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Les Films du Jeudi has unveiled new classic film releases from Jean Renoir, Raymond Lamy, Pierre Gaspard-Huit and a little-known comedy starring Jean-Paul Belmondo by Jean Becker.
Les Films du Jeudi managing director
Laurence Braunberger shared in exclusivity with Variety the company’s latest lineup ahead of the Classic Film Market’s annual Catalogue Holders’ Premiere Presentation during the Lumière Festival in Lyon on Wednesday.
Among the newly restored titles is 1924’s “Une vie sans joie” (“Catherine”), the first film attributed to Jean Renoir, co-directed by Albert Dieudonné.
The feature will be released by Tamasa in a DVD/Blu-ray box set and then in theaters in 2027 as part of a retrospective of Renoir’s silent films.
Depicting a conflict between social classes, “Catherine” tells the story of Catherine Ferrand, a young maid in the Mallet household, who must endure her employer’s animosity and the persecution of local villagers. Although secretly in love with Mallet’s tuberculosis-afflicted son, she decides to run away, only to fall into the clutches of a notorious pimp.
Les Films du Jeudi carried out the 4K restoration in collaboration with the Cinémathèque Française and with support from the French National Film Board (CNC).
The Paris-based company is also lining up “Miroir” (1946), by Raymond Lamy, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of star Jean Gabin.
Gabin plays Monsieur Lussac, who lives a double life: By day, he is a rich, brilliant and respectable financier, but by night he becomes Mirror, a ruthless gang leader in Marseilles.
Similarly, Les Films du Jeudi is bringing out Pierre Gaspard-Huit’s 1954 crime drama “Sophie et le crime” (“Girl on the Third Floor”), starring Marina Vlady at age 17, as “an impromptu tribute to this wonderful actress who has just passed away,” said Braunberger. (Vlady died on Sept. 24 in Paris at the age of 88.)
Based on the novel by Cecil Saint-Laurent, the film follows Sophie (Vlady), a young, passionate but naïve journalist in Paris who sets out to prove the innocence of a suspected killer. Jean Gaven and Peter van Eyck also star.
The CNC likewise supported the 4K restoration of “Sophie et le crime.”
Rounding out Les Films du Jeudi’s latest releases is Jean Becker’s 1965 comedy “Tendre voyou” (“Tender Scoundrel”), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo.
After deciding he’s going to live off rich women, professional seducer Tony sets a course for adventure: At a winter ski resort, he meets Muriel, who falls in love with him; in Tahiti, he cannot satisfy the sexual appetite of Baroness von Strasshofer. He finally falls for Veronique, but she doesn’t believe him.
It’s one of Belmondo’s “less well-known” films, Braunberger noted.
The release coincides with the film’s exhibition at the Paris Cinémathèque Française as part of the ongoing Belmondo retrospective.
Founded by producer Pierre Braunberger, Les Films du Jeudi owns a catalog of more than 400 films.
The Classic Film Market’s Catalogue Holders’ Premiere Presentation has become a favorite session at the event and was the first to fill up this year, underscoring the growing significance of film libraries, according to market co-head Gérald Duchaussoy.
