Francoise Lugagne Movies

This children's fantasy tale by Michel Deville was inspired by a real-life drama of some British schoolchildren who smuggled themselves into France and had quite a good time until the police eventually caught them. In this version, three girls and four boys living in London hop on a car transporter without a penny between them, and once at the English Channel, they sneak onto the ferry for the ride across. After reaching France, some menacing figures start to loom larger than life: a tattooed nun, a priest riding around in a Rolls-Royce, and a family of pirates. The children have several adventures but in the end must escape from this motley crew of strange people -- out to experiment on them with their diabolical aging machine. As this film turns gradually into a fantasy, the scripting and action are less inspired -- the adult writers may have needed more of a child's imagination. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The second screen version of Octave Mirbeau's novel (originally filmed in 1946 by Jean Renoir), Diary of a Chambermaid charts the ambitions of Celestine (Jeanne Moreau), a woman who comes to work in the 1930s for a Normandy estate occupied by Monsieur Rabour (Jean Ozenne), his daughter (Francoise Lugagne), and the daughter's husband, Monsieur Montiel (Michel Piccoli). Celestine quickly learns that M. Rabour is a more or less harmless boot fetishist, his daughter a frigid woman more concerned with the family furnishings than in returning the affections of her husband, who, in turn, can't keep his hands off the servants. The gamekeeper, Joseph (Georges Geret), is a fascist who keeps his masters informed of all the doings downstairs, and the next-door neighbor (Daniel Ivernel) is a veteran who can't stand Monteil and is sharing a bed with his housekeeper. Celestine picks her way through this minefield carefully, spurning the advances of all of the men until it's convenient for her. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi