French films are shit. Porquoi?

And don't even think of mentioning Blue Fucking Velvet.

French films were popular in the 80s because people were simple and thought that dead-classy French birds having emotional traumas = art. The the forerunners of ILE came along an said 'errgh - you idiots'. Is Scandinavian arthouse the new French arthouse?

Rogue agent, over and out.

In a total class of his own, geniuswise, pretention-wise, boringness-wise = Godard.

Grate Gilbert Adair story (which he tells against himself, I shd add). GA arrives at a screening late, asks bloke seated next to him what's happened. Bloke obliges with plot so far. Afterwards GA goes off on one as to why is to that, when asking what one has missed so far, you always get narrative, and no one ever obliges with the MISE EN SCENE? All critics and reviews present to hear this rant fall about, and NEVER STOP TEASING HIM about it.

Mmm, Les Nuits Fauves: French nymphs running through the woods, etc? The reference to J.Hughes is a bit alarming though.

Anyway, it should also be mentioned that when Fr. cinema tries not to be Fr. cinema and go for that mainstream-appeal thing it gets much worse i.e. Les Visiteurs, Asterix movies, any 'French action movie' etc.

I actually have a soft spot for a lot of French films, despite lack of dinosaurs and robots, though i do think they can sometimes settle into the similar problem of a lot of American indie films. Too much pointless and possibly substandard dialogue. Of course my only knowledge of dialogue is from the subtitles which will not get across the nuances. Films like Les Dinner De Cons actually do the dinner party thing well, whilst other French stuff I have enjoyed thoroughly over the last few years include The Girl On The Bridge, A La Place Du Couer and Resources Humaine.

I really dislike Claire Denis though.

"Stegosaurus? Je ne comprends pas. Il y a L'Éstegousauron.... Etc."

I feel that I have failed, as I cannot find any other ones.

Enter a word or words to search for: dinosaur

Notes: Searches are case insensitive. You can use a * as a wildcard. Boolean searches are allowed.

Result of search for "dinosaur":

No matching entries found.

= proof by science that French films are rubbish

Godard is champ, of course, the silly sexist old Maoist. Some of his recent work - esp. his video 'histories of cinema' - as brilliant and downright barmy as any of his 'classic' Nouvelle Vague stuff. Have sort've been taken aback by the anti-art flavour of some of the posts - we can have rockets and rayguns AND chin-scratching pseudery, we can have it ALL! Ok maybe we only get the 'cream' of French cinema - but what cream! And I haven't even mentioned Vigo, Renoir, Truffaut, Betrand Blier, etc etc.

Rivette also made OUT ONE (which is 12 hours long), which = a film I must see before I die (tho won't). The cut version, OUT ONE: SPECTRE is a mere four hours long. I keep meaning to go see some of the Godards at the Lux or the NFT, but can find no one to go with!!

Huh ? Dinosaures, brontosaures, tyrannosaures, etc. etc. What, do all other languages use the exact english words for dinosaurs? One translation thing that does get embarrassing is english movie titles turned into cutesy France slang, which never fails to sound incredibly dorky to Québec ears. Or worse, bad France translations of US TV shows where all the cultural references are turned into French ones - Family Ties in French is an all-time landmark of unspeakableness (unspeakability ?). However, translations of the Flintstones and The Simpsons = made in Québec, and they totally rox0r.

French film seen at young age and stuck with me permanently: "L'Atalante"

Aren't you making some awfully sweeping generalizations?

I am not an idiot, I am a dolt - as I explained somewhere else.

This is like..

Is that like the French version of Porky's?

you hate melies = you hate me

I would like to declare this the funniest thing any critic has said ever.

mark s loves melies = i love mark s (but you all know this)

ace french films (don't know if already mentioned up thread): la haine / nikita / rififi

Some classics for y'all to vibe with: pts 1 and 3 of 'The Trilogy' (tho you need pt 2 as well), 'Code Unknown', 'La Haine', 'Irma Vep', 'Read My Lips'....

The other day I actually saw a decent Francois Ozon film for once, too (8 Women).

Pete is surely trolling, as I can't even begin to list all my favorite French films.

Very torn on Trilogy. Liked One and Three, but felt none of them excelled as single films but the combined effect was really interesting. Apparently in France they showed them Two, One, Three: I don't think I would have gone back if I had seen two first. Yes to Irma Vep, and Read My Lips (thopugh it wastes its premise a touch). Last year was again a relatively mediocre year for French film though: if whatever Artificial Eye is distributing is to go by (but then every year seems a mediocre one for Artificial Eye: this year has already started with the ropey Kiss Of Life).

I saw a v good film in same vein which is out in France this month: 'Work Hard, Play Hard'. Hope it crosses channel.

If I could generalize a bit, one thing I notice in french films is a certain embodiment, and a linking of this embodiment to pleasure. This happens to two bodies: the bodies of the actors, and the body of the film.

The actors in french films have bodies, and enjoy them. (As opposed to British and American films, where plot and concept are seen to be the only legitimate concerns. I think this is what Pete is complaining about, in a very anglo-saxon way, when he says of 'Betty Blue' that they should have done the whole hog and made it pornography. He doesn't think the body has any business in anything except pron.)

Then there is 'embodiment' on the level of the film itself. The film has a body: it is not just a transparent 'window on life', but a thing we are invited to pay attention to as an artefact. In this sense, Godard is not so far from 'Les Demoiselles de Rochefort'. Both show an awareness of the film as something artificial, something being shaped, chopped, constructed, played with. The pleasure of playing with the medium is not restricted to the film-makers. The audience can share this pleasure.

My two eurocents.

Momus, much of what you say about French films re:the body is even truer of many recent Spanish films.

I'm off to see 'Lost in Translation' in a couple of hours. And I expect that I will find it full of cultural jokes, plot, character and situation stuff, but somewhat lacking in the bodily aspects of what it's like to be in Japan. But let's see.

i wouldn't make any generalizations about "french films," although if you break it down by generation one can notice different trends and counter-trends at work. france is "the republic of images" and the cinema here is simply too historically and otherwise extensive to sustain generalizations.

momus has a good point here, in that this DOES seem to be a cardinal (which is to say classical) aspect of the screenwriting ethos in america, which is unfortunate i think.

some american directors are able to animate their characters as COMMUNITIES and lend to the audience remarkably vivid and unpatronizing impressions of the secondary and even tertiary characters...john ford at his best does this.

and then there are directors who seem to aim for a level of abstraction even for the primary characters, like hal hartley. this achieves something different from the "centers of goodness" momus laments, but it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Any talk of French movies being all about people sitting about talking in cafés or dinner parties is about 30 years out of date. Actually, one of the interesting things about the French film industry today is that one actually exists, unlike anywhere else in Europe. The British, Italians, Germans etc. make movies but they don't really have a dedicated industry any more because the number of movies they make are so small.

There are an awful lot of crappy, middlebrow movies made in France which are never shown internationally, but no more so than there are crappy American movies. I can think of several French movies I've seen recently which I thought were pretty good - Irreversible, Harry L'ami qui vous veut du bien, L'Adversaire...

Good night everybody.

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/film/features/story.jsp?story=483695

The last of these, 'Bob Le Flambeur,' was released in 1956! It's either the last film in the pre-war spirit or the first new wave film. I haven't seen all of these by any means, but he's dead-on about the Renoir -- it's an absolute corker.

there's a long, not brilliant essay on him in the current sight & sound by david thomson.

Sight and Sound is so expensive here!

however it does have a wonderful quote by rivette on the abnormality of the film-making process: 'it is normal not to make films.'

just seen my first rivette film (and his new film) 'histoire de marie et julien', and, at just over two hours, guess its more of a 'normal' length for him - its all about the clock people!

anyone else see it?

Tuesday Night:
400 Blows - BBC2 Wed 20 Oct, 12:15 am

Wednesday Night:
Shoot The Pianist - BBC2 Thu 21 Oct, 12:10 am

Thursday Night:
The Woman Next Door - BBC2 Fri 22 Oct, 12:15 am

"

wtf?it's a great movie mainly because emmanuelle bear (or how ever you spell it)one of the all time goregeous women, is naked for almost the entire movie.how can u forgot?!

http://www.weltchronik.de/ws/bio/r/renoirJ/rj01979a-RenoirJean-18940915b-19790212d.jpg

Try and catch "Espíritu de la colmena, El " or - The spirit of the beehive, by Victor Erice - a spanish masterpiece from the 70's that takes a lot of influence from Jean Vigo, also by Tereence Mallick - (Erice also made 3 films in 30 years or so like mallick), it's a gothic tale about life,death and nature from the innocent eyes of 2 kids, beatifully shot and very delicate in direction, it's a unique masterpiece.

Which ones? I'm thinking Hotel du Nord, Boudu Saved From Drowning, Les COusins, and Pierrot Le Fou - if I'm lucky.

The Clockmaker of St. Paul
I recommend seeing this, Tavernier is great at working with actors and I think he's often overlooked here in the US. Also Série Noire.

