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Claude Brasseur, left, in Orchestra Seats Photo: Unifrance French character actor Claude Brasseur has died, aged 84.

The star, who was famed for his tough guy roles and comic turns, featured regularly in films from the Fifties onwards, working with directors including Georges Franju (Eyes Without A Face), Jean-Luc Goddard Bande à Part) and Francois Truffaut (Such A Gorgeous Kid Like Me). More recent films included Camping and Orchestra Seats.

He starred in more than 100 films and won two Cesar awards - France's equivalent of the Oscars -  a best supporting Cesar for the 1976 comedy Un éléphant ça Trompe Enormément and then best actor for The Police War (La Guerre Des Polices). He also starred in the popular French TV series Vidocq.

Head of the Time Art agency Elisabeth Tanner said he was not a victim of Covid and died "in peace and serenity surrounded by his family".

Brasseur, whose mother was Odette Joyeux,...

Imitations of Life: The Films of Douglas Sirk (December 23 – January 6) at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York gathers a substantial number of the German auteur's classic films together with more obscure titles, some of which may deserve elevation into the higher ranks of his oeuvre. Already, in the past few years, There's Always Tomorrow (1956) has crept up the league table of Sirkian melodrama, mainly because it became easier to see and people recognized that it could stand comparison with All That Heaven Allows (1955) and Imitation of Life (1959), or nearly so.Some Sirk movies will, however, never be quite respectable, but in a way I love them for that. His period movies often dive headlong into Hollywood kitsch in a way that his once-despised weepies mainly avoid. There's a trio of movies playing with George Sanders which exemplify this in their different ways. Summer Storm (1944) was Hollywood's...

Imitations of Life: The Films of Douglas Sirk (December 23 – January 6) at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York gathers a substantial number of the German auteur's classic films together with more obscure titles, some of which may deserve elevation into the higher ranks of his oeuvre. Already, in the past few years, There's Always Tomorrow (1956) has crept up the league table of Sirkian melodrama, mainly because it became easier to see and people recognized that it could stand comparison with All That Heaven Allows (1955) and Imitation of Life (1959), or nearly so.Some Sirk movies will, however, never be quite respectable, but in a way I love them for that. His period movies often dive headlong into Hollywood kitsch in a way that his once-despised weepies mainly avoid. There's a trio of movies playing with George Sanders which exemplify this in their different ways. Summer Storm (1944) was Hollywood's...

It's been a really long time since last we heard anything from Catwoman and Vidocq director Pitof, and he hasn't even used all this time off to go and get a last name. What he has done is cook up another horror flick called Twisted. Read on for details.

Sharon Stone, Billy Zane, Gina Gershon, Tom Berenger, Brad Dourif, Edward Furlong, Caterina Murino, and Claudia Gerini star. Read on for the plot crunch and sales art. Dig it!

Synopsis

As a child, Margot was witness to brutal events in her home. Now an adult and a famous novelist, she finds her inspiration on the darkest forums dedicated to violence.

In the steamy city of New Orleans, she writers Twisted, her latest thriller, live on the Internet. Each chapter describes a murder which is matched by a real-life crime.

As the murder investigations deepen, the carnal worlds of sex and violence...

PARIS -- Pathe Distribution, the film distribution and international sales arm of French giant Pathe, said Wednesday that Olivier Granier will replace Marc Bonduel as head of the company. Granier, the chief of French production companies RF2K and Galfin Prods., will retain his positions as director general of the Comedie! channel and co-manager of the Cuisine TV channel, both majority-owned by Pathe. He starts his new post Wednesday. Bonduel, who led Pathe Distribution for only a year, helped put Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra on a record 950 screens in France, drawing 14.5 million viewers. The company declined to elaborate on Bonduel's exit, and Bonduel was not available for comment Wednesday. With Pathe, RF2K and Galfin Prods. produced Franco Zeffirelli's Callas Forever, Gerard Jugnot's Monsieur Batignole and Pitof's Vidocq.