The Recommended Vault Deeply Connected to Nène: Cult Guide

Dir: Jacques de Baroncelli

In the snow as bells toll, a hooded figure makes its way through the streets to a church.It is a small child ,and a woman opening up her window across onto the scene comes out to help and bring the child into her home. Inside, the little girl tries to run out again, but the woman and a man joining her offer a bowl of cafe au lait.As the girl rests her head on the table to sleep she drops a booklet which gives some of her history that she later talks about.She had been beaten and doesn't want to be returned to where she was. Ten years after.Angelique the girl works in a church abbey as an embroiderer with her mother.She talks of the dead returning to life. The scene changes to the exterior of the nearby castle where the family is eating.Angelique's adopted parents tell her about the manor, Hautecoeur, and a legend when people were cured of a plague by the local saint. Angelique sings in the church choir, when the lord of the manor, who is also the bishop, visits. Next we see her washing linen in a river, she has a young admirer who is in the nearby woods.Distracted, she lets the garment slip but he comes to help her retrieve it.He is Felicien and tells her that, as an artist, he has been hired to repair the stained glass church windows. She hangs up the garments to dry. Talking later to her mother, Angelique shares her dream of marrying a rich prince like the one who is the bishop's son .(The manor lord had been heartbroken when the mother died and went into the church.) The mother advises her that would be impossible. Angelique looks in the evening at an illustrated book about a Golden Legend and sees Felicien outside by the window, he comes up to her balcony but she tells him to leave. He will continue to look at her but will not talk to her for a month. After which he returns and says he wants to tell her who he really is.They will meet again tomorrow.She prays. A procession leaves the church, singing the Gloria. Angelique hears another girl identifying Felicien as the son of the manor and embraces her mother in happiness. She meets him later by the river.As bells toll, the mother paces. Felicien tells Angelique he had also been abandoned by his father and had grown up poor, he has just now returned. She talks of their marriage but the mother, doubtful once again, comes out to her and later tells her in the room that the son is destined to marry someone else. Felicien asks his father about marrying Angelique and is refused. The abbey comes to see her mother and Angelique hears them from the stairs as we see their silhouettes. Angelique goes to the church, where she introduces herself to the bishop after he comes to the altar.She begs him about the marriage and calls after him. Angelique is back at the river doing washing with her mother and another woman.Hearing of Felicien's impending marriage to another woman, she lets a garment drift off again, and collapses. The doctor visits and Felicien also comes to see her .She is in weakened condition and can't go with him but her mother comforts her. She is now dying.The abbey visits to bless her as others gather by the bed and the bishop recites the Our Father.After he kisses her forehead she sits up. We see sculptured figures at the church as Angelique and Felicien are finally wed by the bishop and they are led out by a group of children.In one of the film's few close shots, we see the newlyweds kiss. But Angelique's last dream has not yet come true.Until we see a figure representing her spirit ascending, after her immediate death, into the skies.

Dir: Jacques de Baroncelli

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of I'll Be Alone After Midnight perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A woman's marriage is on the rocks ; to avenge herself, she decides to take a lover for one night .So she buys all his stock from a balloon man and flies them through the Parisian sky ; all her balloons carry a message :"I will be alone after midnight" (hence the title); a lot a suitors comme to the rendezvous : a fisherman, a soldier, a traveler , a gentleman cambrioleur (a nod to Arsène Lupin?) and others ,much to Michel, a young man in love with her's displeasure .

Dir: Jacques de Baroncelli

Faithfully reproduced observations of Breton fisherfolk in story of the man a local woman really loves who will not at first give himself to her because of his fondness for the sea that takes him away.

Dir: Jacques de Baroncelli

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Pêcheur d'Islande perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A lady suffers ill repute when she leaves her husband for a fling with an adventurer and gives the lover some jewelry to pay the hotel bill.Will her husband be understanding and forgive her?

Dir: Jacques de Baroncelli

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Jacques de Baroncelli

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Le scandale perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

The love between two abandoned youths: A poor orphan girl who becomes a seamstress, and the son of a historic castle's lord, returning after many years to his strict father who has now become a bishop.

Dir: Jacques de Baroncelli

The adaptation of a french novel from 1864 describes the idyllic life of a convinced bachelor, Fritz Kobus, in a village in Alsace. With help by the local rabbi, he does get married to young Suzel in the end.

Dir: Jacques de Baroncelli

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Gitanes perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Young novice Beatrice left the veil to follow a childhood friend. A happy life awaits her, but the count abandons her for the beautiful Nilidor. Desperate, she then leads a life of debauchery, and one day she returns to the convent.

Dir: Jacques de Baroncelli

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Jacques de Baroncelli

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.