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Home , Claude Brasseur, Georges Franju, Georges Simenon, Last Year At Marienbad, Maurice Ronet, Max Linder

Alain Delon in “” SIXTH ANNUAL CLASSIC FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL

June 13-15, 20-22, and 27-29 Co-presented by Cinema St. Louis, Saint Louis Art Museum, and Webster University Film Series

Sixth Annual Classic French Film Festival Co-presented by Cinema St. Louis, Saint Louis Art Museum, and Webster University Film Series cinemastlouis.org The Sixth Annual Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and ’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the 1980s (with a particular focus on filmmakers from the New Wave), offering a compre- hensive overview of French cinema. The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations. e’reW especially pleased to present a program of recently restored works by the great silent Max Linder. “Be My Wife,” the feature in that program, was until recently only available in fragments. Three programs feature 35mm prints: “Lola,” “Un Flic,” and the long-unavailable “Je t’aime, je t’aime.” The festival again explores France’s major contributions to the silent era and pairs the works with live music: The Poor People of accompany the Max Linder feature and short. Every program features introductions and discussions by 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.

Admission $12 general admission; $10 for students, Cinema St. Louis members, Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) members, and Alliance Française members; Webster U. screenings free for Webster U. students. Advance tickets for Saint Louis Art Museum screenings can be purchased beginning June 3 through MetroTix at metrotix.com and 314-534-1111. Tickets purchased through MetroTix will incur a service fee; the service fee is waived for advance tickets purchased in person at the museum’s information centers or box office. For more information, sitvi slam.org. Advance tickets for Webster U. screenings 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. Venues June 13-15 & June 20-22 June 27-29 Saint Louis Art Museum Auditorium Webster University’s Winifred Moore Auditorium 1 Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park 470 E. Lockwood Ave.

Sponsors

JANE M. & BRUCE P. ROBERT CHARITABLE FOUNDATION WHITAKER FOUNDATION ) enlist the object of both of already taken.” In the Chicago Reader, Dave their fancies (Godard muse ) to Kehr declares, “With this 1961 film Truffaut help them commit a robbery – in her own comes closest to the spirit and sublimity of home. This audacious and wildly enter- his mentor, , and the result is a taining gem is at once masterpiece of the New Wave.” sentimental and insouciant, effervescently romantic and melancholy, and it features With an introduction and post-film discus- some of Godard’s most memorable set-piec- sion by Renee Hirshfield, adjunct professor of es, including the headlong race through the film studies at Southwestern Illinois College. 7 PM FRIDAY, JUNE 13, SLAM Louvre and the unshakably cool Madison Be My Wife dance sequence. Max Linder, 1921, B&W, 55 min. Calling the film Godard’s “loveliest movie, With short Max Wants a Divorce, 1917 B&W, his tenderest and most accessible,” Salon 22 min. says “Band of Outsiders” is “about the tyr- Restoration, DVD source anny of living a life of movie-fed fantasies, With live musical accompaniment and while it makes us see the poverty of by the Poor People of Paris those fantasies, it also makes them unac- countably rich, poetic, sad.” Time Out New 1 PM SUNDAY, JUNE 15, SLAM The great silent comedian Max Linder (the York describes the film as “a strange, un- stage name of Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle) ceasingly inventive pastiche, and one of his Mauvais Sang was France’s rival to , who best,” and the Village Voice rhapsodizes over Leos Carax, 1986, color, 116 min. called him “the great master.” One of the Raoul Coutard’s “radiant cinematography,” Restoration, Blu-ray source first stars to establish a continuing comic declaring that there is “beauty and other- Sponsored by the Centre Francophone at persona, Linder introduced his longtime worldliness in its every shade of grey.” Webster University character Max, a high-society dandy, in With an introduction and post-film discus- 1907. By 1912, Linder had taken full sion by Kathy