Michael Lonsdale

A rule bound head butler's world of manners and decorum in the household he maintains is tested by the arrival of a housekeeper who falls in love with him in post-WWI Britain. The possibility of romance and his master's cultivation of ties with the Nazi cause challenge his carefully maintained veneer of servitude. (imdb)

When an international team of former Cold War intelligence adversaries meet in a warehouse, their adventure of friendship, intrigue and betrayal has just begun. Like the masterless Samurai of ages past, these modern day Ronin are embarking on their final covert mission -- to recover a mysterious briefcase for an unknown employer and to stay alive. (MGM)

5x2 is a haunting and realistic evocation of the evanescence of love, and how adult relationships evolve over time. Returning to a more intimate scale following his international smash "Swimming Pool," Ozon's chamber drama is an anatomy of a failed marriage told in reverse chronology. (ThinkFilm)

Steven Spielberg directs an international cast in Munich, a gripping suspense thriller set in the aftermath of the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munch Olympics. This dramatic exploration inspired by true events follows a secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and kill the 11 Palestinians suspected to have planned the Munich attack -- and the personal toll this mission of revenge takes on the team and the man who led it. (Universal Pictures)

Antoine Doinel joined the army but has just been discharged. The film tells his reunion with Christine Darbon (imdb)

An intellectually nonconformist monk investigates a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey. (imdb)

A professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" plots to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France. (imdb)

James Bond investigates the mid-air theft of a space shuttle and discovers a plot to commit global genocide.

An unassuming office worker is arrested and stands trial, but he is never made aware of his charges.

One of Luis Bunuel's most free-form and purely Surrealist films, consisting of a series of only vaguely related episodes - most famously... (imdb)

Fontaine Leglou, in her thirties, has everything. A job as an anesthesiologist, a faithful lover she would never leave, and a cat, and yet ... Fontaine is afraid. And when her lover makes a marriage proposal, she can neither say yes or no.

This is a jolly coming-of-age story about a 15-year-old boy named Laurent Chevalier who is growing up in bourgeois surroundings in Dijon, France.

Julie Kohler is prevented from suicide by his mother. She leaves the town. She will track down, charm and kill five men who do not know her... (imdb)

The disappearance of a nail clipper in a hotel room causes fear among the owners of the wayward object.

Paris, 1942. Robert Klein cannot find any fault with the state of affairs in German-occupied France. He has a well-furnished flat, a mistress, and business is booming. Jews facing discrimination because of laws edicted by the French government are desperate to sell valuable works of art - and it is easy for him to get them at bargain prices... (imdb)

Painter Francisco Goya faces a scandal involving his muse, who is labeled a heretic by a monk. (imdb)

It is a love story, in the Indies, during the 30's, in an overpopulated town located on the Ganges's verges. It is the monsoon season. Two days of this story are evocated. Faceless voices speak about this story. They remember it more or less... (festival-cannes.fr)

A shorter (4 hour) version of Out 1, a 12 1/2 hour fusion of lengthy improvised sequences with a modern adaptation of a mystery story by the French writer Balzac, creating a work of constantly shifting meaning. (guardian.co.uk)

Irrestisible charm and talent helps Serge Alexandre alias Stavisky, small-time swindler, to make friends with even most influential members of French industrial and political elite during the early 30s. But nothing lasts forever and when his great scam involving hundreds millions of francs gets exposed result is an unprecedented scandal that almost caused a civil war. (imdb)

Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy. (imdb)

The frozen body of Paul Fournier is discovered in Greenland where he had disappeared during a scientific expedition in 1905. Perfectly conserved he is brought back to life in the 1960s. His descendants take care of him: to spare him the cultural shock they behave so to make believe it's 1905 and they are his cousins, uncle... (imdb)

Chronopolis made in 1982 by Piotr Kamler is a fabulous city lost in space where strange pharaoh-like immortals kill the monotony of their deathless state by fabricating time, represented by enigmatic, morphing white balls. (YouTube)

Paris today. Simon works as psychologist in human resources department of petrochemical corporation. When Management gets him to investigate one of the factory's executives, Simon'perception goes disturbingly chaotic and cloudy. The experience affects his body, his mind, his personal life and his sensibility. The calm assurance that made him such a rigorous technician starts to falter. (imdb)

This Cold War thriller stars Martin Sheen as Alex Holbeck, a CIA agent dispatched to Berlin in order to infiltrate Soviet intelligence and obtain secrets from the Russian "Enigma" decoder. Holbeck's background as an East German defector helps him get inside, but soon his cover is blown and Holbeck is forced to seek help from an ex-lover, evading the KGB as time is running out and the lives of five Soviet dissidents hang in the balance. (moviesunlimited.com)

A special section is created in occupied France to gather suspects for the killing of a German officer.