Why not? Too talky?

hey, Jeanne Moreau was 80 yesterday! What a gal.

http://daily.greencine.com/archives/005352.html

I saw her in Mademoiselle recently, having a ball as a demon-woman.

also, Andre Techine's '80s AIDS movie finally opens in NY next week.

emmanuelle devos is lights out

i wouldn't mind attending a conference in devos, if you know what i am getting at

eau non vous di-int

lol

Moreau seemed to think she was playing Bette Davis in The Star in that last Ozon movie.

I think I will have to go see the Eustache films at FIAF on Tuesday.

I just saw "The Last Mistress" -- directly translated it should be "An Old Mistress" as in "an old story" but eh

I thought it was wonderful - a "small" film in a way but I never realized Asia Argento was such an actress! Christ almighty she was like an animal. I've known people like that.

My favorite thing may have been the way it was a period piece, set in the height of 1830s Parisian society, yet you still got the slightly damp, dingy feel that must have pervaded even the poshest drawing rooms in those days

I mean I'm just so accustomed to any period film feeling like every prop cost a million dollars, that every drop of sunlight fills a room with a luxurious glow, that all is powdered and pampered and smelling of leather and roses, when actually even the nobility of those days lived in some rather rough and drafty places and never washed, despite their rococo brocade

La France mostly sucks.

i just saw that movie The Last Mistress which i really liked

I'm sure Eric H will, too.

What can I say? Surmounter and I share a love for pillowy male lips.

Me too, but the hairy femme "lip" closeups...

That's where the Sex is Comedy thing comes in.

one of my favorite movies is french... "Diva".
also :"Ponette"

nooo asia's lips were fine.

although that blond actress, she was something ELSE. hermangarde.

Ramz, I refer you to the wall o' 'ginas that's floating around ILX.

hah

how did we get this far with no mention of banlieue 13, renaissance or immortel? all of which are gorgeous and basically awesome except renaissance has a really disappointing score + a few scary "uncanny valley" bits with the mo-cap

oh right I'm the only person who cares about foreign digital backlot cinema

Clouzot's Les Diaboliques is pretty unbeatable for French noir.

-- Jonathan Z., Tuesday, January 6, 2004 4:10 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Link

i thought renaissance was a total zzzzzz

Eff that digi-shit, Jacques Tati pisses on it. More pantomime!

Nice to be reminded of the "golden age" of ILx.

^'There are no new waves, there is only the ocean'

I just tried to see The Last Mistress but the print had mysteriously not turned up. I suspect some filthy London projectionist has squirreled it away for his personal Asia Argento collection. It's being rescheduled for September.

i thought renaissance was a total zzzzzz

it was pretty zzzz at points but it had some really really awesome bits. I give them probably more credit than they deserve for the purposeful obtuseness of going to great lengths to combine all that technology just to make a film that has like five colors

I saw this

http://thecia.com.au/reviews/h/images/hidden-cache-poster-2.jpg

last week and it's absolutely brilliant. So, not shit at all.

Two words for Pete: Carole Bouquet.

I don't think that poster for Hidden his very good. Daniel Auteil looks like he's drunk and embarrassing his wife at a wedding reception disco.

Recently watched Leconte's Tango, which managed to be really entertaining even while harping on the "lol men and women sure are different amirite" theme. Crazy husband-murdering girl was way cute.

I can watch Melville's Le Cercle Rouge endlessly. Not sure exactly why but I think the lack of dialoge helps.

http://www.premiere.fr/var/premiere/storage/images/cinema/photos-film/themes/les-brigands-bien-aimes/alain-delon-dans-le-cercle-rouge-1970-de-j-p-melville/12396138-1-fre-FR/alain_delon_dans_le_cercle_rouge_1970_de_j_p_melville_reference.jpg

perhaps I just didn't understand La France:

http://academichack.net/reviewsMay2008.htm#France

wasn't that review basically what the NYT said?

no, the NYT doesn't go into that kinda arcana.

Matt Groening's Paradox of Cinema:

- the French are funny
- sex is funny
- comedies are funny

Yet, no French sex comedies are funny.

rong

speaking of which: i'm watching LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON and i'm not into it, and i usually like rohmer.

partly i just don't like zouzou at all

yeah, that one is probably my least favorite Rohmer and Zouzou is a big factor. Great ending though, which made me realize that with Rohmer the main action is a always off camera.

YES you are so right, the last scene redeemed the movie.

do you think we were expected to judge the zouzou character?

anyone been?

http://www.camdenartscentre.org/exhibitions/?id=100481

just for the envy of Alex in SF:

http://www.filmforum.org/films/crimewave.html

i'm sick of films "full of atmosphere, emotion and angst"

very late xpost to amateurist:
I think Rohmer never really judges his female leads. In the Conte Moraux cycle, the two recurring types of the good girl and the tempteress are just shown as leading their healthy lives, while the man chases paper mills and ultimately comes across as pathetic. 'Genou de Claire' is my favorite example of this.

One counter-example is 'Nuits de la Pleine lune' where Bulle Ogier takes on that role. Again we realize at the end of that movie that while the main character was building up all these tiny dramas on camera, the real stuff was happening behind teh scenes.

I will say that Diva has both artiness and action (Jules riding his moped through the Metro).

I don't exactly recommend Ne Le Dis a Personne, but it was refreshing to see a French movie that wasn't exclusively set in BoBo dinner party-ready Paris apartments. Although that may owe something to having been based on an American novel.

Guillaume Depardieu dies at 37:

http://daily.greencine.com/archives/006843.html

Wanted to see this for a couple of years, can't wait:

http://www.institut-francais.org.uk/cine-lumiere/films/my-little-loves.html

haha man that looks SO FRENCH

yes its PROPER FRENCH!!!

Went back for Vivre sa Vie today, cracking stuff - well done Lumiere, renovation is terrific and groundbreaking on the leg room front.

Next month I see the Nouvelle Vague thing is 50 years old: really looking fwd to a couple of curios and the Varda screening at the nft way more than Truffaut (who is ok but don't feel like checking out more than I have), and I don't really know what's so special about Chabrol.

Truffaut's Vivement Dimanche (a crazy Hitchcock ode) is one of the best things I saw this year so far.

I don't really know what's so special about Chabrol.

'Cause he's one of the few Hitchcock disiples who has actually gotten beyond jerking off to the Vertigo/NxNW/Psycho trilogy?

Abel Gance's Napoleon is coming to town (in two parts) later this week. I hope to make the screenings.

French critics really into this film right now: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1314280/

looks awwwful

I just saw Mon Oncle which I enjoyed, except that the subtitling was kind of bad on the version I watched (although it's the type of film that, for the most part, could probably get away without dialogue, and I would guess that a more recent version would have updated the subtitles anyway). Otherwise, good stuff, was a bit surprised it hadn't already been mentioned here.

there's a Tati thread

The Class was great.

dassin retro at film forum right now

Saw Night and the City yesterday. It's my favorite movie ever. I think he only made 2 films in France. Preview for Up Tight! was pretty crazy.

The Gance Napoleon is the shit (especially the first half)

k, I'll persist w/Chabrol whenever I get the chance.

Wish I liked Tati more...Playtime does look pretty good from the bits of it I've seen...

Mid-60's to mid-70's Chabrol are some of my favorites. Definitely give him another chance. "This Man Must Die","The Butcher" and "Unfaithful Wife" are excellent.

On the Chabrol tip, I'd like to put in a good word for Le Beau Serge, A Double Tour, Les Bonnes Femmes, Les Biches, The Story of Women, and Betty (especially that one), all in addition to those Jay mentioned. Have only seen a fraction of his 70 or so films. Haven't met an out and out stinker yet (the closest was a recent one Comedy of Power, which was more underdeveloped than bad).

Just watched A Man Escaped last night and <333 françoise l'awesó, oui! Really liked L'Argent too. Bresson will come hang out in my DVD player all year! (Or at least until I've seen all of his films that the library has)

70?!?! I've seen Le Beau Serge and found it rough going...maybe some of the 1970s films might do something. After all, every film was amazing in the 70s ;-)

Entre Les Murs/The Class is absolutely outstanding. the best new film i've seen in a long time.

70?!?! I've seen Le Beau Serge and found it rough going...maybe some of the 1970s films might do something. After all, every film was amazing in the 70s ;-)

Actually, IMDB sez 71 (the newest of which is due later this year), but that includes TV stuff. So the actual feature count is in the 50s or 60s.

The Class doesn't really say anything, does it? Not that hasn't been said in Up the Down Staircase etc.

way to qualify. i think its a fair bit bleaker and has a lot of different things to say e.g. about gov't/bureaucracy/policy than up the down staircase but who cares if it says anything new??? even if it all it does is make the same points abt the french school system its still a pretty vital film imo

i mean werent u into that steve mcqueen movie dude wtf @ "doesnt really say anything"

http://reelsuave.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/water-lilies.jpg

Did anyone else see this? It's mostly par for the course French coming of age stuff, but the filmmaking itself is really beautiful. Almost every shot looks like a Gregory Crewdson photo or something; it's some of the best cinematography I've seen in a long time. It's all really haunting (and has a great soundtrack, too).

