Jacques Villeret

Jacques Villeret

Jacques Villeret (6 February 1951 – 28 January 2005) was a French actor, best known internationally for his role as François Pignon in the comedy Le Dîner de Cons. During his career, he earned many awards including the prestigious medal and title of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. Villeret was born Jacky Boufroura in Loches, Indre-et-Loire, France, to an Algerian father and a French mother. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSAD) in the same class as Louis Seigner, the grandfather of Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathilde Seigner. While he was most famous for his role as François Pignon in Le Dîner de Cons; both on the stage and in the film, his other celebrated roles included the extra terrestrial in La soupe aux choux, the autistic Mo in L'été en pente douce, and marshal Ludwig von Apfelstrudel in Papy fait de la résistance. At the time of making the film Un aller simple directed by Laurent Heynemann – a film about integration and racism and the clash of generations – he said that watching the young actors in the film, Barbara Schulz and Lorant Deutsch, reminded him of the insouciance he had had as a young man with his friends at the Conservatoire. When his career was at its height, with the success of Le Dîner de Cons, everything collapsed in a tragedy mirroring the plot of the film. Villeret separated from his wife and suffered an enormous financial downfall due to tax issues, plunging him into depression. Villeret turned to alcohol for comfort, and became an alcoholic. He isolated himself and hid away for long periods. He later said: Alcohol is a friend, but a friend who means you harm. Villeret's love of his profession helped to bring his career back from the brink. In an interview in 2001 he spoke of his admiration for performers like Johnny Hallyday and Jacques Brel for their level of commitment, and quoted the author Louis-Ferdinand Céline: When I write, I put my balls on the table. In 1979 Villeret married Irina Tarassov, an actress and writer. They separated in 1998. Tassarov wrote about their life together in her book Un jour, tout ira bien. (One day, everything will go well). In 2002 Villeret met Seny, a Senegalese-French widow descended through her grandfather, Mor Diarra N'Dao, from a long line of Sérès nobles of the ancient Kingdom of Saloum, and they fell instantly and deeply in love. They were partners for three years, and she was about to move to Paris to be with him when he died in Évreux in January 2005 of a liver haemorrhage. Seny wrote a memoir of their life together, Jacques Villeret, mon bébé blanc, which was published in Paris by Le Cherche Midi in 2005. Source: Article "Jacques Villeret" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

  • Title: Jacques Villeret
  • Popularity: 4.552
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1951-02-06
  • Place of Birth: Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As: Jacky Boufroura
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Jacques Villeret Movies

  • 1983
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    Danton

    Danton

    6.9 1983 HD

    Danton and Robespierre were close friends and fought together in the French Revolution, but by 1793 Robespierre was France's ruler, determined to...

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  • 1976
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    The Good and the Bad

    The Good and the Bad

    5.545 1976 HD

    The film follows the exploits of Jacques, a car-mechanic turned pro-thief, and his Jewish co-conspirator Simon as their robberies, beginning well...

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  • 2004
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    Viper in the Fist

    Viper in the Fist

    6.4 2004 HD

    1920. Jean Rezeau and his elder brother were living happily in their family estate in Brittany, until the death of their grandmother. The return of...

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  • 1998
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    The Dinner Game

    The Dinner Game

    7.787 1998 HD

    For Pierre Brochant and his friends, Wednesday is “Idiots' Day”. The idea is simple: each person has to bring along an idiot. The one who...

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  • 1978
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    Le Rabat-joie

    Le Rabat-joie

    1 1978 HD

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  • 1981
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    The Cabbage Soup

    The Cabbage Soup

    6.351 1981 HD

    Two buddy farmers are visited by aliens who like their domestic cabbage soup.

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  • 2001
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    One Way Ticket

    One Way Ticket

    3.9 2001 HD

    Jean-Pierre (Jacques Villeret), un attaché humanitaire qui travaille au ministère des Affaires Etrangères, accepte de reconduire...

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  • 1985
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    Hold-up

    Hold-up

    6.169 1985 HD

    Dressed as a clown, the clever rascal Grimm holds up the most secure bank of Montreal and takes 30 hostages. While confusing and ridiculing the...

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  • 2005
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    The Do-Gooders

    The Do-Gooders

    5 2005 HD

    Three former bank robbers are meeting after 25 years...

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  • 1999
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    The Children of the Marshland

    The Children of the Marshland

    7.11 1999 HD

    The film is set in Marais, a quiet region along the banks of Loire river in 1918. Riton is afflicted with a bad-tempered wife and three unruly...

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  • 2004
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    Malabar Princess

    Malabar Princess

    6.2 2004 HD

    A man leaves his 8-year old son with his father-in-law who lives near the glacier where the boy's mother died.

