Three Colors: Blue

NINTH ANNUAL ROBERT CLASSIC FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL Presented by

March 10-26, 2017 Sponsored by the Jane M. & Bruce P. Robert Charitable Foundation A co-production of Cinema St. Louis and Webster University Film Series ST. LOUIS FRENCH AND FRANCOPHONE RESOURCES

WANT TO SPEAK FRENCH? REFRESH YOUR FRENCH CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE? CONTACT US! This page sponsored by the Jane M. & Bruce P. Robert Charitable Foundation in support of the French groups of St. Louis. Centre Francophone at Webster University An organization dedicated to promoting Francophone culture and helping French educators. Contact info: Lionel Cuillé, Ph.D., Jane and Bruce Robert Chair in French and Francophone Studies, Webster University, 314-246-8619, [email protected], facebook.com/centrefrancophoneinstlouis, webster.edu/arts-and-sciences/affiliates-events/centre-francophone

Alliance Française de St. Louis A member-supported nonprofit center engaging the St. Louis community in French language and culture. Contact info: 314-432-0734, [email protected], alliancestl.org

American Association of Teachers of French The only professional association devoted exclusively to the needs of French teach- ers at all levels, with the mission of advancing the study of the French language and French-speaking literatures and cultures both in schools and in the general public. Contact info: Anna Amelung, president, Greater St. Louis Chapter, [email protected], www.frenchteachers.org

Les Amis (“The Friends”) French Creole heritage preservationist group for the Mid-Mississippi River Valley. Promotes the Creole Corridor on both sides of the Mississippi River from Ca- hokia-Chester, Ill., and Ste. Genevieve-St. Louis, Mo. Parts of the Corridor are in the process of nomination for the designation of UNESCO World Heritage Site through Les Amis. Contact info: 314-454-3160, [email protected], les-amis.org

La Société Française de Saint Louis An organization dedicated to the survival of the language, culture, and traditions of the French in St. Louis. Contact info: [email protected], societefrancais- estl.org, facebook.com/Société-Française-de-Saint-Louis

St. Louis-Lyon Sister Cities St . Louis-Saint-Louis, Sénégal Sister Cities The Sister Cities program encourages meaningful and mutually satisfying personal contact between the people of the two cities. Contact info: Susan Powers at [email protected] (Lyon), Renee Franklin at renee. [email protected] (Saint-Louis), worldtradecenter-stl.com/st-louis-sister-cities-pro- gram

Cinema St. Louis offers French programming at the annual Robert Classic French Film Festival and the Robert French and French-Language Focus at the Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (held Nov. 2-12, 2017). ninth Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival Presented by TV5MONDE Sponsored by the Jane M. & Bruce P. Robert Charitable Foundation A Co-Production of Cinema St. Louis and Webster University Film Series cinemastlouis.org

The Ninth Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-presented by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the mid-1990s, offering a revealing overview of French cinema. The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations, which this year include films by two New Wave masters: Jacques Rivette’s first feature, “Paris Belongs to Us,” and François Truffaut’s cinephilic love letter, “Day for Night.” The fest also provides one of the few opportunities available in St. Louis to see films projected the old-school, time-honored way, with both Alain Resnais’ “Last Year at Marienbad” and Robert Bresson’s “Au hasard Balthazar” screening from 35mm prints. Even more traditional, we also offer a silent film with live music, and audiences are sure to delight in the Poor People of Paris’ accompaniment for Jean Renoir’s classic “Nana.” The schedule is rounded out by such diverse but enduring works as “Au revoir les enfants,” “Blue,” “Cleo from 5 to 7” and “Eyes Without a Face.” Every program features introductions and discussions by film scholars and critics. The discussions will place the works in the contexts of both film and French history and provide close analyses. All films are in French with English subtitles.

VENUE ADMISSION

Webster University’s Winifred Moore Auditorium $13 general admission; $10 for students and Cinema St. Louis members; 470 E. Lockwood Ave. free for Webster U. students. Advance tickets can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets at brownpapertickets.com. In the “Find an Event” search box, type “Classic French.” A service charge will apply, and only full-price $13 tickets are available in advance.

