French films are shit. Porquoi?

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))?

pardon -- trouves

Ca dépend...?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CvNo7c7WAAAt_P7.jpg

Bravo

I'm actually starting to feel that this might be slightly true? At least this year. tt was bemoaning how all the French films she's seen recently have the same tiresome feel

I take it that Verhoeven's "Elle" isn't widely released yet

bullshit, try le cinema americain

Elle played 32 N American screens last weekend, doing OKish.