VAN WYLEN FRENCH VIDEO & DVD HOLDINGS
FALL 2002
DVD (films)
p.2
FILMS
p.3
ABOUT CINEMA
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PLAYS
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ABOUT THEATER
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OPERA
p.22
BALLET
p.22
ARTS
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MUSIC
p.25
PHOTOGRAPHY
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PAINTING
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LITERATURE
p.28
CIVILISATION
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FRANCE
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AFRICA
p.33
ANTILLES
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QUEBEC
p.35
MISCELLANEOUS
p.36
DVD
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400 Coups, Les (4oo Blows, The). 1959, 99 minutes, French with optional English subtitles,
black and white. A film by François Truffaut.
Fourteen-year-old Antoine Doinel lives in a cramped apartment with his mother
and stepfather, neglected by them and unlucky at school. Living an intense imaginative
life of his own he gets into trouble and is finally committed to reform school from which
he escapes and runs towards the sea, which he has never seen.
CALL NUMBER: PN1995 .J87 Q3 1999
Alphaville (une étrange aventure). 1965, 99 minutes, French with optional subtitles, color.
A film by Jean-Luc Godard.
Secret agent Lemmy Caution travels to another galaxy and finds himself in a
computer-run society which is dedicated to technology and outlaws emotion.
CALL NUMBER: PN1995 .9. S26 A47 1998
Cet Obscur Objet du Désir (That Obscur Object of Desire). 1977, 104 minutes, French with
English subtitles. Directed by Luis Bruñuel.
A wealthy older man has an affair with a young maid played by two different
actresses in this darkly humorous satire on sexual obsession.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2623 .O8 C48 2001
Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie, Le. 1972, 2 videos (101 and 98 minutes), French with
optional English subtitles. Directed by Luis Bruñuel.
An upper-class sextet sits down to dinner but never eats, their attempts continually
thwarted by a vaudeville mixture of events both actual and imagined.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .C528 2000
Entre Nous (Coup de Foudre). 1983, 112 minutes, French with English subtitles, color.
Set in Lyons in the 1950s, this is the story of Madeleine and Lena who are trapped
in a rut of middle-class complacency. Their relationship deepens into a dependency that
eventually bursts the confines of the provincial society around them.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .C7346 1998
Genou de Claire, Le (Claire’s Knee). 1970, 106 minutes, French with English subtitles,
color. Written and directed by Eric Rohmer.
Satirizes a diplomat’s sexual temptations. On vacation without his fiancée, he flirts
with a brash, charming nymphet, while harboring a secret, peculiar obsession for her
stunning teenage sister.
CALL NUMBER: PN1995 .9. F78 G46 1997
Journal d’une Femme de Chambre, Le (Diary of a Chambermaid, The). 1964, 98 minutes,
French with English subtitles, black and white. Directed by Luis Bruñuel. Narrated by
Jeanne Moreau.
A chambermaid with Paris flair, gets a job at a country estate. The family she
works for and the other staff members are a strange sort and she must learn the ways of
the country living and neighbor rivalry. After a child is murdered near the estate, she
begins to have suspicions as to whom may be responsible.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2364 .M7 J68 2001
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Mon Oncle. 1958, 116 minutes, French with optional English subtitles, color. With and
directed by Jacques Tati.
A comedy in which the vague and clumsy M. Hulot, in contrast to his more
wealthy sister and brother-in-law, is constantly at odds with the modern world.
CALL NUMBER: PN1995 .9. F67 .M66 2001
Subway. 1985, 104 minutes, French dubbed into English, color. Directed by Luc Besson.
With Isabelle Adjani.
Fred, drifter and fugitive from the corporate world, makes his new home in the
Paris metro, seduces his ex-boss’s wife Helena and involves her in his schemes.
CALL NUMBER: PN1995 .9. D583 1997
FILMS
A Bout de Souffle (Breathless). 1960, 90 minutes, French with English subtitles, black and
white. Based on a story by François Truffaut. Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. With JeanPaul Belmondo and Jean Seberg.
A playful car thief accidentally shoots a policeman, then hides in Paris with a hip
American girl, trying to hustle enough cash for a getaway.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2680 .R776 B7413 1997
A Propos de Nice. 1929-1931, 35 minutes, silent film.
“A propos de Nice” juxtaposes images of vacationers on the beach with
impoverished slum dwellers in Nice, France. + “Taris” is a motion study of Jean Taris
utilizing underwater cinematography.
CALL NUMBER: PN1995. 9. E96 A2 1998
Accompagnatrice, L’ (The Accompanist). 1992, 111 Minutes, French with English
Subtitles, Color. With Richard and Romane Bohringer, Elena Safonova.
Winter 1942-43, Paris and London, Sophie accompanist to superstar singer lives the
high life on her coattails in a love-hate relationship. Singer's husband makes shady deals.
Sophie is pained and overshadowed by the singer, misses her own chances for happiness.
CALL NUMBER: PG3476.B425 A63
Argent de Poche, L’ (Small change). 1976, 105 Minutes, French with English subtitles,
Color. A film by François Truffaut.
The setting is Thiers, a town in south France selected by Truffaut because "it was
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small enough that you keep running into people you know--it had a sense of
community." Within that warmhearted community, Truffaut interweaves vignettes of
puppy love, school days, bragging rights, trips to the movie house, loving parents...and
one boy's escape from the nightmare of child abuse. Only Truffaut could take a story of
such straightforward simplicity and make it so astonishingly moving an experience.
Small Change is a treasure.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .A73
Au Revoir Les Enfants. 1987, 104 Minutes, French, Color. Directed by Louis Malle.
Julien Quentin lives in a boarding school. His strong character makes him a leader
among the children. A lonely boy, Jean Bonnet, becomes good friends with Julien and
they become inseparable until the Gestapo show up in class and call out names looking
for Jews. Jean Bonnet is taken away...
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .A85
Babar et le Père Noel. 1985, 34 Minutes, French, no subtitiles.
King Babar takes a journey in search of the legendary Father Christmas. But
lurking along on Babar's trail is Babar's arch-enemy, Rataxes, the Rhinoceros, who wants
all of Santa's toys for himself.
CALL NUMBER: PZ10.3.B767 B3
Bal, Le. 1982, 113 minutes, color. Based on the stage production created by Jean-Claude
Penchenet. Directed by Ettore Scola.
Le Bal takes place in a hypothetical Parisian dance hall and its plot is
communicated entirely through mime, its pop music soundtrack and period ballroom
dances.
CALL NUMBER: PN1995 .9. M86 B6 1984
Bas-fonds, Les. 92 minutes.
The story of a group of social outcasts in the 19th century moscow living together in
a filthy rooming house, some trying to escape, some attempting to adjust, and others
hoping to maintain their illusions.
CALL NUMBER: PG3463 .N2
Belle de Jour. 1967, 100 minutes, French with English subtitles, color. Directed by Luis
Bruñuel. With Catherine Deneuve.
Subtle, erotic film about a wealthy young surgeon’s wife who indulges her
masochistic fantasies by working as a part-time prostitute in a Paris brothel.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2621 .E77 B45 1990z
Belle et la Bête, La (Beauty and the Beast). 1946, 90 minutes, B & W, French with English
subtitles. Directed by Jean Cocteau.
A magnificent work of art as well as a classic cinematic experience. Beauty and the
Beast brings to life the enchanting fable of the kindly beast and the self-sacrificing beauty
whose love releases the prince in him. Cocteau creates a mood of dream-like delicacy and
ethereal charm.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2605 .O15 J42 1946
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Bête Humaine, La. 1938, 75 minutes, black and white, French with English Subtitles. Based
on the novel by Emile Zola. With Jean Gabin.
The scion of the alcoholic Rougon Macquart family, Jacques Lantier is a man who
loves a married woman, but whose own problems drive him to kill her.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2498 .A1 1997
Black and White in Color. 1977, 88 minutes, French with English subtitles, color. Directed
by Jean-Jacques Annaud.
The idyllic life in a French-African settlement is rudely interrupted in 1915 by news
of war in Europe. The French gamely assemble a rag-tag army of native soldiers to try to
capture a neighboring German settlement. The result is a classic farce whose comedy is
enlivened by the antic clash of African versus European customs.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .B52 1987
Blood of a Poet. 1930, 55 minutes, French with English subtitles, black and white. A film
by Jean Cocteau.
An artist is driven mad by the sight of his own blood and a drawing of a mouth
that seems to come to life. The combination sends him off on a series of bizarre
adventures that strive to explain how artists become obsessed with their works.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2605 .O15 B56 1980
Camille Claudel. 1989, 159 Minutes, French with English subtitles, Color. A film by Bruno
Nuytten. With Isabelle Adjani and Gérard Depardieu.
This is the true story of Camille Claudel and Rodin's passionate obsession with art
and with each other. Both an inspiring saga of artistic vision and the haunting story of a
doomed romance, it offers a brilliant study of the thin line separating creativity, passion,
and madness. Combining stunning cinematography, powerful performances and a
timeless love story, this film is itself a masterpiece.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .C26
Chateau de Ma Mère, Le (My Mother's Castle). 1990, 97 Minutes, French with English
Subtitles. Directed by Yves Robert. Based on the work of Marcel Pagnol.
Young Marcel dreams of returning to the vacation house in the valley. So they go
Christmas, Easter, and then every weekend. They find a key that shortens their path to
the cottage but a guard makes it difficult...
CALL NUMBER: PQ2631.A26 Z54
Chocolat. 1989, 105 Minutes, French with English subtitles, Color. A Film by Claire Denis.
With Cécile Ducasse.
A mesmerizing memoir of life in colonial Africa in the 1950s seen through the
unblinking eyes of the young daughter of a French official. A young woman has returned
to Cameroon to trace her past...Soon she is swept back to her childhood. Stifling isolation
and sexual frustration create an undercurrent of tension that threatens to explode as an
assortment of Europeans with little past and less future pass through their sun-baked
outpost. Visually breathtaking and emotionally haunting, this stunning directorial
debut presents a side of Africa--and of youth--never before captured on film.
CALL NUMBER: DT546 .C4
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Clockmaker, The. 1973, 100 minutes, French with English subtitles, color. Based on the
novel by Georges Simenon.
In Tavernier’s 1973 filmmaking debut, a tranquil man of Lyons has his life
shattered when he learns that his son is wanted for murder. As he struggles to emerge
from his self-willed solitude and create real communication with his son, police and
media add to his burden.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2637 .I53 C4613 1998
Colette. 1951, 35 Minutes, French with English subtitles, Black and White. Society for
French American Cultural Services and Educational Aid.
