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Georges Franju is a Actor, Director, Scriptwriter, Original Music Composer and Script French born on 12 april 1912 at Fougères (France)

Georges Franju

Georges Franju
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Nationality France
Birth 12 april 1912 at Fougères (France)
Death 5 november 1987 (at 75 years) at Paris (France)

Georges Franju (12 April 1912 – 5 November 1987) was a French filmmaker. He was born in Fougères, Ille-et-Vilaine.

Biography

Early life
Before working in French cinema, Franju had several different jobs. These included working for an insurance company and a noodle factory. Franju was also briefly in the military in Algeria and was discharged in 1932. On his return, Franju studied to become a set designer and later created backdrops for music halls including Casino de Paris and the Folles Bergère.

In the mid-thirties, Franju and Henri Langlois met through Franju's twin brother Jacques Franju. As well as creating the 16 mm short film Le Métro, Langois and Franju also started a short-lived film magazine and created a film club called Le Cercle du Cinema with 500 francs he borrowed from Langlois' parents. The club showed silent films from their own collections followed by an informal debate about them amongst members. From Le Cercle du Cinema, Franju and Langlois founded the Cinématheque Française in 1936. Franju ceased to be closely related with the Cinématheque Française as early as 1938, and only became associated it strongly again in the 1980s when he was appointed as the honorary artistic director of the Cinématheque. In 1937, Franju and Langlois co-founded another less successful film journal titled Cinematographe which had only two issues. In early 1940, Franju and Dominique Johansen co-founded another organization to promote cinema called Circuit Cinématographique des Arts et des Sciences which closed on 31 May 1940.


Film career
In 1949, Franju began work on a series of nine documentary films. The Nazi occupation of Paris and the industrialism following World War II influenced Franju's early works. His first documentary, The Blood of Beasts (French: Le Sang des Bêtes) was a graphic film of a day inside a Paris slaughterhouse. The second documentary, commissioned by the government in 1950, was Passing By the Lorraine (French: En Passant par la Lorraine). The film was commissioned as a celebration of the modernization of the French industry, but Franju's film showed his view of the ugliness spewing forth from monstrous factories. Franju's third film commissioned by the French government, Hôtel des Invalides (1951), was a look at life inside a veterans' hospital. The film was commissioned as a tribute to the hospital and the War Museum, but Franju turned it into a film against the glorification of militarism. Franju later said that Hôtel des Invalides was his favorite of his three "slaughter" films.

With The Keepers (French:La Tete Contre les Murs) in 1958, Franju turned toward fiction feature films. His second feature was the horror film Eyes Without a Face (French:Les Yeux sans Visage) about a surgeon who tries to repair his daughter's ruined face by grafting on to it the faces of beautiful women. His 1963 film Judex was a tribute to the silent film serials Judex and Fantomas. In Franju's later years his film work became less frequent. Franju occasionally directed for television and in the late seventies he retired from filmmaking to preside over the Cinématheque Française. Georges Franju died on 5 November 1987.

Usually with

Maurice Jarre
Maurice Jarre
(8 films)
Édith Scob
Édith Scob
(5 films)
Michel Worms
Michel Worms
(3 films)
Jean Wiéner
Jean Wiéner
(3 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Georges Franju (23 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

Aznavour by Charles
Origin France
Genres Documentary, Musical
Actors Romain Duris, Michel Klochendler, Charles Aznavour, Lino Ventura, Édith Piaf, Michèle Mercier
Roles Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Rating71% 3.573533.573533.573533.573533.57353
Montage d'images réalisées par Charles Aznavour tout au long de sa vie, notamment lors de ses tournées, commenté par Romain Duris.

