Marie-José Nat

Marie-José Nat

Born: April 20, 1940
Died: October 10, 2019
in Bonifacio, Corse, France
Marie-José Benhalassa (22 April 1940 – 10 October 2019), known professionally as Marie-José Nat, was a French actress. Among her notable works in cinema were the sequel films Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Jean-Marc and Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Françoise (1963), directed by André Cayatte. In 1974, she received a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film Violins at the Ball.

Benhalassa was born in Bonifacio, Corse-du-Sud, to a Kabyle Berber father, Abdelkader Benhalassa, and a Corsican mother, Vincentine (Biancarelli).

In 1960, she married the actor Roger Dumas and divorced him in 1962. She then married French director Michel Drach with whom she had three sons, David, Julien and Aurélien. They divorced in 1981. She had a relationship of several years with the actor Victor Lanoux. On 30 September 2005 she married the painter, writer and songwriter Serge Rezvani in her third marriage.

She died in Paris of cancer at age 79.

After secondary studies at the Ajaccio high school, Benhalassa entered the cours Simon in Paris.

Benhalassa began her career as a cover-girl and haute-couture model. In 1955, she won a competition from the magazine Femmes d'aujourd'hui which allowed her to become Jean-Claude Pascal's partner in a photo comics entitled L'amour est un songe.

Denys de La Patellière offered her her first major role in 1959 in Rue des prairies alongside Jean Gabin, in which she played his daughter. The following year, she performed in a comedy sketch by René Clair alongside Claude Rich and Yves Robert, and obtained a major role in La Vérité by Henri-Georges Clouzot, playing Brigitte Bardot's rival opposite Sami Frey.

In 1965, she married filmmaker Michel Drach; they had three children and divorced in 1981. She starred in several of her husband's films: Amelie or The Time to Love (1961), Elise, or Real Life (1970) and Les violons du bal (1974), inspired by his childhood experiences during World War II. She was also known for Train of Life (1998), Litan (1982) and The Dacians (1966) with Jean Sorel, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Victor Lanoux and Bernadette Lafont as acting partners.

In 2001, Nat was a member of the jury at the 36th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2001, and at the 24th Cabourg Film Festival in 2010.

She was the very first person to appear on the front cover of Télé 7 Jours in its current name on March 26, 1960.

Nat was awarded Best Actress at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in Violins at the Ball, and the film was nominated for the Golden Palm award.

She was made a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur on 31 December 2004, chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite on 18 November 2002 and promoted to the rank of officer on 14 November 2011, commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres as a member of the conseil de l'ordre of which she was a member from 1 March 2001 until April 2012.

Source: Article "Marie-José Nat" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Marie-José Nat...