Corley, professor and chair Finally receiving a belated U.S. theatrical control of the filmmaking process – writing, of the Electronic and Photographic Media run, Leos Carax’s stunning “Mauvais Sang” directing, and starring in his own shorts – Department at Webster University. (also known by the English-language titles and in 1916 he was lured to the U.S., where “The Night Is Young” and “Bad Blood”) he made both films in this nuptials-themed seduces with its poetry and lyricism, dazzles double bill. In the short “Max Wants a Di- with its plastic richness and polished style. vorce,” the comedian must extricate himself To repay a debt, aging gangsters Marc from a marriage to secure an inheritance; in (“Belle de Jour’s” Michel Piccoli) and Hans the feature “Be My Wife,” Max must instead (Hans Meyer) plan to steal a vaccine for overcome the objections of a disapproving the mysterious STBO virus – a science-fic- aunt to wed his beloved. tional counterpart to HIV – which affects those who make love without being in Tragically, in his later years, Linder suffered love. When their light-fingered associate from severe depression – perhaps the result dies before the heist, the two accomplices of trauma from his service – 2:30 PM SATURDAY, JUNE 14, SLAM seek a replacement in the deceased’s equally and he committed suicide in 1925. Because dexterous son, magician Alex (longtime of his career’s brevity and relative handful of Jules and Jim/Jules et Jim Carax collaborator Denis Lavant). Planning features, Linder has largely been forgotten François Truffaut, 1962, B&W, 106 min. to start a new life after leaving his girlfriend outside of his native France. The films in Restoration, Blu-ray source (Julie Delpy in her film debut), Alex agrees this program thus provide a rare opportuni- Sponsored by Alliance Française de St. Louis to join the criminal scheme, but complica- ty to see Linder’s work on the big screen, an tions arise when he becomes smitten with experience further enhanced by live musical Hailed as one of the finest films ever made, Marc’s young mistress (a luminous Juliette accompaniment from Elsie Parker and “Jules and Jim” charts, over 25 years, the Binoche). the Poor People of Paris. relationship between two friends and the describes the “elegant and acrobatic” Linder object of their mutual obsession. The leg- Although now firmly established as one of as “one of the cinema’s great prodigies” and endary François Truffaut directs, and Jeanne France’s leading filmmakers, Carax (“Holy declares the newly restored “Be My Wife” Moreau stars as the alluring and willful Motors,” “The Lovers on the Bridge”) was – long available only in fragmentary form – Catherine, whose enigmatic smile and pas- only 25 when he directed “Mauvais Sang,” his “masterwork.” sionate nature lure Jules (Oskar Werner) and his second feature. Calling the film “a salute, Jim (Henri Serre) into one of cinema’s most at once moody and ebullient, to the cinema With an introduction and post-film discus- captivating romantic triangles. An exuberant of the past and the ferocious intensity of sion by Cate Marquis, film critic for the St. and poignant meditation on freedom, loyal- youth,” the Village Voice asserts that “Mau- Louis Jewish Light and co-founder of the St. ty, and the fortitude of love, “Jules and Jim” vais Sang” certified Carax “as ’s Louis Film Critics professional association. was a worldwide smash in 1962 and remains reigning enfant terrible.” The Voice writes every bit as audacious and entrancing today. that although the director “is deeply in NOON SATURDAY, JUNE 14, SLAM thrall to the masters of Nouvelle Vague, par- Band of Outsiders/Bande à part “François Truffaut’s whirling dervish remains ticularly Jean-Luc Godard,” his “endlessly Jean-Luc Godard, 1964, B&W, 95 min. an ageless beauty,” writes the Village Voice. romantic film transcends homage (and plot, “The film appears to us as like a specter, for that matter); above all, his work captures Restoration, Blu-ray source with a sensibility about cinematic language ineffable states of being.” and sexual relations rarely seen today. A Four years after “Breathless,” Jean-Luc God- better title for this benchmark of the French With an introduction and post-film discus- ard re-imagined the gangster film even more New Wave might have been ‘Breathless’ – an sion by Lionel Cuillé, the Jane and Bruce radically with “Band of Outsiders,” which apt descriptor