BAMcinématek presents Eric Rohmer’s The Marquise of O…, screening for one week in a new restoration, Aug 28—Sep 3
Part of Period Rohmer: The Marquise of O… and Other Films
“A neoclassical dream, a fading vision of the virtue of gentility.”—Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor of BAM Rose Cinemas and BAMcinématek.
Brooklyn, NY/Jul 28, 2015—From Friday, August 28 through Thursday, September 3, BAMcinématek presents a week-long run of Eric Rohmer’s The Marquise of O… (1976), screening in a new restoration courtesy of Film Movement.
Based on the 1808 novella by German master Heinrich von Kleist, Rohmer’s first period film follows a young noblewoman (Edith Clever) in 18th-century Italy, recently widowed and living in her family’s citadel. In the midst of a Russian invasion, the marquise is abducted by a group of soldiers and narrowly escapes assault when a Russian count (Bruno Ganz) comes to her aid. But when she finds herself mysteriously pregnant, the marquise must contend with her scandalized parents and the count’s sudden infatuation while she uncovers the father’s identity.
Winner of the Cannes Special Jury Prize and an official selection at the New York Film Festival, The Marquise of O… features stunning visuals courtesy of titan cinematographer Nestor Almendros (Days of Heaven) and a minimalist style intensified by the complete absence of music. Graced with a subtle wit and a classical elegance, this sophisticated moral fable was produced by frequent Rohmer collaborator Barbet Schroeder and includes a cameo by Rohmer as a Russian soldier.
Four of Rohmer’s other period films will screen alongside the revival: the exquisite French Revolution drama The Lady and the Duke (2001); the murky spy thriller Triple Agent (2004), set in 1930s Paris; the ultra-stylized Arthurian romance Perceval (1978), which Jonathan Rosenbaum (Chicago Reader) praised as Rohmer’s best film; and his final film, The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (2007).
“Dazzling, witty, joyous, and so beautiful to look at…It’s a comedy of manners, precisely observed, romantic in mood and put into perspective by the disciplined intelligence of Mr. Rohmer, who follows the Kleist German text as if it were a screenplay.”—Vincent Canby, The New York Times
“There are many things to marvel at: the painterly compositions (beautifully shot by Nestor Almendros, with actions often charted along diagonal paths which evoke the director’s long- term interest in Murnau’s Faust), the gentle eroticism and emotional charge of Edith Clever as the Marquise (who figures to best advantage in her two long scenes with the equally impressive Edda Seippel, playing her mother), and the ingenious blocking out and compression of the physical action itself.”—Jonathan Rosenbaum, Monthly Film Bulletin
Press screening Tue, Aug 11 at 10am: The Marquise of O…
Press screenings are held at BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn.
To RSVP and for press information, please contact Lisa Thomas at 718.724.8023 / [email protected] Hannah Thomas at 718.724.8002 / [email protected]
The Marquise of O… | A Film Movement release | 1976 | 103min | In German with English subtitles | Color | DCP
Film Schedule
Fri, Aug 28 2, 4:15, 7, 9:15pm: The Marquise of O…
Sat, Aug 29 2, 4:15, 9:30pm: The Marquise of O… 6:30pm: Perceval
Sun, Aug 30 2, 4:15, 9:30pm: The Marquise of O… 6:30pm: Perceval
Mon, Aug 31 4:30, 9:30pm: The Marquise of O… 7pm: The Romance of Astrea and Celadon
Tue, Sep 1 4:30, 9:30pm: The Marquise of O… 7pm: The Lady and the Duke
Wed, Sep 2 4:30, 9:30pm: The Marquise of O… 7pm: Triple Agent
Thu, Sep 3 4:30, 7, 9:15pm: The Marquise of O…
Film Descriptions All films directed by Eric Rohmer.