This film about her life, written and directed by Colette herself, was made three
years before the death of the famous woman writer.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2605.O28 C65
Colonel Chabert, Le. 1992. 111mns.
Gerard Depardieu stars as the returning war hero who is not supposed to return. Now he
faces another battle at home to claim what is rightfully his. Features Fanny Ardant.
CALL NUMBER: PQ 2163.C7
Comte de Monte Cristo, Le (Count of Monte Cristo, The). 1998, 4 videocassettes (480
minutes), color, French with English subtitles. TV adaptation of the work of Alexandre
Dumas. With Gérard Depardieu.
Tells the dramatic story of Edmond Dantes, a young French sailor who is falsely
denounced as a political traitor and injustly imprisoned for 18 years without trial. After a
daring escape, Dantes flees to the island of Monte Cristo, where he finds a colossal
treasure bequeathed to him by a dying fellow inmate. Using these riches, he assumes a
new identity and devises, plan to vengeance upon all those who betrayed him.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2226 .A3 D4 1999
Conte d’Automne (Autumn Tale). 1999, 110 minutes, French with English subtitles.
In the fourth tale of “Tales of the four seasons” by Eric Rohmer, Magali is a 45-year
old winegrower whose children have just left home and whose friends are trying to find
her a man.
CALL NUMBER: PQ 2678 .03455 C6
Cyrano de Bergerac. 1990, 138 Minutes, French with English subtitles, Color. A film by
Jean-Paul Rappeneau. With Gerard Depardieu, Jacques Weber, and Anne Brochet.
One of the most famous romances of all time comes to brilliant life in this dazzling
new film based on the world famous play. Cyrano is the 17th Century soldier-adventurer
who is secretly in love with the beautiful, young Roxane. Believing he is too ugly because
of his grotesque nose to ever win Roxane, the eloquent Cyrano helps Christian, a tonguetied soldier, to woo her with love letters. But Christian is killed in battle and Cyrano feels
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compelled to keep his secret. Years later, Roxane living in a convent, still faithful to her
husband Christian, is visited by her mortally wounded friend Cyrano. It is then that
Roxane realizes that it was Cyrano that she had loved all the time. His secret revealed,
Cyrano dies as he had lived, heroically and fearlessly.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2635.O7 C9
Dimanche à la Campagne, Un (A Sunday in the Country). 1984, 94 minutes, French with
English subtitles, color. A film by Bertrand tavernier.
An aging Impressionist painter in pre-World War I France is revitalized one
Sunday afternoon by a visit from his energic daughter.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2603 .O64 M62 1998
Diner de Cons, Le (Dinner Game, The). 1998, 81 minutes, French with English subtitles.
Laughter is on the menu when the creator of La Cage Aux Folles serves up a tasty
comic feast with this hillarious farce. Pierre and his snobbish friends have a standing date
for dinner. Every week, they compete to see who can bring the biggest “idiot” to the
party. Pierre is sure he’s found a winner in the unsuspecting François, a ministry
accountant whose hobby is making matchstick models of famous monuments. But when
circumstances trap Pierre in his apartment with Francois, the tables are turned and
everyone gets their just desserts.
CALL NUMBER: PN 1997 D5 2000
Double vie de Véronique, La (Double life of Véronique, The). 1991, 96 minutes, Polish
and French with English subtitles, color. Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski. With Irène
Jacob.
Born on the same day, a young Polish singer and a French music teacher and
aspiring singer share the same talents and the same sense that somewhere there exists
another person with whom her life is intertwined.
CALL NUMBER: PN1995 .9. F67 D68 1992
Enfants du Paradis, Les (Children of Paradise). 1945, 195 minutes, B & W, French with
English subtitles. A film by Marcel Carné.
Set in the 1840’s when pantomime and melodrama were at their height on Paris’
famed theater street, The Boulevard of Crime, this film portrays the actors and thieves
who made the Boulevard their home. Arletty stars as a woman loved by a mime, an actor,
a villain, and an aristocrat.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .E63
Femme du Boulanger, La (Baker’s Wife, The). 1938, 124 minutes, French with English
xubtitles, black and white. Written and directed by Marcel Pagnol.
When the beautiful, young wife of the local baker runs off with a handsome
shepherd, the tranquility of the village is shattered. The villagers are forced to take action
when the inconsolable baker is too heartsick to bake bread. The whole village organizes to
lure, cajole and force the young woman away from her lover and back to her husband –
so that they can have bread on their tables.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2613 .I57 F46 1988
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Feu Follet, Le (Fire within, The). 104 minutes, French with English subtitles. Written and
directed by Louis Malle.
Portrays the last 48 hours in the life of a dissolute playboy as he heads relentlessly
toward suicide.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2607 R5 F4 1992
Films of George Méliès. 54 minutes. Silent and musical accompaniment added; some
credits in English and French.
A collection of George Méliès trick films. These short films combine live action and
special effects and feature travelers in time or space to fantastic or exotic locations.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .A1 F557 1996
Finzan. 1990, 107 minutes.
Finzan is the story of two women's rebellion. Nanyuma, a young widow, refuses
her brother-in-law, the village fool, when he asserts his traditional right to "inherit" her.
Fili, a young girl sent from the city by her conservative father, is brutally "circumcised" by
the village women who are scandalized that she resists the age-old custom. These two
women's desire to control their own lives threatens the traditions of male supremacy in
the village. Customs which had bound the community together now serve to drive out
these women - one into exile, the other possibly to her death.
CALL NUMBER: DT 551 .45 .B35 F5 1990
Germinal. 1993, 160 minutes, color, French with English subtitles. A film by Claude Berri.
Based on Emile Zola’s novel of class war in the 19th century coal industry, Germinal
tells the story of the robust miner Maheu, his large family and a mysterious outsider
named Lantier. When wages are cut and working conditions at the mine become
intolerable, a bitter strike results, instigated by the idealistic Lantier and led by the
unshakable Maheu. The strike drags on through winter, and kills several miners. There is
but one bright spot in Lantier’s life - Maheu’s daughter Catherine, for whom he will also
have to fight.
CALL NUMBER: PQ 2504 .A4 1994
Gervaise. 1957, 115 Minutes, French with English subtitles, Black and White. With Maria
Schell and Francois Perier.
Based on Emile Zola's Assommoir. In 19th century Paris, a woman struggles to
keep her family going but finally succumbs to the tawdry life of her drunken husband.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2496 .A2 1990
Gloire de Mon Père, La (My Father's Glory). 1990, 108 Minutes, French with English
subtitles, Color. Directed by Yves Robert. Based on the work of Marcel Pagnol.
An 11 year-old boy spends an enchanted summer in the rugged French
countryside with his family. The experience becomes a turning point in his young life
and cements his relationship with his father.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2631.A26 Z53
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Grand Chemin, Le (The Grand Highway). 1988, 104 Minutes, French with English
subtitles, Color. A film by Jean-Loup Hubert.
Set in the late 50s in rural France, a young boy spends the summer with friends of
his mother. He is befriended by the village tomboy, experiences earthly country life, and
by summer's end, the shy, vulnerable city-bred boy has learned to adapt to life's harsh
realities. Largely autobiographical, this film is a poignant and humorous film based on
the childhood experiences of the writer-director.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .G67
Grande Illusion, La. 1997, 113 minutes.
During World War I, three captured French pilots have an uneasy relationship
with their German commandant.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .G68
Haine, La (Hate) 1995, Color, 95 minutes, French with English subtitles. A film by
Mathieu Kassovitz.
After a young Arab is wounded by a police inspector during a riot in a trouble
ridden suburb of Paris, the neighborhood is up in arms. The youth battle with the police
and hold a low-rent housing project in a state of seige. Among these youths blinded by
their hatred of the system, Hubert, Said and Vinz, three inseparable friends live out the
most important day of their lives. Kassovitz won best director in Cannes 1995 for this
film.
CALL NUMBER: PN 1997 . .H24 1996
Héros Très Discret, Un (A Self Made Hero). 1997, 105 minutes, color, French with English
subtitles.
In this droll comedy Mathieu Kassovitz stars as Albert Dehousse. At once a feeble
slae to his mother’s madness, history will remember Albert’s captivating rise to heroism
as a leader of the French Resistance. As brilliantly as de Gaulle eludes his nation’s
collaboration with the Nazis, so will Albert shed his life of mediocrity in favor of one
more fantastical.
Restricted from service, Albert can only watch as the war ends without him. He
desperately resolves to flee to Paris where his inspired gift of deception and trickery will
lead to a tenaciously drawn plan reinventing a new and heroic identity for himself - a true
reminder that the best lives are often the ones we make up.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .S45 1998
Hiroshima, Mon Amour. 1997, 86 minutes.
A brief but intense affair between a French actress and a Japanese architect is the
focus of this heartbreaking study of war and peace, of memory and remorse. From the
opening scene, which juxtaposes two intertwined bodies with footage of Hiroshima’s
atom bomb survivors, Resnais fuses the past with the present, personal pain with public
anguish. With its innovative use of flashbacks and sound, this highly influential film
changed our concept of time in cinema.
CALL NUMBER: PN 1995.9.F67 H57
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Hussard sur le Toit, Le (The Horseman on the roof). [videorecording] [S.1.]: Miramax
Home Entertainment, 1997, 119 minutes, French with English subtitles. A film by JeanPaul Rappeneau. Based on the novel by jean Giono.With Juliette Binoche and Olivier
Martinez.
In a world ravaged by revolution and violence, two strangers – a handsome
renegade and a beautiful countess – find their only chance for survival in each other.
Together they undertake a perilous cross-country journey where they will also discover
unmatched danger, excitement…and passion.
CALL NUMBER: PN 1997 .H66 1997 -- video
Hyenas. 1992, 113 minutes, English
An old woman, Linguère Ramatou, returns to Colobane, the decaying village
where she was born, now that she has become the richest woman in the world. She seeks
revenge against Dramaan Drameh, the lover of her youth who betrayed her, forcing her
out of the village and into a life of prositution. She offers the villagers a trillion dollars if
they will execute Dramaan. At first outraged, they easily become addicted to the
pleasures of the consumer society. In the end, they literally consume Dramaan, leaving
behind only his tattered clothes, like hyenas.
CALL NUMBER: PT 2607 .U493 BY 1993
Indochine. 1992, 160 Minutes, French with English subtitles, color. A film by Regis
Wargnier. With Catherine Deneuve.
