The Vertical Smile

In 1914, sixteen year old Roger returned home from boarding school during vacation to find his puberty hit hard in a house filled with beautiful women. These women have previous engagements with other men who are away, and during this time, Roger impregnates them all, including his aunt and sister, then devises plans to cuckold the men.

In the carefree days before World War I, introverted Austrian author Jules strikes up a friendship with the exuberant Frenchman Jim and both men fall for the impulsive and beautiful Catherine.

While visiting her sister in Paris, a young woman finds romance and learns her brother-in-law is a philanderer.

In 1967, during the making of “La Chinoise,” film director Jean-Luc Godard falls in love with 19-year-old actress Anne Wiazemsky and marries her.

A washed-up filmmaker gets a second chance at stardom when he discovers stunning peasant Maria Vargas dancing in a Madrid nightclub. Goaded by his producer, the director convinces Maria to screen test for, and then star in, his next big picture. But as the producer's possessive nature and the realities of stardom weigh on Maria, she seeks a genuine lover with whom she can escape.

A woman involved with a terrorist group becomes dangerously close to the police officer guarding the bank they plan to rob.

Marcel is a taxi driver who luckily pickups a gorgeous woman who begins to undress herself while in the back seat. Soon she leads him to a Private Club where he can pick any woman he wants to satisfy his sexual fantasies. After he enjoys a few exciting moments with 2 lovely ladies he is introduced to the many characters that make up the Private Club and begins enjoying the sexual games. The Private Club isn't all that's on Marcel's mind though as he is madly in love with Lisa who he met in Paris.

Young sailor Edmond Dantès is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes, finds treasure, and reinvents himself as the wealthy Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on those who betrayed him.

A famous poet in postwar Paris, scorned by the Left Bank youth, is in love with both his wife Eurydice and a mysterious princess. Seeking inspiration, the poet becomes obsessed and follows the princess from the world of the living to the land of the dead.

Based on a true story. Madame Claude, a well connected Parisienne with dark past, runs a network of high-class call girls. She sends her girls to any place in the world to satisfy sexual desires of wealthy and powerful men. Claude's manipulations also involve big business and politics. Meanwhile, photographer David Evans is trying to clear his own criminal record by providing the authorities with pictures of Claude's girls with important clients in compromising positions. But powerful men can do anything to keep their secrets...

Depressed Alain Leroy leaves the clinic where he was detoxified. He meets friends, acquaintances and women, trying to find a reason to continue living.

A history of the French Revolution beginning from the decision of the king to convene the Etats-Generaux in 1789 in order to deal with France's debt problem. Part one spans the event until August 10, 1792 (when the King Louis XVI lost all authority and was imprisoned). Part two carries the story through the end of the terror in 1794.

A troubled and neurotic Italian Countess betrays her entire country for a self-destructive love affair with an Austrian Lieutenant.

Nelly leaves her lazy, unemployed husband to work for retired judge Mr Arnaud, forty years her senior, after he offers to clear her bills for her. While she types his memoirs the two develop a close friendship, but Arnaud becomes jealous when Nelly begins dating his good-looking young publisher.

In French Equatorial Africa, an idealist campaigns to save the African elephant, gaining support from a nightclub hostess and an ex-soldier. His cause attracts a mix of characters, including a U.S. commentator, a government aide opposed to him, and an ivory hunter with conflicting interests.

A pathetic police chief, humiliated by everyone around him, suddenly wants a clean slate in life, and resorts to drastic means to achieve it.

Having both suffered extreme losses, two disparate souls try to form a relationship for consolation rather than romance.

Saint Tropez. Julie Wormser and her lover, writer and neighbour Jeff Marle, plan the murder of her wealthy husband Louis, an alcoholic impotent. She hits him, and leaves the rest of the task to Jeff. Julie finds herself alone the following day, and becomes therefore the prime suspect. Where is Louis' body? Where is Jeff? Is there any secret beyond a door?

