Robert Darène

An African physician returns home after studying medicine in Paris. He marries and settles down to life in the bucolic splendor of his native land. When he has a confrontation with a white plantation owner, the white man sees red and casts a spell on the African doctor. Although he realizes the curse is an ancient tribal superstition, he still is plagued by the ghost of his late first wife. The black doctor and the white man are assimilated into cultures in which neither of them were born in this vexing jungle tale.

Open details →

This modest, unpretentious French film is a streamlined version of the true story previously cinematized as The Song of Bernadette (1943). Daniele Ajort plays the simple 19th-century French peasant girl who insists that she has experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary. Once this sighting becomes common knowledge, Bernadette's very existence becomes a religious and political hot potato. Thousands of people flock to the grotto at Lourdes where Bernadette claims she has seen the Holy Mother, believing that the waters therein contain recuperative powers. Bernadette dies under a cloud of controversy, but is ultimately elevated to sainthood by the Vatican.

Open details →

Fernand Martin, a schoolteacher in Nogent-le-Roi, is in love with Jacqueline, a postal worker and the older sister of one of his pupils. He asks for her hand in marriage, but her father refuses. One morning, he receives an appointment to Tahiti.

Open details →

Dany Robin plays the title character in the French comedy Mimi Pinson. The plot is strictly formula stuff, with Mimi being thwarted on all sides by those who have designs on her money and her virtue. Happily, our heroine triumphs over her foes and predators, finding true romance in the arms of Raymond Pellegrin.

Open details →

A group of fun-loving French soldiers manage to circumvent a band of cutthroat pirates and win the undying loyalty of a tribal potentate.

Open details →

Fernand Martin, a schoolteacher in Nogent-le-Roi, is in love with Jacqueline, a postal worker and the older sister of one of his pupils. He asks for her hand in marriage, but her father refuses. One morning, he receives an appointment to Tahiti.

Open details →

Goubbiah is a Yugoslav sponge fisherman. He loves Trinida, but she is promised to Peppo, the village drunkard. Jao tries to keep Goubbiah away from his daughter.

Open details →

The Emmaüs community opened and functioned thanks to the generous impetus of Abbé Pierre Groues, bringing together a cross-section of the underprivileged: unemployed truck drivers, former paratroopers, young people leaving prison, etc., and underprivileged families. The "ragpickers" manage to make a bit of money by practicing the art of "chine", while the abbé tries his hand at winning radio games. The accident and death of one of them will unite the Emmaus companions even more.

Open details →

During the Second World War, midshipman Dourdan, nicknamed 'Saucisse', distinguished himself by his clumsiness and his blunders. Charged with Lieutenant Goldfinch to convey an aircraft to Marrakech, he shot down an American bomber on the way, mistaken for a German plane.

Open details →

The Moroccan adventure of Charles de Foucauld, explorer in Morocco, in 1883-1884. The ex-officer's contact with the wisdom of the Koran, the mores of the natives, the solitude on the edge of the oases made him rediscover his faith and already we guessed in him the future Father de Foucauld.

Open details →

Danielle Darrieux stars as Arabella Delvaire in this baroque adaptation of Pierre Benoit's novel Bethshabee. Arabella is a woman of the world who arrives at a remote Foreign Legion outpost for a rendezvous with her current lover, Captain Duveuil. It so happens that one of Arabella's previous amours, Captain Somerville (Paul Meurisse), is also serving at the same post. So much for joining the Foreign Legion to forget. A climactic knife duel "solves" the film's various plot complications. Despite its Foreign Legion background, Bethsabee has next to no action, which must have made things difficult when the film was distributed to the U.S.

Open details →

Once upon a time, there was a queen who decided to return a sacred necklace that belonged to one of her ancestors. This necklace, she believes, will bring balance and prosperity to her people. Once upon a time, there was a scientist dedicated to ecosystem conservation who works to reintroduce wolves into the country. Once upon a time, there was a young orphan raised with a lion who refuses to be parted from him. This is the story of three homecomings that fate will bring together in an adventure spanning France and Gabon.

Open details →

An African physician returns home after studying medicine in Paris. He marries and settles down to life in the bucolic splendor of his native land. When he has a confrontation with a white plantation owner, the white man sees red and casts a spell on the African doctor. Although he realizes the curse is an ancient tribal superstition, he still is plagued by the ghost of his late first wife. The black doctor and the white man are assimilated into cultures in which neither of them were born in this vexing jungle tale.

Open details →

A group of fun-loving French soldiers manage to circumvent a band of cutthroat pirates and win the undying loyalty of a tribal potentate.

Open details →

Goubbiah is a Yugoslav sponge fisherman. He loves Trinida, but she is promised to Peppo, the village drunkard. Jao tries to keep Goubbiah away from his daughter.

Open details →