Regis Wargnier's epic is set during the French occupation of Southeast Asia in the
1930s. Catherine Deneuve plays a plantation owner who searches for her adopted
Vietnamese daughter Camille (Linh Dan Pham) after the young woman falls in love and
becomes a communist revolutionary.
"This intimate and tautly scripted work
interweaves layers of deep affection with stirring historical details of 30s French IndoChina, maintaining throughout an unshakable tension of a world about to change"
(Toronto Festival of Festivals). Winner of the 1992 Academy Award for Best Foreign
Language Film.
CALL NUMBER: PN1995.9.L6 I6
J’accuse. 1939, 125 minutes, English subtitles.
A strange man, obsessed by the horrors of war, calls upon the millions of dead
soldiers from World War I to rise from their graves and march upon the cities of the
world.
CALL NUMBER: D522.23 J223 1991
Jacquot. 1994, 118 minutes, French with yellow English subtitles.
A film by Agnès Varda on husband’s, director Jacques Demy, childhood in Nantes
CALL NUMBER: PN 1997 .J256
Jean de Florette. 1987, 122 Minutes, French with English subtitles, color. A film by Claude
Berri. With Yves Montand and Gerard Depardieu.
Set in the rugged hills of old-world France, this powerful story of greed and
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passion begins with the simple ambition of one man (Jean Cadoret), a hunchback who
inherits a farm from his mother and foolishly hopes to become a gentleman farmer. But
even before he arrives, his powerful neighbor is plotting to steal his land, aware of a
hidden spring on the property. Working with his sneaky nephew, the greedy old man
intends to use the water to grow a lucrative field of carnations. When the wicked scheme-and a severe drought--bring Jean to the brink of destruction, the courageous farmer
makes one last attempt to find water on his land. But his noble efforts lead only to
heartbreaking tragedy.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2631.A26 J4
Jules et Jim. 1962, B & W, French with English subtitles, 105 minutes, Franscope. A film by
François Truffaut.
Jeanne Moreau is the amoral, mysterious Catherine, an elusive beauty who desires
two devoted friends, Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre), and must have them
both. But for Catherine, no commitment is ever final. Her restless, reckless spirit keeps her
from experiencing true love, and leads, ultimately, to tragedy for all three. Jules and Jim is
a gentle, lyrical hymn to the fragility of life, love, and friendship.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2635 .01958 J84 1992
Keita!: The Heritage of the Griot. 94 minutes. English.
Keïta introduces Americans, young and old, to one of the most important works of
African oral literature, The Sundjata Epic. The film frames its dramatization of this legend
within the story of a contemporary young African's initiation into the history of his
family. When a djéliba, a master griot or bard, arrives mysteriously at the home of Mabo
Keïta to teach him "the meaning of his name," boy and griot are inevitably brought into
conflict with his Westernized mother and schoolteacher, who have rejected African
tradition. The griot reveals to Mabo the story of his distant ancestor, Sundjata Keïta, the
13th Century founder of the great Malian trading empire. It describes the events leading
up to Sundjata's birth as the son of the ugly, hunchbacked second wife of a Mandé king.
Sundjata is crippled at birth by his father's first wife who fears a prophecy that he will
displace her son as king. The film tells the story of how, from these unpromising
beginnings, Sundjata first walks and gradually acquires the strength, wisdom and occult
powers he will need to fulfill his destiny as one of the great leaders of African legend.
CALL NUMBER: Video DT533.K45 K44 1994
Lancelot of the Lake. 1975, 80 minutes, French with English subtitles, color.
Robert Bresson's masterpiece is set in the last days of the age of chivalry. It is a
mystical, haunting film which depicts the doomed quest of the Knights of the Round
Table for the Holy Grail. Told in Bresson's spare style, this is a film as audacious as it is
mesmerizing. With Luc Simon, Laura Duc Condominas and Humbert Balsan.
CALL NUMBER: PQ1489.L2 L26
Lucie Aubrac. 116 minutes. French language, with English subtitles. A film by Claude
Berri.
Lyons, France. March, 1943. WWII rages on and the French Resistance movement
courageously fights the Nazi occupiers. Activist Raymond Samuel, after being betrayed
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by a comrade, is arrested by the Gestapo and found guilty of war crimes. Beaten,
tortured and sentenced to death, Raymond’s last – and only – hope for survival is his
wife, Lucie Aubrac. Lucie, who is as cunning and resourceful as she is beautiful and
romantic, conceives an outrageously bold plan for her husband’s escape – flirting with the
enemy and risking her life to keep a promise they made to one another: They would
never be apart on the anniversary of the first time they made love.
CALL NUMBER: D 802.F8 L83
Ma Saison Préférée (My Favorite Season). 1996, 122 minutes, French with English
subtitles, color. With Catherine Deneuve and Daniel Auteuil.
This film explores the turbulent relationshipt between Emilie and her brother
Antoine during a particularly emotional eruption of their long-time dysfunctional family.
CALL NUMBER: PN 2995.9 .f35 M3
Madame Bovary. 1990, 140 minutes, color. A film by Claude Chabrol. With Isabelle
Huppert.
Daughter of a peasant, married to a Doctor, she dreams of a life of luxury as she
becomes bored by her station in life in the 1800's Normandy. She has affairs, then heavily
in debt and depressed she takes her life...
CALL NUMBER: PQ2246.M2 E5 1991
Madame Bovary. [videorecording] Los Angeles, CA: Republic Pictures Home Video,
1992, c1990. 130 minutes.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2246.M2 E5 1992 -- VIDEO
Madame Rosa. 104 minutes. Based on a famous novel of the life of a Jewish concentration
camp survivor who takes care of those even less fortunate than her. Stars Simone Signoret
in an unforgetably moving role.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997.M123
Maître de Musique, Le (Music Teacher, The). 1990, 100 Minutes, French with English
subtitles, color. A film by Gerard Corbiau. With Jose Van Dam.
A poignant love story, a pulse-pounding international music competition, a
beautiful musical score...Shortly before the Great War, celebrated singer Joachim
Dallayrac suddenly announces his retirement from the stage and devotes himself to
training two young singers, the beautiful Sophie, who falls in love with him, and Jean, a
singing thief who falls in love with Sophie. Sophie and Jean are invited to an international
singing competition which will either lead to fame and riches or to revenge...
CALL NUMBER: ML1700 .M3
Mama There's a Man in your Bed (Romuald et Juliette). 1990, 107 minutes, color, yellow
subtitles. With Daniel Auteuil.
This hilarious comedy from the writer and director of the original THREE MEN
AND A BABY tells of the rise, fall and rise again of the powerful C.E.O. of a major
corporation. At the peak of his powers, Romuald becomes the victim of envious board
members who plan a takeover, framing Romuald for insider trading. But Romuald's
13
rivals have an unexpected adversary and Romuald has an unexpected friend-the
cleaning lady Juliette. Juliette, working late at night, has witnessed just enough to piece
together the conspiracy against Romuald. She offers to help him and together they
conspire to take back his company. Romuald hides out in Juliette's cramped apartment
and before long finds himself caught up in the complexities of Juliette's life including her
five children and five ex-husbands. With her help, it doesn't take Romuald long to stab
the back-stabbers back and regain his place in the company. But happiness for Romuald is
incomplete without the cleaning lady who won his heart-and won back his company-so
Romuald proposes a merger, a merger of love. It's a contract he'll never regret.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2679.E6745 M3 1990
Manon des Sources (Manon of the Spring). 1987, 113 Minutes, French with English
subtitles, color. A film by Claude Berri. with Yves Montand and Emmanuelle Beart.
Ten years have passed since the tragic events of Jean de Florette. Jean's daughter,
Manon, is now a beautiful young shepherdess, roaming the rugged Provencal hills. The
frustrated Ugolin is desperately in love with the untamed woman. But Manon is repulsed
by the hapless man's pursuit. After cutting off the village's water supply, Manon appears
in town to accuse the Soubeyrans of killing her father. Ugolin, remorseful over his role in
her father's death, throws himself at her feet. But her public rejection of him proves too
much to bear, and leads to a tragedy that nearly destroys César. But the old man's most
heartbreaking moment comes when he finally learns the shattering truth about Jean, the
son of Florette.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2631.A26 .M26
Marie-Antoinette: Les Jupons de la Révolution. 1989, 90 Minutes, French, no subtitles, color.
A film by Caroline Huppert. With Emmanuelle Beart.
A chronicle of the life of Marie-Antoinette from her adolescence to her death. She
becomes French by marriage, and is acquainted with the luxuries of life in the court. All
the while, the revolution grows and the people are hungry. Thus begins the "prise de
conscience" de Marie-Antoinette, and she faces her destiny calmly and boldly.
CALL NUMBER: DC137.1 .M37
Marius and Jeannette. 1998. 102 minutes, color, in French with English subtitles.
This quirky romantic comedy is a lyrical and mature chronicle about listening to
the music of the heart.
CALL NUMBER: PN 1995.9.L6M37
Mille et Une Nuits. 1991, 108 minutes.
CALL NUMBER: PJ 7715 .A73
Misérables, Les. 1994, 177 minutes, color, French with English subtitles. A film by Claude
Lelouch.
It comes like lightning. The Nazis overrun France and for its proud people, it
begins the most miserable of times. Yet it’s not so miserable that the goodness of one man
cannot triumph. In Les Miserables, two-time Academy Award winner Claude Lelouch
fashions a magnificent achievement that won the Golden Globe Award as 1995’s Best
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Foreign Film. Legenday Jean-Paul Belmondo stars as Henri Fortin, a true and simple
man whose life parallels that of Jean Valjean, the hero of Victor Hugo’s great novel. But
those parallels do not mean a simple updating of Hugo’s tale. Instead, Lelouch uses them
to fram a towering cascade of events, traits and emotions: nobility, suffering, persistence,
joy, hate, longing, love, greed, betrayal, war, peace and life-affirming joy and hope. “After
34 films, I am dedicated to filming hope,” Lelouch states. Here he does it with power and
grace.
CALL NUMBER: PN 2286.A3 M5
Molière. 1995, 2 Video Set (1h55 and 2h08), French, no subtitles. A film by Ariane
Mnouchkine.
CALL NUMBER: PQ1852 .A135
Molière. 1977, 2 Video Set, 280 Minutes, color, French, no subtitles. A film by Ariane
Mnouchkine. Directed by C. Lelouch.
Story of Moliere, born in 1622 France, son of a carpenter, gentle mother who died
early. Great actor, writer. From infancy to his death...
