Belphegor, or Phantom of the Louvre

Belphegor, or the Phantom of the Louvre is a 1965 French television miniseries directed by Claude Barma, based on the 1927 novel by Arthur Bernède.^[1] It consists of four 70 minutes episodes.^[2]

Belphegor, or Phantom of the Louvre
Also known as	Le Fantôme du Louvre (Quebec)
French	Belphégor ou le Fantôme du Louvre
Genre	Thriller
Based on	Belphégor by Arthur Bernède
Screenplay by	Claude Barma Jacques Armand
Story by	Jacques Armand (dialogue)
Directed by	Claude Barma
Presented by	Jean Topart
Starring	Juliette Gréco Isaac Alvarez Yves Rénier Christine Delaroche René Dary François Chaumette Sylvie Paul Crauchet Marguerite Muni
Composer	Antoine Duhamel
Country of origin	France
Original language	French
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producer	Robert Paillardon
Production location	Europe
Cinematography	Jacques Lemare
Editor	Marcelle Lioret
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	290 minutes
Production company	Société Nouvelle Pathé Cinéma
Original release
Network	ORTF
Release	March 6 (1965-03-06) – March 27, 1965 (1965-03-27)
Related
Belphégor (1927) The Curse of Belphegor (1967) Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre (2001)

Plot

A mysterious phantom appears in the Musée du Louvre in Paris at night. The guards are unable to catch it. A student, André Bellegarde obstinately tries to find out more about the strange creature by himself. He seems to be more effective in doing so than the local police led by commissaire Menardier. Bellegarde does cooperate with the police, too, but he mostly goes his own way investigating Belphégor's activity. A secret society is in the background. Bellegarde, in the meantime, is involved in two romances and cannot decide which woman to dedicate himself as the case gets more and more serious and criminal and threads meet.

Cast

• Juliette Gréco as Laurence / Stéphanie Hiquet
• Isaac Alvarez as Belphégor
• Yves Rénier as André Bellegarde
• Christine Delaroche as Colette Ménardier
• René Dary as Commissaire Ménardier
• François Chaumette as Boris Williams
• Sylvie as Lady Hodwin
• Paul Crauchet as Le gardien Gautrais
• Marguerite Muni as Louise Gautrais
• René Alone as Doublet
• Yves Bureau as Ménard
• Jacky Calatayud as L'enfant

Legacy

Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier has credited Belphegor and David Lynch's television series Twin Peaks as inspirations for his miniseries The Kingdom.^[3]