Murder in Batz
Title: Murder in Batz
Character: Jeanne Gourvennec
Released: October 16, 2015
Type: Movie
The murder of a woman in an abandoned house is the first murder this rural French island has had in 100 years. Or is it? A cop who left the island 20 years earlier and a young intern who moved away when she was six years old - but doesn't remember those first six years of her life - team up to solve the murder and some other mysteries that develop during the course of their investigation.
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Winnetou darf nicht sterben
Title: Winnetou darf nicht sterben
Character: Herself
Released: December 27, 2007
Type: Movie
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My Russian Uncle
Title: My Russian Uncle
Character: Geneviève Ferrand
Released: December 10, 2006
Type: Movie
Officially declared missing in 1945, Gaston Boissac suddenly comes back at 70 years old in his home village.
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Elena's Gift
Title: Elena's Gift
Character: Elena
Released: July 7, 2004
Type: Movie
After more than 40 years of absence, Socrates spends some days in Corsica, accompanied by his son Antoine, to see his cousins. But Antoine discovers his father's secret before his birthday party.
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Ceux qui aiment ne meurent jamais
Title: Ceux qui aiment ne meurent jamais
Character: Éva
Released: February 6, 2004
Type: Movie
During WW-I Odette gets to know that her husband André has fallen. Her littler son never saw him. He tries to recapitulate his last hours.
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The Year when I Was Seven
Title: The Year when I Was Seven
Character: Alice dite Yaya
Released: March 25, 2003
Type: Movie
My name is Hélène and 1952 was not an easy year for me. First, because my parents decided to leave Montpellier for Paris but without taking me and my big brother Michel along with them. Why, I don't know... The fact remains that I had to leave the south for Lille, in the North, where my grandmother Yaya (her true name is Alice but this is the way call her) and my grandfather Georges were living. What I disliked most was that Yaya had a preference for Michel and that Granddaddy was too grumpy. In Lille I also got very upset when pupils at the catholic school I attended told me I was... Jewish. Jewish? I didn't even know that Jews even existed. And when I knew better about them (Michel was more informed than I was), what a shock it was when I learned that my two other grandparents had been sent to a concentration during the war. A little too much for a little girl like me. A sure thing is that I will never forget the year 1952, the year when I was seven...
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Title: Vivement dimanche
Character: Self
Released: September 20, 1998
Type: TV
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Train of Life
Title: Train of Life
Character: Sura
Released: September 16, 1998
Type: Movie
In 1941, the inhabitants of a small Jewish village in Central Europe organize a fake deportation train so that they can escape the Nazis and flee to Palestine.
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Deux mamans pour Noël
Title: Deux mamans pour Noël
Character: Marie
Released: January 28, 1998
Type: Movie
After years, Eric decides to track down his mother.
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Title: Terre indigo
Character: Mathilde Vallogne
Released: July 8, 1996
Type: TV
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Le nombril du monde
Title: Le nombril du monde
Character: Oumi
Released: November 23, 1993
Type: Movie
Tunisia, early thirties, the young and plump Bajou, lives modestly with his parents. One day after a flood, his father suddenly disappears. Thanks to his uncle and his cousin Marcel, he moves with his mother Oumi to work for the wealthy landowner Mr. Scali, a talkative and boastful man.
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Río Negro
Title: Río Negro
Released: February 12, 1992
Type: Movie
Río Negro is the struggle of two men, Osuna and Funes, hungry for power and wealth in a small town in Venezuela, during the dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez
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Litan
Title: Litan
Character: Nora
Released: February 24, 1982
Type: Movie
Nora and Jock arrive in the strange village of Litan during the Festival of the Dead.
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Title: Champs-Elysées
Character: Self
Released: January 16, 1982
Type: TV
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A Mother, a Daughter
Title: A Mother, a Daughter
Released: August 12, 1981
Type: Movie
Anna is a stylist in Budapest. One day at a restaurant, she thinks she recognizes Marie Aubier, a 22-year-old French girl, her own daughter.
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Disobedience
Title: Disobedience
Character: Madre di Luca
Released: July 15, 1981
Type: Movie
Luca Manzi is a fourteen year old boy when the Northern Italy Republic of Salò is governed by the Fascists. He becomes a partisan but when the war ends he is disappointed because things have not changed as he had hoped they wood, and he decides to let himself die. He is saved by Edith who tries to introduce him to sex. Based on the novel by Alberto Moravia.
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Le Passé simple
Title: Le Passé simple
Character: Cécile
Released: January 1, 1977
Type: Movie
When François' wife Cecile was leaving him because of his affairs with other women, she had an auto accident. In this drama, he makes uses of her amnesia to try to win her back and misleads her at every turn in her quest to recover her memories.
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Les Rosenberg ne doivent pas mourir