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  • 1998
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    Mookie

    Mookie

    5.4 1998 HD

    A talking chimp, a jolly monk and a boxer on the run make an unlikely team in this French comedy for children. Brother Benoit, a French monk working...

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  • 1981
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    Bolero: Dance of Life

    Bolero: Dance of Life

    6.973 1981 HD

    The film follows four families, with different nationalities (French, German, Russian and American) but with the same passion for music, from the...

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  • 2005
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    Grey Souls

    Grey Souls

    6.1 2005 HD

    In 1917, the old rivalry between a prosecutor and a judge resurfaces during a police investigation into the murder of a child.

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  • 1986
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    Les Folles Années du Twist

    Les Folles Années du Twist

    5.5 1986 HD

    A small town in Algeria, in the years 1960-1962. Two young idle boys and rock fans, Boualem and Salah, try to survive in the turmoil of war, taking...

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  • 1986
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    Black Mic Mac

    Black Mic Mac

    5.5 1986 HD

    This is a charming and successful farce from director Thomas Gilou, featuring a witty screenplay co-authored by producer Monique Annaud. When a group...

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  • 1987
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    Last Summer in Tangiers

    Last Summer in Tangiers

    4.1 1987 HD

    In 1956, with the independence of Morocco, the Fedala conference in Tangier is set in a city of turmoil.

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  • 1987
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    L'été en pente douce

    L'été en pente douce

    6.4 1987 HD

    When he inherits the family house and property after his mother's death, aspiring novelist Fane returns home with his bimbo girlfriend Lilas. He must...

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  • 1976
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    The Castaways of Turtle Island

    The Castaways of Turtle Island

    5.8 1976 HD

    Jean-Arthur has been working as a clerk in a travel agency. One day, he, along with his colleague comes to a brilliant idea: what if I offer tourists...

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  • 1981
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    Malevil

    Malevil

    6.5 1981 HD

    In southern France, in a quiet little town, the mayor, who also owns a castle with some cattle, is in the wine cellar with some other people: the...

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  • 2005
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    Iznogoud

    Iznogoud

    3.955 2005 HD

    In Baghdad the Magnificent reigns Haroun al Plassid, who is the Caliph. There also dwells Iznogoud, who wants to be the Caliph. The irascible Grand...

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  • 1987
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    Keep Your Right Up

    Keep Your Right Up

    5.9 1987 HD

    This film is made up several sketches in which certain actors play several real or fictional roles to a background of rock music. The lead character,...

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  • 1983
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    Gramps Is in the Resistance

    Gramps Is in the Resistance

    6.866 1983 HD

    It is 1943 in Paris. Like so many others, the Bourbelle family's home has been taken over by the Germans and they now live in their cellar. Little do...

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  • 2005
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    The Antidote

    The Antidote

    5.2 2005 HD

    JAM (Christian Clavier), a French "master of the universe" is on the brink of a major takeover when he starts suffering from anxiety attacks. His...

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  • 2003
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    Le Furet

    Le Furet

    4.1 2003 HD

    From his locksmith's shop, a simple guy dreams of becoming a crime boss, at the wheel of his Cadillac surrounded by blonde bimbos. He starts small,...

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  • 1991
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    The Professional Secrets of Dr. Apfelgluck

    The Professional Secrets of Dr. Apfelgluck

    5.3 1991 HD

    This series of sketches introduces doctor Apfelglück and four of his patients... and their rather peculiar and disturbing problems.

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  • 2003
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    Strange Gardens

    Strange Gardens

    7.5 2003 HD

    Lucien, 14, can’t understand why his father, a serious and respected teacher, makes a fool of himself by dressing up as a clown and giving a...

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  • 1986
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    The Joint Brothers

    The Joint Brothers

    5.3 1986 HD

    After he is dismissed from his umpteenth job, Momo is kicked out of the family home by his fed-up father. He immediately joins his buddy Manu, who is...

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  • 1984
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    The Vultures

    The Vultures

    5.985 1984 HD

    April 5, 1943: a battalion of the Foreign Legion arrives in El Ksour, Tunisia, to escort a fortune in gold bars to the home front. A German ambush...

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  • 2001
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    A Crime in Paradise

    A Crime in Paradise

    6.6 2001 HD

    In the 1980 French countryside, farmer Jojo and his ill-tempered wife Lulu hate each other, though their respective interests speak against divorce....

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  • 1990
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    Three Years

    Three Years

    6.7 1990 HD

    After the French defeat of 1870, Julia took three years to love Alexander, with whom she married for her fortune. Alas, when Julia wants to declare...

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  • 1997
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    Le Dernier Été

    Le Dernier Été

    7.4 1997 HD

    The story of Georges Mandel, an anti-Nazi French parliamentarian who refused to abdicate to the Vichy regime.

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  • 1983
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    Waiter!

    Waiter!