The Lady and the Duke (2001) 129min. With Lucy Russell, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Alain Libolt. This visually ravishing historical saga combines the old (exquisitely painted backdrops) and the new (digital video) to create a hyper-real vision of 18th-century France. It concerns a wealthy Englishwoman (Russell) living in Paris whose staunch royalist sympathies put her in conflict with her ex-lover (Dreyfus). From this fraught relationship Rohmer crafts a tense, gripping study of loyalty and betrayal. 35mm. Tue, Sep 1 at 7pm
The Marquise of O… (1976) 103min. With Edith Clever, Bruno Ganz, Edda Seippel. In his first period film, Rohmer crafts a sophisticated moral fable graced with a subtle wit and a classical elegance. It tells of an 18th-century Italian noblewoman (Clever) who faces a quandary when she finds herself mysteriously pregnant and pursued by a Russian count (Ganz) whose intentions she doesn’t entirely understand. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, The Marquise of O is beautiful to behold thanks to the stunning visuals of cinematographer extraordinaire Nestor Almendros (Days of Heaven). DCP. A Film Movement release. Fri, Aug 28 at 2, 4:15, 7, 9:15pm Sat & Sun, Aug 29 & 30 at 2, 4:15, 9:30pm
Mon, Aug 31—Wed, Sep 2 at 4:30, 9:30pm Thu, Sep 3 at 4:30, 7, 9:15pm
Perceval (1978) 140min. With Fabrice Luchini, André Dussollier, Arielle Dombasle. Rohmer’s ultra-stylized Arthurian romance is a wondrously unique experience: a 12th-century knight’s tale set to music amid patently artificial studio sets. The effect is a dazzling, brightly colored blend of theater, pantomime, and medieval iconography that remains “unlike any other film ever made. Should not be missed by any cultivated moviegoer” (Andrew Sarris). DCP. Sat, Aug 29 & Sun, Aug 30 at 6:30pm
Triple Agent (2004) 115min. With Katerina Didaskalou, Serge Renko, Cyrielle Clair. This 1930s Paris-set espionage yarn explores duplicity both political and romantic via the story of a Soviet agent (Renko) betraying his country and his wife (Didaskalou). Rohmer strips the spy thriller down to its essential elements to craft one of the murkiest and most psychologically complex of his many moral tales. 35mm. Wed, Sep 2 at 7pm
The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (2007) 109min. With Andy Gillet, Stéphanie Crayencour, Cécile Cassel. Rohmer’s dreamy final film is a sun-dappled, pastoral romance set in a mythological universe of nymphs and druids. It weaves a gender-bending fairy tale about a cast-off lover (Gillet) who dons drag in order to win back a woman (Crayencour). Beneath the period trappings is a quintessentially Rohmerian story of romantic folly, rendered with exquisite subtlety. 35mm. Mon, Aug 31 at 7pm
About BAMcinématek The four-screen BAM Rose Cinemas (BRC) opened in 1998 to offer Brooklyn audiences alternative and independent films that might not play in the borough otherwise, making BAM the only performing arts center in the country with two mainstage theaters and a multiplex cinema. In July 1999, beginning with a series celebrating the work of Spike Lee, BAMcinématek was born as Brooklyn’s only daily, year-round repertory film program. BAMcinématek presents new and rarely seen contemporary films, classics, work by local artists, and festivals of films from around the world, often with special appearances by directors, actors, and other guests. BAMcinématek has not only presented major retrospectives by major filmmakers such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Manoel de Oliveira, Shohei Imamura, Vincente Minnelli (winning a National Film Critics’ Circle Award prize for the retrospective), Kaneto Shindo, Luchino Visconti, and William Friedkin, but it has also introduced New York audiences to contemporary artists such as Pedro Costa and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. In addition, BAMcinématek programmed the first US retrospectives of directors Arnaud Desplechin, Nicolas Winding Refn, Hong Sang-soo, and Andrzej Zulawski. From 2006 to 2008, BAMcinématek partnered with the Sundance Institute and in June 2009 launched BAMcinemaFest, an annual festival of new independent films and repertory favorites that The New Yorker called “the city’s best independent film showcase;” the seventh annual BAMcinemaFest ran from June 17—28, 2015.
Credits
The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor of BAM Rose Cinemas and BAMcinématek.
Steinberg Screen at the BAM Harvey Theater is made possible by The Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust.
Pepsi is the official beverage of BAM.
Brooklyn Brewery is the preferred beer of BAMcinématek.
BAM Rose Cinemas are named in recognition of a major gift in honor of Jonathan F.P. and Diana Calthorpe Rose. BAM Rose Cinemas would also like to acknowledge the generous support of The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Estate of Richard B. Fisher, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Bloomberg, and Time
Warner Inc. Additional support for BAMcinématek is provided by The Grodzins Fund, The Liman Foundation, the Julian Price Family Foundation, and Summit Rock Advisors.
BAMcinématek is programmed by Nellie Killian and David Reilly. Additional programming by Gabriele Caroti, Jesse Trussell, and Ryan Werner.
Special thanks to Clemence Taillandier/Film Movement; Marine Goulois/Les Films Du Losange; Aurore Auguste/Le Petit Bureau; Michael DiCerto/Sony Pictures Classics
General Information
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, offers a bar menu and dinner entrées prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a bar menu available starting at 6pm.
Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal – Barclays Center Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM
For ticket information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.