for the film’s lyrical visual flair Robert professor of French and Francophone is celebrating its 50th anniversary. In the and whirlpool of emotions. Too bad it was studies at Webster University. film, two restless young men ( and 7 PM FRIDAY, JUNE 20, SLAM of “Vagabond”), a beautiful, free-spirited human being. This is a man, you think, who woman conducting a heated love affair has grown used to a dazed, rapt expres- / through un-drawn curtains across the way. sion on the faces of people talking to him, Le mystère Picasso But when police discover the nude body of accustomed to their submissive awe, and Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1957, B&W and color, another young woman in a nearby vacant yet with a diabolical insight into how that 78 min. lot, Hire becomes the prime suspect in a magnetism can be harnessed to manipulate murder investigation that brings him face to and coerce. Delon’s Ripley is a Dorian Gray DVD source face with the object of his desire even as it portrait of male beauty and unscrupulous Sponsored by the Jane M. and Bruce P. Robert threatens to ensnare them both in a web of daring, untroubled by conscience.” And Charitable Foundation deceit, accusation, lust, and guilt. Time Out London observes: “Clément suc- ceeds in making his film as beautiful on the In 1955, Henri-Georges Clouzot, the Touching, lyrical, erotic, suspenseful, and surface and strange and sinister below deck acclaimed director of “The Wages of Fear” enigmatic, this psychological drama is both as Ripley himself.” and “Diabolique,” joined forces with artist “a twisted love story and a tragic ,” Pablo Picasso to make an entirely new kind according to the London Sunday Times. With an introduction and post-film dis- of documentary, a film that could capture Adapted from celebrated Belgian crime cussion by Robert Garrick, attorney, board the moment and the mystery of creativ- ’s book by director member of the French-preservation nonprofit ity. Together, they devised an innovative (“Suicide Shop,” “The Les Amis, and former contributor to the technique: The filmmaker placed his camera Widow of Saint-Pierre”), “” is davekehr.com film blog. behind a semi-transparent surface on which a film of gorgeously muted widescreen color the artist drew with special inks that bled and funereal beauty that coolly unpacks 1 PM SUNDAY, JUNE 22, SLAM through. Clouzot thus captured a perfect sexual obsession and romantic love. Roger Elena and Her Men/Elena reverse image of Picasso’s brushstrokes, and Ebert says the film has an intelligence and the movie screen itself became the artist’s understated intensity “so delicate that you et les hommes canvas. For the film, Picasso created, and almost hold your breath for the last half- Jean Renoir, 1956, color, 95 min. sometimes obliterated, 20 works (most of hour.” Restoration, DVD source them, in fact, destroyed after the shoot). The pieces ranged from playful black-and-white With an introduction and post-film discus- sion by Calvin Wilson, film, jazz, and dance Set amid the military maneuvers and car- sketches to CinemaScope color murals, with nivals of turn-of-the-century France, Jean the artworks evolving in minutes through critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Renoir’s delirious romantic comedy “Elena the magic of time-lapse photography. and Her Men” stars a radiant Ingrid Berg- man as a beautiful but impoverished Polish Exhilarating, mesmerizing, enchanting, and princess who drives men of all stations to unforgettable, “The Mystery of Picasso” fits of desperate love. Among her smitten ranks as one of the greatest documentaries admirers are handsome lover Henri (Mel on art ever made. The LA Times writes: Ferrer) and the wealthy boot manufacturer “Even creative genius can get boring if it she’s supposed to wed. When Elena elicits becomes repetitive. Clouzot sidesteps that the fascination of a famous general (Jean possibility by adding George Auric’s music Marais), she finds herself at the center of and changing pace from instant creations to 2:30 PM SATURDAY, JUNE 21, SLAM romantic machinations and political schem- more complex compositions. Soon whole ing, with the hearts of several men – as well lines and blocks of color and pattern appear Purple Noon/Plein soleil as the future of France – in her hands. in a dazzling parade of visual evolution. This , 1960, color, 117 min. is a film about aesthetic decisions, but