CINEMA ST. LOUIS BOARD

J. Kim Tucci - Chair, Jilanne Barnes - Vice Chair, Roy H. Kramer - Treasurer, Joni Tackette - Secretary Executive Committee - Delcia Corlew, David Houlle, David Johnson, Andrew Leonard, Jon Mendelson, Sharon Tucci, Vince Volpe Board Members - Barry Albrecht, Chris Benson, Kathy Corley, Greg Hoeltzel, Bree Maniscalco, Paul Randolph, Linda Brown Reed, Jane Robert, Joan Silber, Jane von Kaenel, David Carl Wilson CINEMA ST. LOUIS STAFF Cliff Froehlich - Executive Director, Chris Clark - Artistic Director, Brian Spath - Operations Supervisor, Kat Touschner - Tech Supervisor, Rita Hiscocks - Development Director SPONSORS

DICK BAUER RENÉE HIRSHFIELD ANN REPETTO FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 7:30 P.M. SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 7:30 P.M. SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 7 P.M. Au revoir les enfants Three Colors: Blue/ Nana Louis Malle, 1987, 105 min., color, Blu-ray Jean Renoir, 1926, 150 min., B&W, silent, projection source Trois couleurs: Bleu DVD projection source “Au revoir les enfants” tells a heartbreak- Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1993, 100 min., color, With live accompaniment by the Poor People of Paris Blu-ray projection source ing story of friendship and devastating loss Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris In the moving first film of Krzysztof concerning two boys living in Nazi-oc- provide live musical accompaniment to Kieślowski’s “Three Colors” trilogy — each cupied France. At a provincial Catholic Jean Renoir’s silent “Nana,” the famed part tells a stand-alone story — Juliette boarding school, the precocious youth director’s second feature. A condensed Binoche gives a tour-de-force performance enjoy true camaraderie — until a secret but largely faithful adaptation of the as Julie, a woman reeling from the tragic is revealed. Based on events from writer/ classic novel by Emile Zola (the author’s death of her husband and young daughter. director Louis Malle’s own childhood, the daughter, Denise Leblond-Zola, was even But “Blue” is more than just a blistering film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of hired to write the titles), the film stars study of grief; it’s also a tale of liberation, courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening. Renoir’s wife, Catherine Hessling, as the as Julie attempts to free herself from the Calling the film “Louis Malle’s flawed title character, a middling stage past while confronting truths about the quasi-autobiographical masterpiece,” the actress who becomes the kept woman of life of her late husband, a composer. Shot Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw writes that a married man, the hopelessly infatuated in sapphire tones by Sławomir Idziak, the film “remains breathtakingly good. Count Muffat. Influenced by the extrava- and set to an extraordinary operatic score There is a miraculous, unforced ease and gant work of Erich von Stroheim (“Foolish by Zbigniew Preisner, “Blue” is an over- naturalness in the acting and direction; it Wives,” “Greed”) — whom Renoir greatly whelming sensory experience. is classic movie storytelling in the service admired — the film features a pair of grand In the LA Times, Kenneth Turan ob- of important themes. As an evocation of set-pieces, at a horse race and an open-air serves: “It is a mark of the virtuosity with childhood it is superb, comparable to Jean ball. which director Krzysztof Kieślowski has Vigo’s ‘Zéro de Conduite’ and François Reviewing a restoration of the film made ‘Blue’ that it is possible to envision Truffaut’s ‘The 400 Blows’ — perhaps bet- that screened at the 1976 New York Film its intensely emotional story of a woman's ter. Every line, every scene, every shot, is Festival, Times critic Vincent Canby search for meaning after tragedy unhinges composed with mastery. It has to be seen.” described “Nana” as “an extraordinary her life becoming, with slight tinkering, The New York Times is equally laudatory: achievement that now seems to fit per- the plot for a standard-issue Bette Davis “It has taken Mr. Malle more than 40 years fectly into the Renoir oeuvre, though at ‘women's picture’ of the 1940s.” But to make ‘Au revoir les enfants.’ Every film the time of its release in France it was a he quickly adds that there is “nothing that Mr. Malle made in those intervening financial and critical disaster. For us today, ordinary or banal” about Kieslowski’s years has been preparation for ‘Au revoir with hindsight illuminated by all the film: “Though he starts with conventional les enfants.’ Like ‘The Dead,’ which it remarkable Renoir films that came after, story elements, he conveys them with a resembles in no other way, it’s a work that seeing ‘Nana’ is like discovering a long- striking combination of focused acting, has the kind of simplicity, ease and density lost diary. It’s not difficult to understand unexpected images, music strong enough of detail that only a filmmaker in total why early audiences were confused and to be a physical presence, and a sensitivity command of his craft can bring off, and turned off by this immensely elaborate to light, color (blue, not surprisingly, is a then only rarely.” screen incarnation of the Zola novel about With an introduction and post-film visual leitmotif) and textures.” Of actress the Second Empire bit actress who became discussion by Jean-Louis Pautrot, profes- Binoche, the critic writes: “It is always the most famous courtesan of her day. It sor of French and international studies startling to re-experience the glass-shat- moves from realism to expressionism to at Saint Louis University. tering honesty and intensity of her perfor- romanticism, all the while being somewhat mance. The idea of simply walking through comic and cool.” a scene is alien to her, and in that sense With an introduction and post-film she is perfect for this artfully made film, discussion by Lionel Cuillé, the Jane and dense with feeling, in which no shot is or- Bruce Robert professor of French and dinary and no moment taken for granted.” Francophone studies at Webster Univer- With an introduction and post-film sity. discussion by Calvin Wilson, film, jazz, Sponsored by Jane M. & Bruce P. art, and dance critic for the St. Louis Robert Charitable Foundation Post-Dispatch. FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 7:30 P.M. SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 7:30 P.M. SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 7 P.M. Cléo from 5 to 7/ Cléo de 5 à 7 Last Year at Marienbad/ Au hasard Balthazar Agnès Varda, 1962, 89 min., color and B&W, Robert Bresson, 1966, 95 min., B&W, 35mm DCP projection source L’année dernière à Marienbad projection source Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in Alain Resnais, 1961, 94 min., B&W, 35mm A profound masterpiece from one of the the ’60s with this real-time portrait of a projection source most revered filmmakers in the history singer (Corinne Marchand) set adrift in Not just a defining work of the French of cinema, director Robert Bresson’s “Au the city as she awaits the test results of New Wave but one of the great, lasting hasard Balthazar” follows the donkey a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of mysteries of modern art, Alain Resnais’ Balthazar as he is passed from owner to one woman’s life, “Cléo from 5 to 7” is a epochal “Last Year at Marienbad” has been owner, some kind and some cruel but spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, puzzling appreciative viewers for decades. all with motivations beyond his under- featuring a score by Michel Legrand (“The Written by Alain Robbe-Grillet, the radical standing. Balthazar — whose life paral- Umbrellas of Cherbourg”) and cameos by master of the Nouveau Roman (New Nov- lels that of his first keeper, Marie (Anne Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina. el), this surreal fever dream, or nightmare, Wiazemsky) — is truly a beast of burden, Roger Ebert, who included “Cléo from gorgeously fuses the past with the present. suffering the sins of man. But despite his 5 to 7” in his selection of “Great Movies,” The film tells the deliberately ambigu- powerlessness, he accepts his fate no- writes that “Varda is sometimes referred ous story of a man and a woman (Giorgio bly. Through Bresson’s unconventional to as the godmother of the French New Albertazzi and Delphine Seyrig) who may approach to composition, sound, and Wave. I have been guilty of that myself. or may not have met a year ago, perhaps at narrative, this seemingly simple story Nothing could be more unfair. Varda is its the very same cathedral-like, mirror-filled becomes a moving parable of purity and very soul, and only the fact that she is a château they now find themselves wander- transcendence. woman, I fear, prevented her from being ing. Unforgettable in both its confounding Legendary critic Andrew Sarris writes routinely included with Godard, Truffaut, details (gilded ceilings, diabolical parlor in the Village Voice: “‘Au hasard Baltha- Resnais, Chabrol, Rivette, Rohmer and for games, a loaded gun) and haunting scope, zar’ plucks out the roots of existence and that matter her husband Jacques Demy. Resnais’ investigation into the nature of presents us with a very morbidly beautiful The passage of time has been kinder to her memory is simultaneously disturbing and flower of cinematic art. Bresson’s vision films than some of theirs, and ‘Cléo from romantic. of life