(I think it was released everywhere else as "Water Lilies," incidentally)

The Class isn't anywhere in Hunger's league on any score, DUDE. I like Cantet's shooting style and the actors -- far better than Up the Down Staircase -- but it's still the same old story, whereas Human Resources and Time Out weren't. Heading South and this one are a notch lower.

Do films have to "say something" to be truly great?

This was up on filmbrain the other day. It's an early 70s French tv ad for Schick aftershave directed by Godard & Jean-Pierre Gorin starring the late, lovely Juliet Berto.

TH, if a film engages in 'realistic' social observation (like LC did re employment / professional identity in his 2 best films, or education here), then they have to "say something" to be above average.

do they just have to say something or do they have to say something new?

to earn the kinda raves The Class has been getting, new.

jsut fyi doctor in the director's cut it turns out that souleman was actually a bank robber and he and jason stathom get into a car chase through the streets of paris and then the cars explode and they fight their way up the eiffel tower using an explosive laden-soccer ball as a weapon

i thought that was a pretty new visual methaphor for social alienation tbh

lol @ my typing

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518B5i364hL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

watched this again recently btw one of the greatest french movies ever imo

"...It's easier to home now."

'go home"

my girlfriend and several of her friends, all of whom are teachers of one kind or another, said The Class was the only authentic representation of teaching they've ever seen on a screen.

to be fair morbs you don't ever really say anything (here) either other than talk about how films were received by critics or to dismiss other peoples opinions of them (this is easy) rather than saying why you actually liked or disliked them (this is more difficult).

it said quite a lot to me about teaching and about shifting power relations. about the daily extreme difficulty of doing the job and, by extension, of balancing fears and prejudices in everyday life in order to just get along with people. about how we repress our prejudices and how those prejudices come out involuntarily, unexpectedly. i was floored by the final scene in the classroom where that quiet, polite, mid-ability, student points out to the teacher that he hadn't asked her what she learned over the course of the year. it stops stone dead and it suddenly becomes the whole point of the film is that she doesn't speak until that point, she's just forgotten by the teacher and by the audience but her concerns are every bit as important, as crushing, as Souleymane or Esmeralde's which the whole film has been caught up with. i was moved almost to tears by this scene.

TH, if a film engages in 'realistic' social observation, then they have to "say something" to be above average.

Hence the overall shittiness of the overrated Dardennes' films.

Eric, have you seen anything besides The Child? I didn't think you had.

xp: I hope I made it clear I liked The Class Those points were present, jed, but I didn't find em revelatory.

points out to the teacher that he hadn't asked her what she learned over the course of the year.

Wait, doesn't she just say she learned nothing? Didn't believe the scene. Also thought the lead character was almost as annoying a showboat as Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson.

anyway, seen lately: Claire Denis' 35 Rhums, portrait of 5 characters in a not-quite family headed by a Paris train engineer, w/ her usual collaborators (Agnes Godard, Alex Descas, Gregoire Colin, Tindersticks). A-minus, no general US release yet.

I started The Son and turned it off.

Also thought the lead character was almost as annoying a showboat as Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson.

Yahbut at least French guy is taken to task for it a bit more; students call him out on it, anyway.

(Also seen Rosetta in bits and pieces, but nothing hooked me to watching it in full.)

The Son is easily in my top 10 of the '00s.

(also, Belgian)

Eric, you have to watch The Son at least til you find out what the deal is.

Rosetta kinda stinks.

(French-language. Looked like more of the same. If you're going to ape Bresson, at least be seamlessly formal about it.)

Also thought the lead character was almost as annoying a showboat as Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson.

i dont remember half nelson that well but cmon the class movie totally calls him on his bs. and i think its true if that matters the way it made his teaching seem like performing

i saw Naissance etc and was like hmm it's Fucking Amal all over again.
soundtrack had a great Boards of Canada vibe though.

(hmm Half Nelson is great) haven't seen the Class yet.

last French film i saw:
http://www.prixdvd.com/dvd_video/realisateurs/malle_louis/photos/zazie_dans_le_metro_.jpg
http://www.filmtotaal.nl/images/newscontent/f08572e.jpg
awesome and incredibly tiresome at the same time.

I don't find the D-Bros ape Bresson, but it's a kinda rich accusation coming from a Brian dP booster...

Do you really think in terms of "seamlessly formal" when you react to something? No wonder you like dance pop.

xp

ie, that they diverge from Bresson is a strength.

Jesus christ no it is not.

Everything the Dardennes is shallow, arrogant, pretentious shit is how they diverge.

Sorry, "everything the Dardennes DO"

we gotta get our own podcast, dude.

would you rather they xeroxed Bresson like BdP did w/Hitchcock? (sometimes; when he doesn't I often like him, ie Femme Fatale, Blow Out, Carlito)

plus now The Wrestler stands accused of aping the Dardennes

I loved Naissance des Pieuvres/Water Lillies - and foudn teh comparisons ton Fucking Amal a bit superficial. In any case, as said upthread, the photography is amazing and makes the film. The eerie emptiness of French suburban "new towns" is spot on.

at the Subjectivisten we're always looking for "doppelgangers" anyway, in Naissance, the "fat" girl either looks like Angela Merkel or Rita Verdonk (a hopelessly right-wing dutch politician)

as for the Dardennes:
le Fils is awesome. i'd say their best, but haven't seen Rosetta yet. I thought L'enfant was dissapointing, best (and saddest) part in L'enfant is when the poor boy needs to hide in the cold water for the cops. i forgot what the new one was called, ah yes Silence de Lorna, not that good either i thought. Liked some of the haphazard cuts though.

I don't really see Merkel

http://www.commeaucinema.com/images/news/150_81143.jpg

you don't ever really say anything (here) either other than talk about how films were received by critics or to dismiss other peoples opinions of them

i disagree, jed, but no i don't write film reviews here, i'm not nabisco.

morbs my feeling is that if a film can "say something" about its own characters' relationships to each other that seems true to the inherent difficulties of being a human being, in whatever social circumstances the film presents, that that is a big enough artistic job for anyone and a real and rare accomplishment

yes, and The Class was better than most, but not extraordinary. but y'know, Oscar Oscar Oscar, so it's all you guys wanna talk about.

As since it's almost 2 weeks since I saw it, this is my most vivid memory the mature Upper West Side audience at the Lincoln Plaza: when they're discussing Souleymane's father sending him home of he's suspended, a dowager behind me pipes up, "Would that be the WORST thing in the world?"

i don't write film reviews here, i'm not nabisco.

fair enough. it may not say anything to you but it's clearly said a lot to quite a few of us and since it's so tied to the times and the specific setting while, imo, opening out to talk about all difficult relationships then comparing it to a 40 year old film, while useful (i'll check the film out) is sort of ignoring how vital and current the films concerns are.

i agree with tracer on "that is a big enough artistic job for anyone and a real and rare accomplishment". it's exactly how i feel.

I thought ending w/ Teach and Dean (or whatever the French call him) playing football w/ the kids was a big shrug.

Would really go for 'the class'; I enjoyed 'Half Nelson', and who can resist season four of Wire (might be interesting to compare that TV series to 'The Class')

Anyone have any tips for the Nouvelle Vague fest at the nft? Gonna use it to investigate more Left bank stuff (that means => Varda, the one Chris Marker doc and 'Muriel'). would like to catch any golden nuggets on this.

the slightly shaky handheld thing you see now in TONS of films I blame on fucking TV like NYPD Blue, The Wire, Homicide. So irritating.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/film_programme/april_seasons/nouvelle_vague

interesting program, lot of stuff i don't know.

The 400 Blows: i tend to like the other Doinel movies better..
Breathless: worth watching for Seberg. (i bet you've seen this one though)
Une femme est une femme: really nice movie, might be my favourite Godard
Hiroshima mon amour: hated this one
Lift to the Scaffold: Malle's debut, very amusing Hitchcock/film noir stuff, lot of plot holes though, but i thoroughly enjoyed it.
La Peau douce: weaker Truffaut, adultery drama.
Shoot the Pianist: awesome Truffaut, one of his best.
Zazie dans le métro: see up thread, you might get a headache.

if i had to recommend 2 from this list it would be Une Femme est Une Feme and Shoot the Pianist.
more leftfield choices (much cooler in away) would be Lift to the Scaffold and Zazie.

i'd recommend 'chronique d'un ete' and 'muriel'.

i want to see 'la joli mai', 'la pointe courte', and 'la pyramide humaine'.

don't have it in me to see kast, leenhardt, etc, to see if they are worth the effort :/

you can safely avoid rohmer and chabrol (and truffaut rly) imho.

Rohmer rules imho

Showing clips and talking with his usual passion about his life and the movies, both his own and those of others, Tarantino was anything but dull.