they Restoration, Blu-ray source In critic ’s view, the plot of happen so fast that the point is almost lost Sponsored by Les Amis “Elena” is scarcely the point: “The movie in the fascinating spectacle.” is about something else – about Berg- With an introduction and post-film discus- was at his most impossibly man’s rare eroticism, and the way her face sion by Bradley Bailey, associate professor of beautiful when “Purple Noon” was released seems to have an inner light on film. Was there ever a more sensuous actress in the art history at St. Louis University. and made him an instant star. This ripe, colorful adaptation of ’s movies? François Truffaut, reviewing this vicious “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” film, observed that ‘sex is the only focus directed by the versatile René Clément of attention.’ Renoir’s plot is essentially a (“,” “The Damned”), stars farce.… The threads of the story lead to a Delon as , a duplicitous Ameri- jolly engagement party in the manufacturer’s can charmer in Rome on a mission to bring mansion, and here Renoir gives us the same his privileged, devil-may-care acquaintance sort of jolly, bawdy upstairs-and-downstairs Philippe Greenleaf () back business he had so much fun with in ‘The to the United States. What initially seems a Rules of the Game.’ The house seems to be a carefree tale of friendship soon morphs into maze of interlocking rooms, through which NOON SATURDAY, JUNE 21, SLAM a thrilling saga of seduction, identity theft, the manufacturer’s son chases the buxom and murder. Featuring gorgeous location maid, while Bergman plays hide-and-seek Monsieur Hire with the general.” Patrice Leconte, 1989, color, 81 min. photography of coastal – with espe- cially compelling scenes unfolding aboard DVD source With an introduction and post-film discus- Ripley’s yacht – “Purple Noon” is crafted sion by Andrew Wyatt, film critic for St. with a light touch that allows it to be at In a provincial French apartment block, once suspenseful and erotic, and it gave Louis Magazine’s Look/Listen arts-and-en- Monsieur Hire () endures a Delon the role of a lifetime. tertainment blog and the Gateway Cinephile solitary life of dull work as a tailor and vit- film blog. riolic scorn from his neighbors. Hire’s only writes: “Delon is terrifically solace is an occasional night out bowling good in the role: his almost unearthly per- and his voyeuristic admiration of a neigh- fection is creepy itself, as if he is imitating a bor, the ravishing Alice ( 7 PM FRIDAY, JUNE 27, WEBSTER U. Mon Amour,” “Last Year at Marienbad”) as features of his middle period. Judex (Chan- Claude’s memories – thanks to the oblig- ning Pollack) is a cloaked hero who abducts Un Flic atory unaccounted-for glitch – flip back a villainous banker to prevent the evil Jean-Pierre Melville, 1972, color, 98 min. and forth in time in tiny bits and pieces, Diana (Francine Bergé in black tights) from New 35mm print returning again and again to a Riviera beach stealing a fortune from the banker’s virtuous and to a bed-sitter in Glasgow, sometimes in daughter. Some of what Franju finds here is In “Un Flic,” piano-playing Edouard alternate and surreal versions. A major influ- worthy of Cocteau.” (Alain Delon) and nightclub owner Simon ence on Michel Gondry’s “Eternal Sunshine With an introduction and post-film discus- (Richard Crenna of “Wait Until Dark” and of the Spotless Mind,” “Je t’aime, je t’aime” sion by Pier Marton, video artist, former “Body Heat”) both love Kathy (Catherine is Resnais’ highly experimental attempt Deneuve). If that’s not trouble enough, to encompass a life totally via non-linear lecturer in the Film and Media Studies Edouard’s a post-burnout cop and Simon’s impressionism. Program at Washington U., and self-designat- bent on the heist of a lifetime, and they ed unlearning specialist at the School of No seem to be looking past Kathy at each other. Calling Resnais’ work “a magnificent film,” Media. Jean-Pierre Melville’s final work features the Times’ Manohla Dargis iconic performances from the star trio – a writes: “In ‘Je t’aime, je t’aime,’ Claude’s never more jadedly detached Delon, a journeys into the past resemble nothing less never more chillingly icy Deneuve, and a than memory – fragmented, inconstant, surprisingly effective, smilingly insinuating taunting, joyous and heartbreaking. We are, Crenna. The film features two trademark the movie