When Nelly, a woman being just divorced, meets by chance M. Arnaud, a mature salesman just retired, begins a strange and special relationship between the two personalities. (imdb)

Lucky Luke promises to escort a group of emigrants from New York to California. On his way he prevents the Dalton brothers from getting away with their loot, and he must at the same time keep an eye on an indecent businessman, Mr. Crook.

Dramatization depicting the events surrounding Adolf Hitler's last weeks in and around his underground bunker in Berlin before and during the battle for the city. (imdb)

Joseph Rouletabille (Bruno Podalydès), a reporter for a local newspaper, investigates the attempted killing of Mathilde Stangerson (Sabine Azéma), who uses the yellow room of the title as her bedroom. At the time of the revolver shots her room was locked and the windows were barred, but when her father (Michael Lonsdale) enters after having forced the door, there is no-one there except for Mathilde. So who did it and how did he get away?

Ismahel is forced to leave his wife and daughter behind in Algeria. He seeks refuge in France but stays in contact with his family through letters. Meanwhile a funeral ceremony for a deceased farmers son in rural France forces a family to confront questions of death and faith.

Caine plays a successful English novelist whose discontented wife, played by Jackson, decides to take a holiday to Germany in order to 'find herself'. There she meets an ambiguous young man in an elevator which initiates an often bizarre, but extremely mature examination of desire, responsibility and the nature of love.

Out 1 is about two different theater troupes trying to put on plays by Aeschylus. As the film continues these characters and a few others begin to cross paths and interact.

A professor, his wife, a student, and a married woman travel to a hotel on the edge of the forest for a week-long vacation. The forest represents the world outside their experiences and spheres of influence. When they enter the forest, their thoughts, words and actions become one. The married woman's husband comes to collect her although she is not ready to rejoin the real world. (all movie guide)

A worker named David, is charged with the killing of a Jew in exchange for dogs owned by the Jew. Thereafter various conversations ensue during which it is shown that Jews seem to talk a different language (bfi.org)

Film consists almost entirely of images of the deserted, deteriorating Rothschild palace near Reims. (bfi.org.uk)

Pollet films a variety of humble houshold and natural objects.

The son of a German General becomes part of a mysterious conspiracy to gain hidden Nazi funds. (imdb)

A historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning a slave who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hopes of pursuing freedom while also falling in love with his master, the famous female philosophy professor and atheist Hypatia of Alexandria.

A young woman is questioned by the police and the judges, suspected of being a modern witch. The girl who shared her apartment has been found dead, and a pair of scissors impaled through her heart, as she lay attached to the bedposts. Apparently, the girl does have powers, to make all people around her fall prey to her spell, slipping progressively into desire, lust, and the unknown. (imdb)

Topol plays the 17th century Italian astronomer, whose theories run contrary to the edicts of the Catholic Church. Forced to renounce his ideas about planetary movement, Galileo nonetheless holds fast to those beliefs to the end of his days, certain that time will vindicate him. (All Movie Guide)

The police inspector in this movie (Michel Constantin) gets in over his head when he arranges to impersonate the (dead) relative of a drug lord. The dead man's wife and child do not take too kindly to his presence, and make his life miserable. What began as a simple sting operation becomes the focus of international attention by American drug agencies, the American Mafia, other local drug rings, and European police circles. Complicating matters are the attentions of other French police factions. (allmovie.com)

A middle-aged single French woman (Balasko) falls in love with an annoying demon (Auteuil). (imdb)

While Erendira, a beautiful teenage girl, has a surreal mystical vision, her grandmother's house catches on fire and burns to the ground. Her grandmother holds Erendira responsible and, in order to extract restitution from the girl, forces her into prostitution. Erendira's surreal mystical experiences continue while her grandmother grows rich from exploiting her. (imdb)

A drama about Cistercian monks who stand up for their beliefs when confronted by fundamentalists

Mr Jo, nicknamed "the man with the Buick", is the darling of the small town of Honfleur. But he is in fact a trafficker with a bad reputation who would like to forget about his past, now limiting himself to smuggling rubies under the cover of a charitable organization which offers underprivileged children holidays in Switzerland. However, Mr. Jo is in love with a pretty widow and, in order to marry her, he is willing to get involved in a hold-up again. (imdb)

A man describes to a group of people a time in his life when he became obsessed with spying on women in a cafe ladies room.