For instance: he has an unexpected passion for the delicate films of Eric Rohmer, with the exception of Rohmer's big hit, "My Night at Maud's."

most french people i'm met have a healthy disinterest in the new wave, they're like yeah, they're pretty good but they're really old now wtf is the hullabaloo

i think we get too much of them, though with this season they have made sure to extend 'the new wave' beyond the five main cahiers guys... although there is then a danger it just means 'french filmmaking from the mid-50s to the mid-60s'.

there's still a lot to discover in the left bank group -- they were not much shown here at the time (nor in the US) and it's still hard to see their shit. case in point marker. but it's getting easier: william klein had a box-set, and the dvd of 'muriel' is plain essential.

chabrol-rohmer-truffaut seem to me to belong to a pretty dim and distant past -- they're pretty conservative dudes -- but the left bankers still feel 'culturally relevant'.

but what do they like? glossy romances? are any of the talked-about newer directors (Assayas, Desplechin) big hitmakers or widely discussed?

xp

"conservative," eat it

well argued

Of the ones I've seen on that list, Chronique d’un été and Cléo de 5 à 7 are probably the two can't-miss ones.

arguing w/ enrique is so "conservative" it's pointless

Some very great filmmakers are conservative, so I don't see the problem.

when the films are mostly about relationships between men and women (truffaut, rohmer) and the filmmakers' attitude towards women is uh 'unreconstructed' then it is a problem.

there's not much exciting going on in their films in other respects, is the other thing; whereas there definitely is with rivette and godard.

i'd say 'ma nuit chez maud', 'le boucher', and '400 blows' are worth seeing, but i've seen most of their 50s/60s ish and wouldn't recommend others to do likewise.

just watched army of shadows. loved some of the aesthetics but didn't really care for the film.

I love Jean Pierre Melville, especially Le Samurai and Le Circle Rouge, but I saw Army of Shadows at the cinema last year and I came out making a bad face. I'm struggling to remember just what I disliked so much about it, but I think it felt like the events and scenes were morally strained, forced rather than natural, rather than the beautiful existential clarity of, say, Le Samurai. Although it is also pleasingly opaque, he concluded lamely.

First time on this thread, so I just want to rep old French films like La Regle du Jeu (vicious and merciless) and pour scorn upon horrid bourgeios crap like I've Loved You So Long (more middle-class crisis pap).

Godard is pretty much a total pig re women.

trudat.

i don't stan for godard any more -- i pretty much hate him with the zealotry of an ex-stan -- but i think his films and the ideas therein (visual and otherwise) are 'productive' in a way i don't get with the other cahiers guys.

in normative terms his films -- as 'statements about human relationships' or 'stories' or what have you -- are worse than theirs.

haha yeah having seen at least 2-5 by all the 'frontline' Cahier ppl I tend to agree w/ENRQ's general assessment: Rivette/Godard have more depth in a cinematic sense than Truffaut/Chabrol, although I like Rohmer. The role of women in the films by all these people is 'interesting' once you see stuff form Akermann and Helke Sander. In the 70s there is a def shift.

I would've been happy with a whole season solely devoted to the Left Bank but I do like that this turns out to be a survey of people that were around and seem to have a tenuous connection, which might give a more sober snapshot. So yeah that's why I wanted some pointers in that direction. Will make sure to catch 'Chronique' now, thx.

"Hiroshima mon amour: hated this one"

Love this, been struggling with a couple of novels by Duras. I wish they'd screened India Song

Varda's Lions Love was probably my fave sleeper screening of last year. Filmmaker goes to make a movie in Hollywood, ends up being shooting first reality TV highlights show as she lounges around with her groupies, watching assassinations on the telly. Looking fwd to more by her. xxp

Hiroshima is Resnais right, i am too bored to look it up. Only Resnais i liked so far is Mon Oncle D'Amerique.

rohmer is the only one i stan for here. his films are wonderful.

Yeah its Resnais. I could easily get all best film ever about My American Uncle!

Marker/Resnais/Rouch/Varda all get major love from me.

Well, at least Marker and Varda. I probably haven't officially seen enough of the other two yet, but think at least two each from both of them are masterpieces (Chronicle of a Summer/Moi un noir, Marienbad/Muriel).

yeah morbius those guys, breillat, jaoui, you know, people who come out with new movies

or in Breillat's case, moronic "transgressive" shit.

fuck new

How much of the new wave have your friends seen TH? If its just Truffaut/Godard getting wheeled out over and over again I can understand (it must be strange to see how 'canonical' bits of your culture get seen by other countries, and the UK has always been v down on its ability to make films). But there is a variety of films to this season and its a pretty unique opportunity to see stuff that is going to be 'new' for many.

Muriel on Bank holiday Monday, and more Resnais in June as the NFT are screening La Guerre est finie bless 'em

so has anyone watched any of these new french horror cinema films? at all? i'm somewhat curious but.. have a rough time watching horror movies these days.. but if they're v good, i will

that's funny, a friend was just raving about french horror last night... he said martyrs is excellent

from what I've seen (frontieres, inside) le french horror is tres brutal and they are not for the squeamish

Inside got my motor runnin'

what's with you and your motor today

Got my oil changed

No talk of Francis Veber's greatness? Really?

Muriel was fantastic! Its actually one of the few ones where a DVD of it would actually be useful as there are little bits that assume a significance later. So much cutting, certain sections you have to just grit your teeth through it.

This and Le Point Courte (Varda's first film) can be a lot of work but there is plenty of hilarious lines - lots of fun!

Also I'm looking to see if there are any collections by Jean Cayrol available in English and I am not having much luck on first glance :-(

from what I've seen (frontieres, inside) le french horror is tres brutal and they are not for the squeamish

see, that's the problem. i watched 'in my skin' a while back at a festival.. well, i tried to watch it. i had to leave halfway through. i'm wayyy more squeamish than i was in my early 20s.

balancing missing out on some v interesting cinema vs. seeing things i can't un-see. it's easier watching it on the small screen at least. rich fourfour thought 'martyrs' was brilliant so i was curious.

catching as much of the MoMA retro of Julien Duvivier as I can:

http://www.movingimagesource.us/articles/time-regained-20090504

French cinema went through its postmodernist phase before it went through its modernist phase.

Throroughly enjoyed the new OSS 117, but not sure how well it translates for a foreign audience

Marker's La Joli Mai was fantastic, and way better than 'Sans Soleil' -- although I should revisit that now.

What really comes across a lot of the French cinema of that time is the humour (the shot of the two blokes talking about freedom/the working week/dreams cut by shots of cats) and the engagement with what seems like everything. Its nasty politics one second, the twist in a club the next, etc.

And the cats should be mentioned again -- Marker loved them, so did Rivette! A crappy theory should be made about this...

Saw Rouch's Chronique d'un ete and Pyramide Humaine earlier in the week. Also v good. Not as much flair as Marker but I'll take it.

Assayas's Summer Hours is a good one, but I still prefer his Limoges china epic.

Ha, I saw that one in France so I only understood about half of it. What about the new Agnes V?

Predictably charming.

Just have to say that I just saw the 400 Blows for the first time and it was fucking great. Really gets into that headspace of being 13-14 and mildly mischievous leading to being labeled a bad kid. The Criterion Collection DVD (available from Netflix) has the short Antoine and Collette from the compilation film Love at 20, which stars the same character at 17. Also has clips from French TV w/ interviews with Truffaut and Leaud, who was really an incredibly believable and sympathetic actor even when he was 13.

This is prob old news to people reading this thread, but it makes me want to see all the films he starred in as Antoine.

I just watched Stolen Kisses last night! Its the continuation of the Antoine story, and it is so good. You should totally see it. I loved it, and Leaud is is charming as hell. Its a bit goofier than 400 Blows though.

Are there more Antoine films? I guess I'll go find out.

I am seeing the new Agnes V tonight, and she will be there!

there are more, brontosaur, but they go downhill after SK.

Costa Garvas dbl bill at the Lumiere tomorrow, btw

aargh, Costa-Gavras

finally saw the Class the other night. It was very good. I also recently caught up with Kings and Queen and A Christmas Tale. I <3 Mathieu Amalric. Got Summer Hours to watch later.

Costas's Z was fantastic! What an ending...lots of speed, humour, some great music - I should chase up the novel the film was based on.

When you go to the Lumiere do they play actual films or some kind of high quality DVDs or what? I watched some week-long Fantomas thing and it was bitty and gritty and obviously digital. I wasn't annoyed. I accepted it. I just wondered whether they had a normal projector.

I assume they do have a normal projector as they screen worn out prints of old films, most of which haven't even been issued on DVD. Z was like that (and dubbed, first time I saw anything at the Lumiere w/out subtitles).

fantomas would probably be a dvd projection. it's possible there's a modern-type print of it but i can't imagine from when.

amazed 'z' hasn't been on dvd!

Z is coming out on Criterion next month.

on dv-Z

I think 35 Rhums (35 Shots of Rum) is as good as anything Claire Denis has made, at least since Nenette et Boni.

