Michel Simon

Jean Renoir’s ruthless love triangle tale, his second sound film, is a true precursor to his brilliantly bitter The Rules of the Game, displaying all of the filmmaker’s visual genius and fully imbued with his profound humanity. Michel Simon cuts a tragic figure as an unhappily married cashier and amateur painter who becomes so smitten with a prostitute that he refuses to see the obvious: that she and her pimp boyfriend are taking advantage of him. Renoir’s elegant compositions and camera movements carry this twisting narrative—a stinging commentary on class and sexual divisions—to an unforgettably ironic conclusion.

Newly married couple Juliette and ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Jules and a cabin boy.

A mad scientist's brain is kept alive by his demented assistant in order to attach a hunchbacked nurse's head to the body of a voluptuous stripper.

During WWII, a railway inspector joins the French Resistance to prevent Germans from stealing paintings in this wartime thriller based on true events.

A fearless young warrior battles accusations of heresy and struggles to maintain her unwavering faith during a harrowing trial in this silent classic.