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800 kilomètres de différence/Romance
France 2001 78'
Directed by: Claire Simon
Manon is fifteen, Greg seventeen. They met in Claviers where she is on summer vacation, while he works with his father in the local bakery. Their geographic and class differences between Paris and Claviers, the 800km of the film title, keep them separate. A love comedy where Claire Simon plays the role of director and Manon’s mother as well. Un film impressionista, sfuggente e assoluto come l’età dei protagonisti. An impressionistic film as fleeting and absolute as the age of its protagonists. -
Ça brûle
France/Switzerland 2005 111'
Directed by: Claire Simon
One day Livia takes a violent spill from her horse. A fireman comes to the young girl’s aid, and she is immediately smitten. In the South of France, the summer is sultry and the fire ready to blaze up. Part fiction (a love story) and documentary (the fantastic sequence of events), part individual history and history of a generation left to its own devices, Claire Simon takes the pulse of a troubled country. -
Ça, c'est vraiment toi
France 2000 116'
Directed by: Claire Simon
Antoine and Cleo are in love. But life in Strasbourg is anything but easy. He is interning at the European Parliament; she works as an editor for parliamentary broadcasting. Around the love of these two young people - played by eleven actors from the National Theatre in Strasbourg - the fleet of the European Parliament circles… A playful and instructive film about Europe and love’s hardships. -
Coûte que coûte
France 1994 100'
Directed by: Claire Simon
Nice, the industrial area of Saint-Laurent del Var. With money from his in-laws, Jihad opens a small eatery. Despite the commitment of his employees and the abundance of good products, things aren’t going well. But Jihad does not give up; together with the cooks and his secretary, he forges ahead, “cost what it costs.” Back in Midi, Claire Simon shows the pieces of a human comedy that soon get the best of the film’s subject. A film about a utopia similar to the one behind all of the director’s projects. -
Histoire de Marie | Comment acheter une arme - Armurerie
France 1993 20'
Directed by: Claire Simon
Two documentaries made for «Faits divers», a thematic programme by ARTE. The first one is the portrait of Marie Rouger, a concierge who one day stumbles upon a homeless man hidden in the basement. The second depicts a single day in a gun shop: the indifference of the vendor and the needs of the buyer.
Reality or pure fantasy? Social complaint or desires’ phantoms? In two specular films Claire Simon drags documentary cinema into the imaginary.
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La Police
France 1998 23'
Directed by: Claire Simon
Irma, little Maria’s babysitter, receives a phone call from her boyfriend and, to talk to him, convinces the child to walk herself to school. Maria accepts the task with the utmost caution: she does not want to leave any clues. The ruse is discovered by Maria’s mother who, ignoring her daughter’s cries, fires the girl. Claire Simon’s new incursion into the world of the police boasts his trademark irony and provocation. -
Les Bureaux de Dieu
France 2008 122'
Directed by: Claire Simon
Stories of women intersect in a women’s health center. Some are adolescents and some are older; some are Catholics and some are Muslims; they are all either convinced of their choices or feeling uncertain about everything. There are those who haven't yet come to understand their bodies, those who must face an unwanted pregnancy, those who don't know who they love, and those who love too much. A film that boasts a cast of great actresses (Nathalie Baye, Isabelle Carré, Béatrice Dalle, Nicole Garcia) and fantastic women. -
Les Patients
France 1989 75'
Directed by: Claire Simon
Doctor Jean-Marie Bouvier is a medic nearing retirement. With director in tow, he makes house calls to elderly patients - some calmly, other anxiously awaiting their last days. Following a doctor who takes care of the ills, Claire Simon shows how people can see someone in front of him through the camera eye. A lesson on the ethic value of documentary. -
Madeleine
France 1976 13'
Directed by: Claire Simon
A girl who is waiting her globetrotter brother gorges on chocolate. Claire Simon’s début with a surreal and funny feature short film. -
Mimi
France 2002 100'
Directed by: Claire Simon
Born in Nice, Mimi is the kind of person who has always fought to be herself. Claire Simon tracks her remembrances, weaving together a past and present through the fabric of words. In city and country, the film pays homage to a woman who has always loved women. -
Moi, non ou l’argent de Patricia
France 1982 35'
Directed by: Claire Simon
Patricia dreams of becoming an actor. Opportunity knocks thanks to Claire Simon's super8, which transforms Patricia's every day life into a film. Patricia is followed down street to her small, modest apartment. Then the director asks her to appear naked. Amid complicity and oppression, Simon continues his exploration of the female condition. -
Mon cher Simon
France 1982 32'
Directed by: Claire Simon
Simon is an Algerian man who has moved to the south of France. Simon roams from house to house in the town, considered by everyone to be the «idiot of the village». Simon is in search of not only a job but also acceptance in the society where he finds himself. A small film in the form of a sincere and thoughtful portrait. -
Récréations
France 1992 54'
Directed by: Claire Simon
When the bell rings, the courtyard of a nursery school transforms from an empty space to an animated stage. Finally freed, the little ones pretend to be adults. There are those who transform the fence around the courtyard into prison bars. Those who with extreme determination, build a house and find a new land. Those who put the strength of others to the test. A profound and joyful film. A small philosophical treatise about living together. -
Scènes de ménage
France 1991 50'
Directed by: Claire Simon
Picture of a woman, any woman doing housework. In ten different scenarios Claire Simon shows us the distractedness of a housewife disconnected from that which she is actually doing (making a cake, cleaning the curtains, cleaning the kitchen...) and that which she is thinking (murdering her husband, finding a lover, running away...). With extraordinary Miou Miou and John Cage’s music. -
Sinon oui
France/Canada 1995 120'
Directed by: Claire Simon
Due to a misunderstanding with one of her husbands’ colleagues, Magali has to bear to be pregnant. A lie that will help herself in facing a difficult period of her life, reclaiming the relationship with her family and giving new energies to her ill father. The fake pregnancy becomes so important to be considered as real… Supported by the wonderful sound track by Archie Sheep, Claire Simon goes back to the fiction with a story about what we see and what we would like to see. -
Tandis que j’agonise
France 1980 33'
Directed by: Claire Simon
The voice of a girl recounts the disappearance of two young people. She speaks as if she was their mother. Sounding worried, she describes what happened to someone, who is presumably a police detective. Through family home movies, closed-circuit cameras and Super 8 film shootings, their findings begin. A surprisingly modern film depicting a reflection about the power of images as noir. -
Une journée des vacances
France 1983 22'
Directed by: Claire Simon
Claire Simon films his ill father during his day: from breakfasting with his nurse to his evening phone calls, when it's time for his daughter to return to the city. An intimate, brave film conceived as a salutation.