In Le Livre d’Image, Jean-Luc Godard recycles existing images (films, documentaries, paintings, television archives, etc.), quotes excerpts from books, uses fragments of music. The driving force is poetic rhyme, the association or opposition of ideas, the aesthetic spark through editing, the keystone. The author performs the work of a sculptor. The hand, for this, is essential. He praises it at the start. “There are the five fingers. The five senses. The five parts of the world (…). The true condition of man is to think with his hands. Jean-Luc Godard composes a dazzling syncopation of sequences, the surge of which evokes the violence of the flows of our contemporary screens, taken to a level of incandescence rarely achieved. Crowned at Cannes, the last Godard is a shock film, with twilight beauty.

Produced for television by Claude-Jean Philippe, the « Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma », recounts the history of French cinema from its birth to the beginning of the 1960s. With commentary read by Jean Rochefort.

For Les étoiles ne meurent jamais, director/archivist Max De Vaucorbeil has assembled precious film clips of such Gallic greats as Louis Jouvet, Raimu, Harry Baur, Louis Salou and Marguerite Moreno. Francois Perier's narration links the various vignettes together. In its own way, Les Etoiles ne Maurent Jamais can be seen as a precursor to those now-ubiquitous "tributes" on such cable services as American Movie Classics and Turner Classic Movies.

A married industrialist maintains three mistresses. On the instructions of his wife, the tax inspector seizes the small notebook where he records his illegal dealings. After a stormy marital explanation, the industrialist decides to reduce his costs by getting rid of his mistresses and expresses the intention of returning to legality. But he realizes that everyone, even his wife, prefers the old situation, fraud and mistresses, thanks to which everyone found his little profit.

The manager of a firm has a very unusual idea : asking his employees to pose as gangsters and to hold up a bank before returning the stolen money and pocketing the reward. But things do not go according to plan and the phony thieves get stolen in their turn. They have no other choice than turning into amateur detectives to be able to pay back the stolen dough.

When he finds a package in the metro, given this period of restrictions, Mr. Truche thinks it may be a good deal, he takes it home but discovers a woman's head inside. A friend of Mr. Truche having just disappeared, the superintendent accuses her of having murdered her and discovers the head buried in his cellar. But the girlfriend, whom Mr. Truche loves platonically, returns from the countryside and at the same time we spot the assassin of the unknown woman.

For the Marquis Barbezieux de Saint-Rosay, nobility is important. If anything can comfort her, it's her family tree. In order to erase any doubt he invites in his castle a cousin of his established in Scotland, whom he instructs to bring him his titles of nobility. A first person introduces himself, calling himself his cousin, but it's not him. Then one, then two, then three false cousins ​​appear in turn. Will the real Saint-Rosay of Scotland eventually present itself?

The announcement of the future marriage of Franck Reno, the star singer, causes considerable excitement around the world.

A circus daredevil is the next victim of a danger-seducing woman who tricks him into a potentially deadly stunt after he attempted to kill her.

A group of policemen look over three murder cases including a cutthroat that prays on young women, a madman that hid his deformed landlord's corpse in the floor, and a wine aficionado who buries his friend alive.

Charles Vigne, a wealthy banker, frees Abdul, a good genius imprisoned in a vase. To thank him, Abdul grants his wish: to become a child again, while retaining the experience he has acquired. But the "disappearance" of the banker panics the financial markets and has disastrous consequences for the bank. Eventually, Charles Vigne will ask Abdul to give him back his real age.

Captain Palmer's daughter, Maria, is neglected by her husband, the cynical Leo, who lives with the beautiful Sylvia. To defeat his son-in-law, Palmer has the idea of ​​putting Sylvia back in the presence of Pierre, her first love. Leo takes revenge by creating many difficulties for Palmer who retaliates by starting a violent fight where Leo is killed. Everything seems to point to Pierre, but...

Martine discovers, on the eve of her wedding, that her mother, whom she believed to be dead, leads an adventurous life. Pierre, her fiancé, unable to overcome his family's opposition to the revelation of this news, decides to kidnap Martine. The adventurer, who is not recognized by her daughter, agrees to leave France. The family of the young man will no longer put obstacles in the way of marriage.

Paris, 1833. The famous composer Franz Liszt is friends with Chopin who introduces him to Countess Marie d'Agout. Very quickly Liszt falls in love and she, who is already married and has two children, abandons honor and reputation to follow him. They leave to live a great passion in Italy. Then, Franz Liszt gives concerts, the triumph awaits him everywhere. Little by little the fame of the composer will move the two lovers away.