Title: Les Rosenberg ne doivent pas mourir
Released: May 24, 1975
Type: Movie
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.
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Title: Numéro un
Character: Self
Released: April 5, 1975
Type: TV
A French variety show.
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Title: Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
Character: Self
Released: January 12, 1975
Type: TV
A talk show presented by Michel Drucker
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Tell Me You Love Me
Title: Tell Me You Love Me
Character: Charlotte Le Royer
Released: December 12, 1974
Type: Movie
Two couples, undermined by frequent scenes, fall apart: the men, Richard and Bertrand, directors of an advertising agency, move into their office; soon Lucien, their main client and friend, suffering from the same afflictions, joins them in this new bachelor life. For their part, the women regroup and organize themselves: Victoire absorbs herself in her work as a decorator; Charlotte, long submissive to Richard's personality, raises her head and finds a job; as for Pascaline, she runs off with Tabard, her husband Lucien's groom, to start raising sheep. These three crises, combined with a series of twists and turns, bring unexpected results for each of the couples.
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Title: Spécial cinéma
Character: Self
Released: September 25, 1974
Type: TV
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Violins at the Ball
Title: Violins at the Ball
Character: She, Michel's wife
Released: June 2, 1974
Type: Movie
In this WW II drama based on an autobiographical story by director Michel Drach, a Jewish boy and his family living in Nazi occupied France, attempt to escape the cruel invaders. Later the boy grows up to become a filmmaker obsessed with chronicling his childhood.
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6 Calvary Street
Title: 6 Calvary Street
Released: January 1, 1973
Type: Movie
Octave Verbrugge, a powerful Belgian building contractor, met Hugo Saint-Laurent, a brilliant French engineer, during a business trip and made friends with him. Now that his bureau of expertise is experiencing difficulties with one of their important projects he has the idea to hire his friend to help resolve the problem. Hugo agrees and stays as a guest at Octave's home in Ghent, where the promoter lives with his two unmarried sisters, Françoise, a beautiful but mysterious woman, and Aurélie, a very strict and withdrawn lady.
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Title: Les Gens de Mogador
Character: Julia Angellier
Released: December 18, 1972
Type: TV
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Title: Midi trente
Character: Self
Released: March 6, 1972
Type: TV
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Embassy
Title: Embassy
Character: Laure
Released: March 2, 1972
Type: Movie
A KGB assassin infiltrates the American embassy in Beirut in an attempt to eliminate a Russian defector being protected by the CIA.
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Title: Cadet Rousselle
Character: Self
Released: November 4, 1971
Type: TV
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Elise, or Real Life
Title: Elise, or Real Life
Character: Elise Le Tellier
Released: November 25, 1970
Type: Movie
Elise (Marie-Josee Nat) is a young provincial woman working in a factory in Paris. Her revolutionary brother secured the position for her, and she falls in love with an Algerian native who works with her. She becomes painfully aware of the prejudice he experiences from the police and his superiors. The recent conflict between France and Algeria only compounds the problems of Algerians in France. Her love and concern for the man causes her to search for him after he disappears one day. Elise considers moving to Algeria to find the man she loves in this bitter social drama.
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Opium and the Stick
Title: Opium and the Stick
Character: Farroudja
Released: September 14, 1970
Type: Movie
In 1950, in Algeria, in a village in Kabylia, Algerian resistance fighters resisted the French occupation army. Bachir returns to the village to escape the clashes ravaging Algiers. In Thala, he has two brothers, Ali and Belaïd. The first is engaged with the ALN (The National Liberation Army) and fights against the colonizer. His second brother, Belaïd, the eldest, is convinced of a French Algeria. His family torn apart, Bachir decides to join the war and takes sides against the repression of the French army. The French army is trying in vain to turn the population against the insurgents by using disinformation. The more time passes, the more the inhabitants of the village and surrounding areas, oppressed, rally to the cause of the FLN, their houses and their fields will be burned... Adaptation to the cinema of the eponymous novel Opium and the Stick, published in 1965, by Mouloud Mammeri, the film was dubbed into Tamazight (Berber), a first for Algerian cinema.
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Diamond Rush
Title: Diamond Rush
Character: Lucia
Released: January 10, 1969
Type: Movie
Traumatized by the War of Algeria and by the accidental death of his wife and his son, Manu left the right road. His last caper was the attack of the Antwerp-Tangiers Express, carrying a precious cargo of industrial diamonds. But the whole affair was bungled and all of his accomplices got shot. The only survivor of this disaster, Manu now finds refuge in the mountain house of Lucia, the widow of a smuggler who lives alone there with her little boy.
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The Dacians
Title: The Dacians
Character: Meda
Released: May 31, 1967
Type: Movie
