This is the French Film Festival thread. I'll be filling it with goodies shortly.

Come on in!

An expert, I am not, but I've seen a fair share.

Rather than list all the French films I've seen here in the thread, I'm simply going to list some- landmarks or otherwise- that those interested in French film should see. I've seen each of these films, they are among my favorites and would love to revisit any of them. Of course, I'm also wanting to watch some new films- indeed, Jacques Tati's Playtime (anyone seen it?) should be arriving from Netflix today!

Le Million
À Nous la Liberté
Boudu Saved From Drowning
L'Atalante
Grand Illusion
Rules of the Game
Beauty and the Beast
Wages of Fear
Elevator to the Gallows
The 400 Blows
Black Orpheus
Breathless
Shoot The Piano Player
Jules et Jim
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

You cannot go wrong with any of these films.

Good, I was worried this might get skipped over somehow :O

This will give me the good excuse I've been wanting/needing to watch some more Truffaut after a 'friend's' pretty considerable and consistant urging wasn't enough. :o It'll make him happy, anyway, and hopefully myself too. :up:

Yoshue, did you manage to watch Artemisia last year? I really think you should check it out this year. I know CHristian had wanted to see it too, and the last time I saw it was five years ago, so I am going to watch it again. Its pretty interesting, and has a bit of an agenda in how it reads the documents from Gentileschi's rape trial. And Irma Vep? Have you seen it.


I can't wait to get a recommendation or two from you again. I would have never gotten around to seeing 400 Blows if it wasn't for you, and I really was pleasantly surprised by Cage aux Folles as well.

I've updated the above a bit. I hope we can really get started on this. As I said, I'll be watching Playtime tomorrow when I get home for fall break.

Dolce, I have not seen, but will get Artemsia ASAP and watch it. Absolutely. I've been curious for a while.

As for movie night, while I understand the appeal of picking something I've never seen, I'm sort of dying to discuss a certain Truffaut that has just become available again...

Which one is that? I'll watch it.

I can't wait to hear what you think about Artemisia. If you're up for making it your "movie night" movie, just let me know. Otherwise, make it this elusive re-released Truffaut.

Interesting inclusion of Black Orpheus, which I highly recommend, and I know is French/Camus, but Portuguese/Brazilian language. I actually wonder what can be thought about it in that regard.

Didn't you watch Cage aux Folles last year? Charming, fun film. Probably the first French film that I bought.

I know it isn't on "the list", but I finished watching Three Colors: Red, finishing off the trilogy... For the sake of stimulating some early discussion, could anyone care to explain the ending? Isn't is a bit coincidental that the players from each film be the only ones to survive? I was considering the ending and came across an interview with Irene Jacob; she said that Kieslowski chose to end the series that way because the audience was familiar with the characters. That didn't mean much to me (other than the fact that I had also just watched a short interview with Kieslowski, where he shared the importance of familiarity in his films and how he brings back similar locations to symbolize the transition of the film... he did this in Red apparently when Valentine enters the church in search of Rita - that shot was used earlier in the movie in passing. It is relevant because Rita is a catalyst for bringing the judge and Valentine together...) and I was wondering if anyone could share a theory as to why it ended in such a way. Interesting.

Time to really roll up the sleeves and get started.

For "Movie Night" I'd like, if anyone who's interested can actually get their hands on it, to watch Truffaut's Day For Night, my favorite movie about the movies, no matter what Pauline Kael may say.

Would anyone be up for that?

Yep. I've never seen it, so now is as good a time as any. Playtime just came into the library too, so I'm going to watch that as well.

Shall I put Day for Night into the official schedule?

I updated the schedule for you. Day for Night movie night will be Sunday, Oct. 29.

Elevator to the Gallows (Louis Malle, 1958)

I rewatched the Criterion DVD of this noir and was actually more entralled this time around. The plot is nothing groundbreaking; two adulterers murder the woman's husband in order to, you know, be together. However, things take a turn for the worse when, immediately after doing the deed, our hero (?) gtes trapped in an elevator, unbeknownst to our heroine (?)...