A historian seeks to clarify the mysterious death of Sire de Malvaleix and will find himself involved in the murder of the current descendant.

In a film studio, several actors are the victims of attempted murders. Julien Brisseau, a writer, decides to use these facts as the backbone of his new novel. But while he is working on his detective story, young actors are actually killed. Julien thence gets suspected by police inspector Vétillard. To clear his name, Julien undertakes to investigate and find the killer on his own.

Anne-Marie meets three men bearing the first name of Ludovic. Each of them has a very different character than the other two. The young woman will find great love with one of them.

Alex Grégoire is a timid insurance company clerk who shares his uneventful life between his wife Angèle, his colleagues and his passion for crosswords. But all of a sudden his existence changes dramatically. First because he wins a crossword competition. Second because a jewel thief, Charles Tuffal, thinks he recognizes in him a former accomplice. From that moment "uneventful" is not the best adjective to qualify Alex's life anymore...

An aspiring singer tries to break into films during the early talkie era. She is hired to dub the singing and speaking voice of a silent-movie favorite. Sworn to secrecy, the fill-in must stand by in silence as the star receives all the praises and plaudits.

To be able to win paradise, a selfish old billionaire, who has just died, must make someone happy. He will have to guide a young girl through the intricacies of love.

In his will, the late Jérôme Armandy has expressed the wish to have all the surviving members of his family summoned to the Château de l'Etang, in Provence. Firmin, Jérôme's servant, asks Claude, a Montmartre artist, to organize the reunion, to find the sum of 17 million francs which is hidden there (as a child he had been told by Armandy where the hiding place was) and to divide the amount between the different heirs. But a series of odd facts occur: Claude is knocked unconscious as he is busy opening the hiding place door; one of the heirs gets killed; and even more astounding, the dead man reappears and... asks his money back!

The belated and revolting passion of a famous surgeon for a young orphan whom he once took in. He goes so far as to dishonor her to prevent her marriage to a young man she loves, whom she will however end up marrying. The young girl herself is not without reproach; she has missed a mother's love: in this ordeal, she has no sense of feminine dignity.

Seduced by count Diego and then abandoned, Adriana finds a job at a large hairdresser shop, so she can lead a dignified life together with her daughter.

Emma, who is married to lawyer Giulio Scarli, is secretly in love with Fabrizio Arcieri, who works with her husband.

Going to take up his post in Moukden, the forest engineer finds in a trainer from the cabaret "the midnight sun" a Russian princess, Armide, whom he once loved. He had met her in 1917 when the princess and her father were driven from their domain. Prince Ireniev is a gambler, a trickster, a matchmaker. Out of love for Armide, Forestier flew, and yet when he finds the two wrecks, he cannot resist. Abandoning everything, his position and his honor, he leaves with the woman of his destiny.

Maloin, a maritime station guard, spends his nights at the port signal box. One night, he becomes the witness of a murder: for a simple suitcase smuggled, the altercation between the two men turns to drama. While the first falls and drowns, the second flees. Maloin, instead of warning the police, decides to dive in and recover the suitcase...which contains more than 3 million in small denominations! That's when the trouble begins...

The novelist Loïc Limousin knew the turbulent past of Marie-Martine and he extracted the material for a novel from which the young girl risks paying the price. After the drama that had thrown her in prison, she met a brave boy ready to make his life with her. Will the scandal separate them?

A young man comes back to his hometown to be confronted with a bourgeois obnoxious family who has always despised his -now dead - parents because they were music hall artists, "entertainers". But because he's the sole legatee of an uncle's fortune, his relatives become friendly with him.. at least for a while.

A young mechanic is given a strange job: to convey the king of the gypsies' embalmed dead body on a very long route.

The formidable K.O. Bouillon killed trainer Victor's colt during a boxing fight. Strongly affected, Victor returns to the south to find his wife and adopted daughter. He discovers in the person of Bernard a seed of champion which he ensures the training in secret...

Following a broadcast on the radio, each of the listeners remembers these "little nothings" (the title is borrowed from a play by Mozart), which have often changed their lives. Each of these stories told will prove that a tiny detail in life can change an entire destiny.

At the end of the 15th century, a man and a woman, posing as traveling minstrels, are sent by the Devil to a castle to seduce its inhabitants.

