Robert Hossein
Robert Hossein was a French film actor of Parsi origin, director and writer. He directed the 1982 adaption of Les Misérables, and appeared in Vice and Virtue, Le Casse, Les Uns et les Autres and Venus Beauty Institute. His most recent roles include starring as Michèle Mercier's husband in the Angélique series and as a Catholic priest who falls in love with Claude Jade and becomes a communist in Prêtres interdits (Forbidden Priests) in 1973. Hossein started directing films in 1956 with Les salauds vont en enfer from a story by Frédéric Dard whose novels and plays went on to furnish Hossein with much of his later film material. Right from the start Hossein established his characteristic trademarks: using a seemingly straightforward suspense plot and subverting its conventions (sometimes to the extent of a complete disregard of the traditional demand for a final twist or revelation) in order to concentrate on ritualistic relationships. This is the director's running preoccupation which is always stressed in his films by an extraordinary command of film space and often striking frame compositions where the geometry of human figures and set design is used to accentuate the psychological set-up of the scene. The mechanisms of guilt and the way it destroys relationships is another recurring theme, presumably influenced by Hossein's lifelong interest in the works of Dostoyevski. Although Hossein had some modest international successes with films like Toi, le venin and Le vampire de Dusseldorf, he was much singled out for scorching criticism by the critics and followers of the New Wave for the unashamedly melodramatic frameworks of his films. The fact that he was essentially an auteur director with a consistent set of themes and an extraordinary mastery of original and unusual approaches to staging his stories, was never appreciated. He was not averse to trying his hand at widely different genres and was never defeated, making the strikingly different spaghetti western Une corde, un Colt and the low-budgeted but daringly subversive period drama J'ai tué Raspoutine. However, because of the lack of wider success and continuing adverse criticism, Hossein virtually ended his film directing career in 1970, having concentrated on theatre where his achievements were never questioned, and subsequently returning to film directing only twice. With two or three exceptions, his films remain commercially unavailable and very difficult to see. He is the son of André Hossein a Zoroastrian French composer of Azerbaijani-Tajik descent, and a Jewish comedy actress from Kiev. He was married three times: first to Marina Vlady (he has two sons with her, Pierre and Igor), later to Caroline Eliacheff (with whom he has a son, Nicholas). He is currently married to actress Candice Patou, with whom he has one son, Julien. According to an article written by Emannuel Peze, Hossein experienced a conversion to Catholicism in 1971 during a visit to the Marian apparition at San Damiano in Lombardo Italy. Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Hossein, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
The Professional
as Commissaire RosenFrench secret service agent Josselin Beaumont is dispatched to take down African warlord N'Jala....
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The Burglars
as RalphIn Athens a collection of emeralds is successfully stolen by a team of robbers, led by...
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Venus Beauty Institute
as L'aviateurAging beautician Angèle, already wounded by a long-ago romance, gets awkwardly dumped at a train...
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Angelique
as Jeoffrey de PeyracIn 17th-century France, beautiful country maiden Angélique marries wealthy neighbor Jeoffray de...
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Les Miserables
as Le maître de cérémonieIn France during World War II, a poor and illiterate man, Henri Fortin, is introduced to Victor...
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Angelique and the King
as Jeoffrey de PeyracSoon after her latest husband death, the King himself (Louis XIV) meets with our heroine and...
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Cemetery Without Crosses
as ManuelRuthlessly pursued by the Rogers family following a dispute over cattle, Ben Caine (Benito...
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Angelique and the Sultan
as Joffrey de Peyrac "Le Rescator"This film finds Angélique in a North African Muslim kingdom where she is now part of the...
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A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later
as Robert HosseinJean-Louis and Anne have had their fling and separated. Now 20 years have passed. He is still...
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Bolero: Dance of Life
as Simon Meyer / Robert PratThe film follows four families, with different nationalities (French, German, Russian and...
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The Wax Mask
as Boris VolkoffParis, 1900: a couple are horribly murdered by a masked man with a metal claw who rips their...