Director

Shadowman
Shadowman (1974)
, 1h45
Directed by Georges Franju
Origin France
Genres Thriller, Horror, Crime
Actors Gayle Hunnicutt, Gert Fröbe, Josephine Chaplin, Jacques Champreux, Patrick Préjean, Raymond Bussières
Rating60% 3.0463453.0463453.0463453.0463453.046345
M. de Borrego, spécialiste des Templiers, est trahi par son valet, qui livre des informations sur ses recherches au mystérieux homme sans visage, chef d'un groupe utilisant des personnes au cerveau mort comme tueurs. Il est assassiné. Son neveu, Paul, lutte contre ces criminels avec l'aide du commissaire Sorbier, de sa fiancée Martine et du détective Séraphin.
The Demise of Father Mouret
Directed by Georges Franju
Origin France
Genres Drama
Themes Films about religion
Actors Francis Huster, Fausto Tozzi, Gillian Hills, Lucien Barjon, André Lacombe, Tino Carraro
Rating59% 2.9825952.9825952.9825952.9825952.982595
L'abbé Mouret, jeune prêtre campagnard est fasciné par la belle Albine qui l'entraîne, comme dans un rêve, dans un immense jardin merveilleux, où ils se perdent. Il y découvre la sensualité.
Thomas the Impostor, 1h34
Directed by Georges Franju
Origin France
Genres Drama, War
Themes Political films
Actors Fabrice Rouleau, Emmanuelle Riva, Rosy Varte, Jean Servais, Michel Vitold, Sophie Darès
Rating65% 3.285513.285513.285513.285513.28551
The film is set during World War I, as Paris is expected to fall to the Germans. The Princesse de Bormes, a widow, helps wounded soldiers by evacuating them from the front and bringing them to her villa in Paris for medical care. However, the authorities will not give the Princess and the soldiers passes to return to Paris. The situation changes when an innocent 16-year-old boy, Guillaume Thomas de Fontenoy, joins the authorities and is mistaken as the nephew of the popular General de Fontenoy. Thomas is able to use his position of posing as the general's nephew to cut through the red tape, in order to help the Princess. She is entranced by Thomas, and her daughter, Henriette, falls in love with him. However, Thomas feels impelled to see more war action. Later, he is caught behind enemy lines when he is moved with a military unit into the heat of battle.
Judex
Judex (1963)
, 1h38
Directed by Georges Franju
Origin France
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Action, Crime
Actors Channing Pollock, Sylva Koscina, Édith Scob, Francine Bergé, René Génin, Jacques Jouanneau
Rating70% 3.5444053.5444053.5444053.5444053.544405
The plot revolves the banker Favraux, receiving a threatening note from Judex demanding that he pay back people he has swindled. He is later drugged by Judex and locked away. Meanwhile the former governess, Diana, kidnaps Jacqueline to try to get the banker's money.
Therese
Therese (1962)
, 1h49
Directed by Georges Franju
Origin France
Genres Drama
Actors Emmanuelle Riva, Philippe Noiret, Sami Frey, Édith Scob, Renée Devillers, Hélène Dieudonné
Rating71% 3.576743.576743.576743.576743.57674
Thérèse is living in a provincial town, unhappily married to Bernard, a dull, pompous man whose only interest is preserving his family name and property. They live in an isolated country mansion surrounded by servants. Early in her marriage her only comforts are her fondness for Bernard's pine-tree forest, which was her primary reason for marrying him, and her love for her sister-in-law and Bernard's half-sister, Anne. On Thérèse's honeymoon, she slipped away from Bernard's bed to throw away a letter from Anne in which Anne expressed her love for Jean, a Jewish student. Later, when Jean leaves Anne, Thérèse feels a sense of satisfaction and relief. However, Anne soon leaves. Desperately lonely and trapped, Thérèse accidentally learns that an increase in Bernard's medication makes him ill. While Anne nurses Thérèse's unwanted baby, Thérèse begins to experiment, taking advantage of his hypochondria and forgetfulness. Eventually she tries to poison him with arsenic, but the dose isn't fatal. Thérèse's forged prescriptions are then discovered. Thérèse is arrested, but Bernard refuses to press charges. She is acquitted when Bernard perjures himself for her at the trial and her politically influential father bribes a court official. On the way back to