Juliette is a young woman who just can't help lying. She lies to her sister, Sophie, to Sophie's fiancé Martin, and to all the men she attracts with her womanly charms. But when she falls for an older man, a 40-year old lawyer, her reputation as a liar precedes her and she cannot convince him that he really does love him...

The King Dagobert's intestinal and sexual problems loom large as he survives an attack on his royal caravan then barely makes it to Rome to personally give thanks to the Pope. After he arrives at the Vatican, he becomes involved in the battle between two contenders for the papacy and has to face the machinations of a ruthless Byzantine princess. (Allmovie)

Pétepan learns that his money has been lost by Robinhoude brothers.He asks his assistants to withdraw his amount from the bank. (imdb)

This quickly-filmed avant-garde farce by prolific director Raul Ruiz features an insomniac (Michel Lonsdale) whose main preoccupation is surreptitiously watching private matters -- he is a voyeur. He and an equally disreputable acquaintance rape a woman alongside the Seine, a crime made all the worse because she is pregnant. The rest of this slow-paced film deals with the consequences of that action.

An elderly priest is devastated when his church is deconsecrated, leaving him without a role in life. It is not long before a group of illegal immigrants find shelter in the "church" and give the priest a new role and set of responsibilities. (tiff.net)

Set in German-occupied Paris in 1942, Younes, an Algerian black marketer, is arrested by the police and agrees to spy on a Parisian mosque suspected of helping resistance fighters and Jews. Witnessing the horrors of the Nazi regime, Younes stops collaborating to become a freedom fighter. (tiff.net)

A mysterious writer is involved in a love affair with his stepson's wife, leading to a web of intrigue and desire. (imdb)

A judge investigating police corruption finds that the deeper he digs, the more roadblocks he finds. (imdb)

After a businessman is captured by kidnappers, his rescue seems incumbent on a group of filmmakers, rather than a lackluster police force -- a premise that is matched by the rest of this movie. The kidnapping victim rambles on philosophically with his captors, who end up leaving him alone. (allmovie.com)

For reasons that never become clear, a married woman (Edith Clever) with a young son becomes separated from her husband (Bruno Ganz). Now that he has cut off her allowance, she has to find some means by which to support her child and herself. (allmovie.com)

On a visit in the Norman countryside at the week-end, a young English woman, Helen Wells, who is looking for a country place to rent, is offered assistance by a Frenchman, Philippe Mansart, who is joining a hunting party later. Among the party, which includes supposedly respectable and influential locals, are the two Danville brothers, who come across Helen and assault her in a disused barn, before she manages to shoot one of them and escape...

Julie Ballenger has spent the last five years in a psychiatric clinic. Leaving the clinic, apparently cured, she is engaged by a wealthy industrialist, Mostri, to work as a governess to his young nephew, Thomas. (FilmAffinity)

Set in the late 19th century, about a honored but poor patriarch who sacrifices himself to protect his fugitive son. (imdb)

Financial difficulties result in the takeover of Castejac de Toulouse by the American group Fielding. Benoît Castejac goes to Paris to negotiate with Morrison, the group's representative. The latter charges his public relations manager, Levêgue, to provide a call-girl to the Toulouse CEO... to make his stay more pleasant.

Sickened to see his students always sleeping in class, a teacher with a colleague and an anarchist start a war against the television. They climbed on Paris roofs to coat the T.V. antennas with a special product cutting the signal reception. (imdb)

Muriel (Annie Girardot) is a shy woman who bluffs and blusters around in order to hide her shyness and to protect her loneliness, even though she longs wistfully for a companion of some sort. She has been lonely so long that now she is an old maid and has never been wooed. But Muriel finally gets a glimpse of romance when Gabriel (Philippe Noiret) walks into the seaside hotel she is vacationing in.