Four women are murdered, each knifed and, despite torn garments, remain virtuous. As famed police inspector Jules Maigret pieces the clues together, he comes to realise that for the elusive man that he suspects to be unmasked, he has to set a trap.

A sprawling drama centered on five key days in a family's life.

Helene, a pill-addicted anesthesiologist, is mourning the death of her boyfriend when, through a car accident she causes, she chances to meet the lethargic Gilles, a young man who lives for free at his mother's hotel. Gilles pursues Helene romantically, and she eventually softens up. Gilles, however, is also devoted to Bernard, a petty crook who revels in mugging gay men. All three struggle with relationships that seem to be going nowhere.

Prince Myshkin is a good man, yet his goodness borders on naivety—or even idiocy. After spending his youth in a Swiss sanatorium being treated for epilepsy and autism, he returns to Russia to enter social circles riddled with hypocrisy and greed. One emerges from the experience dazed, as if waking from a troubled dream.

Tsar Alexandre II meets a young student, Katia. He understands that he loves her and try to send her away but they end up seeing each other again and becomes his mistress. With the help of Katia, Alexandre prepares a liberal constitution, but these reforms make him hostile to the more privileged subjects without satirising the revolutionaries against the regime.

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. When he embarrasses Lardatte while disarming a hostage (the dead volunteer's father), Verjeat is told he's being transferred within a week. He speeds up his hunt for the goon and, with Lefévre, one of his young detectives, he engineers a complicated scheme to buy more time before the transfer. How should Verjeat play out his values of honor and duty?

A man accused of murder discovers a trail of corruption leading to the powerful family of his former love. Going underground, he seeks allies in a town where trust is scarce.

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 pretentious critic at a party. When an elderly man moves into the boarding house, he brings a machine he invented that can make people realize their subconscious dreams...

The story of a septuagenarian, recently divorced, which in its reconstruction desire and quest for a new companion will rediscover the small pleasures of life and the art of seduction.

Alain Revent, a seductive and refined man, derives a peculiar satisfaction from debasing his wives. The first, driven to the brink of despair, throws herself out of a window. Enlisting the help of an equally perverse casual acquaintance, Dino, the "handsome brute" proceeds to emotionally torture his second wife, Nathalie. The sadistic plan is picked up on by Officer Leroy who suspects the truth. Will he be able to snatch the unfortunate woman from the evil Alain's clutches?

The true story of explorer, journalist and writer Isabelle Eberhardt, originally from Switzerland. She moved to Annaba in Algeria in 1897 with her mother, who preferred to live in the Algerian neighborhoods rather than the European neighborhoods that she hated, and converted to Islam. Her lifestyle shocked the French colonialists: she dressed like a man, frequented cafes and smoke shops. Fascinated by the desert, she traveled the Sahara under the identity of Si Mahmoud, she published articles and books on the world she discovered in southern Algeria, strongly criticizing the colonial authorities. Arriving in El Oued, the soldiers prevent him from continuing his journey. She disobeys and overhears officers shooting Arab prisoners. Arrested, she was accused of espionage and was expelled from Algeria. She married Slimane, a Muslim non-commissioned officer in 1901. Having become French through this marriage, she could now reside in Algeria.

The charismatic, surly son of a wealthy industrialist, Clément, leads a double life as a member of a right-wing extremist organization. When he’s ratted out after a failed assassination attempt on a prominent politician, Clément and his long-suffering wife Anne flee Paris to the idyllic country home of his childhood friend, pacifist print-maker Paul. As affection blossoms between Paul and Anne, the emotional, as well as political tensions, soar and eventually explode.

During the century of the Spanish Gold, Doña Prouhèze, wife of a nobleman, deeply loves Don Rodrigo, who is forced to leave Spain and go to America. Meanwhile Prouhèze is sent to Africa to rule the city of Mogador. Ten years later Rodrigo leaves America and travels to Africa in search of Prouhèze to find out that she died and eventually meeting her daughter.

