our selection for Monday April 29

A little-known rescue of Jewish children, an exceptional duo of actors in a Granier-Deferre, the question of sexism in cinema, and the first television broadcast of Catherine Corsini’s latest film.

A forgotten story, handled brilliantly: “Let’s save the children!”

The little-known story of the rescue of more than twenty-five Jewish children in Pas-de-Calais, two months after the Vél’ d’Hiv roundup. Around twenty railway workers and a few local residents mobilized and carried out small ingenious acts, reconstructed with meticulous precision.

At 11 p.m. on France 3. Documentary directed by Catherine Bernstein and Grégory Célerse (France, 2021). 60 mins. Rebroadcast.

Delon-Signoret, legendary duo: “La Veuve Couderc”

Granier-Deferre invents the Signoret-Delon duo. Their age difference is at the heart of a plot which plays on the taboo attraction that the widow Couderc and Jean will experience, in rural France in 1934. The glorification of Delon’s character has aged poorly, but the actor is then on the way to his myth.

At 8:55 p.m. on Arte. Film directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre (France/Italy, 1971). 90 mins. With Simone Signoret, Alain Delon, Jean Tissier. Rebroadcast.

At the mercy of men: “Brainwashed”

The activist actress and director Nina Menkes edits some one hundred and seventy-five extracts from films from the world history of cinema in which women are only sexual objects at the mercy of men, in a more or less blatant or pernicious way. Fascinating…and distressing.

At 11:35 p.m. on Arte. Documentary directed by Nina Menkes (USA, 2022). 100 mins. Rebroadcast.

Cannes bonus: “The Return”

As in The divide, Catherine Corsini mixes the intimate and the political in the quest for the origins of two teenagers who do not know why their mother, Khédidja (delicate Aïssatou Diallo Sagna), arrived in Corsica fifteen years previously. A sunny but imperfect learning story, selected in competition at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

At 9 p.m. on Canal+ Cinéma. Film directed by Catherine Corsini (France, 2023). 100 mins. Unpublished.

And if you don’t find what you’re looking for… Check out tonight’s TV schedule. Or dig into our latest Netflix series recommendations.