reminds us, what we remember, Melville heists: the first a near-wordless with a consciousness built from reminis- bank job on a deserted, bleakly rain-sodden cences that flicker, fade and repeat, flicker, seaside street; the second a nerve-shredding, fade and repeat. It’s no wonder that movies timed-to-the-second drug snatch done via enthrall us! Cinema is a time machine, and, 7 PM SUNDAY, JUNE 29, WEBSTER U. helicopter-to-train transfer. as he has long proved, from ‘Last Year at Marienbad’ to ‘Muriel’ and beyond, Mr. Lola Former Village Voice critic J. Hoberman Resnais is its ultimate time traveler.” , 1961, B&W, 90 min. writes of the director: “The high priest of With an introduction and post-film discus- Restoration, 35mm print, print courtesy of tough-guy mysticism and master of the atti- Institut Francais tudinous gangster thriller, Melville not only sion by Robert Hunt, former film critic for anticipated the French new wave but served the Riverfront Times and former adjunct professor of film studies at Webster University. A cigar-smoking man in a Stetson gazes as a model for the neo new wave of Jim Jar- out at the Nantes waterfront, then drives musch, and Wong Kar- his high-finned American convertible past wai.” And Time Out New York observes: sailors out on a spree. Dreamer Roland “With barely a word spoken between them (Marc Michel) eventually wanders into a – mostly a series of virile glances – Delon cabaret where Anouk Aimée’s Lola is per- and Crenna paint an idealized portrait of forming, dressed in an homage to Marlene masculine camaraderie, one that’s exposed at Dietrich. And then the meetings, link-ups, the end of Melville’s bracing last testament and unknowing near-misses begin. Jacques as a soul-shattering illusion.” Demy’s first feature, shot in black-and- With an introduction and post-film discus- white CinemaScope by the great Raoul sion by Diane Carson, professor emeritus 8:30 PM SATURDAY, JUNE 28, WEBSTER U. Coutard, evokes the most artlessly delicate of film at St. Louis Community College at Judex of romantic atmospheres, simultaneously Meramec and adjunct professor of film studies orchestrating repeated patterns, interlocking , 1963, B&W, 97 min. relationships, and carefully choreographed at Webster University. Restoration, Blu-ray source outrageous coincidences.

This effortlessly cool crime caper, directed enthuses: “‘Lola’ fol- by Georges Franju, is a marvel of dexterous lows a half-dozen ordinary folks in the south plotting and visual invention. Conceived as of France as they pursue their amorous fan- an homage to Louis Feuillade’s 1916 cult tasies, and Demy’s style is lighter than air, silent serial of the same name, “Judex” kicks brazenly artificial. He makes no intellectual off with the mysterious kidnapping of a demands on the viewer: he aims to seduce, corrupt banker by a shadowy crime fighter not to challenge. And if you give in to his (American magician Channing Pollock) and sweet nothings, you may even feel slightly spins out into a thrillingly complex web of embarrassed. That’s the power of ‘Lola.’ 6 PM SATURDAY, JUNE 28, WEBSTER U. deceptions. Combining stylish ’60s mod- Alone among the early products of the New ernism with silent-cinema touches and even Wave, it gives the audience the exquisite Je t’aime, je t’aime a few unexpected sci-fi accents, “Judex” is a sense of surrendering to a guilty pleasure.” , 1968, color, 91 min. delightful bit of superhero and New 35mm print a testament to the art of illusion. With an introduction and post-film discus- sion by Joe Williams, film critic for the St. Recovering after a suicide attempt, Claude The Chicago Reader’s Jonathan Rosenbaum Louis Post-Dispatch. Ritter () is obviously the perfect observes: “There’s a world of difference guinea pig for an anonymous corporation’s between the natural, ‘found’ surrealism of tentative attempts at time travel. What Louis Feuillade’s lighthearted French serial could go wrong? After all, the mouse came (1914) and the darker, studied surrealism out OK. And maybe, when he goes back and campy piety of this 1964 remake by a year, he can re-live one particular min- Georges Franju. Yet in Franju’s hands the ute. Resnais’ switch into science fiction material has its own magic (and deadpan continues his theme of time (“Hiroshima humor), which makes this one of the better Alliance Française de Saint Louis

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