Jean-Daniel Pollet

Six vignettes set in different sections of Paris, by six directors. St. Germain des Pres (Douchet), Gare du Nord (Rouch), Rue St. Denis (Pollet), and Montparnasse et Levallois (Godard) are stories of love, flirtation and prostitution; Place d'Etoile (Rhomer) concerns a haberdasher and his umbrella; and La Muette (Chabrol), a bourgeois family and earplugs. (imdb)

Pollet's seminal Mediterranee cuts repeatedly between meditative camera movements around various subjects--Greek ruins, a Sicilian garden, a Spanish bullfight, a woman on a hospital cart, a fisherman--conjuring up a great many mysteries about their relation to one another.

In a secluded house near the sea a young man finds himself descending into madness.

Pollet films a variety of humble houshold and natural objects.

Léon (Claude Melki), a shy employee in municipal baths, loves Fumée, a prostitute of whom he would want to become the exclusive client. An evening, he attends a dance competition. This is a revelation. Léon decides then to follow the example of his friend Ramon (Guy Marchand), who seduces the women thanks to its talents of dancer, and dedicates to the tango. Quickly, he reveals an exceptional gift

Leon is the naíve tailor who believes men are coming to see his trollop sister Marie to have their palms read. Her boyfriend Maxime acts as her pimp. Marie saves Arlette from suicide and the shy Leon falls for the young provincial girl. Arlette is recruited by Maxime, and Leon learns the truth about his sister. He sends away Arlette's potential customers with a variety of ruses and excuses, eventually hoping to win the girl's heart himself.

Bassae is a cinematic study of a temple in Greece. (imdb)

Pollet provides an insight into life on the leper colony of Spinalonga, an island off Crete, through the eyes of Raimondakis, who tells the story of his life to the camera after having been excluded from his community to spend years of his life on the island with his fellow sufferers. Themes addressed include love, community, companionship and death and the importance of these values to all people whatever their state of health. (imdb)

An apocalyptic vision of man after a cosmic catastrophe, this film is a terrifying metaphor of a dehumanized future. The Brazilian Cinema Novo, German expressionism of the 20s, and the ideologically motivated "cruelty" of a Bunuel come together in this ferocious work of a French theatre collective -- an ambitious, almost completely successful example of visual cinema at its best. (Amos Vogel)

At a wedding ceremony, a shy young man contemplates dancing with various women, but can't seem to work up the nerve. Dancers' glances and movements create a quick pace, in lieu of any dialogue. The young man disguises his face with a bulbous nose, bushy mustache and sunglasses and, soon enough, he's dancing with the bride herself -- but his new-found confidence is quickly dashed when the groom cuts in.

Relying more upon looks, faces, and unease, rather than gags or dialogue, Pollet sets the cool elegance of the club's manager against the decidedly uncool Melki and his sartorial inadequacies. (Village Voice)

Documentary recording a foundry in the Perche.

Life aboard a fishing vessel near the Arctic.

Francesco, a young Sicilian aristocrat, scars an aging gangster who has set out to take away his property. The gangster vows to obtain vengeance, and Francesco is forced to flee across Greece with his girl friend, pursued by his antagonist's vicious henchmen.

An alien, master of the time from a distant star who travels centuries to centuries, explores our planet. He finds himself on a Brazilian beach with his magic ring.

The filmmaker travel from Provence to Greece in the footsteps of ancient civilizations with the poems of Yannis Ritsos and quotes of Homer, Claudel, Euripides, Ponge, all mixed in a book of philosophical and poetic notes.