After the tremendous popular success of the
Fantômas novels, both of the major French
film studios — Pathé and Gaumont —
vied for the rights to produce films based
on the series. Gaumont won, and from
April 1913 to May 1914 Louis Feuillade
directed five Fantômas films which critic
David Thomson has described as "the first
great movie experience."

A retelling of Tristan and Isolde set in 1940s France.

Political intrigue and psychological drama run parallel. The queen is in seclusion, veiling her face for the ten years since her husband's assassination, longing to join him in death. Stanislas, a poet whose pen name is Azrael, is a suicidal anarchist, his imagination haunted into hate by longing for this queen who's drawn apart. He enters her private quarters intent on killing her then himself, but they fall in love, in part because he looks like the king. Stanislas wants her to regain political power by appearing to the public, and she tries to convince him to find hope and escape. All the while, the queen's enemies plot to keep the lovers together but to thwart their plans.

When a young teen marries the Prince of Cleves, more than twice her age, she automatically becomes an official Princess and takes her new position to heart. Although distracted by the elite entertainments found at court, the princess cannot help but mourn her impossible love for the dashing Duc de Nemours.

Evelyne, a judge's young wife, falls in love with Remy, that lives in Paris, during Holidays. After following him in the lovers city, she decides to return home to inform her husband about all - but her plane crashes.

Young Michel is in love with the attractive Madeleine, so he decides to tell his parents of his intention to marry her. He thinks his announcement is innocent enough; his engagement, however, threatens to reveal dark secrets lurking within his family's home. Yvonne, Michel's overbearing mother, concocts an elaborate scheme to drive Madeleine away, thus keeping uncomfortable household truths from being exposed.

A fairy godmother helps a princess disguise herself so she won't have to marry her father.

1957 film by Luchino Visconti

An 18th century poet travels through time in search of divine wisdom. In a mysterious wasteland, he has a series of enigmatic encounters with symbolic phantoms with whom he muses about the nature of art and his own career. Ultimately, the poet strives to achieve his rebirth as a celestial being.

1950 film by Jean Cocteau