Jean-Pierre Melville in the context of "The Holy Innocents (Adair novel)"

Gian Maria Volonté (9 April 1933 – 6 December 1994) was an Italian actor and activist. He is best known for his roles in four Spaghetti Western films: Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964), El Indio in Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965), El Chuncho Munoz in Damiano Damiani's A Bullet for the General (1966) and Professor Brad Fletcher in Sergio Sollima's Face to Face (1967).

He had notable roles in high-profile social dramas depicting the political and social stirrings of Italian and European society in the 1960s and 1970s, including four films directed by Elio Petri – We Still Kill the Old Way (1967), Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971), and Todo modo (1976). He is also recognized for his performances in Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle Rouge (1970), Giuliano Montaldo's Sacco & Vanzetti (1971) and Giordano Bruno (1973), and Francesco Rosi's Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979).

Les Enfants Terribles is a 1929 novel by Jean Cocteau, published by Editions Bernard Grasset. It concerns two siblings, Elisabeth and Paul, who isolate themselves from the world as they grow up, an isolation which is shattered by the stresses of their adolescence. It was first translated into English by Samuel Putnam in 1930 and published by Brewer & Warren. A later English translation by Rosamond Lehmann was published in the U.S. by New Directions (ISBN 0811200213) in 1955, and in Canada by Mclelland & Stewart in 1966, with the title translated as The Holy Terrors. The book is illustrated by the author's own drawings.

The novel was made into a film of the same name, a collaboration between Cocteau and director Jean-Pierre Melville, in 1950, and inspired the opera of the same name by Philip Glass. Miloš Petrović composed a chamber opera based on the novel. The ballet La Boule de neige by the choreographer Fabrizio Monteverde [it], with music by Pierluigi Castellano, is also based on this novel. The story was adapted by the writer Gilbert Adair for his 1988 novel The Holy Innocents, which was the basis for Bernardo Bertolucci's 2003 film The Dreamers.

A Francophile is a person who has a strong affinity or appreciation for the people, culture, language, history, or government of France. The term "Francophile" can be contrasted with Francophobe (or Gallophobe), someone who shows hatred or other forms of negative feelings towards all that is French.

A Francophile may enjoy French artists (such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Matisse); authors and poets (such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Voltaire, Honoré de Balzac, and George Sand), musicians (such as Daft Punk, Jean-Michel Jarre, Serge Gainsbourg, Édith Piaf, Johnny Hallyday, and Carla Bruni), filmmakers (such as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Robert Bresson, and Jean-Pierre Melville), and cuisine (such as baguettes, croissants, frog legs, French cheeses, and French wine). Francophilia often arises in former French colonies, where the elite spoke French and adopted many French habits. In other European countries such as Romania and Russia, French culture has also long been popular among the upper class. Historically, Francophilia has been associated with supporters of Enlightenment philosophy during and after the French Revolution, where democratic uprisings challenged the autocratic regimes of Europe, as well as liberalism and opposition to absolute monarchy and authoritarian governments in general.

Le Cercle Rouge (French pronunciation: [lə sɛʁkl ʁuʒ]; "The Red Circle") is a 1970 French crime film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. It stars Alain Delon, Bourvil, Gian Maria Volonté, François Périer and Yves Montand. The film is known for its climactic heist sequence which is about half an hour in length and has almost no dialogue.

The film's title refers to an epigraph which Melville made up, just as he did in Le Samouraï.

Les Enfants terribles (French pronunciation: [lez‿ɑ̃fɑ̃ teʁibl]; literal English translation: The Terrible Children; English title: The Strange Ones) is a 1950 French film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, with a screenplay adapted by Jean Cocteau from his 1929 novel of the same name about the tangled relationship of a close brother and sister.

The film's soundtrack of Vivaldi concertos was unusual at the time and praised for its use in increasing the dramatic tension of the plot.