The great King of Dacia, Decebal (Decebalus), is disposed to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to keep the integrity of his people. His own son, Cotyso, is given to the god Zamolxis to the dismay of the King and his daughter Meda. Septimius Severus, a young Roman devoted to his adopted country, must make the choice between his blood origins and the culture he was introduced to.
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Diamond Safari
Title: Diamond Safari
Character: Electre
Released: June 28, 1966
Type: Movie
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...
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A Woman in White
Title: A Woman in White
Character: Claude Sauvage
Released: April 28, 1965
Type: Movie
Claude Sauvage, a tenacious young gynecologist takes a months long internship in a Paris hospital. Between her private life and medical career, she set her doubts and desires in a society where the square and the plight of women remain at that time a secondary issue. The film follows Claude and the staff through the case of some patients while the crucial debate on women's professional ambition, contraception and abortion rights.
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The Real Bargain
Title: The Real Bargain
Released: March 9, 1965
Type: Movie
The eccentric Comtesse de Saint-Plâs sells a black Citroën DS to car dealer Paul Souflé. He sells it to the young mathematics teacher Jacques Denzac who is about to marry.
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Title: Dim Dam Dom
Character: Self
Released: March 7, 1965
Type: TV
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Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Françoise
Title: Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Françoise
Character: Françoise Dubreuil
Released: January 31, 1964
Type: Movie
The story of the couple from the very first meeting to break up told from a view of a woman, Francoise. The film shares the same plot with "Jean-Marc ou La vie conjugale", that tells the same story from another perspective.
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Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Jean-Marc
Title: Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Jean-Marc
Character: Françoise
Released: January 31, 1964
Type: Movie
The story of the couple from the very first meeting to break up told from a view of a man, Jean-Marc. The film shares the same plot with "Françoise ou La vie conjugale", that tells the same story from another perspective.
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Un coup dans l'aile
Title: Un coup dans l'aile
Character: Nicole
Released: December 31, 1963
Type: Movie
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Sentimental Education
Title: Sentimental Education
Character: Anne Arnoux
Released: May 2, 1962
Type: Movie
Frédéric, a shy small-town man, falls in love with Anne, a middle class woman married to Didier, who cheats on her with top model Barbara. Catherine, a very determined woman, is secretly in love with Frédéric and in order to keep him away from Anne, pushes him into Barbara's arms.
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The Seven Deadly Sins
Title: The Seven Deadly Sins
Character: La Jeune Femme (segment "La colère")
Released: March 7, 1962
Type: Movie
Seven directors each dramatize one of the seven deadly sins in a short film. In "Anger," a domestic argument over a fly in the Sunday soup escalates into nuclear war. In "Sloth," a movie star would rather pay someone to tie his shoe than bend over to do it himself, and he can't be bothered to accept a starlet's sexual favors. In "Gluttony," a peasant family on its way to the funeral of a relative who died from indigestion stops regularly to eat and drink en route, arriving in time to eat some more. In "Greed," a high-class prostitute refunds the price of a cadet's lottery ticket. In "Pride," an unfaithful wife finds reason to reform. And so on through lust and envy.
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La colère
Title: La colère
Released: March 7, 1962
Type: Movie
Anger seizes a man who finds a fly in his Sunday soup. It spreads through his neighborhood, his city, his country and soon the whole world. (Segment of "Les sept péchés capitaux")
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The Marriage of Figaro
Title: The Marriage of Figaro
Character: Chérubin
Released: December 25, 1961
Type: Movie
Comedy in five acts by Beaumarchais, filmed by Marcel Bluwal in studio and on location. The cast, in accordance with Marcel Bluwal's wishes, is in keeping with the age and character of the characters, to give it rhythm. At once "a comic baroque play, a bourgeois drama, a chansonnier's number, a social satire, a farce and a very pretty love story" according to Marcel Bluwal, it can also be summed up, according to Beaumarchais, as "the most bantering of intrigues".
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Amelie or The Time to Love
Title: Amelie or The Time to Love
Character: Amélie
Released: June 1, 1961
Type: Movie
The vagaries of love are often tragic, as Amelie ou le Temps d'Aimer seems to say. Directed by Michel Drach in his second try at a feature-length film, the well-wrought romance revolves around the love that develops between Amelie (Marie-Jose Nat) and her cousin Alain (Jean Sorel). Amelie is an orphan who lives with Alain and his family on an island off the coast of France. Alain has dreams of working as a seaman, while Amelie works for Alain's father. The budding romance between the two takes a nose-dive when Alain falls for a glamorous actress who shows up on the island one day. Not mature enough yet to make a wise choice, Alain's betrayal of Amelie turns out to be a grievous mistake.
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The Menace
Title: The Menace
Character: Josepha
Released: March 1, 1961
Type: Movie