CALL NUMBER: PQ1852 .A135
Monsieur Vincent. 1947, 112 minutes, B & W, French with new English subtitles.
The highly acclaimed MONSIEUR VINCENT presents a most compelling portrait
of the remarkable 17th century priest who devoted himself to the poor, sick and
abandoned in a France devastated by Wars of Religion and the Thirty Years War. Son of a
poor farmer, Vincent went to school, graduated in theology and became a priest.
Captured by Turkish pirates and sold into slavery he later escaped to France with his
master whom he had converted! His most extraordinary life took him from the prison
galley ships into the plague ridden villages, to the princely homes of the aristocrats whom
he convinced to finance and participate in his charitable endeavors which included the
establishment of local missions and the nations first hospitals.
CALL NUMBER: BX 4700.V6 M66 1997
Napoléon: soldier, emperor, lover, statesman. 2000 (PBS), 2 videos, 240 minutes, English.
For nearly two decades he strode the world stage like a colossus – loved and
despised, venerated and feared. From his birth on the rugged island of Corsica to his final
exile on the godforsaken island of St Helena, “Napoleon” brings this extraordinary figure
to life.
CALL NUMBER: DC203 .N27 2000
Nuit Américaine (Day for Night). 1973, 116 minutes, color, English language version.
François Truffaut’s 1973 film, an “homage to moviemaking”, details the loves and
lunacy of the closely-knit family of strangers that comprises an on-location film, cast and
crew.
CALL NUMBER: PN1995 .9. M65 N85 1989
Orpheus. 1949, black and white, 86 minutes, French with subtitles.
15
Jean Cocteau’s modern version of the Orpheus and Eurydice legend depicts the
love of the poet Orpheus for the Princess of Death, who travels constantly between this
world and the next. The film is replete with poetic imagery and, as the legend unfolds,
Cocteau’s photographic mastery pulls the audience into the fantasy of being in touch with
both the real world and the world of the imagination. The brilliant director, Jean Cocteau,
calls his film “a drama of the visible and the invisible…the myth of immortality.” Don’t
miss this fascinating and enchanting adventure into the exotic world of fantasy.
CALL NUMBER: PQ 2605 015 07 1986
Over there 1914-1918. 1963, 90 minutes.
Analyzes the reasons for World War I using documentary and propagandistic film
sequences compiled from newsreels, army films, and suppressed footage. Presents a
chronological history of the war, describes the mechanism of the European political
alliances, and explains the social symptoms of budding nazism.
CALL NUMBER: D.5522.23 O93 1996
Overseas. 1990, 98 Minutes. With Nicole Garcia, Rouan, Marianne Basler and Philippe
Galland.
A stylistically audacious first feature by the talented French actresse Brigitte
Rouan. Set in the late 40s, this film traces that opposite fortunes of three wealthy sisters
living in French occupied North Africa at the onset of the Algerian war.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .O8
Parure, La. 1999, 20 minutes, color, in French.
The story of a woman who borrows her friend’s necklace, only to lose it, theis
dramatization of Maupassant’s cynical and caustic tale will delight students of all levels.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2349 .A5 1999
Petite Vendeuse de Soleil, La. 44 minutes, in Wolof with English subtitles, color.
Parable uses the struggles of a young cripped girl in Dakar trying to earn her living
in the market place selling newspaper to mirror Africa’s role in the international
marketplace.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .P48 1999
Pièces d’Identités. 93 minutes, color and black and white.
A Congolese king searches for his daughter in Brussels where for a time he loses
his royal fetishes, his identity, but finds a friend, a local cabdriver with a secret identity.
With his help and a chain of coincidence (it must be destined), Mani Kongo is reunited
with his daughter and his regalia and returns to Africa with a circle of friends.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .P54 1998
Ponette. 1997, 92 minutes, French with English subtitles.
Named the Best Foreign Film of the Year by the New York Film Critics Circle,
Ponette stars 4-year old Victoire Thivisol, Winner of the Best Acress Award at the Venice
Film Festival, in the title role. Sent to live with her relatives, Ponette experiences the
hopes, dreams and fears of a child following the loss of a parent. Ultimately, it is her faith,
love and strength of character that enables Ponette to triumphantly overcome her
tragedy.
CALL NUMBER: PN 1997.P664
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Retour de Martin Guerre, Le (Return of Martin Guerre, The) . 1982, 123 mns.
Tells the suspensful true story of a 16th century peasant (Gérard Depardieu) who
disappears shortly after his wedding. When he returns from the war nine years later a
much changed man, his identity is questioned by almost everyone-- including, it seems,
his wife (Natalie Baye). Only at the end of an intense trial does the truth come out. A
remarkable portrayal of life in 16th century France.
CALL NUMBER: KJV 130 .G83 R4
Ridicule. 1996, 103 minutes, color, French with English subtitles. A film by Patrice
Leconte.
A fascinating glimpse of pre-revolutionary France where power is defined not only
by title but also by wit. Ponceludon de Malavoy visits Versailles to request the aid of King
Louis XVI. Before he can see the King, he must prove to the courtesans that he’s capable
of matching wits. He’s befriended by Marquis de Bellegarde whose daughter, Mathilde,
enchants Ponceludon by her refusal to participate in drawing room repartee. In a
dramatic conclusion, Ponceludon must choose between Mathilde and the court.
CALL NUMBER: PN 1997.R53
Rouge et le Noir, Le (Black and the Red, The). 1957, 134 minutes, French with English
subtitles, color. Based on the novel by Stendhal. Directed by Claude Utant-Lara.
Set in 1830’s France, the ambitious son of a carpenter challenges the rigid social
order of the time when he becomes a private tutor.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2435 .R613 1985
Rue Cases-Nègres (Sugar Cane Alley). 1995, 107 minutes, French with English subtitles.
A poor, hard-working sugar-cane-plantation worker makes many sacrifices to
improve her 11 year-old orphaned grandson’s chances in life by giving him a good
education.
CALL NUMBER: VIDEO PQ3949 .Z6 R8 1995
Saint Joan, Bernard Shaw's. 1987, 110 Minutes, English.
Graham Green's adaptation of Bernard Shaw's play about the life of Joan of Arc.
Originally released in 1957 as a motion picture.
CALL NUMBER: PR5363.S33 B4
Sans Soleil. 100 minutes, color.
“An unknown woman reads and comments on the letters she receives from a
friend, a freelance cameraman who travels around the world and wonders” about the
meaning of his work and about the role of the memory he helps create.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .S26 1982
Tatie Danielle. 1991, 114 Minutes, French with English Subtitles.
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Meet the meanest old lady on earth. She's Auntie--"Tatie"-- Danielle, a
demanding and manipulative woman who must be waited on hand and foot. When she
moves in with her great nephew, he and his wife hope that "Tatie" will be the
grandmother the children never had. It doesn't take long, however, for this cantankerous
old lady to make everyone's life hell. A clever and darkly hilarious work from director
Etienne Chatliez.
CALL NUMBER: PN1995.9.C55 T37
Tous les Matins du Monde (All the Mornings of the World). 1992, 110 Minutes, French
with English subtitles, color. With Gérard Depardieu.
Swept away by passion, music, and madness, the lives of a virtuoso musician and
his two beautiful daughters are forever changed by the arrival of a flamboyant young
student. Set in the luscious splendor of 17th century France, it weaves a breath-taking
tapestry of sight, sound, and seduction.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .T68
Veuve de Saint-Pierre, La (The Widow of Saint-Pierre). 108 minutes, with English
subtitles, color. Starring Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil, Emir Kusturica. Film by Partice
Leconte.
A true story, set in1850 in Newfoundland. A prisonner condemned to death
becomes controversial as the police chief’s wife fights to save him.
CALL
NUMBER:
PN1997.2.W53 2001
Vie de Bohème, La. Film. 1994, 100 minutes.
La Vie de Bohème is a witty look at life from the perspective of some starving
artists. Rodolfo, an Albanian Painter, Marcel, a French poet, and Schaunard, an Irish
composer, are all down and out in Paris, contemplating the perils of impoverished genius
but finding solace in their shared commitment to the noble pursuit of art. When Marcel is
evicted from his apartment, Rodolfo invites him to share his supper in a small restaurant,
and from this generosity wins himself a friend. The two return to Marcel's apartment to
continue their conversation, only to find that the wild musician Schaunard has become
the new tenant. Over some more wine the duo becomes a trio who together will battle
their cruel destiny. In the comic events that follow involving love, work, and of course art,
they are always one precarious step away from ruin-or the strangely elusive moment of
success.
CALL NUMBER: PQ 2367.M94 S42
Vie est belle, La (Life is Rosy). 1987, 85 minutes, French with English subtitles, color.
The story of a rural Zairian musician who uses his wit and talent to get his big
break on television.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .V455 1987
Vie est un Long Fleuve Tranquille, La (Life is a long quiet river). 1987, 89 minutes, color,
French with English subtitles.
A rich social satire, the film centers on the abrupt collision of two very different
famillies and the hilarious results. The Le Quesnoys live the ordered, polite, uptight life of
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the securely wealthy. The Groseilles are a slovenly family of tramps, lowlifes and
thieves from the other side of the tracks. When an act of revenge uncovers the fact that
twelve years ago their babies were switched at birth, the two families are plunged into
chaos.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997.9.C55 V53
Vie et Rien d’Autre, La (Life and Nothing But). Film. 1989, 135 Minutes, Color, Rated PG,
French with yellow English subtitles.
A gripping historical drama unfolds against the carnage left by World War I in
France. A search for the men they love leads two women to an imperious army officer,
Major Dellaplane (Philippe Noiret), a man obsessed with accounting for France's war
casualities. The women's quest mirrors that of tens of thousands of French with loved
ones listed as missing in action. But the army wants to forget the mass of missing and find
one certifiably French unknown soldier to honor, for burial under the Arc de Triomphe.
Dellaplane is put in charge of the effort. In the course of his mission, he learns the fate of
the womens' loved ones and a shocking secret that may determine the fate of the women
themselves
CALL NUMBER: PN1997.V53
Violons du Bal, Les. 1974, 110mns, English subtitles. With Jean-Louis Trintignant.
The relationship between art and personal sacrifice is explored in Michael Drach's
film about a brilliant young filmaker obsessed with chronicling his family's efforts to
escape Nazi-occupied France. Marie-José Nat won the Best Actress Award at Cannes.
CALL NUMBER: PN 1997 .V56
Les Visiteurs. 1993, 108 Minutes, French, no subtitles, color.
A warrior and his valet are time-projected from the year 1123 to 1993 in France.
They encounter all kinds of modern changes, yet are furious at being cheated out of their
castle and inheritance.
CALL NUMBER: PN 1997 .V57 1993
Year in Provence, A. 1989. 360mns, English
Adapted from Peter Mayle's international best seller, the video recounts the first
year of Mayle's stay in rustic Provence. Peter and his wife Annie explore the charm of the
region and meet a group of unconventional characters who complicate their lives with
intrigue and misdaventures. Four cassette deluxe boxed set.
CALL NUMBER: DC 611 .P961 M38 Parts 1-4
Zero de Conduite. 1993, 50 minutes, French, black and white.
Two boys return from their holidays to a repressive school environment. They lead
a student revolt against the school authorities. A wonderful study of adolescence and the
strength of human spirit.
CALL NUMBER: PN 1997 .Z47 1994
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ABOUT CINEMA
America's First Women Filmmakers. 1993, 114 Minutes, English; Smithsonian Video and
Library of Congress Video Collection.
Alice Guy-Blaché was probably the first person (of either sex) to direct a narrative
film. Her first film as she remembered it was an 1896 minute-long tale called "La Fée aux
Choux" ("The Cabbage Fairy"); Lois Weber made films that looked deeply into society and
behavior. For a time in the mid-1910s, she was both the most distinctive of auteurs and
the highest-salaried director in Hollywood.
CALL NUMBER: PN1995.9.W6 A43
Cinema in Senegal. 1978, color, 27 mins.
Senegalese film director Ousmane Sembene discusses filmmaking in Senegal, and
by extension filmmaking in sub-Saharan Africa with associates. Excerpts are shown from
his film “Ceddo” and from “Et La Neige N’était Plus” by Ababacar Samb-Makharam, and
“ReouhTakh” by Mahama Johnson Traore. The conversation is in French with voice over
translation. The topics discussed with some passion on this program concern art in a postcolonial society, censorship and self-censorship, how Senegalese films track the
underlying concerns of society (including the conflict between Christianity and Islam and
both with old indigenous religions), and the role of educated Senegalese who return to a
country in which they can no longer relate so comfortably to older traditions.
CALL NUMBER: DN1993.5 .S38 C56
Critical Spirit. 1997, 64 minutes.
Francois Truffaut, ou l’esprit critique.
CALL NUMBER: PN 1998 .A3 T75
PLAYS
Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Le. 1999, 97 minutes.
A screen adaptation of Molière’s comedy, this is a lively satire on the pretensions
of a rich but silly man to the snobberies of the aristocracy.
CALL NUMBER: PQ1829 .A3 W7 1999
Don Juan. 1989, 106 minutes, French, no subtitles
By transforming the character of Don Juan from unscrupulous seducer into a man
of overweening pride, cynicism, and disdain, Molière turned a Spanish theme into a
thoroughly French play and offended so many that the play was withdrawn. Posterity
has judged more kindly.
CALL NUMBER: VIDEO PQ 1831.A37 B3 1989
20
Endgame. 1992, 96 Minutes, English, Color; by Samuel Beckett.
The San Quentin Drama Workshop presents an English version of Beckett's play
Fin de partie.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2603.E378 F59
Fantaisie.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2369 .A19 M3
Femmes Savantes, Les. 1978/1990, 115 Minutes, French, no subtitiles, Color; A play in
five acts, by Molière, with François Chaumette.
Armande, the eldest daughter of Philaminte and Chrysale, and her sister,
Henriette, are rivals for the affections of Clitandre and each one believes that he loves
them in return, but in truth he favors Henriette. To win the approval of Henriette's
mother, Clitandre enlists the support of Belise, Henriette's aunt, who interprets
Clitandre's friendship as love, leading to a situation of great confusion.
CALL NUMBER: PQ1833.A3 F6
Guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu, La. 1991, 110 Minutes, French with English subtitles,
Color; A play written by Jean Giraudoux.
An inspired production of Giraudoux' famous play about the conflict between
those who see war as the greatest risk of all and the ultimate folly, and those who speak of
patriotism, manliness, and glory. Like any great work, it has been read to provide
different messages on different occasions: when it was written, as a commentary on the
growing menace of Nazi Germany; and post-war, as a warning to each new threat of the
cold war.
Il faut qu'une porte soit ouverte ou fermée. 20 Minutes, French, no subtitles, Black and
White.
A presentation of the play of the same name by Musset, performed by the
Madeleine Renaud-Jean-Louis Barrault Company.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2369 .A19 M3
Lorenzaccio. 1990, 2 videocassettes (120 and 27 minutes), in French; A play by Alfred de
Musset.
Historical drama about the psychological voyage of the young Lorenzo de Medici
who, to gain the confidence of the ruling despot, adopts, and soon discovers he enjoys the
excesses for which the Medici are famous.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2369 .L3 1993
Misanthrope, Le. French with English subtitles, 120 minutes, color
Perhaps Molière's greatest play and as close to tragedy as comedy can come.
Alceste begins as a man who loves mankind so much that he cannot brook flattery or
hypocrisy and winds up withdrawing from society in defeat.
CALL NUMBER: PQ1837.A3 D89 1989
On ne badine pas avec l’amour.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2369 .A19 M3
21
Phèdre. 1982, 93 Minutes, French with English subtitles.
Racine's adaptation of the legend of Thesus, kind of Athens, his wife, Phedre, and
his son, Hippolyte. Written in 1677. (Video release of the 1968 motion picture.)
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .P5
Tartuffe, or, The Imposter. 1984, 110 Minutes; Royal Shakespeare Company's production
of Molière's Tartuffe, with Antony Sher, Nipel Hawthorne, and Alison Steadman.
Clutching ever-present rosary beads, shifting uncomfortably within the hairshirt
he wears as continual penance--and always eyeing the women as they pass--Tartuffe,
Molière's master of unctuous evil, insinuates himself into a wealthy Parisian household in
this indictment of religious hypocrisy. Posing as a holy man, the wily Tartuffe entrances
Orgon, a credulous well-to-do merchant, bent on bestowing his worldly goods, social
position, and nubile daughter on the perfidious fraud. Tartuffe delights in accepting it all-and also arranges a little depraved dalliance with Orgon's young wife, Elmire.
CALL NUMBER: PQ1842.A4 H2
ABOUT THEATER
Avignon Theater Festival (New Edition). 17 Minutes. Welcome to this world-famous
festival, held annually, which attracts some of the greatest actors from the theater.
Beckett Directs Beckett: A Trilogy. 1990, 4 Video set, 279 Minutes, English; Smithsonian
Video Library, A Presentation of the San Quentin Drama Workshop.
"The spirit of the play, to the extent which it has one, is that nothing is more
grotesque than the tragic." --Samuel Beckett. Contents include: 1)Waiting for Godot Act
I--77 Min.; 2)Waiting for Godot Act II--60 Min.; 3)Krapp's Last Tape--46 Min.; 4)Endgame-96 Min.
CALL NUMBER: PR6003.E282 B42 (v.1-3)
PQ2603.E378 F59 (v.4)
Molière. 1982, 35 Minutes, English, Color and black and white; University of Leeds.
Portrays Molière's life story and presents a view of the theatre, styles, and customs
of 17th century France.
CALL NUMBER: PQ1852.A13
Nouvelle expérience: Cirque du Soleil. 1991, 72 Minutes, French ,no subtitles.
A TV special by Jacques Payette.
CALL NUMBER: GV1821.C578 N68
Racine. 1993, 35 Minutes, English, Color and black and white; University of Leeds.
Contains brief biographical details and an analysis of Racine's work.
CALL NUMBER: PQ1904 .A13
22
OPERA
Après-midi d'un faune, L'. 1912, 25 minutes. Music by Claude Debussy.
Shows two performances of the Juilliard School production of Nijinsky's L'apresmidi d'un faune; the first is shown in long-shot, the second in close-up.
CALL NUMBER: GV1580 .C47
Boheme, La. 1982, 141 Minutes, Italian with English Subtitles.
Metropolitan Opera Productions.
CALL NUMBER: M1500.P82 B6 (Music Library)
Carmen. 1985, 151 Minutes, French with English Subtitles; By Bizet.
In 19th century Seville, the lusty, tempestuous Carmen seduces a naive Army
corporal, Don Jose. Jose abandons his career, his fiancee, and even his dying mother for
the love of this sultry gypsy. But soon she spurns him for the love of a toreador,
Escamillo. Crazed with jealousy, Jose begs Carmen to return to him, but her taunting
declaration of independence results in tragedy.
CALL NUMBER: M1500.B5 C3 (Music Library)
Fille Mal gardée, La. 1985, 98 Minutes; Royal Opera House (Ballet).
Lise, the only daughter of Simone, a widow and owner of a prosperous farm, is in
love with Colas, a young farmer, but her mother has far more ambitious plans.
CALL NUMBER: GV1790 .F54
Orfeo, L’. 1988, 102 Minutes, Italian with English subtitles.
An opera in 5 acts.
CALL NUMBER: M1500.M65 O7 (Music Library)
BALLET
Enfant et les sortileges, L'. 1986, 50 Minutes; By Maurice Ravel; World of Dance series,
With Nederlands Dans Theater and Choeur et la Maîtrise de la RTF.
A young boy who doesn't want to study has a tantrum and wrecks his room.
Animated by his naughtiness, objects come to life and begin to sing and dance, drawing
the boy into their enchanted world. (Ballet)
CALL NUMBER: GV1790 .E53
Gaîté Parisienne. 1986, 38 Minutes, Black and white; Performed by the Ballet Russe de
Monte Carlo.
23
For ten years, Jessen followed the Ballet Russe around America filming Gaîté
Parisienne, whenever Danilova, Franklin, and Danielian were dancing the principal roles.
He edited this film from thirty-second "takes" filmed in various locations in many
different theatres.
CALL NUMBER: GV1786.B3 G33
Oiseau de feu, L' (The Firebird). 1987, 48 Minutes.
An adaptation of the original work by Stravinsky. Considered to be one of the
masterpieces of modern ballet.
CALL NUMBER: GV1790 .O5
Paris Dances Diaghilev. 1992, 84 Minutes.
From the Opera de Paris Garnier.
CALL NUMBER: GV1785.D5 P37
Paris Opera Ballet, The: Six Ballets. 1987, 58 Minutes, Color; VIEW video dance series,
Directed by Rudolf Nurevev.