Having pulled off a robbery with his friend Maurice, Olivier leaves his mistress Lola and hides out in a small village in the country. He finds work, thanks to a young man named Gilbert, who introduces him to his sister, Monique. Once the robbery has been all but forgotten, Olivier intends to head back to Paris, but before he goes, he steals money from his employer. In Paris, Olivier wants to say a proper goodbye to Lola, but she is being blackmailed by Jérôme, an antique dealer who has recognized a necklace stolen by Olivier. Before returning to Monique, Olivier calls on Jérôme to recover the necklace.

Before the war. Mr. and Mrs. Boisleroi, well off, lived in their castle while their son Jacques courted Geneviève, the manager's daughter. On mobilization, the manager becomes flight captain, Boisleroi a simple waykeeper and Jacques wants to enlist. Refugees arrive: an actress, a player, an old marquis, former owner of the castle and who will die there. All this life together culminates in the marriage of Jacques and Geneviève.

Wanting to complete the research of her doctor husband, a former actress returns to the stage and therefore abandons her home. Badly supervised, her little boy runs away. We find him ill in the Alps. He is saved by his father and the parents' union is sealed again.

The film is biographical, telling the story of the life and artistic struggles of the French composer Hector Berlioz. Berlioz is shown as a recalcitrant medical student in an anatomy class dreaming of becoming a composer; at a demonstration during a performance at the Paris Opéra conducted by Habeneck; at supper with other young artists (Hugo, Janin, Dumas, Mérimée, Delacroix); and chasing after his future wife Harriet Smithson, after a performance of Hamlet. Also depicted are his life in a garret, while suffering from an illness due to an abscess in the throat; a visit from his mother who curses him; and the composition of the Symphonie fantastique. The film then shows his marital breakdown, the premiere of his opera Benvenuto Cellini, his travels throughout Europe, his second marriage to Marie Recio (called "Marie Martin" in the film), public acceptance in old age and reconciliation with his son.

On a Marseille film set, a street urchin who has been hired as an actor is suspected when both a star and a baroness are robbed.With the help of the boy's neer do well friend the real crooks are tracked down.

In the pound, Pipo the dog recounts his adventures to his fellow inmates.

Two modest young employees, Jean and Madeleine, dream of leading the way, but the experience turns out badly. Madeleine marries a German aristocrat who turns out to be a spy, and finds Jean who had joined the Legion.

A young man is hired by an industrialist, while a secret hangs over his birth. His boss's wife turns out to be his mother, who hides the truth from him.

Félix Raffut, a Périgord squire terrified by the German invasion, carries out the exodus of his family and his furniture towards supposedly hospitable places.

René Sabin, engineer, disappointed by failures, leaves his village in the South to go to Paris with friends. In the capital, he befriends dubious people, in particular Alex Krakow who does not disdain shady business. Then comes the war. René is mobilized then returns to the country, and finds with joy his fiancée.

Bienaimé, a modest postman, in love with Janine, the village postmistress, does not know that he is the illegitimate son of the old Baron de Mondésir. The Baron dies and in happy amazement, Bienaimé finds he is the sole heir to the deceased's estate. But he should be careful, for two crooks, Waldemar and Erika, are after his newly-acquired wealth.

The forbidden romance between wealthy Giselle Preville and impoverished journalist Claude Dauphin. When Preville disappears, Dauphin is accused of kidnapping by the girl's snobbish father Rene Alexander. By the time the Normandie reaches New York, however, the "mystery" is solved and all misunderstandings blithely swept away.

Unbeknownst to the members of a French family, a radio announcer makes them the subject of a broadcast.

After committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events the led him to the killing.

A young American businessman, tired of his hectic life, makes an unexpected inheritance which leads him to Normandy. There he discovers, with the discomfort of an old dusty century-old house, the sweetness of life, the love of a beautiful girl and the pleasure of doing nothing.

A doctor passionate about research leaves an uncle with an inheritance to die, knowing that he is the legatee. His work succeeds, but overcome by remorse, the doctor tries to commit suicide. He is saved thanks to the understanding of his wife and they both leave for the East to do research on leprosy.

In the elevator of two large Parisian buildings, a telegraph operator discovers the body of an elderly woman, Madame Mathieu, the owner of both buildings. Boucheron (Lucien Baroux), the local superintendent, is dispatched to investigate, along with his rival, Inspector Lambert of the "Sûreté" (Jacques Baumer). To solve the enigma, they scour staircases and corridors, visiting every floor of both buildings, courtyard and facade. Their gruff rivalry allows them to complement each other in discovering who committed the crime among a gallery of characters, humble or rich, who all have something to be ashamed of... A rare, fast-paced, picturesque comedy set against the backdrop of a police mystery.

