Catherine Breillat is one of the most original filmmakers in contemporary French cinema. From her first film, adapted in 1976 from her novel Une vraie jeune fille to Bluebeard in 2008, the writer-director has been ceaselessly interrogating male/female relationships conceived as a battlefield where desire intertwines with hostility, and attraction with repulsion. Breillat's cinema undermines the usual clichés that condition the representation of sex in film and delivers a crude, truthful image in works such as Tapage nocturne, Romance, Anatomie de l'enfer or Une vieille maîtresse. She also describes with unique acuity the troubles of adolescent girls in 36 fillette and A ma sœur !. For the occasion of the retrospective, the Cinémathèque française will present an exclusive screening of Catherine Breillat's latest film, Sleeping Beauty.

Featured Works:

Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1972); Une vraie jeune fille (Catherine Breillat, 1975); Dracula and Son (Edouard Molinaro, 1976); Bilitis (David Hamilton, 1977); Tapage nocturne (Catherine Breillat, 1979); Police (Maurice Pialat, 1985); 36 fillette (Catherine Breillat, 1987); Zanzibar (Christine Pascal, 1990); Sale comme un ange (Catherine Breillat, 1991); À propos de Nice, la suite (Catherine Breillat, Costa-Gavras, Claire Denis, Raymond Depardon, Abbas Kiarostami, Pavel Lungin, Raoul Ruiz, 1995); Parfait amour! (Catherine Breillat, 1996); Romance (Catherine Breillat, 1999); Selon Matthieu (Xavier Baeuvois, 2000); À ma soeur! (Catherine Breillat, 2001); Brève traversée (Catherine Breillat, 2001); Sex Is Comedy (Catherine Breillat, 2002); Anatomie de l'enfer (Catherine Breillat, 2003, pictured); Une vieille maîtresse (Catherine Breillat, 2007); Barbe Bleue (Catherine Breillat, 2008); Sleeping Beauty (Catherine Breillat, 2010)

Program information:
Catherine Breillat

Twenty years after her death, Delphine Seyrig is remembered as someone with a rich, multiple, combative, and open-minded personality. She was an actress, filmmaker, and activist, the icon of a particular modernity in the films of Alain Resnais (Last Year at Marienbad, Muriel), François Truffaut (Baisers volés), Marguerite Duras (India Song, Baxter, Vera Baxter), and Chantal Akerman (Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du commerce, 10800 Bruxelles). With her non-naturalistic acting style and with her singular voice, she was a unique symbol of elegance and distinction. She was involved in the defense of women's rights; she directed the film Sois belle et tais-toi and co-directed with Carole Roussopoulos Maso et Miso vont en bateau and Scum Manifesto.

Featured Works:

37 films

Program information:
Delphine Seyrig