A special selection of works, including the Tchaikovsky Ballet, Delta T, Ephemera,
Paillettes, The Ice Skaters, and The Black Swan; choreographed especially for the stars of
the Paris Opera Ballet.
CALL NUMBER: GV1790.A1 P37
Sylphides, Les. 1980, 34 Minutes; A Ballet Choreogaphed by Mikhael Fokine.
Inspired by the 1905 visit of Isadora Duncan to Russia, Fokine took the timeless
music of Frederic Chopin and created Chopiniana (later renamed Les Sylphides). This
ballaet celebrates the lyrical and poetic qualities of Romantic ballet blanc to express the
sublime nature of dance. Les Sylphides is one of the revolutionary ballets of the 20th
Century. Firstly, to choreograph to the works of the great masters, such as Chopin, was
unheard of. Secondly, there were virtually no abstract, plotless works in the Russian
repertoir, which was characterized by Petipa's large scale full-length productions. Les
Sylphides was premiered for the 1909 Paris season by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and
featured Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky. Of the many innovative works presented by
this great impressario, this was his favorite.
CALL NUMBER: GV1790.S92 A3
ARTS
Art of the Western World. 1989, 4 Video set, 513 Minutes, English.
An introduction to and study of artistic masterpieces from the Western world.
Interpretation and commentary by art historians emphasize the significance of each work
and its relationship to art movements, art theory, and the social environment. Video
release of 9 programs from the television series by WNET/New York in association with
TV stations in Britain, Austria, and Spain. Contents include: [Vol.1] 1)The classical ideal;
24
2)A white garment of churches, Romanesque and Gothic; [Vol.2] 3)The early
Renaissance; 4)The high Renaissance; 5)Realms of light, the Baroque; [Vol.3] 6)An age of
reason, an age of passion; 7)A fresh view, Impressionism and post-Impressionism; [Vol.4]
8)Into the 20th century; 9)In our own time.
CALL NUMBER: N5300 .A77 (v.1-4)
Baroque Art and Music. 1986, 38 Minutes; Educational Audio Visual.
Following an on-camera introduction by Rova Megnot, introduces the student to
the art and music of the baroque period, 1600-1750. Traces the advent of the baroque era
through the paintings of Caravaggio and Carracci and through the music of Frescobaldi
and Monteverdi. Includes paintings by Rubens, sculpture by Bernini, and music of
Corelli which represent the international style of the high baroque. Also describes
baroque in northern Europe. Includes program notes and 5 worksheets.
CALL NUMBER: ML3849 .B37 (Music Library)
Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg, The. 1992, 18 Video set, 540 Minutes, English.
After a brief history of the founding of St. Petersburg and a biographical sketch of
Peter the Great, the viewer is taken on a tour of the galleries of the Hermitage Museum
housing masterpieces from ancient China, Egypt, Greece, and Rome through the Middle
Ages and the Renaissance to the 20th Century. Contents include: 1)Russia in the Age of
Peter the Great; 2)Highlights of the Masterpieces; 3)The Vast Sculpture Collection; 4)Art
from Mesopotamia to Ancient China; 5)The Art of Ancient Egypt; 6)The Classical World
of Greece and Rome; 7)Art of the Middle Ages; 8)Art of the Early Italian Renaissance;
9)Da Vinci, Raphael, and the High Italian Renaissance; 10)Velasquez, El Greco, Gova, and
the Spanish Masters; 11)Modernism: Matisse, Picasso, and more 20th Century Painters;
12)Art in the Netherlands: 15th and 16th Centuries; 13)French Classical Style of the 17th
and 18th Centuries; 14)Rembrandt and the 17th Century Dutch Masters; 15)Rubens, Van
Dyck, and the 17th Century Flemish Painters; 16)Decorative Arts of Italy, France, and
England; 17)The Museum's Majestic Architecture; 18)The Road to Impressionism: 19th
Century France.
CALL NUMBER: N3350 .G67 (v.1-18)
Medieval Art and Music. 1986, 35 Minutes; Educational Audio Visual.
Following an on-camera introduction by Rova Megnot, shows how the art,
architecture, and music of the medieval period were governed by the church and
beginnings of illumination and Romanesque architecture. Part two focuses on the Gothic
period and includes the rise of Gothic architecture, the beginnings of secularism in art,
and the development of polyphony in music. Includes program notes and worksheets.
CALL NUMBER: ML3849 .M42 (Music Library)
Metropolitan Museum of Art Lecture Series, The (Rosamond Bernier). 6 Video Set,
English.
This collection of lectures brings Bernier's astounding learning and her unique
insights to video. Whether discussing modern masters or royal patrons, her lectures offer
a fascinating glimpse into the wonder of art. Contents include: 1) Taste at the Top:
25
François I/Charles I; 2) The French Impressionists: The Cast of Characters; 3) The
French Impressionists: Modern Art and Modern Manners; 4) The French Impressionists:
Paris by Day and by Night; 5) The French Impressionists: An Accessible Paradise; 6) The
Modern Masters: The Matisse I Knew/The Matisse Nobody Knew.
CALL NUMBER: N5245 .B4; ND548 .B4
Power of the Past, The. 1990, 88 Minutes, English; With Bill Moyers.
Guided by experts, art historians, and Florentine citizens, Bill Moyers tours
Florence's rich Renaissance legacy, exploring the roots of the common artistic,
architectural, and human heritage of modern Western civilization.
CALL NUMBER: DG734.23 .P6
Renaissance Art and Music. 1986, 55 Minutes; Educational Audio Visual.
Following an on-camera introduction by Rova Megnot, provides a general
introduction to Renaissance art and music and describes the early Renaissance in
Florence, Italy. Also deals with the Renaissance in Rome, Venice, and other parts of
Europe. Includes program notes and worksheets.
CALL NUMBER: ML3849 .R46 (Music Library)
Romantic France: Paris and the Loire Valley. 1990, 42 Minutes, English, Color; Travelview
International.
Discover museums, palaces, and ancient cathedrals. Cruise the Seine past historic
landmarks--Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, and Arc de Triomphe. Includes Paris (City of
Lights) and Loire Valley (Château Country). Discover the spirit and style of France!
CALL NUMBER: DC16 .R6
Romanticism in Art and Music. 1986, 38 Minutes; Educational Audio Visual.
Following an on-camera introduction by Rova Megnot, introduces the main
elements of romanticism as reflected in works of art and music of that period. Shows the
influence of literature on art. Contains excerpts from romantic musical works. Includes
program notes and worksheets. Includes program notes and worksheets.
CALL NUMBER: ML3849 .R65 (Music Library)
Twentieth-Century Artistic Revolutions. 1986, 32 Minutes; Educational Audio Visual.
Following an introduction by Rova Megnot, examines the artistic revolution of the
early twentieth century, including artists such as Stravinsky, Picasso, Matisse, Braque,
Satie, Kandinsky, Klee, and Webern.
CALL NUMBER: N6490 .T83
Tour of the Louvre, A. 1983, 105 Minutes, English; The Grand Museum Series.
A tour which reviews more than 100 paintints from Enguerrand Quarton to Gova.
CALL NUMBER: N2030 .T68
MUSIC
26
Brel, sa dernière tournée. 1966, 60 minutes, color.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2662 .R437 B43 1966
Discovering the Music of the Middle Ages. 1987, 20 Minutes.
Examines the religious and secular music of the Middle Ages, describes the
musical instruments of the period, and surveys the social milieu.
CALL NUMBER: ML172 .D573 (Music Library)
Piaf, Edith: La Vie en Rose. 1987, English; Films for the Humanities, Inc.
Here is a portrait of the Little Sparrow--in her songs, her words, in the
reminiscences of her friends--that will make you smile or sigh or sing along with the truly
inimitable, the once and forever Edith Piaf.
CALL NUMBER: ML420.P52 P5
PHOTOGRAPHY
Eclairage. 1993, 57 minutes.
Photographers series: Klein, Doisneau, Moon, Boubat.
CALL NUMBER: TR 654 .P46
Henri Cartier-Bresson. 37 minutes.
Documentary about photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, including footage of him
in his Paris and Provence homes and many stills of his works. He talks about his passion
for drawing, offers his opinion on different types of photography and shares photos
himself.
CALL NUMBER: TR140 .C3 h4 1998
PAINTING
Gustave Caillebotte or the Adventures of the Gaze. 60 minutes.
CALL NUMBER: ND 553.C243 6873 1994
Cezanne: The Man and the Mountain. 1985, 60 Minutes, English; Portrait of an Artist
series.
Focuses on the central theme of Cezanne's painting: his fascination with nature
and his love-hate relationship with his birthplace, Aix-en-Provence, most specifically the
nearby mountain, Sainte Victoire, which he painted repeatedly throughout his life.
Recognizes Cezanne as the "father of modern painting."
CALL NUMBER: ND553.C33 C4
27
Da Vinci, Leonardo: The Visionary Intellect. 1992, 26 Minutes, English.
Provides a brief overview of Leonardo's life and of his work, from his early
paintings in Florence to studies for flying machines and other memorable drawings and
paintings.
CALL NUMBER: ND623.L5 L42
Life of Leonardo Da Vinci, The. 1990, 3 Video Set, 270 Minutes, English; Written and
Directed by Renato Castellani.
CALL NUMBER: ND623.L5 L53
Delacroix, Eugène: The Restless Eye. 1980, 65 Minutes, English; Portrait of an Artist
series.
Uses Delacroix's journal and paintings to tell the story of his life and work.
CALL NUMBER: ND553.D33 R4
Duchamp, Marcel: A Game of Chess. 1987, 56 Minutes, Interview in French dubbed in
English, Black and white and color; Portrait of an Artist series.
An interview at the Pasadena Art Museum, filmed in 1963 in black and white but
partially reshot to highlight Duchamp's use of color.
CALL NUMBER: ND553.D774 G3
Gericault, Theodore: Men and Wild Horses. 1982, 65 Minutes, English; Portrait of an
artist series.
Sets the work of Theodore Gericault, a French painter, against the background of
his time. Events of the early 19th century are presented "newsreel" style, including
archival footage from silent movies of the period (1791-1824).
CALL NUMBER: ND553.G45 T53
Manet, Edouard: Painter of Modern Life. 1983, 27 Minutes, English, Color.
Discusses the works of the French impressionist painter Edouard Manet.
CALL NUMBER: ND553.M3 E36
Memories of Monet. 29 Minutes, English.