Eusèbe Bonbonneau, a solicitor's clerk, learns one day that a candidate bearing his name runs for election as a member of parliament. In fact Frazier, a crooked businessman, has urged an accomplice to impersonate Eusèbe, in order to obtain, through this straw man, authorizations for the creation of a casino in Sanceau-les-Nains and to make big money out of it. Eusébe decides to go to Paris to investigate. In the capital he meets Mariska, an exuberant actress who encourages him to try to get elected. As a result, thanks to her the true Bonbonneau becomes a member of parliament and the crook's accomplice is arrested. But Frazier is not impressed and, changing tactics, he starts manipulating Eusèbe.

A famous violinist enlists in a music school in order to woo one of the students.

This murder mystery is set in a Parisian cafe and examines the mysterious murder of a famed journalist and extortionist who is killed at his table in the cafe. Though the prime suspects are gathered together( including his wife and her lover, the gun-runner, the creditor, and a playboy) and all of them have motives, none of them did it. So whodunit?

During a stopover, Morel, an airline pilot and Colette spin the perfect love. She hides from him that she is compromised in the actions of a band of criminals. She manages to escape her dangerous friends while a shootout wipes them all out.

An adventuress serves as bait for a swindler, who robs the naive people she brings to him with poker. A childhood friend helps him.

An adventurer poses as a prince and tries to take rich and pretty Dolly away from the man she loves by stirring up trouble.Heartbroken, Dolly is ready to drown herself.

The woman thief evades a young lady who is onto his game, but then tries his wiles elsewhere on a married woman by attempting to compromise and ruin the husband she is happy with.

Hercule, a young peasant, inherits a Parisian newspaper with a large circulation. The editor-in-chief, Vasco, takes advantage of his ignorance to make corruption prevail. But Hercules gradually realizes the role that we make him play.

The film portrays the relationship between a female Moroccan student, who has been forced to leave her studies at the Sorbonne for financial reasons and works as a dancer in a Paris nightclub, and a French naval officer. However, on returning to Casablanca she is tricked into believing that he had the led attack on her village that wiped out her family. She begins to plot her revenge.

The first schemer, short of money, offers himself at a high price to facilitate the fantasies of the other, by playing the role of substitute. The second is an unscrupulous banker who sows ruin and grief but who is soon ruined and fooled in turn.

A wealthy industrialist, Roger de Vetheuil, married, feels assured of aging in peace. Then appears a blackmailer who accuses him of being a usurper, actually called Jean Pelletier, a mobster well known to police. Vetheuil, judging himself slandered, refuses to listen to his tormentor and goes to the police. The man speaks. The scandal is public soon ...

Following a slight accident, a stranger appears in a Provençal village and knocks at the door of the Philippes'villa, asking them for help. Albert Philippe is suspicious but his wife shows some interest in the man. After leaving the Philippe family, the unknown man goes to the village, meets the mayor and buys an island opposite the Philippe villa. It suddenly appears that the mysterious fellow is none other than Balthazar Lemonnier, a well-known millionaire. No sooner is the news disclosed than everybody, including the initially distrustful Mr. Philippe, wants to become his friend.

A rich young woman asks a poor man to play for her the role of a generous friend. He ends up falling in love.

Count Hubert de Latour Latour is the lover of the Duchess de Maulévrier. The day he is surprised by the Duke in the company of his wife and... in a rather compromising situation, Hubert resorts to a subterfuge, claiming that he has come to see the Duchess to seek support to be elected at the Institut de France, whose chairman is precisely her husband. The latter takes him at his word and Hubert becomes... a member of the French Academy! Which just shows that everything leads to everything.

Jules and Fernand are two boys from the Café des sports in Marseille who take part in their corporation's annual race.

Serge loves living it up but painting the town red has a price... too high for him! What to do then? Alfred, his servant and former pickpocket, has the solution : steal of course! No sooner said than done ! Or rather: No sooner said than tried... For when Serge, assisted by his mistress Gloriane acting as bait, he tries to rob a jeweler on the Place Vendôme of a precious diamond bracelet, he realizes that a gang of thieves have preceded him. Later on, he will learn that the boss of the gang is a Polish noblewoman, Countess Waldapowska.

Arsène Lupin decides to run a detective agency in addition to being a gentleman thief. As a detective he happens to cooperate with police in order to unveil the criminal activities of a villain. When he succeeds the villain returns the favour. The unmasked Arsène Lupin manages to escape with the villain's gangster moll as his new companion.