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Untamable Angelique
as Joffrey de Peyrac "Le Rescator"Angelique goes in search of her husband Joffrey de Peyrac who did not die on the stake.
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Don Juan or If Don Juan Were a Woman
as Louis PrévostJeanne lives in Paris and believes she is the reincarnation of Don Juan. She visits a priest and...
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Rififi
as Rémi GrutterOut of prison after a five-year stretch, jewel thief Tony turns down a quick job his friend Jo...
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OSS 117 Murder for Sale
as Dr. SaadiA secret agent is sent to the Middle East to destroy a gang of assassins.
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The Road to Shame
as Pierre RossiPierre Rossi and Béatrice live in the same block of flats in Marseille and love each other. One...
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Trivial
as Antoine BérangèreAn inspector who just suffered a family tragedy is looking for a missing older man. Man's family...
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No Sun in Venice
as SforziCute Sophie is an amoral French girl living in a sumptuous Venetian palazzo. She is the kept...
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A Murder Is a Murder
as Jean CarouseMurder mystery involving a man and his relationship with twin sisters.
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Surprise Party
as André AuerbachAdventures of a group of youngsters set in a provincial French city in the 1950's.
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Vice and Virtue
as SS Oberst Erik Schörndorf1944 : Occupied France. Juliette (Vice) is Wehrmacht General Bamberg's mistress and enjoys a...
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The Big Pardon
as Manuel CarrerasThe Bettoun clan: Raymond (the patriarch), Maurice (the son), Jacky (the nephew), Roland (the...
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OSS 117: Panic in Bangkok
as Dr. SinnA secret agent sets out to stop an evil scientist who is about to unleash on the world a...
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The Wicked Go to Hell
as FredMaking his directorial debut, Robert Hossein also assumes the leading role, playing an escaped...
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Marked Eyes
as FranzA story about a widow who begins to receive blackmail letters demanding money from her. This is...
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The Battle of El Alamein
as Erwin RommelJune 1942. As Rommel swept toward the Nile, the fall of Egypt and the capture of the Suez Canal...
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The Conspirators
as Leonida MontanariRome, 1825. Bishop Rivarola and Colonel Nardoni are in charge of suppressing the liberal...
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The Taste of Violence
as PerezPerez kidnaps the President's daughter to trade her for imprisoned revolutionaries.
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Madame
as Le sergent François-Joseph LefebvreCatherine Hubscher, who washes the shirts of young Napoleon and other soldiers fighting the...
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Love Is Better Than Life
as Robert PratUpon their release from prison twenty years earlier, Gérard, Ary and Philippe asked...
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Death of a Killer
as Pierre MassaWhen Massa is released from prison, he's sure that Luciano, an old freind, is responsible for...
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The Dirty Game
as DupontA U.S. intelligence general recalls three Cold War cases of Soviet, French and Italian spies.
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Aznavour by Charles
as Self - Actor (archive footage)In 1948, French singer Charles Aznavour (1924-2018) receives a Paillard Bolex, his first camera....
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Enough Rope
as Inspektor CorbyTwo total strangers suspect each other of murdering their own wives. Based on Patricia...
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The Devil Who Limped
as Un invité en blanc (non crédité)The film is a 125-minute, black-and-white biography of French priest and diplomat Charles...
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Highway Pick-Up
as Daniel BoissetAn escaped convict makes a remote gas station his safe haven. But soon the cunning, devious wife...
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The Menace
as SavaryJosepha is on the verge eighteen living with her drunken washed up actor uncle. She longs for...
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San Antonio
as Le ministre de l'intérieur / The MinisterWhile a terrorist epidemy strikes the world leaders, the commissaire San-Antonio and his...
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Love on a Pillow
as Renaud SartiA young girl rescues a man from a suicide attempt. He turns out to be a sociopath, who begins to...
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God's Thunder
as MarcelVeterinarian Léandre Brassac lives with his wife Marie on a remote estate. One day, he decides...
