An original figure in French cinema, Franju worked in set design and scientific film and was one of the cofounders of the Cinémathèque Française. His first documentary short, Le Sang des bêtes (1949), shot in a Parisian slaughterhouse, had an enormous impact, revealing Franju's acute perception of teh cruel and the uncanny within a realistic setting, as did Hôtel des Invalides (1952). This prepared the terrain for his best-known features which, rarely for French cinema, worked within the genre of the "fantastic," especially Les Yeux sans visage / Eyes Without a Face (1960) and Judex (1963), a tribute to Louis Feuillade's 1917 series (Franju also directed a film on Georges Méliès in 1952). Among his other features are some distinguished literary adaptations, notably Thérèse Desqueyroux (1962, based on François Mauriac) and Thomas l'imposteur / Thomas the Impostor (1965, based on Jean Cocteau). He also worked in television.