and his cinematic style may seem 5 to 7’ plays today as startlingly modern. Responding to the film’s formidable too bleak, too restrictive, too pessimistic Released in 1962, it seems as innovative reputation, the Chicago Reader’s Jonathan for some, perhaps for many. And yet, all and influential as any New Wave film. Rosenbaum laments: “It’s too bad ‘Last in all, no film I have ever seen has come Unlike most of the New Wave directors, Year at Marienbad’ was the most fashion- so close to convulsing my entire being as Varda was trained not as a filmmaker or able art-house movie of 1961-’62, because has ‘Au hasard Balthazar.’” In the Chicago as a critic, but as a serious photographer. as a result it’s been maligned and mis- Reader, Dave Kehr provides this equally Try freezing any frame of the scenes in understood ever since. The chic allure of ecstatic summation: “‘Everyone who sees (Cléo’s) apartment and you will find per- Alain Resnais’ second feature — a madden- this film will be absolutely astonished,’ fect composition — perfect, but not calling ing, scintillating puzzle set in glitzy sur- Jean-Luc Godard once said, ‘because this attention to itself. In moving pictures, she roundings — produced a backlash, and one film is really the world in an hour and a has an ability to capture the essence of her reason its defenders and detractors tend to half.’ Robert Bresson's 1966 masterpiece characters not only through plot and di- be equally misguided is that both respond defies any conventional analysis, telling a alogue, but even more in their placement to the controversy rather than to the film story of sin and redemption by following in space and light. While many early New itself. ‘I am now quite prepared to claim Balthazar, a donkey, as he passes through Wave films had a jaunty boldness of style, that “Marienbad” is the greatest film ever the hands of a number of masters, includ- Varda in this film shows a sensibility to made, and to pity those who cannot see ing a peasant girl, a satanic delinquent, subtly developing emotions.” this,’ proclaimed one French critic, even as and a saintly fool. Perhaps the greatest With an introduction and post-film others ridiculed what they perceived as the and most revolutionary of Bresson’s films, discussion by Kathy Corley, professor of film's pretentious solemnity — overlooking ‘Balthazar’ is a difficult but transcendently film in the Electronic and Photographic or missing its playful, if poker-faced, use of rewarding experience, never to be missed.” Media Department at Webster Univer- parody as well as its outright scariness.” With an introduction and post-film sity. With an introduction and post-film discussion by Pier Marton, video artist Sponsored by Webster University’s discussion by Robert Garrick, attorney, and unlearning specialist at the School of Centre Francophone board member of the French-preserva- No Media. Marton has lectured with his tion nonprofit Les Amis, and former con- work at the Museum of Modern Art, the tributor to the davekehr.com film blog. Carnegie Museum, and the Walker Art Sponsored by Les Amis Center and has taught at several major U.S. universities. Sponsored by Renée Hirshfield FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 7:30 P.M. SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 7:30 P.M. SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 7 P.M. Day for Night/ Eyes Without a Face/ Paris Belongs to Us/ La nuit américaine Les yeux sans visage Paris nous appartient François Truffaut, 1973, 116 min., color, Blu- Georges Franju, 1960, 90 min., B&W, Blu-ray Jacques Rivette, 1961, 141 min., B&W, Blu-ray ray projection source, new restoration projection source projection source, new restoration This affectionate farce from François At his secluded chateau in the French One of the original critics-turned-film- Truffaut about the joys and strife of mov- countryside, a brilliant, obsessive doc- makers who helped jump-start the French iemaking is one of his most beloved films. tor (Pierre Brasseur) attempts a radical New Wave, Jacques Rivette began shooting Truffaut himself appears as the harried plastic surgery to restore the beauty of his his debut feature in 1958, well before that director of a frivolous melodrama, the daughter’s disfigured countenance — at a cinema revolution officially kicked off shooting of which is plagued by the whims horrifying price. “Eyes Without a Face,” di- with “The 400 Blows” and “Breathless.” of a neurotic actor (Jean-Pierre Léaud), rected by the supremely talented Georges Ultimately released in 1961, the rich and an aging but still forceful Italian diva Franju, is rare in horror cinema for its odd mysterious “Paris Belongs to Us” offers (Valentina Cortese), and a British ingenue mixture