In this star-laden slice-of-life comedy set in France, workers ponder a sign reading "Lonely Man" that hangs out the office facing theirs, a mix of visitors traverse the town square and the clerks of a local shop commingle with their patrons. (netflix)

Fritz Ducharrel has to fight real estate sharks in order to save the money received from land value tax. (imdb)

William Chaminade (Bourvil) is a veterinarian who watches as a woman jumps off the roof of a small building. After the girl is caught by a folksinger with a striking physique, he rushes to offer assistance to the jumper and her hero. The woman is distraught over not having enough lovemaking, so the good doctor prescribes sex as the cure and enlists the folksinger to perform the services. (Allmovie)

After viewing an unusual film about murder and the irony of fate, a man deliberately steps in front of a slow-moving vehicle, planning to use the minor accident which should result as an alibi for his own wife's murder which he has already engineered. However, what actually occurs is a very different scenario about the "art" of murder. (imdb)

Jean-Louis Matouzec works for French National Library as an expert looking after the restoration of old manuscripts.He falsifies marriage certificates as his wife refuses divorce. (imdb)

Michel Dolannes resigns from a major newspaper as a journalist to launch a new journal 'Le Cosmopolite' which reveals all kinds of shady deals.One day, he is killed but who is the killer ? (imdb)

A terrific film with a top-notch cast! Jack and Henry play hit men ordered to kill Eddie. Jack is torn between his orders and the loyalty he feels to his old pal, Eddie. An intriguing look at the emotional make-up of Mafia hit men. A truly memorable climax. (imdb)

Charles Senac, author of a unique novel with success is found dead in his home. Senac was the most despised of the whole neighborhood, including customers and the patron of the Yellow Fox, one Bar-restaurant where he had his habits.

Henry, a young actor, finds himself involved in a film by cinema superstar, Cédric Rovere. Charmed by his benevolence, feelings hitherto unknown are aroused, while Rovere, intrigued by Henry's dream, lives this shoot as an unexpected gift. (imdb)

Two bounty hunters (Albert Dupontel and Bouli Lanners) are looking for a cell phone in the french countryside. They meet cowboys, fools and Jesus. (IMBD)

Forty-five years after Out I was made, documentary filmmakers Robert Fischer and Wilfried Reichart interviewed cast and crew members and revisited some of the film's most significant locations.

While working on a documentary about the city of Bruges, an artistically frustrated filmmaker must deal with the increasing difficulties in his marriage. (Letterboxd)

Bartleby is a loner who gets hired as a clerk when a lawyer is desperate to find a reliable assistant. Unfortunately Bartleby isn't happy with his work. He falls into passivity and depression. When the law office moves, Bartleby prefers to stay in the abandoned rooms. People get fascinated his strange behaviour. (Wikipedia)

Julien, a movie director, is on the phase of editing his new film, "Juliette sacrifiée". Hurried by his producer, he asks for the help of a professional editor. It is Anne, with whom Julien is soon falling in love. During the whole of the movie, both are sitting in front of the editing table, where they listen to music, talk about politics and what movies should and should not be about, make love, and finally end up editing the film as was planned. (imdb)

Above all, its a film whose pretext -- a human interest newspaper clipping -- remains merely a pretext; whose essence consists of what Barthes called the catalysis, ie: all elements which are not directly part of the story but which, on the contrary, slow it down and subvert it. Hanoun's efforts are dedicated to divorcing his film from the domain of literary fiction and bringing it closer to painting and music." (Dominique Noguez)

Imaginary reconstitution of Carl-Emmanuel Jung's process, war criminal, free, judged after twenty years for his crimes. (Le Cinematographe)

This complex and puzzling French drama walks the fine wavering line between the fictional and the very real as it tells the tale of a strangely erotic event in the life of a little girl and the musings of a schizophrenic woman. Also involved is an enigmatic spouse who prepares a surprise for a burglar. (Sandra Brennan, Rovi)

A lonely and unsociable man is spying on customers in a department store in Geneva. He gets his eyes on a gorgeous creature with a musical instrument. (imdb)

Marc and his gang have a brilliant idea (or so they think!) : they will kidnap Vénus de Palma, a (very) rich heiress. Well Venus, also known as Cookie, is duly abducted but holding the lovely twenty-year-old beauty is a horse of another color. Cookie is indeed both seductive and intelligent and manages to seduce one member of the gang after the other, pitting the ones against the others... The brilliant idea soon proves a nightmare! (imdb)

During WW 2, a Basque shepherd is approached by the underground, who wants him to lead a scientist and his family across the Pyrenees. While being pursued by a sadistic German. (imdb)

Documentary on the evolution of life, from the first drop of water to the great primates. (Allocine)

Touching story about old men.

American Neil Bowman is traveling through France when he meets British photographer Lila. They are hired by French land owner Duc de Croyter to escort a Hungarian scientist to New York. (themoviedb.org)

Four vice-presidents fight among themselves to reach the top post after the president dies. Their wives take part in the various schemes to downgrade the opposition by unorthodox means. (imdb)