This documentary brings a lighting on the originality and the specificity of the actor-author Pierre Richard, improbable synthesis of the talking ant silent films, heir to Buster Keaton for the gestural one and the expression of the body, and to Groucho Marx for the puns and the burlesque verbal one. Conceived like a voyage inside the universe of Pierre Richard, "the Art of unsteadiness" makes it possible to better understand its step, its method of actor, director and gag man. With through many testimonies, extracts of films and archives documents, drawn up here the portrait of one of the large last burlesques.

1920. Jean Rezeau and his elder brother were living happily in their family estate in Brittany, until the death of their grandmother. The return of their mother, a worthy descendant of fairytales' witches, brings an all new atmosphere to their home.

The first days of WWI. Adrien, a young and handsome lieutenant, is wounded by a piece of shrapnel. He will spend the entire wartime at the Val-de-Grâce Hospital, in Paris. Five long years, and his life will change forever...

A playwright of note, Darius developed a drinking problem after his first major hit, and has taken time out from writing his follow-up to go to a clinic and dry out. After his release, Darius finds his producer has hired a leading lady for his next show, booked the theater and advertised the starting date -- all without Darius writing so much as a word of this new play. Darius desperately tries to come up with ideas, but nothing comes to mind, with an inflexible deadline staring him in the face. One day, Darius kills a neighbor's cat by accident; terribly depressed, he swallows some sedatives and falls asleep at his computer -- only to awake with the beginning of his play glowing on the screen. Darius is now convinced he must kill in order to create, and starts murdering an ever-expanding variety of creatures in order to satisfy his now bloodthirsty muse.

Bernie, a 30 years old orphan, decides to leave his orphanage and find his parents. After an investigation, he meets Marion, a young heroin addict and falls in love with her. He believes that his family was victim of a plot and this is why they deserted him.

On the eve of the First World War, the inhabitants of a small village in Corrèze see a strange woman arrive: Cécile Brunie, a young teacher with original methods. Badly perceived from the beginning, the young woman tries as best she can to gather a whole class because since always the children are sent to the farm from their youngest age without being able to go to school. However, Cécile does not give up and decides to fight against ignorance.

The year is 1943 and the place is Balandou, a small village in Guinea. The plot revolves around Adjutant Mariani, some kind of a misfit. Despised by his superiors, hated by his wife Marie-France, he represents colonial France while dreaming of Africa and its mysteries. When pro-independence Lanseye Kante, the new manager of the school, arrives in the village, turmoil arises.

On 9 January 1836, Pierre Lacenaire goes to the guillotine, a murderer and a thief. He gives Allard, a police inspector, his life story, written while awaiting execution. He also asks Allard to care for Hermine, a lass to whom he has been guardian for more than ten years. In flashbacks, from the prison as Lacenaire writes, from Allard's study as he and Hermine read, and from other readers' memory after the book is published, we see Lacenaire's childhood as he stands up to bullies, including priests, his youthful thieving, his first murder, his brief army career, his seduction of a princess, and his affair with Avril, a young man who dies beside him.

A woman is detained at La Conciergerie. She's 37 but her hair are already white. She's suffering from terrible haemorraghe. Her name is Marie-Antoinette of Lorraine, from Austria, and she's living her last four days.

TV Show Details

Matthias Duval is in love, but he can't choose between the two twin sisters Betty and Liz Kerner. To pick up the two sisters, he invents his own twin brother and will play both characters.

Julien, an honest policeman, is asked to infiltrate a terrorist organization. He soon meets the charming Brigitte. But soon, manipulated by his superior, Julien finds himself involved in a dangerous affair: a gigantic campaign of intoxication.

A courageous judge tries to dismantle a drug traffickers ring.

Bernard accompanies his friend Roger on a circuit. They witness a serious accident. Roger rushes in and saves the pilot's life. In the explosion that followed, the three boys were injured and were soon taken to hospital.

Anita is a barmaid at the center of a community of street preachers, prostitutes, dealers and users. When a beloved friend (and young drug dealer) is caught by narcotics agents, Anita takes it upon herself to score for his struggling clients.

A 20th-century prostitute (Dominique Sanda) arranges for her lover (Michele Placido) to wed a wealthy, dying millionairess (Isabelle Huppert) in Venice.

In early twentieth-century Brittany, two peasants marry, have a son, and live in traditional Breton ways: three generations under one roof, a division of labor between the sexes, elders' stories at night, politics and religion during their little free time. Times are hard: la Chienne du Monde drives some to suicide; Ankou (death) is close at hand. Pierre is born into this republican family, his lyric childhood interrupted by the outbreak of war and his father's conscription. He learns his catechism and, as a child of a Reds, also reveres school. His grandfather and father often put him on their shoulders, giving him a ride on the horse of pride.

François, a miserable football player, becomes a town hero after bringing victory in an extremely important game. He uses his fame for revenge on the team star for the previous mockeries.

French miniseries.

The three ex-wives of a real estate developer join forces to get revenge on him.

A young miller takes under her protection an orphan brought up by an old woman.

The series follows the adventures of lighthearted Jean-Paul Moulin, a police Commissaire, and his team as they solve crimes.

