Rent Fantastique: The Dreams and Nightmares of French Cinema (1996)
10h 7min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Though rarely thought of as a home for genre filmmaking, France has fostered a long lineage of films at the border between realism and fantasy. Broadly gathered under the term of Cinéma Fantastique, these works often find the magical and the surreal lurking in the ordinary. Uncanny dreams, fleeting visions, or eerie apparitions lift their protagonists out of the everyday, transporting viewers into atmospheric worlds where the usual rules structuring our reality do not always hold. Formally striking and thematically stimulating, these phantasmagorical films blur the boundary between horror and wonder as they place the mysterious and the unexplained centre-stage. 'Dans la nuit' (Charles Vanel, 1930) moves from joy to terror as a disfigured miner starts to wear a strange mask. In Marcel L'Herbier's 'La nuit fantastique' (1942), a student follows a woman in his dreams. In Edmond T. Greville's 'Le diable souffle' (1947), stormy weather and feverish longing threaten to drive everyone mad. A man lives the life of another in Jean Kerchbron's 'The Golem' (1967). In Juan Luis Bunuel's 'The Woman in Red Boots' (1974) Catherine Deneuve appears to control people with her mind and finally in Raul Ruiz's 'Three Lives and Only One Death' (1996) Marcello Mastroianni stars in four bizarre, intertwining stories. - Actors:
- André Reybaz, Georges Douking, François Vibert, Françoise Winskill, Magali Noël, Alfred Baillou, Serge Merlin, Pierre Tabard, Marika Green, Robert Etcheverry, Michel Etcheverry, Charles Vanel, Sandra Milovanoff, Christiane Tourneur, Fernand Gravey, Micheline Presle, Saturnin Fabre, Charles Granval, Bernard Blier, Marcel Lévesque
- Directors:
- Jean Kerchbron, Charles Vanel, Marcel L'Herbier, Edmond T. Gréville, Juan Luis Buñuel, Raúl Ruiz
- Producers:
- Claire Monis, Fernand Weill, André Mallet, Guillaume Radot, André Verdet-Kleber, Claude Jaeger, Paulo Branco
- Writers:
- Jean Kerchbron, Gustav Meyrink, Louis Pauwels, Charles Vanel, Louis Chavance, Maurice Henry, Henri Jeanson, Marcel L'Herbier, Edmond T. Gréville, Max Joly, Jean Josipovici, Norbert Carbonnaux, Pierre-Jean Maintigneux, Jean-Claude Carrière, Clement Biddle Wood, Juan Luis Buñuel, Raúl Ruiz, Pascal Bonitzer
- Aka:
- Dans la nuit ( Into the Night) / La nuit fantastique (Fantastic Night) / Le Diable souffle (Woman of Evil) / The Golem (Le golem) / The Woman with Red Boots (La femme aux bottes rouges) / Three Lives
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
- Countries:
- France
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 19/10/2026
- Run Time:
- 607 minutes
- Languages:
- English Mono, French LPCM Mono, Italian LPCM Mono, Silent
- Subtitles:
- English
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- Colour and B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- New introduction to 'Dans la nuit' by Institut Lumière director Thierry Frémaux
- New commentary on 'Dans la nuit' by film historian Pamela Hutchinson
- New interview with French cinema expert Ginette Vincendeau on 'La Nuit fantastique' and French cinema under the Occupation
- Archival TV interview with director Marcel L'Herbier on 'La Nuit fantastique'
- New commentary for 'Le Diable souffle' by film critics Elena and Manuela Lazic
- New interview on 'Le Diable souffle' and director Edmond T. Gréville with film critic David Thompson
- New interview with Kim Newman on The Golem and Gustav Meyrink's novel
- Archival TV introduction to 'The Golem' by journalist and writer Louis Pauwels
- 'The Golem' photo gallery
- French, Italian, and English audio options for 'The Woman with Red Boots'
- New interview with fashion expert Matteo Augello on 'The Woman with Red Boots'
- New visual essay on 'The Woman with Red Boots' by critic and author Samm Deighan
- Archival interview with Catherine Deneuve on 'The Woman with Red Boots'
- New commentary on 'Three Lives and Only One Death' by Adrian Martin
- Archival TV interview with Marcello and Chiara Mastroianni on 'Three Lives and Only One Death'
- New documentary on the French cinéma fantastique then and now, featuring directors Lucile Hadžihalilovic, Bertrand Mandico, Yann Gonzalez
- And more
- Disc 1:
- Disc 2:
- Disc 3:
- Disc 4:
- Disc 5:
- Disc 6: