dazzlingly designed as a collage of slogans and poster images, it was widely attacked at the time for playing with politics. But Godard was well aware what he was doing creating these 'Robinson Crusoes with Marxism as their Man Friday', and his film stands as a prophetic and remarkably acute analysis of the impulse behind the events of May 1968 in all their desperate sincerity and impossible naïveté.

    A WOMAN IS A WOMAN

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    a_woman_is_a_woman
    • Encoding: Region 4 - Suitable for Australia
    • Rated: PG - Parental Guidance
    • Actors: Jean Paul Belmondo, Jean-Claude Brialy, Anna Karina
    • Director: Jean-Luc Godard
    • Distributor: Universal
    • Release Year: 1961
    Director Jean-Luc Godard's deceptively blithe tribute to the musical comedy features Anna Karina as an exotic dancer who decides that it is time for her to have a child. When her lover refuses to commit to the decision, she turns her romantic attentions to his best friend. This being a Godard film, the straightforward story serves as a framework for improvisation and stylistic experimentation, allowing for odd interludes and unexpected images. Rather than the sometimes alienating, dense intellectualism of later Godard works, Une femme est une femme offers aesthetic pleasure through luxurious visuals and a charming musical score by Michel Legrand.

    ALPHAVILLE

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    alphaville
    • Encoding: Region 4 - Suitable for Australia
    • Rated: M
    • Actors: Eddie Constantine, Anna Karina, Akim Tamiroff
    • Director: Jean-Luc Godard
    • Distributor: Universal
    • Release Year: 1965
    In Alphaville, Jean-Luc Godard fuses a hardboiled detective story with science fiction. Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine), a hero Godard borrowed from a series of French adventure films, comes to Alphaville, the capital of a totalitarian state, in order to destroy its leader, an almost-human computer called Alpha 60. While on his mission, Lemmy meets and falls in love with Natacha (Anna Karina), the daughter of the scientist who designed Alpha 60. Their love becomes the most profound challenge to the computer's control. Void of any flashy special effects, Alphaville uses 1960s Paris to depict the city of the future.

    BREATHLESS

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    breathless
    • Encoding: Region 4 - Suitable for Australia
    • Rated: PG - Parental Guidance
    • Actors: Jean Paul Belmondo, Daniel Boulanger, Jean-Luc Goddard, Henri-Jaques Huet, Claude Mansard, Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean Seberg, Van Doude
    • Director: Jean-Luc Goddard
    • Distributor: Universal
    • Running Time: 88 minutes
    A small time crook. Michel Poiccard, chased by the police after stealing a car, shoots one of them and flees. Back in Paris he finds an American Girlfriend and succeeds in seducing her again. He convinces her to go to Italy with him. But the police have discovered the murderer's identity and are on his trail...