French Cinema Week here in Oporto, please tell me if any of these movies are good:

"Mia Et Le Migou", Jacques Rémy Girerd
"Pour Un Instant La Liberté", Arash T. Riahi
"Les Enfants De Timpelbach", Nicolas Bary
"Passe-Passe", Tonie Marshall
"Erreur De La Banque En Votre Faveur", Gérard Bitton & Michel Munz
"J'ai Toujours Revê D'Être Un Gangster", Samuel Benchetrit
"Le Plaisir De Chanter", Ilan Duran Cohen (great name btw)
"Le Premier Jour Du Reste De Ta Vie", Rémi Benzançon
"L'Anée Suivante", Isabelle Czajka
"Le Bal Des Atrices", Maiwenn
"Coco Chanel Et Igor Stravinsky", Jan Kounen
"L'Armée Du Crime", Robert Guédiguian
"Éden À L'Ouest", Costa-Garvas (!)
"Ne Te Retourne Pas", Marina De Van

"Mia Et Le Migou", Jacques Rémy Girerd - don't know this film even though I know the name.
"Pour Un Instant La Liberté", Arash T. Riahi don't know
"Les Enfants De Timpelbach", Nicolas Bary - more of a kids movie, not good from all I've heard. Kind of a flop in France.
"Passe-Passe", Tonie Marshall - don't know
"Erreur De La Banque En Votre Faveur", Gérard Bitton & Michel Munz - from what I've heard, a not very good comedy.
"J'ai Toujours Revê D'Être Un Gangster", Samuel Benchetrit - never seen it, heard a few good things about it.
"Le Plaisir De Chanter", Ilan Duran Cohen (great name btw) - don't know
"Le Premier Jour Du Reste De Ta Vie", Rémi Benzançon - this was a huge success in France, most of the people I know who've seen it really liked and those that didn't usually despised it. From what I've heard it sounds a bit like indie movies of the Little Miss Sunshine/Juno/ Gardern State variety, but don't take my word for it.
"L'Anée Suivante", Isabelle Czajka - don't know
"Le Bal Des Atrices", Maiwenn - this one had a really nice poster up in the Paris métro, but apart from that don't know much about it
"Coco Chanel Et Igor Stravinsky", Jan Kounen - the better of the two movies about Coco Chanel, but apparently that's faint praise
"L'Armée Du Crime", Robert Guédiguian - don't know much about it
"Éden À L'Ouest", Costa-Garvas (!) - same
"Ne Te Retourne Pas", Marina De Van - haven't seen it either, but this one got quite a lot of press. It was booed in Cannes and I don't think the general consensus about it has improved much.

Basically, I haven't seen too many of these so take my words with caution as they are mostly friends' opinions repeated.

I'd see Garvas/Gavras, just cuz I really trust him now.

Anyone seen the Varda doc? Her hair looks amazing, btw

Yes, Varda is a charmer.

Loved loved Beaches of Agnes! Where else will we able to see contributions from Harrison Ford and Chris Marker in the same film?

Star Wars VII: The Empire without a Cat

on offer at this year's london film fest:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/films/french_revolutions

I need to see this:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/films/french_revolutions/408

god i hate this thread title

pork oi

New Bruno Dumont! Can't hang around till late tho' :-(

Daniel, I saw J'ai toujours reve d'etre un gangster yesterday, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It sagged a bit in the middle but there are lots of laughs to be had.

Lucky you being in Porto, by the way. I love that city.

The Barbican is doing a short Directorspective on Jacques Tati in Decemeber: http://www.barbican.org.uk/film/series.asp?ID=789

SHIT i will not be in town for playtime

SHIT

which town? NYC MoMA is showing it at year-end too:

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/films/1023

I won't be in London for that one either :(

I'm gonna be in Bore-deaux so I will miss both of these ;_;

Unless the Cinema Jean Vigo is screening it! Playtime should be a Christmas tradition everywhere!

It's on in Glasgow this month as well.

Jean Eustache's shortish film The Pig on Sunday at the Lumiere. Go if I cannot.

aw :/
would love to see that

Is anyone with me that Port Of Shadows is >>>> Le Jour Se Leve??

Eustache's The Pig didn't make it to Glasgow, but tonight we had the New Yorker Films subtitled print of The Mother and the Whore, probably the very same print I last saw about ten years ago. In the intervening years I've watched an even mouldier print of Rivette's L'Amour Fou, and so this time round, I was struck by certain visual and thematic similarities between the two films - both are concerned with disintegrating love affairs, bad behaviour, jealousy, passion and all that messy stuff. The performances of Jean-Pierre Leaud, Francoise Lebrun and Bernadette Lafont - the three Ls! - are just devastating.

Tomorrow the GFT are showing Numero Uno, Eustache's first documentary feature, and then on Wednesday we get My Little Loves, the full colour fiction movie that Eustache made the year after The Mother and the Whore.

You gotta go on Wednesday.

What about Une Sale Histoire?

I'll be there!

Une Sale Histoire only played in Edinburgh, sadly.

These are all screening as part of a large French film festival that's touring the UK at the moment - the Eustache 'strand' consists of seven films in total (six of them UK premieres.) The other ones that didn't make it to Glasgow were Bad Company and Santa Claus has Blue Eyes.

last year's Cesar winner Seraphine is a digestible artist bio, esp for Yolande Moreau and the cinematography.

didn't think it was bad or anything but what's the big deal about 'the prophet'?

there seems to be this thing of anglo filmcrits unduly praising french directors that go against 'type', trascending the cold fuck outta the constraints of genre and, who'd have thought, beating the americans at their own game

heh for a certain generation of british critics, french people make much better americans than americans do

i dunno if this even did "transcend" genre! im not always against that as a concept, even. but in this case, we just have a quite detailed and mostly well-made prison/crime drama. it wasn't, in the way genre-transcenders typically do, "saying anything" about the human condition or what have you. was it? soem guy told me something about the meaning of the title before i saw it but i've forgotten what.

it means that you never can quite tell when you should pronounce the "t" at the ends of french words

did you see the movie?

Jacques Audiard - A Prophet

POLTERGAY
POLTERGAY
POLTERGAY

"saying anything" about the human condition or what have you

i think it was, specific to france, where the identities and slow integration of algerian/muslim/old school french communities is subject for debate.

POLTERGAY is the best film ever! And it is French! And has French Gay Ghosts from the Seventies!

otm

xpost

it's not a "transcend" genre, except maybe for the subtle use of surrealism, but it's a perfect version of the genre imo
Scorsese and Taramtino will probably never offer a new perfect crime movie again, and Audiard simply takes their place with this movie.
i think it's better than the flashy,pointless and now banal shots in Goodfellas for example,it is a much more authentic effort, thats all.

trailer for godard's new(last?) 'socialisme' worth seeing, with alain badiou reprising the karina role from pierrot le fou (maybe)

alain badiou reprising the karina role

if this is true, and godard has made a elderly gay man road movie (is belmondo even alive?), than that'd be something.

sea movie, aptly

saw Chereau's Persecution, excellent work from unkempt Gallic god Romain Duris at his most Brandoesque. He and C Gainsbourgh have a nice long fucking scene, and there's an offbeat gay stalker element.

Looks forward to Varda season at BFI

Maybe something like Les Creatures?

Will finally get to see Cleo from 5 to 7

anyone see 'Mic Macs' yet?? looks awesome

i really, really didn't like Mic Macs

Has anyone here seen Agnes Varda's "Mur Murs"? What did you think about it?

Might have to see that -- looking for the underrated ones like Lions Love.

I saw Duelle yesterday. Some laughed hilariously. Can anyone tell me about the references to other films? Only if it is not tedious.

Regarding the collaboration with Lubchansky and what little I've read about it, i'd say that visual splendor was a good thing for Rivette and that it is a good thing for this visual splendor to be separated from the auteur, but maybe this is only because I only have enough imagination to believe in the duality of mind and body, which no one believes anymore, but in a way that turns everything mechanistic and not into art, which can't be one and the same, right?

Plus live subtitles / translations, like at the United Nations.

Claude Chabrol RIP.

he was one of the greatest.

first Rhomer and now Chabrol -> Rivette and Godard - take care!

Oh no! One of my favorites. NO.

Have liked a few of his films, but never really understood claims on greatness.

siding with morbs on this one

crazy talk^

The Butcher could easily be a great Hitchcock film, for example.

there's an awful lot of good Hitchcock imitators tho who don't get the same regard.

I like the Chabrol films I know plenty, but he isn't very auteur-y imo and this might be a reason to not regard him as a "great" whatever that's all about

first of all - he is more than hitch imitator.

2nd - if only "original" directors would be regarded as great - the list will be shortened to a maximum 10 persons.

i like 'le boucher' best -- i haven't seen every last one, obviously, but then i haven't felt compelled to.

Crazy talk, indeed. When Chabrol was "on" as a director - which was most of his career in my opinion and I've watched just about any Chabrol I could get my hands on, legally and illegally - when you felt he was digging his material then the results were some remarkable films. "Nada" or "The Unfaithful Wife" or "La Ceremonie", for example, are the work of a master filmmaker - hence a "great". And much more than a Hitchcock imitator.

horshima mon amoour

not a french film per se, but i just watched Jessica Hausner's Lourdes.

wow, one of the best things ive seen lately.

french film festival this week... what should I see

3 p'tits cochons (3 Little Pigs)
DIRECTED BY Patrick Huard
Québec | 2008 | 124 mn

L'Arnacœur (Heartbreaker)
DIRECTED BY Pascal Chaumeil
France | 2010 | 105 mn

L'armée du crime (The Army of Crime)
DIRECTED BY Robert Guédiguian
France | 2009 | 139 mn

Barbe bleue (Bluebeard)
DIRECTED BY Catherine Breillat
France | 2009 | 139 mn

Un capitalisme sentimental (A Sentimental Capitalism)
DIRECTED BY Olivier Asselin
Québec | 2008 | 92 mn

Les doigts croches (Sticky Fingers)
DIRECTED BY Ken Scott
Québec | 2009 | 108 mn

Gainsbourg, vie héroïque (Gainsbourg)
DIRECTED BY Joan Sfar
France | 2010 | 135 mn

Les herbes folles (Wild Grass)
DIRECTED BY Alain Resnais
France | 2009 | 104 mn

Hitler à Hollywood (Hitler in Hollywood)
DIRECTED BY Frédéric Sojcher
France- Belgium | 2010 | 95 mn

Un homme qui crie (A screaming Man)
DIRECTED BY Mahamat Saleh Haroun
France - Belgium - Chad | 2010 | 80 mn

Il a suffi que Maman s'en aille (When Mother went away)
DIRECTED BY René Féret
France | 2007 | 90 mn

Illégal
DIRECTED BY Olivier Masset-Depasse
France - Belgium - Luxemburg | 2010 | 95 mn

Liberté (Korkoro)
DIRECTED BY Tony Gatlif
France | 2010 | 111 mn

Maman est chez le coiffeur (Mommy's at the Hairdresser)
DIRECTED BY Léa Pool
Québec| 2008 | 97 mn

Orpailleur (Galimpeiro)
DIRECTED BY Marc Barrat
France | 2010 | 90 mn

Le petit Nicolas (Little Nicolas)
DIRECTED BY Laurent Tirard
France | 2010 | 90 mn

Potiche
DIRECTED BY François Ozon
France | 2010 | 110 mn

La rafle (The Round-up)
DIRECTED BY Rose Bosch
France | 2010 | 115 mn

I'm thinking the breillat maybe?

c'mon where are the cinemaphiliacs

L'Arnacœur - great pun btw.

idgi

L'arnaqueur could translate to something like 'con artist' or rip-off artist but they spelled with coeur 'heart' instead. I'm at pains to think of something equivalent in English. 'Griefter' is stretching it a little but maybe it works w/a comedy French accent.

ty

I thought Wild Grass was fine but waaaaaay overrated. The Resnais before it (Private Fears...) was much better.

I loved the Gainsbourg biopic so - that.

Lumiere are doing a mini-Chabrol fest. I'm no fan however This Man Must Die looks promising

Anyone seen Two in the Wave. Probably wait for BBC4 to broadcast that one.

I just finished watching it about two minutes ago. Worth watching on BBC4, but there's nothing in it that you probably don't already know if you're interested in it. The footage and misc. ephemera is great.

Seraphine is pretty good, even if it can't resist the artists-are-nuts trope. Moreau's addled wandering in the last ten minutes reminded me of Isabelle Adjani's in The Story of Adele H.

This year's "French Cultures Fest" brings a set of 5 recent hit comedies to our MFA this weekend. The first night brought these two highly entertaining (but non-life changing) films:

The French Kissers-A pre-high school sex comedy, with plenty of good-natured scatological humor & such. One thing that impressed me--particularly after years of Hollywood takes on same--was how ugly all of the kids were. They're all pizza & braced-faced dorks--you know, like real kids that age. Emmanuelle Devos & Irene Jacob play the grown-ups (the latter--in a move that shows we're all getting old--appears as a MILF).

Heartbreaker-Romain Duris plays a con man hired to break up Vanessa Paradis' wedding. I'm imagining there's a screenwriter somewhere in Cali busily adapting this as a Bradley Cooper/Anne Hathaway vehicle with even more gratuitous 80s pop culture references (this film ropes in both Dirty Dancing and Wham!).

Saturday brings Potiche & OSS 117: Lost In Rio. Anybody seen the latter? The trailer ran before both movies tonight and it likes kinda like a less doofy Austin Powers. That might not be a good thing.

i really hate this thread title

Lost in Rio not as good as Cairo: Nest of Spies iirc.

Heartbreaker just reminds me that there must be loads of bad French comedies that relentlessly ape Hollywood conventions that are released every year that I never see or hear about. I didn't hate it though.

'Lost in Rio' better than 'Cairo', IMO although of course if you've seen the first the novelty has worn off somehow.

Saw both parts of Mesrine today. Superb, altough pt.1 (Killer Instinct) is a bit better (tighter and less meandering) than pt.2 (Public Enemy #1). Worth a look by fans of Carlos and The Baader Meinhof Complex.

I saw Conte d'Automne today. And it was all I could do to stay awake.

i wouldnt rave about coco chanel

i really hate this thread title

― Ask Nult What Your Country Can Do For You (Local Garda), Saturday, March 26, 2011 9:30 AM (4 weeks ago

Alain Resnais season at the bfi -- can't wait to watch je t'aime, je t'aime. The only ones his 60s films I haven't seen. Hope I'll get to see the short films.

For once I have aready watched quite a lot bar his work in the 70s -- Stavisky, anyone?

La guerre est finie is probably my favorite by him

i really hate this thread title

― Ask Nult What Your Country Can Do For You (Local Garda), Saturday, March 26, 2011 9:30 AM (4 weeks ago

― corey, maandag 25 april 2011 13:16 (2 months ago) Bookmark

Seriously, every time this thread title pops up... ugh

Title could do with a little spell-check.

It significantly contributes to its ugliness, I agree.

Alain Resnais season at the bfi -- can't wait to watch je t'aime, je t'aime. The only ones his 60s films I haven't seen.

Finally got to see that one @ a retro last year...fantastic, and probably the most subtly devastating film he did during the era.

Great! I am missing the men's singles final at Wimbledom tomorrow to watch this. Didn't make a single less than great film in that era so expectations are high.

People can ask the mod for a change of thread title -- doesn't bother me (partly cuz I've met Pete and know it was all tongue in cheek) but if it gets people to stop going on about it.

I rescreened Annie Hall last night and realized: je t'aime, je t'aime + Annie Hall= Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind

BTW, I saw you mentioned Stavisky--it was another one I caught during that retro. A biopic, it's pretty straight-forward film for Resnais, done in that 70s interpretation of the 30s style (think The Conformist or The Sting). Stephen Sondheim composed the score.

Stavisky has a couple of weird magical moments, like when they are visiting the house where Stavisky's dad has committed suicide (iirc)
soundtrack is pretty good though, lush.

Cool! Not sure I'll make to that actually...will try.

'je t'aime je t'aime' is one of his best. And one of the best SF films of all time by that stage, although thee isn't much competition w/the likes of '2001' about.

Really unbalanced season -- Marienbad is good but they are really going for how 'iconic' it is with the number of screenings. Say that as I missed Stavisky.

Mariebad must look gorgeous on the screen tho'. Only seen it on DVD.

Try and see some docs. Maybe one of the later, more straight ones like 'No Smoking'

Stavisky is OK but nothing special really.
I am generally not sold on Blu-Rays but the BR edition of Marienbad is pretty damn tempting.

Saw 'Night and Fog' along with severlal docs yesterday.

In terms of filming the tracking shots of camps, libraries or chemical factories all kinda morph into one thing, man-made, to be filmed by Alain Resnais. There is a measure of control (?) right there.

Cayrol's delivery on 'Night and Fog' is as clinical as the mix of images (colour, B&W and photographs), which really sounds right. Never actor-y (could I watch 'The World at War' after this?), the music is never too for effects and never too distant. Everyone is jumping through hoops and corners to do this thing thought. The partially blank 'who is responsible?' at the end is realy powerful (cf. The Chapman dolls being flogged at the moment).

Raul Ruiz has died.

urgggh. I guess I will go see Mysteries of Lisbon Sunday.

Yeah, I want to see that too.

can we finally change this thread title?

aw damn. i only just saw my first :(. everything i've heard about mysteries has been unrestrainedly positive.

One of the greats. I'm deeply saddened by this. RIP, you beautiful, ungraspable rapscallion!

A great filmmaker. One of my favorites of all time. So saddened by this news.

Damn. Les Trois Couronnes du Matelot is a classic.

have u guys seen - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_in_Paris

i thought it was p cool

Going to see Vivre Ensemble on Saturday, one of two films Anna Karina directed.

omg i didn't know she made films! Please report back

Vivre Ensemble was messy but interesting. It felt a bit like a shaggy-dog American film from that time, Scarecrow or something. There was a half-hour detour to New York that had a great period feel. Jonathan Rosenbaum spoke before and after, and he described the film well: post-'68, post-Godard (with title cards and sections and a 360-degree pan around Karina's bedroom), pre-feminist, highly autobiographical. The kind of thing I love: when the characters were hanging around Central Park, you could hear what seemed to be found singing in the background, and whoever it was, they were doing "Get Together" first, then the Byrds' "Here Without You."

Thanks - might be worth a watch if it ever make its way to the Lumiere

I liked House of Pleasures, which admittedly is a tough sit, esp with an early bit of gore and a late "Nights in White Satin."

trailer looked kinda schlocky to me - though redeemed by the awesome lee moses jam overlaid on top - but i'm pleased to hear you liked it, i might catch

a french film that is not shit = gremillon's 'lumiere d'ete' (occupation-era tragic romance set in provence, eclipse set forthcoming)

http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2012/07/16/97001-20120716FILWWW00341-deces-de-l-actrice-tsilla-chelton.php

Tatie Danielle has died.

ilx loves its traditions but someone nix this thread

^^

William Klein season at Tate: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/search?f[]=im_vid_47%3A1862

One for the Left Bank completists I guess..

Again: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/eventseries/william-klein-films-1958-99

Should I see Les Enfants du Paradis?

heh that's a bit conventional for you right

i have never seen it probably because 'theatricality' as a trope doesn't really appeal

maybe worth seeing some earlier carné first

Love it

a must, other Carné too sure.

Techine's Unforgivable from this past year was pretty good esp the acting.

Loved Le Quai des Brumes, and, guff about 'poetic realism' aside I guess that's fairly conventional.

Other thing is I'm watching Rivette's Out 1 which is big on theatre and what's outside the stage...of course what is outside here is v different.

Just don't know if its worth the three hours...xp

fwiw, i loved the new digital print of Le Quai des Brumes, too, but i'm afraid the Enfants du Paradis revival bored me shitless, and i bailed at the halfway point.

Nilmar is right to suggest that it is very 'theatrical' in terms of both performance and staging - 'all the world's a stage' etc etc. it also seems to me to be a film that's quite hard to disentangle from its heroic production backstory.

to love it like gukbe, i think you wld maybe have to great affection for the central clown character, whereas i found him p insufferable.

needless to say, it is not v much like out one - or l'amour fou - which may be a gd or bad thing according to taste

Hors Satan is shit, bcz Bruno Dumont made it.

I thought it was impressive: the cinematography for a start was really well done for sure, but unlike many films it was made to be utterly crucial and integral to the overall scheme. You'd have to go back to Pavese's Devil in the Hills or maybe see Glauber Rocha's bandits in the Brazilian Sertão for parallels. Its as if the environment has such an effect upon their imaginations that they HAVE to act upon it, for good or bad and certainly for righteous ways. The film is mostly dialogue-less, a certainly disquieting one at that.

Other more obvious parallels in French film and w/Dreyer. However this has a realism that completely jars against the 'supernatural' occurences -- Dumont sure is a good catholic, the events made to look as miracles and also given room to be seen as non-miracles...recalling Pasolini.

I suspect the biggest problem is you may need to have watched some of those older films beforehand to get a handle on what's going on, otherwise they could be reduced to nastiness in the countryside w/pretty pictures...whereas you don't need that when picking up Dreyer or Pasolini. Not sure if it stands on its own terms.

From his wiki I see his next film stars Juliette Binoche.

I mentioned Polisse on another thread, which I enjyoed a lot.

Hor Satan is one of those (many) films that I'm glad I saw, afterwards, but found a bit of a trial at the time. Like Peter Greenaway, Dumont says he wants audiences to dwell on the film like someone would dwell on a painting. I find that a hard thing to do on a single viewing, and it's hard to summon up the motivation to take on multiple rewatchings of it.

One thing I did find interesting was the effect the title cast over the whole film. I suppose I assumed "Satan" referred to him, which may well be wrong. I wonder how I'd have seen him if I hadn't known the name of the film.

(which is Hors Satan, not Hor, yes, I know)

Christian iconography was mined to bits in the scenes depicting the manner in which the girl would rest upon the man's shoulder.

Great title...well it depends on how your read the Jesus story - he was a man, after all, capable of kindness but also moments of impatience and cruelty.

Yes. I came out of thinking: "maybe this is actually close to what the historical Jesus was like".

http://www.fandor.com/blog/daily-jeanne-moreau-85

Maybe a last job in a Bruno Dumont film?

what is Moderato Cantible like?

i'd never heard of it

I feel like Duras is the great lost French auteur of the 60s and 70s, had no idea she had another script job (and one of her own novels too). Genuinely intriguing.

and Moreau played her in a film!

I've seen nearly all of Maurice Pialat's features, but Under Satan's Sun for the first time today, and I somewhat empathize with the booers at Cannes. Maybe I'm just getting a low tolerance for minimalist spiritual melodramas, even with self-flagellation. (Exception: Gerard Depardieu is rather amazing in a pivotal miraculous scene.)

I quite liked Demy's Model Shop. (More than the two musicals I'm supposed to like...Rochefort was OK.) I can see why the guy who made L.A. Plays Itself had good things to say about it--it really is as much about driving around L.A. as anything else (plus the two main characters express their love for the city). Loved seeing Fred Willard and Spirit--Ed Cassidy even gets a line. (Thought another character was Robbie from My Three Sons, but no.) Lockwood's blonde girlfriend, Alexandra Hay, reminded me of Mena Suvari in American Beauty. Checking her name, I realize I know her from the universally celebrated The Love Machine. If you can look past the same language stiltedness that you find in Zabriskie Point and Fahrenheit 451--weird, because it's mostly English people speaking English--it's a great looking film, with other good stuff too. Thinking that the model shop scenes may have influenced Paris, Texas.

Watched Sexual Chronicles of a French Family the other day.

I wasn't amazed by it - watchable, more or less documentary style study of, well, what it says in the title. You see private lives of the parents, grandfather and young adult sons and daughter, and their various boyfriends and girlfriends. The position that it occupies – of liberal-progressive-middle-class openness about sexuality – seems like an assimilation to me, as if there were something lost in practical acceptance.

However, precisely because of that, I thought it was interesting as an example of a film that almost definitely wouldn't get made in Britain, and interesting how that cultural divide is still there (this no longer a question of direct censorship but of culture). Over here, attempts by Guardian relationships columnists (insert other relevant strawmen here) to be laid back and chill about sexuality, partaking of the same spirit as this film, don't seem to hold much sway against the spirit that informs The Sun's 'relationship photo stories'.

as for Demy, he's getting a 2-week NYC retro in October.

Jacques Becker's Antoine and Antoinette is recirculating (beginning in NY today) -- a romantic comedy with a really slight lottery-ticket plot, but the leads are very sexy and have great chemistry, and the unglamorous Paris locations and ensemble players give it juice.

http://www.fandor.com/blog/daily-jacques-beckers-antoine-and-antoinette

A poll of the 100 best French films. I have never made it 30 minutes into #1, and dislike #2.

http://www.lesinrocks.com/2014/03/05/cinema/top-100-plus-beaux-films-francais-11468683/

Great showing on #9 there.

Morbs u should try #1 again. Eustache is all that he's said to be and more.

Director I clearly need to investigate a little further: Jacques Rozier.

Is this list the French equivalent of the IMDB top 250? It looks like critics picked, and The Intouchables isn't listed, so maybe not.

Richard Brody's twitter stream has the major complaints

only 18 critics

http://www.lesinrocks.com/2014/04/01/cinema/plus-beaux-films-francais-les-tops-des-critiques-11493878/

I see that Sans soleil, with just 1 vote, was in the 60s or 70s on this list, so a very small sample, et al.

I fancy a Eustache now and then but that poll is ridiculous

ahem, "poll" as in, "i polled my friends at this bar table..."

I'm all for gay pr0n in the top 20 or so.

All top 20 slots should probably be gay secks, actually.

Finally saw one of my Holy Grail films: Alain Jessua's Life Upside Down. (Everyone has their own list--films either out of circulation for ages, or that require paying way too much for bootleg copies over the internet.) I first became interested in it 35 years ago because of a great review in Stanley Kauffmann's A World on Film. A friend had it on VHS, so now that my player is hooked up, I was able to borrow her copy (a traded bootleg).

Similar to Shoot the Piano Player, but without the pathos--as the film progresses, it moves closer to something like Safe (how I remember it anyway, it's been a while). It does achieve a kind of small-scale perfection. Memorable final shot. Not sure why it disappeared, or why Criterion or somebody doesn't make it available.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/auteurs_production/images/film/life-upside-down/w448/life-upside-down.jpg?1289469325

anyone have firsthand opinion of Jacques Rozier, or Maine Océan in particular?

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2012/02/jacques-rozier-odd-man-out.html

http://www.fiaf.org/events/spring2014/2014-05-27-cs-maine.shtml

Never seen it.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18vsxg_master-class-de-arnaud-desplechin_shortfilms?start=802
oh! france and their integration of anglicism

un autre que je vais voir "en ligne" étant donné que j'ai eu de la misère à le télécharger: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xi7u6w_la-master-class-d-agnes-varda_shortfilms : elle le dit d'emblée "master class? ne lui plait pas :-)

Anyone like That Man from Rio (1964)? Hardly "great," but often very funny and Belmondo zips through it like an heir to Cary Grant, Harold Lloyd and Jerry Lewis (doing a number of great fight/chase/plane stunts).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceB4bqJVEYg

Definitely interested to see. Is it still playing?

two more days at FF

now held over

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/04/The_Mother_and_the_Whore.jpg

Does anybody else like this film, "The Mother and the Whore" (1973)?

