A King Without Distraction (Un roi sans divertissement)

François Leterrier directed this 1963 mystery drama from France, A King Without Distraction, whose original title is Un roi sans divertissement. Jean Giono adapted his own novel of the same name for it and also served as its producer. The picture runs 85 minutes and was released in France on 30 August 1963. Its title comes from a passage in Blaise Pascal's Pensées (1670, published after his death), in which Pascal says a king left alone, deprived of every pleasure of the senses, every occupation of the mind, all company and all amusement, and left to think about himself, would turn out to be a man full of misery.

The story is set in the winter of 1843, in an isolated mountain village buried under snow. After several little girls disappear from the village one after another, a police captain is given the case. Claude Giraud and Colette Renard share the leading roles, and it was Giraud's first lead in a film. The cast also includes Charles Vanel, Albert Rémy, Pierre Repp and René Blancard.

Shooting took place in the village of Les Hermaux, on the Aubrac plateau in Aveyron. The film is also known by the Spanish title La persecución and the Russian title Korol bez razvlecheniy.