This American Film Festival Blue Ribbon Winner blends superb views of Monet's
gardens at Giverny with his paintings. Narration from Claire Bloom is drawn from the
memoirs of American Impressionist Lilla Cabot Perry who was a student and friend of
the French Impressionist master.
CALL NUMBER: ND553 .M7 M4 1984
Mondrian. 1992, 30 Minutes, English; European Video Library.
A study of de Stijl painter Piet Mondrian and his landscapes of the mind.
CALL NUMBER: ND653.M76 M66
Morisot, Berthe: The Forgotten Impressionist. 1989, 32 Minutes, English, Color with
28
black and white sequences.
Discusses the art of the French Impressionist painter, Berthe Morisot, in
conjunction with an exhibit of her works held at the National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C., and the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum.
CALL NUMBER: ND553.M88 B47
New Ways of Seeing Picasso, Braque, and the Cubist Revolution. 1989, 58 Minutes,
English.
Documents the extraordinary exhibition mounted by the Museum of Modern Art
and presents a rare and provocative view of Cubism and the inspired collaboration of
Picasso and Braques.
CALL NUMBER: ND1265 .N4
Temps de voir. 75 minutes.
Commentary on twelve modern French paintings by contemporary French artists.
CALL NUMBER: VIDEO ND547 .T4 1991
Shock of Futurism, The. 1992, 23 Minutes; The European Video Library Art Series.
Documentary examines the least known and most extreme of all the 20th century
Avant-Gardes, the Futurists, who developed many concepts and artistic principles.
CALL NUMBER: N6494.F8 S36
LITERATURE
Aimé Césaire: une voix pour l’hisoire – a voice for history. 3 videocassettes (54, 56, 50
minutes), French with English subtitles, color with black and white sequences.
Part 1. The vigilant island, L’île veilleuse. Part 2. Where the edges of conquest
meet, Au rendez-vous de la conquête. Part 3. The strength to face tomorrow, La force de
regarder demain.
CALL NUMBER: PQ3949 .C44 Z52 1994
Beauvoir, Simone de. 1989, 105 Minutes, French with English subtitles.
A documentary portrait of Simone de Beauvoir's life. She speaks candidly about
her relationship with Jean Paul Sartre. Video release of a 1978 production.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2603.E362 Z56
Beauvoir, Simone de: La Femme Rompue. 1993, 90 Minutes, Color, French; Films for the
Humanities.
A tour de force about today's woman seeking independence while locked in the
hunger of her yearning. This program shows what happens to the woman abandoned
when the man breaks up the affair.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2603.E362 .F4
Duras, Marguerite. 1985, 80 Minutes, French, no subtitles; Society for French American
29
Cultural Services and Educational Aid.
From the program Apostrophes, Bernard Pivot interviews one of France's most
important literary figures: Marguerite Duras, winner of the 1984 Goncourt Prize for her
novel: l'Amant.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2607.U8245.A13
Eighteenth Century French Novel, The. 1990, 35 Minutes, English; University of Leeds.
CALL NUMBER: PQ631 .E4
Frantz Fanon. 1995, 50 minutes. English
CALL NUMBER: CT 2628 .F35 F726 1995
Maupassant, Guy de. 1984, 35 Minutes, English, Color. University of Leeds.
Contains brief biographical details and an analysis of Maupassant's work.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2353 .A13
Montaigne dans son labyrinthe. 1988, 29 minutes, French, no subtitles
Written by well-known nouveau romancier Michel Butor to illustrate his essays on
Montaigne's Essais.
An extremely well-produced film on the relation between
Montaigne's work and the arts and events of his century. Filmed in and around the
country retreat from which Montaigne reevaluated his world.
CALL NUMBER: PQ 1645 .M67
Paris in the Time of Zola. 26 minutes, color, English
Zola, the greatest of the French naturalist writers, gave us detailed and convincing
portraits of Paris and Parisian life in his time. This program uses rare period film footage
of Paris during Zola's years to provide the documentary backdrop for his work -- the time
when Haussmann imposed his reorganization on the city to create the Paris that we know
today.
CALL NUMBER: DC733 .P37 1993
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Retreat to Romanticism. 25 minutes, English, color
The life, personality, and thought of the 18th-century political philosopher and
essayist are examined in this outstanding program. Emphasis is on Rousseau's critique of
the inequities and shallowness of French society, and the new values system he
developed which promoted individual rights and a return to nature. Rousseau's
masterwork, The Social Contract, defined this philosophy and served as a major influence
on French Revolutionary thought. Other aspects of Rousseau's philosophical
development include his early association with Diderot and the Encyclopedits, and later
friendship with David Hume.
CALL NUMBER: B2136 .J43 1997
Sartre par Lui Même. 1976, 190 minutes, color, in French with English subtitles.
Very rarely do we have the opportunity to have an intimate encounter with one of
the most influential writers of our century. Sartre By Himself provides an in-depth look at
the existentialist philosopher and author of Being and Nothingness, Nausea, and numerous
30
works of criticism, philosophy, and fiction. Interviewed by Alexandre Astruc, author of
the celebrated essay on camera-style and Michel Contat, Sartre speaks eloquently about
his life and writings, his efforts on behalf of the French Resistance, his public opposition to
the Algerian and Vietnam Wars, and his views on feminism. The film offers a
conversational feast for anyone with an interest in 20th century philosophy, the
intellectual ferment of post-war Paris or the vibrant personalities of Sartre and his longtime companion Simone de Beauvoir.
CALL NUMBER: PQ 2637 .A82 A212 pt. 1-2
Leopold Sedar Senghor. 1996, 50 minutes.
CALL NUMBER: PQ 3989 .S47 Z7
Voltaire. 1983, 45 Minutes, English, Black and white with color; University of Leeds.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2099 .A13
Voltaire: Candide. 1993, in French, no subtitles, 2 hrs, 15 mins, color.
A wonderful introduction to the brilliant mind and sharp tongue of voltaire, this
program offers the principal adventures of the young man raised to believe that this is the
best of all possible worlds.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2082 .C3 E35
Yourcenar, Marguerite (Apostrophe). 1985, 80 Minutes, French, no subtitles, Color.
From the series Apostrophe. Bernard Pivot interviews the late Marguerite
Yourcenar who, six days later, became the first woman to be elected to the Académie
Française.
CALL NUMBER: PQ2649 .O8 A6
CIVILISATION
Belle Epoque 1890-1914, La. 60 minutes.
La Belle Epoque evokes “the beautiful era” 1890-1914, a time in which the wealthy
upper classes of the western world gave themselves over to a life of elegance and
pleasure, their eyes closed to the increasing social and political turmoil which fermented
beneath the surface of society.
CALL NUMBER: CB425 .B44 1983
Civilisation. 1993, 7 Video Set, 13/50 Minute Programs, English.
Discusses the history of Western culture from the end of the Greco-Roman world
to the present day. Covers the great works of sculpture, painting, architecture,
philosophy, poetry, literature, and music from each century covered.
CALL NUMBER: CB68 .C54
Danton.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .D3 1982
31
De Gaulle. 1990, 26 minutes.
CALL NUMBER: DC 420 .D44
French Intellectuals in the 20th Century 1993, 52 minutes each, English, Color.
Part 1: Great Expectations: The birth of the intellectual: Zola and Proust; the Great
War; pacifism and surrealism; the Bolshevik Revolution, the new religion of
Communism, André Malraux; the growing signals of terror from Moscow, which
go unheeded.
CALL NUMBER: VIDEO DC 33.7 .F84 1993 Pt. 1
Part 2: Days of Contempt: The rise of Fascism, which at first seemed like a local
outgrowth of the October Revolution; the Nazi occupation of France and French
collaboration; the Spanish Civil War; resistance to Fascism.
CALL NUMBER: VIDEO DC 33.7 .F84 1993 Pt. 2
Part 3: Lost Illusions: The French Communist Party and anti-Stalinism; the
Algerian War; Jean Genet, Franz Fanon, Sartre, and the cause of the Third World
Revolution.
CALL NUMBER: VIDEO DC 33.7 .F84 1993 Pt. 3
Part 4: The Demise of the Prophets: Intellectuals and the new models like
Communist Cuba; birth of the Maoist intellectual with Sartre and Simone de
Beauvoir distributing Maoist tracts in the streets; the latest revolutions: Iran and
Cambodia, whose excesses lead the intellectual to a new cause-human rights; the
death of Sartre-and the death of Chinese support for communism, as seen at
Tiananmen Square.
CALL NUMBER: VIDEO DC 33.7 .84 1993 Pt. 4
Henry VIII (The Six Wives of). 1990, 6 video set, 90 Minutes each, English.
The episodes are intended to portray the courtly and private lives of Henry and his
wives, and are designed to present the papeantry, intrigue, and humor of the period.
Contents include: 1)Catherine of Aragon 1485-1536; 2)Anne Boleyn 1507-1536; 3)Jane
Seymour 1509-1537; 4)Anne de Clèves 1515-1557; 5)Catherine Howard d.1542;
6)Catherine Parr 1512-1548.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .S59 (v.1-6)
Napoleon Bonaparte. 1988, 12 minutes, English, color.
This program presents the life of Napoléon Bonaparte (1769-1821) who combined
military genius and an almost equally great ability for organization and administration in
his roles as empire builder, champion of the people and their revolution, and codifier of
French law. Through brilliance, determination, and political machination, Napoléon I
saved the French Revolution from itself and then became the victim of his own success.
CALL NUMBER:
Video. DC 203 .N2 1988
32
Nuit et brouillard (Night and Fog). 1981, 32 Minutes, French with English Subtitles, by
Alain Resnais.
A devastating record of man’s inhumanity to man, Night and Fog is the definitive
film on Nazi concentration camps. Resnais weaves contemporary images of the
abandoned camp of Auschwitz, now overgrown with green grass and silence, with
newsreel footage of the atrocities that occurred there. Short film contrasts black and white
footage shot inside Hitler's death camps with comtemporary color scenes of the same
camps. Documentary.
CALL NUMBER: D805.G3 N84
Over there 1914-1918. See Films.
CALL NUMBER: D.522.23 O93 1996
Révolution Française, La. French, no subtitles, 1994. 6 videocassettes, 52 minutes each.
CALL NUMBER: VIDEO DC 161 .H57 1994 v.2
Sun King, The. 1984, 60 Minutes, English, Color; FACSEA.
This magnificent documentary, filmed on location in France, paints a most detailed
portrait of Louis XIV and a glorious, lavish, and often reckless universe which covered the
longest reign in the history of France.
