Roland Topor

Roland Topor

Born: January 7, 1938
Died: April 16, 1997
in Paris, France
Roland Topor was a French illustrator, cartoonist, comics artist, painter, novelist, playwright, film and TV writer, filmmaker and actor, known for the surreal nature of his work. He gained notoriety as one of the home cartoonists of the subversive French magazine Hara-Kiri, renamed later Charlie-Hebdo.

Roland Topor wrote the novel The Tenant (Le Locataire chimérique, 1964), which was adapted to film by Roman Polanski in 1976. The Tenant is the story of a Parisian of Polish descent, a chilling exploration of alienation and identity, asking disturbing questions about how we define ourselves.

Movies for Roland Topor...

Les vendredis d'Apostrophes
Title: Les vendredis d'Apostrophes
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 6, 2015
Type: Movie
40 years of "Apostrophes". Hours and historical meetings, Pierre Assouline has composed an anthology of the best extracts presented in the form of a primer, which he had commented on by a surprised Bernard Pivot.
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Fantastic Laloux
Title: Fantastic Laloux
Character: Self
Released: December 8, 2010
Type: Movie
A short documentary about the life of director and artist René Laloux, featuring an interview with Laloux from 2001.
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Topor and Me
Title: Topor and Me
Character: Self (Voice)
Released: December 2, 2004
Type: Movie
Animated short by actress Sylvia Kristel about the art scene in Paris during the start of her French career playing Emmanuelle. She reminisces about Roland Topor, who taught her to paint, Hugo Claus, W.F. Hermans and others, while their respective work comes to life in animation.
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Le Cinéma au travail comme la mort
Title: Le Cinéma au travail comme la mort
Released: January 1, 1997
Type: Movie
A brief meeting with the writer and playwright Roland Topor in his studio.
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Title: Nulle part ailleurs
Character: Self
Released: August 31, 1987
Type: TV
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The Satin Spider
Title: The Satin Spider
Character: Le médecin
Released: March 26, 1986
Type: Movie
The setting is Les Fauvettes School for Girls just after WWI, where sternly Teutonic headmistress Ingrid Caven vies with Catherine Jourdan, a morphine addicted, fabric fetishist gym teacher, for the sexual favours of liquid eyed nymphet Scyluna. Meanwhile the chaplain conducts a nude exorcism.
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Swann in Love
Title: Swann in Love
Character: Biche
Released: February 23, 1984
Type: Movie
In early 20th century, Charles Swann, a young and wealthy dandy, spends most of his time hanging out with the old nobility, notably the Duke and Duchess of Guermantes. He is madly in love with a pretty demi-mondaine, Odette de Crécy. Idle, Swann surrenders complacently to the torments of jealousy. After hours of suffering, he manages to spend a night with Odette. In the morning, he believes that ultimately, this one is "not his type". However, we find him, many years later, alongside Odette who, now his wife, gave him a daughter. In the company of Baron de Charlus, brother of the Duchess of Guermantes, he wonders about the failure of his sentimental life, so far removed from this absolute he dreamed of.
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The Ones That Got Away
Title: The Ones That Got Away
Character: The murderous fencer
Released: February 25, 1981
Type: Movie
In a train compartment, 6 people who do not know each other tell the story of their troubles in love. Only one of those seems to be a positive one.
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The Making of 'Nosferatu'
Title: The Making of 'Nosferatu'
Character: Self
Released: October 6, 1979
Type: Movie
Werner Herzog discusses the making of "Nosferatu" on set.
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Nosferatu the Vampyre
Title: Nosferatu the Vampyre
Character: Renfield
Released: January 17, 1979
Type: Movie
Jonathan Harker, a real estate agent, goes to Transylvania to visit the mysterious Count Dracula and formalize the purchase of a property in Wismar. Once Jonathan is caught under his evil spell, Dracula travels to Wismar where he meets the beautiful Lucy, Jonathan's wife, while a plague spreads through the town, now ruled by death.
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Ratataplan
Title: Ratataplan
Character: Il boss
Released: January 1, 1979
Type: Movie
Misadventures of Colombo, an engineer in Milano. He is the only winner of an admission test for a job, and just for this reason he isn't hired. So he becomes a barman, and he discovers a special formula that turns simple water into the "Immortality drink". He is robbed of the magic water copyright. So he tries to set up a theatrical company, but the first show is a fiasco. Since finding a normal job seems a mission impossible, he tries to set the sentimental side of his life. He targets the most beautiful girl of his building, and for her he builds a robot able to dance like Tony Manero (John Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever (1977)). The robot gets drunk (!). It is another fiasco. So he targets an ugly girl and finally with her succeeds to live his surreal world for ever.
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Destins parallèles
Title: Destins parallèles
Released: January 1, 1979
Type: Movie
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The Daughter of the Railroad Crossing Guard
Title: The Daughter of the Railroad Crossing Guard
Character: Le pochard
Released: September 3, 1975
Type: Movie
Based on the idea by Roland Topor (screenwriter of Roman Polanski's The Tenant), this very curious completely silent melodrama tells the story of Mona, who has left her father, the railway gatekeeper, after being raped on the train track. She is kidnapped and taken to a Parisian whorehouse. However, a disinherited prince, Dudu who tries to rescue her, is himself kidnapped and forced to serve as a male prostitute. The two captives meet there and fall in love. They are taken away by different rich people - he to an Arab "harem," she to a surgeon's home.
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The Butcher, the Star and the Orphan
Title: The Butcher, the Star and the Orphan
Character: Inspector Labelote
Released: February 19, 1975
Type: Movie
A butcher dreams of becoming a famous director. He hires stars that he begins to kill.
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Title: Apostrophes
Character: Self
Released: January 10, 1975
Type: TV
Apostrophes was a live, weekly, literary, prime-time, talk show on French television created and hosted by Bernard Pivot. It ran for fifteen years (724 episodes) from January 10, 1975, to June 22, 1990, and was one of the most watched shows on French television (around 6 million regular viewers). It was broadcast on Friday nights on the channel France 2 (which was called "Antenne 2" from 1975 to 1992). The hourlong show was devoted to books, authors and literature. The format varied between one-on-one interviews with a single author and open discussions between four or five authors.
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Italiques: Roland Topor
Title: Italiques: Roland Topor
Character: Self
Released: August 8, 1974
Type: Movie
Roger Boussinot directed this episode of the French television show Italiques, which features an overview of the art and career of Fantastic Planet illustrator Roland Topor. It aired on August 8, 1974.
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Sweet Movie
Title: Sweet Movie
Released: June 12, 1974
Type: Movie
The winner of the Miss World Virginity contest marries, escapes from her masochistic husband and ends up involved in a world of debauchery.
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Threshold of the Void
Title: Threshold of the Void
Character: Homme dans le métro
Released: March 27, 1974
Type: Movie
The young artist Wanda Leibovitz comes to Paris, hoping to forget unfortunate love. Soon after arrival directly at the station Wanda meets the mysterious old woman suggesting to rent at it the room (whom the old woman, allegedly, held ready for the now deceased sister). Wanda doesn't know yet that this room will change all her life shortly after it slightly opens a mysterious forbidden door.
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Title: Midi trente
Character: Self
Released: March 6, 1972
Type: TV
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Cartoon circus
Title: Cartoon circus
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1972
Type: Movie
Feature film.
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Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?
Title: Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?
Character: Un émissaire du prince
Released: October 21, 1966
Type: Movie
In this excoriating satire of the fashion industry, Polly Maggoo is a 20-year-old Brooklyn-born fashion model in Paris, on the runway at the big shows where magazine editor Ms. Maxwell is the reigning opinion maker. The ridiculous passes for sublime. Polly becomes the subject of an episode of a vapid TV news documentary series called "Qui êtes-vous?" and is pursued by the filmmaker and by the prince of Borodine, a small country in the Soviet bloc.
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He! Viva Dada
Title: He! Viva Dada
Character: Self
Released: September 5, 1965
Type: Movie
Report from the second free expression festival organized at the American Cultural Center, Boulevard Raspail, in May 1965. The shows, all happenings inspired by ""théâtre panique/ the panic theater", includes Fernando Arrabal, Roland Topor and Alejandro Jodorowsky.