    5.4 1983 HD

    After a tumultuous life, a middle-aged headwaiter in a Parisian restaurant dreams of opening a seaside amusement park. When an old flame reappears,...

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  • 1992
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    Le bal des Casse-pieds

    Le bal des Casse-pieds

    5.8 1992 HD

    A tolerant veterinarian turns the other cheek when annoyed but changes his nature when he falls in love.

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  • 1979
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    Us Two

    Us Two

    6.3 1979 HD

    Françoise has gone into business seducing men whose wives want to divorce them, and who need incriminating evidence against them. In addition,...

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  • 1983
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    Move Along, There Is Nothing to See!

    Move Along, There Is Nothing to See!

    5.3 1983 HD

    Inspector Leroux is investigating the owner of a contemporary art gallery Helen Duvernet who is suspected of being involved in trafficking of stolen...

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  • 1992
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    The Drummer of Ravel's Boléro

    The Drummer of Ravel's Boléro

    5.8 1992 HD

    Probably no one in the public listening to the orchestra's rendition of Ravel's Bolero notices him but the drummer is a regular hero. For, although...

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  • 1992
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    588 rue Paradis

    588 rue Paradis

    7.1 1992 HD

    A successful playwright reflects on his journey from his Armenian roots to adapting in France, forty years after his family's move to Marseilles. He...

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  • 1982
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    The Big Brother

    The Big Brother

    5.8 1982 HD

    The plot in this story weaves around like a New Year's reveler at four in the morning, heading first in one direction and then in another, with the...

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  • 1977
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    Another Man, Another Chance

    Another Man, Another Chance

    6.2 1977 HD

    Young Jeanne falls in love with photographer Francis, who soon takes her with him when he emigrates to America. In a small town in the still wild...

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  • 1986
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    La Galette du roi

    La Galette du roi

    4.6 1986 HD

    In this conventional, broadly comic farce of greed and royal matrimony, nearly bankrupt businessman Victor Harris is marrying Maria-Helena, a...

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  • 1973
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    Nothing to Report

    Nothing to Report

    5.806 1973 HD

    In 1956, the professional army of France lacks the manpower to keep the peace in Algeria, the colony which the country is determined to hold on to at...

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  • 1978
    imgMovies

    Mountain Pass

    Mountain Pass

    5.3 1978 HD

    Serge (Stevenin) is a dweller in the French provinces who happens upon Georges (Jacques Villeret), a Parisian motorist in distress. Serge arranges...

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  • 1992
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    The Son of the Mekong

    The Son of the Mekong

    1 1992 HD

    Tran and three of his friends flee Vietnam by swimming across the Mekong river. They take refuge in Thailand.

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  • 1997
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    Georges Dandin de Molière

    Georges Dandin de Molière

    1 1997 HD

    The adaptation of Molière's comedy-ballet in three acts.

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  • 1985
    imgMovies

    Dialogue de sourds

    Dialogue de sourds

    6 1985 HD

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  • 1979
    imgMovies

    Heart to Heart

    Heart to Heart

    5.8 1979 HD

    The independently-minded daughter of lower-middle class French shopkeepers, Brigitte, one of three sisters, refused to marry the father of her child...

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  • 2023
    imgMovies

    L'Âge d'or de la pub

    L'Âge d'or de la pub

    6.5 2023 HD

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  • 1978
    imgMovies

    Robert et Robert

    Robert et Robert

    6.25 1978 HD

    Robert #1 is played by Charles Denner, while Robert #2 is played by Jacques Villeret. Beyond their common name, the two Roberts are as different as...

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  • 1996
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    Golden Boy

    Golden Boy

    7.2 1996 HD

    Antoine a Union representative works in a financially troubled factory. He's not the sharpest tool in the box but he has a big heart and when he and...

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  • 1976
    imgMovies

    A Second Chance

    A Second Chance

    5.929 1976 HD

    Imprisoned as an accessory to murder, Catherine gives birth to a son she conceived in prison. Eighteen years later, her sentence served, she is...

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  • 1979
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    Dumb But Disciplined

    Dumb But Disciplined

    4.6 1979 HD

    Jacques does his military service. Shy, round and clumsy, he is forced to agree to be the driver of a special ambulance.

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  • 1985
    imgMovies

    Drôle de samedi

    Drôle de samedi

    1 1985 HD

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  • 1983
    imgMovies

    Effraction

    Effraction

    3.5 1983 HD

    During a robbery that goes wrong, Valentin Tralande kills his accomplices and bank customers.

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  • 1978
    imgMovies

    Un Balcon en forêt

    Un Balcon en forêt

    2 1978 HD

    An adaptation of the novel of the same name by Julien Gracq. Four soldiers await a possible German attack on a fortified house in the forest of the...

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  • 1974
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    The Mouth Agape

    The Mouth Agape

    6.5 1974 HD

    Monique is dying of cancer, lying in bed in the apartment above the store her family owns. Her philandering husband carries on with life, her son...

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  • 1979
    imgMovies

    Out of Whack

    Out of Whack

    6 1979 HD

    Rien ne va plus is a series of comedy sketches of disparate quality, on the social, cultural, and political foibles that make the French, French....

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  • 2022
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    La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président

    La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président

    7.2 2022 HD

    In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became President of the Republic and wanted to bring about a new era of modernity. One of his first...

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  • 1983
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    Edith and Marcel

    Edith and Marcel

    5.5 1983 HD

    This tragic musical drama chronicles the star-crossed love between beloved French singer Edith Piaf and World Middleweight boxing champion Marcel...

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  • 1988
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    La Petite Amie

    La Petite Amie

    2.8 1988 HD

    Martin Morel wants to spend Sylvester with both his wife and family and his girlfriend Agnes. So he asks his clumsy friend Bertin to pretend she'd be...

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  • 1987
    imgMovies

    C'est encore mieux l'après-midi

    C'est encore mieux l'après-midi

    4.2 1987 HD

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  • 1988
    imgMovies

    Nailcruncher

    Nailcruncher

    5.2 1988 HD

    Adapation of the fanciful comic novel by Albert Cohen.

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  • 1972
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    Detective Story

    Detective Story

    1 1972 HD

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  • 1989
    imgMovies

    Un fil à la patte

    Un fil à la patte

    6.5 1989 HD

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  • 1991
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    The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish

    The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish

    6 1991 HD

    A farce, Hoskins plays a photographer who specializes in religious pictures who searches for a model for Jesus. He does a favor for a friend and...

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  • 1978
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    Mon premier amour

    Mon premier amour

    8 1978 HD

    This sentimental drama is the story of the relationship between a lovely mother and her 20-year-old son who never really knew her. When he learns...

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  • 2015
    imgMovies

    La Folle Histoire de François Pignon - De La chèvre au Dîner de cons

    La Folle Histoire de François Pignon - De La chèvre au Dîner de cons

    1 2015 HD

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  • 1975
    imgMovies

    Serious as Pleasure

    Serious as Pleasure

    3.6 1975 HD

    "In Serieux comme le plaisir, two men and a woman live quite happily together in a romantic liaison. The woman is probably wealthy anyway, so the...

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  • 1974
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    Un amour de pluie

    Un amour de pluie

    4.5 1974 HD

    Elizabeth and her daughter Cecile spend their holidays at a lakeside resort in the French mountains. Elizabeth falls in love with a strange Italian,...

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  • 2000
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    Actors

    Actors

    5.7 2000 HD

    Les Acteurs is the absurd story of Jean-Pierre Marielle desperately waiting for a cup of hot water, the story of a conspiracy against actors, the...

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  • 1975
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    The Common Man

    The Common Man

    7 1975 HD

    Georges Lajoie is a Parisian café owner. As every summer, Georges, his wife Ginette and grown-up son Léon go on holiday to Loulou's...

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  • 1976
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    Nono Nénesse

    Nono Nénesse

    1 1976 HD

    Two adults play babies and wild antics ensue.

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  • 1982
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    Merci Bernard

    Merci Bernard

    1 1982 HD

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  • 1987
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    Nulle part ailleurs

    Nulle part ailleurs

    5.6 1987 HD

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  • 1974
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    Spécial cinéma

    Spécial cinéma

    1 1974 HD

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  • 1972
    imgS20 E8

    Le Grand Échiquier

    Le Grand Échiquier

    8 1972 HD

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  • 1975
    imgS6 E25

    Les Rendez-vous du dimanche

    Les Rendez-vous du dimanche

    6 1975 HD

    A talk show presented by Michel Drucker

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  • 1975
    imgS7 E24

    Numéro un

    Numéro un

    6 1975 HD

    A French variety show.

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  • 1975
    imgS7 E24

    Numéro un

    Numéro un

    6 1975 HD

    A French variety show.

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  • 1975
    imgS7 E91

    Midi Première

    Midi Première

    10 1975 HD

    Midi Première is a French variety show presented by Danièle Gilbert, directed by Jacques Pierre and broadcast from January 6, 1975...

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  • 1982
    imgS13 E2

    Champs-Elysées

    Champs-Elysées

    6.2 1982 HD

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  • 2022
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    Il était une fois Champs-Élysées

    Il était une fois Champs-Élysées

    6.6 2022 HD

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  • 1959
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    Discorama

    Discorama

    1 1959 HD

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  • 1998
    imgS27 E2

    Vivement dimanche

    Vivement dimanche

    3.2 1998 HD

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  • 1987
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    Matin Bonheur

    Matin Bonheur

    1 1987 HD

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