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A Man and His Dog
as Un homme a la soupe populaireAn elderly gentleman and his dog find themselves out of a home with little means.
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Crime Thief
as TianA man witnesses a suicide and starts imagining that it was a murder committed by himself.
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Crime Thief
as ChristianA man witnesses a suicide and starts imagining that it was a murder committed by himself.
Movie pageProvisional Liberty
as uncreditedJean-Paul is a Frenchman who yearns to live in communist Czechoslovakia. His wish is granted...
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Life Love Death
as The man in the movieFrançois Toledo, married businessman and father, falls head-over-heels in love with Janine, a...
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Tender Moment
as Enrico FontanaAn eighteen-year-old student is infatuated with an older woman, the mistress of a famous racing...
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Levy & Goliath
as Client de Goliath (uncredited)A very faithful Jewish man works making diamond dust in his family's workshop, to sell to...
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Desert Assault
as Capitaine Curd Heinz (Rudi en Français)Allied and German forces are stranded in desert during WW II and attempt to surrender each other.
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Young Girls Beware
as RavenRaven, a mobster just released from prison, settles the score by murdering Mendetta and her...
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Maya
as Un témoin du meurtre qui n'a rien vu (uncredited)Based on a venerable Legend of the Sea, the story concerns a pliable prostitute named Bella...
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Démons de midi
as Metteur en scène de théâtreAt 45, divorced, unemployed and father of two children, Franois Morot realizes that he can no...
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Stranger in the House
as Narrator (voice)Since the suicide of his wife, Jacques Loursat has gone downhill. Estranged from his daughter,...
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I Killed Rasputin
as Serge SukhotinGrigori Rasputin becomes a fixture of Russia's Imperial Court after saving the life of Alexei...
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A Police Officer Without Importance
as Pierre FresseCamille, Dov and Joëlle live on the edge of society and are involved in petty theft helping them...
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The Protector
as ArnaudRecently released from prison, Samuel Malakian, a wealthy architect, investigates the...
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Crime and Punishment
as René BrunelA young tormented student can no longer stand his miserable life. To avoid his sister marrying...
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The Vampire of Dusseldorf
as Peter KuertenA true story of Peter Kurten, a serial killer who committed nine murders and many other offenses...
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L'Affaire
as Paul HaslansA man who had everything taken away from him, including his family, by his brother teams up with...
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Hellé
as uncreditedHellé is a young deaf-mute living among the mountains. She’s ignored by everyone except, now and...
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La Musica
as HimA husband and wife meet three years after their formal separation, when they return to the...
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Mademoiselle de Maupin
as Capitaine AlcibiadeMademoiselle de Maupin escapes from her uncle's castle, invaded by Hungarian troops, under the...
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In the Eyes of Memory
as A student from the Simon courseDirector Jean Delannoy's immediate followup to his brilliant Les Jeux sont Faits was the more...
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Belmondo by Belmondo
as SelfJean-Paul Belmondo returns to the settings of a fantastic career, accompanied by his son Paul....
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Falling Point
as Le CaïdThree men kidnap a young girl and keep her in a small house on an isolated beach, waiting for...
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Misdeal
as Martin von KlausA musician named Jacques Christens, is given a proposition by an old man. For ten million Francs...
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The Scarlet Lady
as JulienComedy about a self-made woman in Paris contemplating the idea of suicide at first, then murder.
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Brigade Anti Gangs
as Le commissaire principal Le GoffThe struggle between a ruthless leader of a bank robbers and the cops who are determined to put...
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The Game of Truth
as L'inspecteur de policeA dozen elegant people are gathered in a writer's desirable mansion. In the grand tradition of...
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Why Paris?
as uncreditedMonique, a Belgian girl, comes to Paris to learn painting and become an artist. She took courses...
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The Verdict
as Georges LagrangeWW2 is coming to an end ;on the seaside,resistant fighters are captured and imprisoned in a...
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Scandalous Crimes
as Judge BocchiIn Parma, conversing with a CSM judge from Rome, the judge Bocchi tells what intrigues are...
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Denn sie kennen kein Erbarmen - Der Italowestern
as SelfThe beginnings, development and decline of so-called spaghetti-western genre; with clips,...
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Children of Chaos
as RobertIs there still a chance for Marie, an unwed young mother and a former drugs addicted prostitute,...
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The Man Who Betrayed the Mafia
as Maître BianchiniWhen an oily attorney dies at the hands of the mafia, a dedicated French detective investigates...
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Paris Pick-Up
as Robert HerbinOn Christmas night, an ex-convict meets a beautiful, married Italian woman who has a lot of...
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Hitch-Hike
as Edouard, le fouAgathe, 18, dreams of change. Gone are her vacations on the rainy beaches of Belgium! She...
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The Wretches
as Jess RoolandMeant to be a psychological study of a dysfunctional couple and an equally unbalanced maid, this...
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Double Agents
as LuiRobert Hossein, Marina Vlady, Robert Le Beal. A brilliant "little" spy film. Hossein and Vlady...
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The Other Truth
as Pierre Montaud, the AdvocateMiddle-aged attorney Pierre falls for a young woman who dances in a discotheque to work her way...
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Le tour d'écrou
as Peter QuintA new governess arrives at a country house to take care of two seemingly angelic young children....
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Marco the Magnificent
as Prince NayamYoung Marco Polo travels to China to help Kublai Khan fight against rebels, headed by his own...
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Take Me As I Am
as Ed DawsonThe director of the Rome office of an American news agency is seduced by his boss' daughter, who...
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Long March
as CarnotIn June 1944, a young doctor, Chevalier, under the threat of guns, is forced to treat a wounded...
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Riff Raff Girls
as Marcel Point-BleuVicky de Berlin, a female gangster, haunted by wartime memories , runs a floating night-club in...
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Time of the Wolves
as DillingerPatterning himself after the American gangster John Dillinger, the criminal (Robert Hossein) is...
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Antigone
as CréonHaving defied the ban on Creon and offered a burial to Polynice, her treacherous homeland...
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Stars Meet in Moscow
as uncreditedDocumentary essay about the First Moscow International Film Festival, held in August 1959, about...
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Blonde in a White Car
as Pierre MendaPicked up by a beautiful motorist, jobless hitchhiker Pierre (Hossein) is subsequently romanced...
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A Little Virtuous
as Louis BradyIn Paris, the young photographer Ferdinand falls in love with Claire, a pickpocket. Shortly...
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Sextette
as uncreditedA man remembers all the incredible stories that took place in his hotel.
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Quai des blondes
as Chemise RoseThe blond cigarette trade is raging in the Mediterranean, pitting the crew of a former naval...
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Une femme nommée Marie
as Voce narranteAugust 2011 pageant performance staged by Robert Hossein depicting St. Bernadette's encounter...
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The Lion's Share
as Maurice MénardA writer is reunited with an old childhood friend, who gives him the opportunity to devise a heist.
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Lamiel
as Roger ValberLamiel is a poor orphan girl who climbs to the social elite in this 19th-century costume drama....
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Forgive Our Trespasses
as (uncredited)In a port area of France, clashes between a gang of young delinquents and a tribe of gypsies.
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The Phoney
as KaminskyWhile the President of a West African Republic arrives in France to sell uranium to the State,...
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Les fleurs maladives de Georges Franju
as SelfA short documentary about Georges Franju.
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Versatile Lovers
as Serge BelaïeffIsabelle (Marisa Mell) runs a nursing home for wealthy women who are trying to detox from their...
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Judge Roy Bean
as Black BirdIn a small western town the ineffable judge Roy Bean metes out justice in his own special way. A...
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Série noire
as JoLéo Fardier is a police inspector who goes to prison undercover as a convict. He shares a cell...
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Apostrophes
as SelfApostrophes was a live, weekly, literary, prime-time, talk show on French television created and...
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The Little Murders of Agatha Christie
as SimonFrench adaptations of the stories by Agatha Christie.
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