ROBINSON’S PLACE (DU CÔTÉ DE ROBINSON)

40 mins, France, 1963, Digital, Black & White, Subtitled

Aristide Demonico and Daniel Bart play Parisian friends who try to pick up the same young woman. Their competitive barbs and repeated failures in flirtation lead them to band together for petty revenge against their would-be conquest. In less than forty minutes, Eustache delineates the parameters of his moral universe, in which characters fool themselves into believing that life is completely defined by romantic prowess.

SANTA CLAUS HAS BLUE EYES (LE PERE NOËL A LES YEUX BLUES)

48 mins, France, 1966, Digital, Black & White, Subtitled

Daniel (French New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Leaud) believes a new job playing Santa will provide him with opportunities to meet girls, but his own desperation continually stands in the way of success. By turns comic and melancholy, Le Père Noël… marks an important stepping stone among the director’s unsentimental explorations of awkward young men who avoid self-reflection while pursuing the opposite sex.

EMPLOYMENT OFFER (OFFRE D’EMPLOI)

21 mins, France, 1982, Digital, Black & White, Subtitled

Eustache’s final film is a sharp satire of man’s dehumanisation at the hands of psychology. An unemployed sales director seeks a job and performs well in his interview. Later, a handwriting analyst determines the suitability of each candidate by reading into their cover letters various subconscious weaknesses and faults. The film explores modes of communication, with an emphasis on the blind spots in human understanding and interrelationships.