the country estate, she tries to think of an explanation to offer to Bernard. Unable to give Bernard a proper explanation, she allows Bernard to place her in a prison of his own devising. He locks her in a bedroom and allows her only cigarettes and wine, as she slowly wastes away. Much later, he frees her for a party at which the family gathers to meet Anne's new husband, and their friends are shocked at her sickly appearance and deterioration. Bernard then moves her to Paris. Still hoping to learn the motives for her crime, he listens to further explanations, but he cannot understand.The movie recounts in flashback the circumstances that led to her being charged with poisoning her husband.
Spotlight on a Murderer, 1h28
Directed by Georges Franju
Origin France
Genres Drama, Thriller
Actors Pierre Brasseur, Pascale Audret, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Dany Saval, Marianne Koch, Philippe Leroy
Rating64% 3.2445853.2445853.2445853.2445853.244585
La plupart des héritiers du comte de Keraudren connaissent une mort violente dans le château dont ils doivent assurer l'entretien et les charges, la mort du comte - dont le corps n'a pas été retrouvé - ne pouvant être déclarée qu'au terme d'une période de cinq ans.
Eyes Without a Face, 1h28
Directed by Claude Sautet, Georges Franju
Origin France
Genres Drama, Thriller, Fantastic, Horror, Noir, Crime
Actors Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel, François Guérin, Claude Brasseur, Édith Scob
Rating75% 3.799473.799473.799473.799473.79947
At night just outside Paris, a woman drives along a riverbank and dumps a corpse in the river. After the body is recovered, Dr. Génessier identifies the remains as those of his missing daughter, Christiane Génessier, whose face was horribly disfigured in an automobile accident that occurred before her disappearance, which her father was responsible for. Dr. Génessier lives in a large mansion, which is adjacent to his clinic, with numerous caged German Shepherds and other large dogs.
Head Against the Wall, 1h32
Directed by Georges Franju
Origin France
Genres Drama
Themes Medical-themed films, Psychologie, Films about psychiatry, Films set in psychiatric hospitals
Actors Pierre Brasseur, Paul Meurisse, Charles Aznavour, Anouk Aimée, Jean Galland, Jean Ozenne
Rating69% 3.485453.485453.485453.485453.48545
François is committed to a mental hospital by his father Maître Gérane, a wealthy man who does not tolerate objection. The institution is owned by Dr. Varmont whose traditional treatment methods conflict with the beliefs of Dr. Emery, supporter of a more sensitive approach. François becomes friends with an epileptic, Heurtevent and together they try to escape, but they fail and the sweet Heurtevent commits suicide. Afterwards François manages to flee and hides at the home of his friend, Stéphanie.
The First Night, 23minutes
Directed by Georges Franju
Origin France
Genres Drama, Romance
Rating73% 3.6501053.6501053.6501053.6501053.650105
Un garçon de dix ans passe la nuit dans le métro après avoir suivi une camarade d'école. Endormi sur une marche, il croit la reconnaître dans les rames qu'il voit en rêve...
Notre Dame - cathédrale de Paris, 18minutes
Directed by Georges Franju
Origin France
Genres Documentary
Rating67% 3.376563.376563.376563.376563.37656
Une visite de la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris.
Sur le pont d’Avignon, 11minutes
Directed by Georges Franju
Origin France
Genres Documentary
Themes La provence
Actors Claude Dasset

Court-métrage documentaire de Georges Franju
Le Théâtre National Populaire, 26minutes
Directed by Georges Franju
Origin France
Genres Documentary
Actors Jean Vilar, Maria Casarès, Marc Cassot, Gérard Philipe, Silvia Monfort, Georges Wilson

Le T.N.P., le Théâtre National Populaire, un important théâtre expérimental dirigé par Jean Vilar. Franju combine des séquences de représentations théâtrales avec des images documentaires, créant des liens et des confrontations entre le théâtre et le monde réel.
About a River, 25minutes
Directed by Georges Franju
Origin France
Genres Documentary
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films

Le film expose les différents aspects de la pêche au saumon atlantique.