A selection of films by France’s answer to Noël Coward, with an introduction by filmmaker Olivier Assayas, who is one of the Gallic raconteur’s biggest fans.
Directed by Sacha Guitry • 1936 • France
Considered Sacha Guitry's masterpiece, this fleet, witty picaresque about a gambler and petty thief is a whimsical delight. Guitry himself stars as the tricheur looking back fondly on a life of crime, which he narrates with an effervescence matched by t...
Directed by Sacha Guitry • 1937 • France
Sacha Guitry plays four roles--including François I and Napoleon III--in this multilingual whirlwind of pageantry investigating the history of seven pearls, four of which end up on the crown of England and three of which go missing. The Pearls of the Cr...
Directed by Sacha Guitry • 1937 • France
Sacha Guitry exchanges his usual top hat for a uniform in Désiré, playing a cavalier valet embroiled in an awkward flirtation with his new employer (played by the actor-director's real-life wife, Jacqueline Delubac), who is involved with a stuffy politi...
Directed by Sacha Guitry • 1938 • France
A sparkling four-way affair overflowing with dialogue that showcases writer-director Sacha Guitry's wit, Quadrille stars Guitry as a magazine editor whose longtime girlfriend, to whom he plans to finally propose, is uncontrollably drawn to a handsome Am...
Directed by Sacha Guitry • 1951 • France
Starring Michel Simon, Germaine Reuver, Jean Debucourt
The writer, actor, and director Sacha Guitry emerged from the theater to become one of France’s best-known and most inventive filmmakers, and LA POISON marked his first major collaboration with anothe...
Olivier Assayas sings the praises of an underrated French filmmaker.