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INAUGURAL Cinema St. Louis French Film Festival AUGUST 28 THROUGH AUGUST 30 2009 WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SAINT LOUIS 80832.qxd:Layout 1 7/1/09 12:44 PM Page 2

Friday August 28 modes and strategies: war film and musical, film whose career began in 1931. The excep- Cinema St. Louis elegiac and avant-garde, cerebral and tional cast includes comedian François Morel 7.00 pm poignant, rigorous and flexible. This is some- (as crime-solving Inspector Bataille) and a host French Film Festival (Capitaine Achab) thing new – and, as yet lacking a distributor, of young talents (Laura Smet, Chiara Philippe Ramos not to be missed.” Mastroianni and Melvil Poupaud). Co-presented by the Washington 2007, 97 min. University Program in Film and Media Saturday August 29 Variety enthuses: “Agatha Christie fans - and Studies A French take on an anyone who likes an old-fashioned whodunit, American classic, 7.00 pm blithely played – will come away clucking from Sponsored by the French Ministry of “Captain Ahab” fills in the Made in U.S.A. 'Towards Zero,' Gallic helmer Pascal Thomas' Foreign and European Affairs biographical and psycho- Jean-Luc Godard second stab at the Queen of Crime's oeuvre. logical background of the 1966, 90 min. Pic has the same low-key retro fun as his monomaniacal whaler of 2005 local hit, 'By the Pricking of My August 28 -30 2009 Herman Mellville's “Moby Never available on 35mm Thumbs,' and while thoroughly French, Dick.” Told in five stylized or released on video in remains very faithful to the spirit of Christie, an Washington University chapters, the film begins with Ahab's birth, the U.S., “Made in author Thomas reveres alongside Balzac and Brown Hall Auditorium details important sequences in his life, and U.S.A.” makes its much- Simenon.” Corner of Forsyth Boulevard and Chaplin Drive concludes with the story of his death. belated St. Louis debut. (Two blocks west of Skinker Boulevard) A key work by New Wave Sunday August. 30 The Hollywood Reporter says: “French director icon Jean-Luc Godard, Cinema St. Louis, presenter of the annual St. Philippe Ramos uses '' for only the the film is a byzantine, 7.00 pm Louis International Film Festival, is pleased to last fifth of his film 'Captain Ahab,' choosing to politicized Cold War Lola Montès celebrate the city's Gallic heritage and an invent a backstory that's more Mark Twain quasi-thriller. Loosely based on Donald Max Ophüls France's continuing cinematic vitality with its than . There's much to like in Westlake's “Nothing in the Trunk” and partially 1955, 115 min. first annual French Film Festival. the sweeping tale of how a resourceful orphan inspired by Howard Hawks' “The Big Sleep,” grew up to become the fearless harpoonist the film more provocatively references the The Cinémathèque Française offers a stunning This inaugural fest includes a trio of recent and seeker of the great white whale. Virgil “Ben Barka affair,” the disappearance/murder restoration of “Lola French films and a pair of highly anticipated Leclaire has terrific screen presence as the of a left-wing anti-colonialist Moroccan who Montès,” a late master- revivals by two film masters, Max Ophüls and young Ahab and, being new, his tale is more was abducted by the French secret police. piece by legendary direc- Jean-Luc Godard. engrossing than the familiar story of the fated “Made in U.S.A.” stars Godard's muse/ex-wife tor Max Ophüls (“The captain.” Anna Karina and regulars Jean-Pierre Léaud Earrings of Madame de Tickets are $10 each; $8 for students with and László Szabó, with a cameo by singer …,” “Letter From an valid and current photo ID, Cinema St. Louis 9.15 pm Marianne Faithfull, doing an a cappella rendi- Unknown Woman,” “La members with valid membership cards, and La France tion of the Stones' “As Tears Go By.” Raoul Ronde”) and a movie that Alliance Française members. Serge Bozon Coutard contributes the gorgeous critic Andrew Sarris calls, 2007, 102 min. CinemaScope color cinematography. “in my unhumble opinion, the greatest film Tickets can be purchased in advance by ever made.” Based on the tumultuous life of calling the Cinema St. Louis office at Troubled by a letter from The New York Press' Armond White declares the 19th-century dancer and courtesan – lover 314-289-4153; tickets will be available for her husband, a soldier in that “the chance to see 'Made in U.S.A.' on of both Franz Liszt and King Ludwig of Bavaria pickup at will call at the screening. Phone World War I, young wife the big screen again provides an opportunity – “Lola Montès” recounts the adventuress' sales are limited to full-price tickets only; Camille disguises herself to rescue movie art and revive film enthusi- romances in flashback, a series of tableaux discounts can be obtained in person at the as a teen boy and sets asm.” Describing the film as “beautiful, goofy vivants narrated by the ringmaster of the cir- box office, because ID is required. off to find him, joining and explosive,” former Chicago Reader critic cus at which she now works. Originally soldiers mobilized to the Jonathan Rosenbaum concludes: “Anna released in three languages - French, German For more information, please visit front. “La France,” how- Karina was never lovelier in dazzling color and and English - the mega-production features an www.cinemastlouis.org or call ever, is by no means a typical war film, as this scope, and Godard's ultimate statement about international cast that includes Peter Ustinov, 314.289.4150. band of brothers (and sister) periodically his love/hate for the aesthetics/politics of Anton Walbrook, Oskar Werner and France's breaks into song. “La France” earned director American movies/life is an event to be savored proto-sexpot, Martine Carol, as Lola. The French Film Festival is co-presented by Bozon the coveted Prix Jean Vigo, which has and celebrated.” Washington University's Program in Film and been given since 1951 to directors for a spirit Shot in CinemaScope, the film is visually rav- Media Studies and sponsored by the French ishing, with enraptured critics describing “Lola of independence and extraordinary style, and 9.15 pm Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. Montès” in unprecedented terms. Nathan Lee stars two of the principals of “La vie en rose,” Towards Zero declares it “one of the most beautiful movies Sylvie Testud and Pascal Greggory. (L'heure zero) All films are in French with English subtitles. ever made. When the first image hit the Pascal Thomas All films are screened from 35mm prints. screen, I caught my breath.” Phillip Lopate Variety's Scott Foundas writes: “Audacious in 2007, 109 min. asserts that “Ophüls uses color with a daz- Images of Lola Montès and Made in U.S.A. concept but superbly controlled in execution, Copyright © Rialto Pictures. zling, kaleidoscopic imagination,” and Dave what might easily have seemed a genre-bend- In this breezily entertain- Kehr says the film is “among the most emo- Front cover edit taken from a promotional ing stunt instead registers as a highly sensitive, ing adaptation of a highly poster for Lola Montès. tionally and visually ravishing works the cinema inspired approach to the subject of men - and regarded (if lesser known) has to offer.” And David Thomson says simply one woman – confronting the dehumanizing Agatha Christie mystery, an extended family Program design courtesy of that “Lola Montès” is “one of the essential Grizzell & Co., St. Louis. effects of war.” Nathan Lee in the “Village gathers for a reunion at a manse in contempo- films … beautiful and heartbreaking.” Voice” echoes the praise: “'La France' invents rary Brittany, with murder the inevitable result. a curious and confident hybrid mode to The owner, a dowager aunt, is played by accommodate, even reconcile, disparate Danielle Darrieux, a grande dame of French