Popular animated hero Asterix and his faithful sidekick Obelix travel to ancient Egypt to help Cleopatra build a new summer home. Cleopatra and Julius Caesar have made a bet, with Caesar wagering the project cannot be completed in a few weeks time. With the help of a magic potion, Asterix comes to the rescue of the Queen of the Nile as Caesar and an angry architect plot against them.

Angelique is saved by the king of the cutthroats when she is endangered in the streets of Paris. After her hero is killed, she has many amorous affairs and becomes a successful businesswoman.

In the third and final episode of the trilogy, Fantômas imposes a head tax on the rich, threatening to kill those who do not comply.

A man helps the victim of an auto accident, not realizing that the man has actually been shot. The men who shot him are now after the man who helped him, in order to eliminate him as a potential witness. Soon they are killing everyone he even comes in contact with in order to get him.

Fanfan is a young handsome peasant. He joins the army to escape marriage because a gypsy girl predicted he will get glory and the king's daughter as a wife. But the gypsy girl was in fact Adeline, the daughter of the recruiting officer. Once he has discovered the stratagem, Fanfan refuses to forget this dream and decides to fulfill the destiny of the fake prediction.

Guillaume has made it: A machine that can clean dirty air by simply sucking all dirt into air balloons and then shipping them far far away so his explanation. Some Japanese business guys, after dinner with a lot of alcohol, order 5,000 pieces. His only problem: His production capacity is way to small so he gets to produce the machines in his private house. His wife Bernadette is far from being happy about it. Her private life goes down the line so she decides to leave Guillaume and to finally have revenge she candidates for major against her husband...

A collection of European T.V. commercials directed by a variety of well-known directors from across Europe and the U.S. Compiled and produced by Jean-Marie Boursicot.

A short mime adaptation of a Thomas Mann story about a Parisian urchin who makes her living selling human heads.

In a bold coup a Palestinian terrorist group captures the yacht Rosebud and kidnaps the millionaires five daughters on it. At first they demand film clips to be shown on major European TV stations. Undercover agent Martin is hired to hunt the terrorists down.

A shaman from the South American rain forest visits France for a public relations campaign. In a hotel's elevator in Paris he meets a French good-for-nothing named Perrin he's fascinated with. He follows Perrin to his flat and although Perrin is not very enthusiastic about so much interest in his person, he lets the shaman spend the night in his flat. After an official meeting on the next day being part of the PR campaign the shaman suffers from a heart attack. Hardly being able to speak and laying in a hospital bed he demands to see Perrin. The latter is not very interested in meeting the shaman again. However it looks like it is to late for animosities as the shaman and Perrin seem to be tied mentally somehow since they've met in the elevator.

France, July 1782. During her birthday, the beautiful young Marchioness Caroline meets the attractive soldier Gaston. It's love at first sight but Gaston does not wish to make a commitment because a military career waits for him. Caroline marries then a politician but the French Revolution bursts and Caroline has to run away to escape the guillotine. By running away she meets Gaston again who decides to help her.

Armand, a boastful womaniser, makes a bet that he can seduce any girl he wants. He soon crosses paths with a beautiful Parisian divorcee, who is nothing like anyone he has ever met before.

Alexandre, a young and honest farmer, is oppressed by an authoritarian wife, who makes him work like a dog. When she dies in a car crash, he decides to stay in bed, absolutely free and inactive. Just a dog is occupied to carry food and newspapers to him.

Haute Couture model in Paris becomes involved in the activities of two rival jewel thief gangs.

Wyatt Earp comes to a small town, Rio Bravo, to help the woman saloon owner against the town villain and to save a mine owner from robbery.

After an American Navy base is annihilated by a secret weapon, Agent OSS 117 is sent to Japan to investigate the organization that's claiming responsibility, and threatening the US with another attack, if they don't pay.

Jean Lerat begins his military service at an army camp. Despite his aunt’s attempts to pull a few strings to his advantage, the unfortunate Lerat manages to get on the wrong side of his bullying colonel…