A reveler who has experienced setbacks tries to become unemployed without ever having worked.

An English gentleman himself causes his own burglary to better suppress the formidable gang which, after having murdered his brother, is now attacking his fortune.

Captain Benoit successfully completes a mission in Berlin, but when he returns to Paris he escapes attacks by German agents.

Two journalists from different papers are looking for the same story. They want to know, who a group of gangsters getting young women from Europe to South America, where they are forced to work in brothels. But the gangsters have their own battels against each over, so the journalists can escape the danger, in which they've brought themselves.

For some time, the police have been on the trail of a mysterious burglar who has evaded capture whilst executing one daring robbery after another. No one has any clue as to the identity of this elusive criminal and he has come to be known as Monsieur Personne.

Michel Levasseur is a joyous reveler who does not care about the next day. So much so that one day a bailiff bursts into his Paris apartment and seizes his furniture on behalf of Raymond Sauvaget, his landlord, a rich food industrialist. But far from resenting Sauvaget's act of hostility, Michel ... becomes his friend. Now Raymond, although prosperous, does not know how to handle women. That is why he asks Michel, a regular Casanova, to give him lessons in seduction.

A young woman wishing to divorce, promises money to her husband's ex-mistress to obtain her testimony on her behalf. But the same evening, the corpse of the young woman is found in the Seine. Everything seems to confirm the husband's guilt, however a journalist disappears with the evidence.

Lina Bourget, a realist singer, is forced to leave Dakar because of a murder she believes she has committed. Taking refuge in Paris, she unexpectedly becomes a star in the capital.

A Nazi spy has stolen a gas mask filter of formidable efficiency in Paris. Two agents from the 2nd office have the task of going to take him back to Berlin.

A secret message is on a recording, a man who had disappeared for a while may be trying to steal it.His wife, a singer, teams up with a spy chief she has met to confront her husband.

A little peasant girl claims to have been raped. The detective who arrives in the village discovers that it is a set-up, but at the same time reveals carefully hidden and very surprising truths about each.

A man and a woman arrive in a cafe-hotel near the Belgian frontier. The customers recognize the man from the police's description: his name is Amedee Lange, and he murdered somebody in Paris. Lange was an employee in a printing works. His boss was a real bastard, swindling every one, seducing female workers... One day he fled to avoid facing his creditors, and the workers set up a cooperative to go on working. What then made Lange a killer?

Two second-rate, hammy actors, Hector Trignol and Achille Baluchet, come up with a fake murder story to draw attention to themselves. Baluchet is to kill Trignol, who will temporarily disappear then reappear, as if by magic, during the trial. But things don't go according to plan.

A rich banker is actually a crook. His mistress, an alien, wants to become French and the only way is to marry a Frenchman.

A young supervisor is expelled from his high school after misleading his students during an outing. He made his fortune and basked on the Côte d'Azur. A young maid comes to his aid before he loses everything. She reveals to him that she is in fact a successful novelist.

When a young woman named Aurélie throws a fit of jealousy at her husband and her lover, daily life becomes more complicated.

Well-to-do Simone replaces her music-hall friend Yahne when her wealthy uncle visits from America.

Hélène, married to Larsonnier, has developed a crush for Germont, her neighbor. One night, she is abducted and she discovers that her kidnapper is none other than Germont. But, to her dismay, he does not act out of love for her : his only motivation is money, which he proves by asking her husband a five-Million-franc ransom. After a long hesitation, Larsonnier finally pays the sum and Hélène returns to him. As for Germont, chased by the police, he goes on the loose... Some time later, Hélène is kidnapped one more time, and again by Germont! But this time around, this the elopement of her dreams.

Arlette was born in 1918. Her mother made her lover and godchild named Pierre believe that he was the father of this child. Having become a beautiful young woman, Arlette falls under Pierre's spell and he offers to marry her to get her out of poverty.

A hotel worker who is really an aristocrat falls for a lady customer but instead of getting married he prefers to stay at work and get what female company he can from the staff.

A woman staying at a health spa (Lillian Harvey, goes to the theater every night to see "Quick" a comic performer, who wears clown make-up. She meets him off stage, without make-up and doesn't recognize him. He courts her, hoping she'll like him for himself but she maintains her crush on "Quick."

Adapted from the novel L'Argent by Émile Zola, the film portrays the world of banking and the stock market in Paris in the 1920s.