Clement Mastard is the head of a leading journal dedicated to extravagant vaudeville. An unexpected contract requires him to reconnect with his former headliner Celia Bergson part to try to avant-garde theater. It is through this that he met Johann Sebastian Bloch, misunderstood musician who cause the loss but the side which Mastard, the man without scruples, to humanize and eventually produce a real masterpiece, the Missa Solemnis

A French film about a famous American trial - that of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who became the first people in American history to receive the death penalty for espionage.

A French variety show.

With "little captain" Cambrai raising serious doubts about the reality of the so-called "super spy," Colonel Toulouse kidnaps Christine and forces Francois to play again the character of "The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe" in some fake adventures. All this to stop the investigation into the death of Colonel Milan.

This Surrealist film, with a title referencing the Communist Manifesto, strings together short incidents based on the life of director Luis Buñuel. Presented as chance encounters, these loosely related, intersecting situations, all without a consistent protagonist, reach from the 19th century to the 1970s. Touching briefly on subjects such as execution, pedophilia, incest, and sex, the film features an array of characters, including a sick father and incompetent police officers.

Two people, a Frenchman Julien Maroyeur and a Jewish German woman (Anna Kupfer) met on a train while escaping the German army entering France.

Hapless orchestra player becomes an unwitting pawn of rival factions within the French secret service after he is chosen as a decoy by being identified as a super secret agent.

Winter 1970, France. In a small village covered in snow, an outcast bonesettler starts predicting the return of wolves in the area, but nobody wants to believe his superstitious omens. Until one day, a young man is attacted by a wolf.

Granier, a former accountant imprisoned for financial embezzlement, is released from prison and decides to help his cellmate to escape...

Unlucky in love, Alfred tries to commit suicide, only to be thwarted by police efforts to prevent a simultaneous attempt by a nearby young woman. Recovering, the young lady puts him up at her house, as he has run out of places to live. He joins a Parisian sporting team and seems to have transferred his bad luck to a corrupt television boss who is attempting to manipulate the game so that Alfred's Paris team loses.

Orgon and his mother swear by Tartuffe, the self-styled devout who lives off them. The other members of the family, scandalized by the clergyman's hold over them, will do anything to expose his hypocrisy. Michel Bouquet plays an almost monstrous Tartuffe, whose only weakness lies in his feelings for Elmire.

Because he has seduced Germaine de Boismenil, Georges Dormont is thrown out of the army by the colonel and husband of the beautiful. After the death of the Count of Boismenil, Dormont arrived at the castle of the widow with the firm intention of taking revenge. From the outset, he seduces Pierrette, the servant, revives the heart of Germaine, having gotten an appointment with the widow, he makes her naked, humiliates and leaves her. Witness of the scene, Martha, the proud orphan, throws herself into the arms of Gaston, faithful order of the colonel, to avenge her mother. George soon flouted their feelings. He then forces Germaine to reveal his attachment to Pierrette and causes a beautiful scandal.

A thief known as Simon the Swiss faces up and downs in his criminal profession.

One night in Paris all the clocks and watches of the whole world stopped except that of a small professor.

Edmond Dantès, who was active in the resistance against the Nazis, is accused for being a Nazi collaborator and is imprisoned in the fortress of Sisteron.

Alexandre, a young and honest farmer, is oppressed by an authoritarian wife, who makes him work like a dog. When she dies in a car crash, he decides to stay in bed, absolutely free and inactive. Just a dog is occupied to carry food and newspapers to him.

Over the course of one night, a gang of twelve criminals carry out a commando-like raid on a small town.

Goubi, the simpleton of his village in the French Department Allier, has but one wish: to see Paris. One day, the truckers Grafouillère deposit a drunk Goubi in the biggest market of Paris (the "Halles"). The poor man is completely lost, but the meat merchant Dessertine takes him under his wings when he hears that Goubi was likewise 'raised by the State'...

In Paris around 1900, Georges Randal is brought up by his wealthy uncle, who steals his inheritance. Georges hopes to marry his cousin Charlotte, but his uncle arranges for her to marry a rich neighbour. As an act of revenge, Georges steals the fiance's family jewels, and enjoys the experience so much that he embarks upon a life-time of burglary.

Raphaël, a former paratrooper, is unable to adapt to the constraints of social life. One day, he becomes the unwilling accomplice of jewel thieves and falls in love with Electre, the mistress of Alaphène, their boss. Electre gives herself to Raphäel and incites him to run away with her. The couple tries to reach Monte-Carlo, where the diamonds are hidden, but they are chased by Federico, one of the gangsters who craves the loot as well...

A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their childrens' boarding school. Slowly, they reveal themselves to each other, finding that each is a widow.

In the countryside near Normandy's beaches lives Marie, unhappy. It's 1945, she's married to Jérôme, a somewhat fussy milquetoast, diffident to the war around him and unwilling to move his wife to Paris, where she longs to live, shop, and party. A German outfit is bivouacked at Jérôme and Marie's crumbling château because its commanding officer is pursuing Marie. She's also eyed by a French spy working with the Allies as they plan D-Day. He woos her (posing to the Germans as her brother) and, in his passion, forgets his mission. Heroics come from an unexpected direction, and Marie makes her choice.