Josepha is on the verge eighteen living with her drunken washed up actor uncle. She longs for the companionship of a group of her mo-ped riding peers who dabble in activities on the shady side of a legal dividing line. In order to get the semi-delinquent group to accept her, Josepha runs to the police with a tall tale about the local druggist, Savary. The police are looking for a sex murderer, and Josepha insists Savary is their man. What she does not know, however, can do her considerable damage.
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The Truth
Title: The Truth
Character: Annie Marceau
Released: November 2, 1960
Type: Movie
As Dominique Marceau is being tried for the murder of Gilbert Tellier, accounts by different witnesses paint a picture of the kind of relationship the two used to share.
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Love and the Frenchwoman
Title: Love and the Frenchwoman
Character: Line, la jeune mariée (Le Mariage)
Released: September 16, 1960
Type: Movie
The seven stages in the life of the modern Frenchwomen are disclosed by seven directors in a witty way: 1 - Childhood, 2 - Adolescence, 3 - Virginity, 4 - Marriage, 5 - Adultery, 6 - Divorce, 7 - The Single Woman.
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Long Live the Duke!
Title: Long Live the Duke!
Released: March 14, 1960
Type: Movie
A Belgian village is struck by repeated flooding, all this because they lack a new sewer. But the Ministry delays in providing the funding needed to build it. To alert public opinion, the villagers decide to do something. This "something" will be a play describing the life of their saint patron. Trouble follows, partly fueled by the short-tempered mayor.
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Rue de Paris
Title: Rue de Paris
Character: Odette
Released: October 21, 1959
Type: Movie
Life in a one-parent family with a focus on the parent, Henri Neveu (Jean Gabin), is the topic of this standard drama with a dash of comedy. While Henri was a POW during the war, his wife passed away and he returned to face the challenges of bringing up three children alone. Henri may get drunk and angry at times but he also has a better side that will not stay buried. Since handling three children alone is no easy task, the single father has the choice of growing in the process or not.
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Secret professionnel
Title: Secret professionnel
Released: October 21, 1959
Type: Movie
Catherine Langeac and André Foucaud are a medical couple, she a general practitioner and he a gynecologist. Their attentiveness and understanding enable them to solve many of their patients' problems.
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You Have Nothing to Declare?
Title: You Have Nothing to Declare?
Character: Lise Dupont
Released: August 29, 1959
Type: Movie
Married against her will to the Comte de Trivelin, Paulette Dupont shares her anxieties with her childhood friend Labaule. Warned too late to prevent the ceremony from taking place, Labaule follows the couple on their honeymoon and prevents the consummation of the marriage by repeatedly intruding on the couple's privacy. Put on notice by Paulette's parents to consummate the marriage, Trivelin - who believes himself to be at fault - consults a psychiatrist. The latter advises him to visit a lady of lesser virtue: Gloria. But Gloria's clientele includes Dupont himself - Paulette's father - and Labaule!
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La Nuit de Tom Brown
Title: La Nuit de Tom Brown
Character: Dorothy "Dot" Brown
Released: March 24, 1959
Type: Movie
How did Master Brown turn from a man of faith into a cantankerous, distrustful and cynical man? Nathaniel Hawthorne's character recounts the night when everything changed. In Canada, in a village where everyone seems more virtuous than he is, Tom Brown meets a man who claims to be the devil.
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Happy Arenas
Title: Happy Arenas
Released: August 13, 1958
Type: Movie
A watchman with a sensitive heart, Fernand falls in love with Violette and Pervenche, two of the daughters of his boss, Maître Arno. At a bullfight starring three attractive Spaniards, the girls and their sister Marguerite - with whom Fernand's companion Rémy is in love - compete in charm, to the despair of both suitors. Followed by Marina, a pretty girl who seems to take a keen interest in Fernand, the two friends decide to retire to Les Martigues, far from their belles. But soon annoyed by Marina's insistence, Fernand returns to Maître Arno's manade, while Rémy decides to become a bullfighter to win back Marguerite.
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Give Me My Chance
Title: Give Me My Chance
Character: Rosine
Released: October 18, 1957
Type: Movie
17 year-old small-town girl Nicole Noblet comes to Paris dreaming of becoming a world-famous actress.
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Crime and Punishment
Title: Crime and Punishment
Character: La jeune fille du bal
Released: December 4, 1956
Type: Movie
A young tormented student can no longer stand his miserable life. To avoid his sister marrying an old antiques dealer out of convenience, he murders a pawnbroker to steal his money. Very quickly, it is taken from remorse and confides to a young prostitute. The latter, very believing, advises him to go. He opposes this idea, but guilt devours him. He is soon struck by remorse, and confides in a young prostitute, who advise him to surrender. He opposes this idea, but guilt devours him.
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Title: Cinépanorama
Character: Self
Released: February 4, 1956
Type: TV
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Anatomy of a Marriage
Title: Anatomy of a Marriage
Character: Françoise
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie