Radiance Films is releasing Fantastique: The Dreams and Nightmares of French Cinema, a six-film Blu-ray Limited Edition Box Set, on October 19, 2026 in the UK and October 20, 2026 in the US and Canada. The set gathers six rare and previously obscure titles from France’s cinéma fantastique tradition, including Charles Vanel’s only film as director and a collaboration between Catherine Deneuve and director Juan Luis Buñuel, newly restored and limited to 5,000 copies.
Though rarely thought of as a home for genre filmmaking, France has fostered a long lineage of films treading the line between realism and fantasy. Broadly gathered under the term cinéma fantastique, these works often find the magical and the surreal lurking in the ordinary, lifting their protagonists out of the everyday and transporting viewers into atmospheric worlds where the usual rules of reality do not appear to hold.
Films Included
- Dans la nuit: directed by Charles Vanel (his sole feature film as director). Cast: Charles Vanel, Sandra Milovanoff. 4K restoration. Shortly after his wedding, a quarry worker is disfigured in a mining accident. The creepy mask now covering his face is scarier than the scars underneath it, and his bride is soon tempted by the promise of happier days with another man. Released at the dawn of the sound era and virtually condemned to obscurity as a result, this restoration reveals a viscerally affecting story of love and happiness, terror and guilt, with stunning cinematography and breathtakingly creative editing capturing the surreal atmosphere of life in the mines as well as the dizzying joy of romance.
- La nuit fantastique: Philosophy student Denis makes ends meet by working nights at a fresh food market. Perpetually exhausted, he often falls asleep and dreams of Irène, a beautiful woman dressed in white. One night, he follows her on a peculiar adventure across Paris. One of the most successful French films made during the German occupation of France, a lighthearted comedy that uses ethereal set design, witty dialogue, and a charismatic cast to gracefully skip from one charmingly implausible moment to the next.
- Le Diable souffle: Cinematography by Henri Alekan (Beauty and the Beast, Wings of Desire). 4K restoration. One rainy night in the city, Laurent meets Louvaine, a sickly and despairing young woman. He brings her back to his small island near the Spanish border, where the Tramontana wind always blows. One stormy night, Diégo, a mysterious drifter, finds refuge on the island, disturbing Laurent and Louvaine’s harmonious routine. A moody story of unrequited love, broken dreams, and frustrated desires, with atmospheric cinematography capturing all the hallucinogenic power of the film’s unusual setting.
- The Golem: Based on Gustav Meyrink’s novel, itself inspired by the Jewish folktale of the Golem. 4K restoration. After he mistakenly swaps his hat with that of somebody called Athanase Pernath, an unnamed man appears to start living the stranger’s life in his dreams. A jewel cutter and book restorer in the Prague ghetto, Pernath is embroiled in his neighbors’ sordid stories of passion, jealousy, and revenge, while rumors spread that an ominous clay figure known as the Golem has reappeared after 33 years. A hypnotic, metaphysical tale that appears to abide by old rules and ancient wisdom, with mystical dialogue, arresting set design, and a panoply of striking faces.
- The Woman with Red Boots: After Françoise, a successful novelist, meets the rich art patron Pérou, he begins to stalk her. Soon, he invites her to write her memoir at his country house. But he also invites Marc, the director of an art magazine whom Françoise has become obsessed with. An unpredictable allegory on art’s power to control us and warp our perceptions, making canny use of Deneuve’s on-screen persona as both an unreachable ideal and a sensual, flesh-and-blood woman.
- Three Lives and Only One Death: Four intertwining tales in which Marcello Mastroianni plays an affable man who tells a stranger about the time fairies devoured years of his life, a Professor who abandons his job to become a beggar, the eccentric butler that comes with a large inherited chateau, and a businessman whose invented family for work-dodging purposes arrives from the airport. Four strange yet eerily familiar, fable-like stories set in Paris, where Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz lived and worked for much of his life.
Special Features, Packaging and Extras
- New introduction to Dans la nuit by Institut Lumière director Thierry Frémaux
- New commentary on Dans la nuit by film historian Pamela Hutchinson
- New interview with French cinema expert Ginette Vincendeau on La Nuit fantastique and French cinema under the Occupation
- Archival TV interview with director Marcel L’Herbier on La Nuit fantastique
- New commentary for Le Diable souffle by film critics Elena and Manuela Lazic
- New interview on Le Diable souffle and director Edmond T. Gréville with film critic David Thompson
- New interview with Kim Newman on The Golem and Gustav Meyrink’s novel
- Archival TV introduction to The Golem by journalist and writer Louis Pauwels
- The Golem photo gallery
- New interview with fashion expert Matteo Augello on The Woman with Red Boots
- New visual essay on The Woman with Red Boots by critic and author Samm Deighan
- Archival interview with Catherine Deneuve on The Woman with Red Boots
- New commentary on Three Lives and Only One Death by Adrian Martin
- Archival TV interview with Marcello and Chiara Mastroianni on Three Lives and Only One Death
- New documentary on the French cinéma fantastique then and now, featuring directors Lucile Hadžihalilović, Bertrand Mandico, Yann Gonzalez, and more to be confirmed
- Newly improved English subtitle translation for each film
- Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
Packaging and extras: Rigid box, full-height Scanavo cases for each film, removable OBI strip, reversible sleeves with original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow, limited edition 120-page book with new writing by Virginie Sélavy and David Cairns and archival writing by Tzvetan Todorov, André Bazin, Henri Alekan and more
Specs
Format: Blu-ray Limited Edition Box Set (6 discs)
Restoration: 4K restorations of Dans la nuit, La nuit fantastique, Le Diable souffle, The Golem, and The Woman with Red Boots; 2K restoration of Three Lives and Only One Death; presented on six discs
Audio and subtitle options: Uncompressed mono/stereo PCM audio for each film, with French, Italian, and English audio options for The Woman with Red Boots. Newly improved English subtitle translation for each film.
Edition size: Limited Edition of 5,000 copies
Cover Art
Front Cover
Back Cover