CALL NUMBER: DC125 .S7
Women in the Middle Ages. 1991, 22 Minutes, English; Written by Jacqueline Murray,
Directed by Gail Singer.
CALL NUMBER: HQ1143 .W66
Women of Hull-House, The. 1992, 25 Minutes, English.
Tells the story of Hull-House through vivid historical photographs, underlining
the remarkable contributions of Jane Addams and the other Hull-House women to the
history of social welfare, education, progressive reforming, women's rights, sociology,
labor relations, international peace, and many other areas of American life.
CALL NUMBER: HV4196.C4 W6
World of the Goddess, The. 1993, 103 Minutes, English; Produced by Richard Sydel.
Marija Gimbutas discusses culture, religious beliefs, symbolism, and mythology of
Old Europe pertaining to goddesses of life, death, and regeneration. Following her
lecture are questions from the audience.
CALL NUMBER: BL473.5 .W67
FRANCE
Bretagne Aujourd'hui, La.
1986, 28 Minutes, no subtitles; Project for International
33
Communication Studies.
A fascinating view of Brittany today, in six vignettes. Parts are perfect for first year
use, others for second year or civilization courses.
CALL NUMBER: DC611.B848 B73
France (Central): Dances of the World Vol.5. 1989, 50 Minutes, English, Color; Folk
Dance Videos International, Performed by La Sabote Sancerroise, Les Enfants du Morvan,
Group Folklorique de la Savotte.
CALL NUMBER: GV1649 .F73
French High Speed Train. 1990, 10 minutes.
CALL NUMBER: TF1371 .F5 1990
Paris (1900). 1950, 76 minutes.
CALL NUMBER: VIDEO DC 715 .P37
Région Rhône-Alpes, La. 1989, 23 Minutes, French, no subtitles; Project for International
Communication Studies.
A documentary providing social, economic, and cultural information about the
Rhône-Alpes region in France.
CALL NUMBER: DC611.R48 R44
Versailles. 1989, 56 Minutes, English, Color; Treasures of France series.
Presents a tour of the city, park, and châteaux of Versailles.
CALL NUMBER: DC801.V56 V47
Village se met a Table, Un. 1983, 25 minutes.
A day in the life of a small Norman town, with its fascinating mixture of the
traditional and the modern. A voice-over announces the time before each sequence,
making this an ideal aural review of temporal expressions. From the doyenne du village to
the local children, we watch the entire community eating its way through the day.
Gorgeous images. Short sequences are ideal for classroom use at any level.
CALL NUMBER: DC 611 .N851 V54
Vive la mariée! 1991, 25 Minutes; University of Iowa (PICS).
For better or for worse...this video investigates the return of the tradition of
marriage among the young in France. Why and how do they choose to wed in the 90s?
This special report portrays three couples as the approach "le plus beau jour de leur vie."
AFRICA
Afrique Francophone (Francophonie d'Afrique). 1992, 52 Minutes, French, Color.
34
After a geographic and historic presentation of the African francophone
countries, this program is divided in thematic sections, each being introduced by a local
television commercial and a song by a popular singer. These sections treat major issues of
concern in Africa today, including the daily life of African children, health care, the fight
against AIDS, as well as literacy programs.
CALL NUMBER: DT524 .F73
Afrique dominée, Afrique libérée. 1985, 30 Minutes, French; Project for International
Communication Studies.
This film not only traces the history of colonialism in Africa, it asks pertinent
questions about the slow process of decolonialization: who decides? who benefits? does
this spell freedom for native populations? or does it mean a new brand of dependence?
Few programs are as successful as this one in asking these questions--and thus exhorting
your students to do a new kind of thinking and suggest their own answers.
CALL NUMBER: DT31 .A37
Afrique, Je Te Plumerai. 88 minutes.
This film provides a masterly overview of one hundred years of cultural
imperialism in Africa. Director Jean-Marie Teno uses Cameroon, the only African country
colonized by three European powers, for a case study of the devastation of traditional
African societies by imposed colonial cultures. This film is essential viewing for anyone
who wants to understand the cultural and intellectual conflicts of present-day Africa.
CALL NUMBER: Video DT572.A37 1992
Aime Cesaire: Une Voix Pour L'Histoire. 3 videocassettes (54, 56, 50 minutes).
In Part III, La force de regarder demain (The strength to Face Tomorrow) Césaire
responds to the disappointments of the post-colonial world and expresses his hopes for
the future. In the 1960s his plays, La tragedie du roi Christophe (about the Haitian
revolution) and Une saison au Congo (about the assassination of Patrice Lumumba), were
among the first to warn of the dangers of neo-colonialism. French anthropologist Edgar
Morin, biographer Roger Toumson, Brazilian author Jorge Armado, Antillean novelist
Maryse Condé and American writer Maya Angelou testify to Césaire's central role as a
"founding ancestor" for the current flowering of African Diaspora literature.
CALL NUMBER: Video PQ3949.C44 Z52
1994 pt. 1-3
Algérie: Paroles de Femmes. 1992, 30 minutes.
CALL NUMBER: VIDEO OVERSIZE HQ 1791.5 .P37 1992
NOTE: COMES WITH A TRANSCRIPT
Les Beurettes. 1993, 20 minutes.
CALL NUMBER: VIDEO OVERSIZE DC 34.5 .N67 B48 1993
NOTE: COMES WITH A TRANSCRIPT
35
Camp de Thiaroye. 152min/color 1988
Camp de Thiaroye - African novelist and filmmaker Ousmane Sembene retraces
the breakdown of colonial rule in his historical drama, "Camp de Thiaroye." Set near
the end of World War II, the film eulogizes a group of African veterans returning to
Senegal who are martyred when they rebel, as they inevitably must, against the
injustices of the supremacist system.
CALL NUMBER:
Dakar-Bamako. 1991, 58 minutes.
CALL NUMBER: DT 547.27 .D35
Femmes aux Yeux Ouverts. (Women's Studies). 52 minutes.
We meet a woman active in the movement against female genital mutilation. She
explains why in Africa it is easier to oppose this practice as a health issue than as a
women's rights issues. We also join a health worker demonstrating condom use in a
marketplace and explaining how diseases are sexually transmitted. Women are the
traditional market traders in Africa. Successful businesswomen describe how they have
set up an association to share expertise and provide mutual assistance.
CALL NUMBER: HQ 1810 .F45 1994
Nuit du doute, La. 25 Minutes; University of Iowa, French, no subtitles.
This timely film offers an inside view of a North African French family and its
cross-cultural concerns. We come to know the Beur daughter, Monica, and her French
boyfriend Franck, and witness the conflict over their shared French identity and the
Algerian identity Monica shares with her family. As the story unfolds we see the conflict
in both concrete terms, such as whether to speak French or Arabic at home, and more
abstract terms of mutual respect vs. hypocrisy in their interpersonal relationship.
CALL NUMBER: DT295 .N8
Rosetta. 1997
Rosetta, a shy 17-year old girl, lives with her alcoholic mother in a trailer park in
Belgium. Desperate to live a normal life, her one ambition is to get and keep a job. Hires
to work at a waffle stand, her growing friendship with a handsome co-worker begins to
draw Rosetta out of her shell. But her new-found stability collapsed when she’s laid off.
Willing to do anything to regain her job, Rosetta makes a fateful choice between honesty
and betrayal. The consequences could shatter whatever measure of happiness a job can
bring her.
CALL NUMBER: PN 1997. R67 2000
Vie sur Terre, La (Life on Earth). 61 minutes, French and Bambara with English subtitles.
“…a film about the significance of the start of the 21st century for people still
struggling to enter the 20th. [Abderrahmane Sissako’s] solution was to improvise a
‘fictionnal documentary’ out of a daily life in Sokolo, his father’s village in Mali near the
southeastern corner of Mauritania. He then overlaid these vignettes with readings from
Aimé Césaire… Behind all of this, he weaves the melancholy tones [“Folon”] of the great
Malian tenor, Salif Keita [and music by other artists]”
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .V533 1998
36
Visages de femmes (Faces of Women). 1987, 103 minutes, colore, in indigenous languages
and French with English subtitles.
Politically and stylistically adventurous film exploding the links between
feminism, economics and tradition in modern-day Africa.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .V565 1995
ANTILLES
Antilles, Les: Guadeloupe and Martinique. 60 Minutes, French, no subtitles.
These Caribbean islands showcase the rich, atmospheric locales that speak to the
social and political heritage of French culture. This is indispensable for class discussion
for the Francophone.
CALL NUMBER: F 2151 .A57
QUEBEC
Canadian Federation, The. 1997, 29 minutes, English, color
This program provides a history of the evolution of Canada's federalist system of
government, and an excellent overview of the workings of the system. Political power
struggles between the government and the provinces are explained, with particular
attention given to the political history of Quebec's independence movement as a Frenchspeaking province. Canada's struggle to maintain national unity while preserving its
cultural duality-English and French-is explored.
CALL NUMBER: Video JL27 .C3 1997
Jesus de Montreal. 1987, 119 Minutes, French, no subtitles, Color; Directed by Denys
Arcand.
Philosophical work questions the Big Bang, Cologne advertising, the Karamazov
brothers, Coca-cola classic, Hamlet monologue, a Roman soldier, organ transplants, Paul
Newman's Dressing.
CALL NUMBER: PN1997 .J48
Nationalisme Quebecois, Le. Color documentary. 78 minutes.
From 1750 to the Quiet Revolution.
CALL NUMBER: F1052.95.N38
Le Quebec. 1990, 55 Minutes, English narration.
This documentary offers several views of Quebec, detailing the considerable
contrast in daily life, from the frenetic pace of Montreal to the reflective and serene forest
world of the rural settings. The images and commentaries are meant to spur class
discussions.
CALL NUMBER: F 1052 .Q42
37
MISCELLANEOUS
Nouvelle-Caledonie: des identités pour un même destin? 1985, 29 Minutes, French, no
subtitles; Project for International Communication Studies.
Life, culture, and language in New Caledonia is shown and discussed.
CALL NUMBER: DU720 .N68
Introduction to Feminist Spirituality, An. 1992, English; With Kathleen Fischer.
Explores the six aspects of feminist spirituality: healing, sexism, discipleship of
equals, women's experience, women's heritage, images of God, and transforming the
world.
CALL NUMBER: BV4527 .I57
Men, Women, and the Sex Difference. 1995, 50 Minutes, English.
An ABC news special that looks at the differences between the sexes and whether
they are the result of biology or environment.
CALL NUMBER: BF692.2 .M46