219min of following an idealistic slacker played by Jean-Pierre Léaud. It's a pretty light affair, but one I love to watch as a comfort film, plus beautiful black and white paris.

I can't understand why it's not on DVD yet. I have a taped copy, but no longer have a working tape player

I've tried to watch it twice, hated the first 20 minutes both times. (Library videocassette from New Yorker Films.)

it's 'Pourquoi ?'

My favorite Eustache film, i've been lucky enough to see it in a fine 35mm print, is Le Cochon. To me there is no doubt he was a better at make short films.

there is doubt

I can't understand why it's not on DVD yet. I have a taped copy, but no longer have a working tape player

Eustache's son Boris controls the rights to his father's films. Restored versions toured about six years ago, but as I understand it, the reason they didn't come out on disc was that Bluray happened, and the elements would have to be rescanned yet again to be brought up to snuff. Add to that Boris' desire to license the films in toto to one distributor, who must pay him a reportedly sizable sum for access to the films before figuring how much $$$ it'll cost the licencee to remaster everything for HD. So, we're gonna be waiting awhile.

That's interesting, if a bit depressing. I transferred my UK VHS copy of Mother and the Whore to DVD a couple of years ago - it's the same New Yorker print that did the rounds of rep cinemas here about ten years or so ago. I see that people are now asking absurd prices for this tape on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/La-Maman-Et-Putain-VHS/dp/B00004CXG5

A couple of years ago, a pretty complete Eustache season toured round a few UK rep cinemas, and while I enjoyed the short films, M&W is still the jewel in the crown for me - and the intensity of the final scenes makes me quibble with it being described as 'a pretty light affair'. It's people cutting each other to pieces, showing themselves raw and naked; Leaud seems to be physically shaking by the end of it.

There's a great HD transfer of La Maman made for French TV floating around the t0rrents.

about the "light affair" comment, I think that's just the cynic in me. I found Léaud's character, as well as the whore's, to be unreliable. The whore seemed to be on drugs for most of the film, and Léaud seemed to always be convincing himself that he felt deeply about things. So then I saw the drama at the end as sort of self-serving. I'm sure that's mostly me, and the reason my friends don't like going to films with me.

The whore seemed to be on drugs for most of the film

?!

She was so blase about everything for most of the film. Maybe I read too much into her lack of expression.

There's a great HD transfer of La Maman made for French TV floating around the t0rrents.

There's also a Japanese dvd out there, although it is subject to typical Japanese censorship (primarily digitally blurred full-frontal shots--ironically this is the version Mr. Skin uses for their screencaps from the film).

Oh hai, vhs rip on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM3-NHGcUYM

IN SPANISH

ENGLISH SUBS HERE: http://youtu.be/Q12zgo39ovg

The Little Loves w/subs: http://youtu.be/DYnzr_wVn9s

Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes w/subs: http://youtu.be/Xfo7o5TcJ1k

It's a pretty light affair

are you high

In a 2007 interview in Les Inrockuptibles, she discussed the film’s devastating real-life context. The interviewers, Jean-Baptiste Morain and Serge Kaganski, asked her whether she “knew during the shoot that the film was very inspired by [Eustache’s] own life.” Lafont answered:

Of course, since Françoise Lebrun was his ex-girlfriend. And the girl whose role I was playing killed herself after the first screening. It was Catherine, at whose home we were shooting and who was the makeup artist. But it was transposed, it was “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” in the twentieth century, it wasn’t cinema-vérité. But it was still almost embarrassing because it was so painful for Catherine. At a given moment, I told Eustache that I didn’t feel up to doing it, it was too heavy. He said, “Oh, if you don’t do the film, I’m not doing it!” So I had to do it. But it wasn’t cheerful and it brought about the total drama, as we know. It was very hard for him. But it was a radical era. It was after ’68, people left for utopias.… There were social suicides.

She was so blase about everything for most of the film. Maybe I read too much into her lack of expression.

Or maybe she played it with her emotions shut, a numb-ness to protect herself? That doesn't becessarily mean "on drugs".

Any excuse for a re-watch. Lumiere tend to re-screen this now and then thankfully.

So, what is happening in French film at the moment? Like, who are the most exciting directors and all that? When I think of French cinema, I can find nobody like Haneke or Almodovar or even Sorrentino, who's films are guaranteed release in a small market like Denmark. Heck, when I look at the list of French directors at this years Cannes: Jacques Audiard, Stephane Brizé, Valerie Donzelli, Maiwenn and Guillaume Nicloux, I don't even know who most of them are. What is going on in French cinema? Is there a particular French style, like the 'Berlin school' or the weird wave in Greece, or Romanian stuff.

I know one thing is paying off big at the moment: The support given to North African cinema, where French-Tunisian Abdellatif Kechiche won in Cannes two years back, and French-Mauritanian co-production Timbuktu won all the Cesars recently. And also, I've been watching a bunch of Bertrand Bonello, his Saint Laurent, On War, and Antonin Barraud's marvelous Portrait of the Artist, in which Bonello plays the main character, and it's great and it's distinctively French, I think. Not really working in a particular style as such, but using a bunch of different styles and motifs on top of each other, using repetitions and variations a lot, in a way not unlike Assayas or Desplechin or even Kechiche. But I don't know if it's called anything, if it's solely French, even if it's really something, or if I'm just imagining stuff.

Has anything happened in French cinema since that awful 'New French Extremity' thingy? I mean, I like some of the directors who were associated with that - Dumont, Bonello - but what an awful 'wave' of films.

certainly most of the directors whose new films I'll pay to see are the vets I know (Techine, Assayas et al)

Bonello and Dumont continue to make excellent films BYMMV

Dumont, Denis, Assayas def. all world class imho. Looking forward to the new Gaspar Noe, which was filmed in French.

Dumont ugh

Bonello series recomms? I've only seen House of Pleasures; Saint Laurent opens imminently.

http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/i-put-a-spell-on-you-the-films-of-bertrand-bonello

My list:

1. Saint Laurent
2. On War
3. House of Tolerance/Pleasures
4. The Pornographer
5. Tiresia

Haven't seen Something Organic or the shorts or the documentary.

I don't know. I think he's very interesting, and I love the chance to binge on a new filmmaker. But his early stuff is a bit impersonal, it's only from On War and onwards that he really begins finding his own style. Saint Laurent is a really good gay film as well, I think. A lot of the interesting things with Bonello is the way he discusses sex and gender, but in his early films and can be so caught up in 'new extremity' thinking. There are some good points about how society views transgendered people in Tiresia, or porn in The Pornographer, but they kinda drown in all the blood and the sex of it all.

But the dirty truth is that the real must-see in that program is Antoine Barraud's Portrait of the Artist, in which Bonello plays the lead. That one sums up pretty much everything Bonello tries to get at about 'monsters' and sex and gender, but in a much more entertaining package. That is my major discovery of 2015 so far, I really loved it.

thx v much

That Tomboy film was good. Its director has now made Girlhood, which seems exciting

For search purposes, Céline Sciamma

jeezus, as usual those Linc Center schedules are murder on people with weekday jobs and who like to eat dinner before 9:30pm.

Saw the Girlhood trailer - riding the 'female friendship' bag (re: Ferrante). Also had La Haine vibes - in any case worth a look.

When I think of French cinema, I can find nobody like Haneke or Almodovar or even Sorrentino, who's films are guaranteed release in a small market like Denmark.

Amodovar is a joke. Sorrentino has probably made his best film. Haneke...get the feeling he won't make another great film (no reason for thinking this except he has made many of 'em over a long period of time).

There are always 2-3 films from France that will be good, but its mostly froth. Like most places.

Sorry to complete the above - A lot of the time there is a price to pay to make sure your films get into a screen.

Dumont, who is probably the best current French cinema has - struggles to get a screening here. Carlos - five hour cut, know its LOL TV but it works as cinema - didn't even get a decent run in the French film institute here.

Eden reminded me of The Last Days of Disco a bit, although it's more of a mood piece. At one point, when Paul DJs the wedding after his fall from grace, I even thought of This Is Spinal Tap--it's basically his gig at the military base. Think I recognized maybe five or six songs (including Jaydee's "Plastic Dreams," which a few months ago I mentioned to a friend was the only Christgau single-of-the-year I'd never heard, until I heard it and realized that I did know it); someone immersed in this might find the soundtrack woefully off the mark, but I thought the music was good. On the Assayas thread someone posted about similarities to Something in the Air, which he liked better; I preferred Eden. Great ending that some will find cloying. If you've seen this, who is the actress who gives Paul the Robert Creeley book? She might even be well known...Can't locate her in the credits, and I'm positive I've seen her before--she's something of a Meg Foster lookalike.

yikes Saint Laurent IS 150 MINS

He. But it flies by and there's quite a lot of full frontal male nudity. And it's Bonello's best and very worth seeing. Also, it's a minute less than Batman v Superman!

Qui est-ce que tu trouve plus sympa -- Frederique ou Pauline -- et comme un copain (pas une copine (neutre, si c'est possible))?