of the ghastly and the lyrical, and some of the radical flavor that would haunted by personal scandal (Jacqueline it has been a major influence on the genre define the movement, with a particularly Bisset). Both an irreverent paean to the in the decades since its release. There are Rivettian twist. The film follows a young prosaic craft of cinema and a delightful images here — of terror, of gore, of inex- literature student (Betty Schneider) who human comedy about the pitfalls of sex plicable beauty —that once seen are never befriends the members of a loose-knit and romance, “Day for Night” is buoyed by forgotten. group of twentysomethings in Paris. Suf- robust performances and a sparkling score Declaring “Eyes Without a Face” as fused with a lingering post–World War II by the legendary Georges Delerue. “still among the most disturbing horror disillusionment (and already evincing the Describing “Day for Night” as “a films ever made,” critic David Edelstein playfulness and fascination with theatrical hilarious and informative movie,” Time writes: “The storyline is your standard performance and conspiracy that would Out asserts that “in the pantheon of films obsessed-mad-doctor saga, one step above become hallmarks for the director), “Paris about filmmaking, it strikes a neat balance a Poverty Row Bela Lugosi feature. But it's Belongs to Us” marked the provocative between the operatic neuroses of ‘8 1/2’ Lugosi by way of Cocteau and Ionesco. It's start to a brilliant directorial career. and the warm, pastel-hued nostalgia of the mixture of the clinical and the poetic “Jacques Rivette made his first feature ‘Singin’ in the Rain.’” Philip French in the that gets, er, under your skin.” Michael with little money and great difficulty Guardian writes: “Set in Nice's Victorine Wilmington in the Chicago Tribune asserts between 1958 and 1960,” says The New Studios, where it was filmed, ‘Day for that the film “is one horror classic that Yorker’s Richard Brody of “Paris Belongs to Night’ is a touching, funny and accurate hasn't lost its power to shock or hypnotize Us.” “Its plot reflects his struggles, and its account of the travails (accidents, dis- audiences over the years. ‘Eyes’ can still tone blends the paranoid tension of Amer- putes, affairs, imbroglios, death) involved seduce you with beauty and stun you with ican film noir with the austere lyricism of in the making of an all-star international terror. It's not a matter of gore or frenzied modern theatre. Rivette’s tightly wound picture called ‘Je vous présente Paméla.’ It pacing. Franju's adaptation of the Jean images turn the ornate architecture of is a Pirandellian affair, an elegiac celebra- Redon novel is classically paced and shot, Paris into a labyrinth of intimate entangle- tion of a dying kind of cinema, a medita- filled with what Pauline Kael called images ments and apocalyptic menace.” The Chi- tion on the connection between film and of ‘exquisite dread.’ ‘Eyes Without a Face’ cago Reader’s Jonathan Rosenbaum adds: life by Truffaut, who plays Ferrand, the is a perfect example of how cinematic po- “Though more amateurish than the other film's constantly troubled yet dedicated etry can transform a seemingly disreputa- celebrated first features of the French director, a man much like himself. Ferrand ble movie genre. The horror and the poetry New Wave, Jacques Rivette’s troubled and compares the process of filmmaking to ‘a intensify each other, just as the chateau's troubling 1960 account of Parisians in the stagecoach journey into the far west. At chic is set off ironically by the howling late 50s remains the most intellectually the start you hope for a beautiful trip. But dogs, the cuts of the scalpel, the sense of and philosophically mature, and one of the shortly you wonder if you will make it at death in the shadows.” most beautiful. The specter of world-wide all.’” With an introduction and post-film conspiracy and impending apocalypse With an introduction and post-film discussion by Andrew Wyatt, film critic haunts the characters. Few films have discussion by Renée Hirshfield, adjunct for St. Louis Magazine’s Look/Listen more effectively captured a period and professor of film studies at Southwestern arts-and-entertainment blog and the milieu; Rivette evokes bohemian paranoia Gateway Cinephile film blog. Illinois College. and sleepless nights in tiny one-room Sponsored by Ann Repetto Sponsored by Jane M. & Bruce P. flats, along with the fragrant, youthful Robert Charitable Foundation idealism conveyed by the film's title.” With an introduction and post-film discussion by Robert Hunt, film critic for the Riverfront Times and former adjunct professor of film studies at Webster U.

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