There is so much here to sink your teeth into here.
- Jeanne Moreau's sterling performance. There are scenes of her wandering, dazed, betrayed and full of despair, through the city in the middle of the night. The camera focuses simply on her face, with the blurry lights of the city passing in the background. Her expressiveness and the way Malle lights her caused me to rewatch some of those scenes oh, I don't know, 7 times.

- The juxtaposition of the precarious main plot thread with that of the dumbass teenagers carelessly throwing their lives away. This subplot annoyed me at first (say, 30 minutes), until I realized how thematically important it was and then, how it evoked a genuine emotional reaction in me. What this reaction was....I cannot say.

-The apparently improvised Miles Davis jazz score. I could listen to this on a neverending loop. It is essential.

- The ironic ending. Gotta love ironic endings.

There's plenty more in there. So if that sounds appetizing to anyone...go for it!

I finally, finally, finally got a hold of the Criterion Jules et Jim!

Has anyone watched anything?

Christian? Jules et Jim, perhaps?

Gettin' Playtime from the library today. I'm still going to try and see Day for Night when you're movie night shows up, too. Did you get your hands on Artemisia?

I'll be viewing Jules and Jim most likely over the weekend.

I saw Artemisia.

So apparently they're finally releasing Day For Night (as per Netflix) since it's not on "Saved" anymore. But the availability says "VERY VERY LONG WAIT." lol

Oh how you tease me. What did you think?

*spoilers*

Especially when they tie her hands at the end?

That was horrible (I mean, wonderfully shot and executed but the punishment was terrible)! I haven't done any research as to the actual trial, but how accurate was that? I kind of whimper when I get a paper cut in between my fingers and when I saw blood trickling down from her hands... Was that a general torture device or was it done solely because she was a painter (and a female one who drew naked men).

I very much enjoyed the film - as a biography of Gentileschi, as a glimpse to her technique, and as a "courtroom" drama - though I would have liked to see more of the trial, there was some great drama right there (specially when they try to destroy her character).

*spoilers*

I've read that it was used, but under the arguement that it would reinforce her statements, and it was particular poignant for painters to undergo. Merlot really puts an interpretive spin on it. I am not that well familiar with her trial, but its known that its conclusions, Agostino's statement, ahs always been cloudy. I think there are many statements that go both ways (her relationship with him vs. his raping her) and that Merlet is making a statement about how unfamliar Renaissance colture was with the idea of this particular female sexuality. This may or may not have been true, but the particular working of the story is as applicable to the late 90's as anything. Its definately a "feminist" reading of the trial, or that's how I've learned it. I like to think of it more as humanist, because it was not exactly out of raw disdain for her the way her father demanded the proceedings, nor how her lover responded to her pain. It just felt like a space in which her choices were foreign.

BTW, I also actually liked the use of the grid for drawing in this film. Merlet uses it in some unique scenes, to suggest (I think) breaking down forms systematically (hint hint). The projection grid was also in heavy use at the time (Durer makes prints illuminating its use in art) and I think Merlet does a much better job introducing the shifting technology of painting than, say, when movies try to introduce the camera osbcura into Vermeers works in film.

I thought this movie was excellently executed, and I didn't actually mind the horrible ending, because it pushed certain questions. As to their accuracy, all that is known is that Orazio did sue Tassi over the alleged rape, and that Tassi served an incredibly brief sentence and/or was aquitted (different accounts that I've seen). was eventually aquitted. Many people also say her paintings of women violently beheading men (Judith and Holofernes is the most famous) stem from her experiences.

Take this with a grain of salt. The book I read about her was equally as personalized (involved multiple narrators) as the film, and I'm not a personal scholar of her private life. I pick up rhumors like everyone else, and have read several interpretations of her painting training and trial.

People have pointed out Merlet takes heavy license with historical accuracy, and props Artemisia up as a sort of victim of male society. I don't mind that. There's very little information about her to begin with, and even less about other female artists. I also keep in mind that whenever anyone politicizes a historic person's biography, it might be very relevant to contemporary issues that need to be addressed. Mainly pressures of complying to traditional gender roles, etc.

I also thought the movie was very beautiful.

Albrecht Durer! There we go. I was trying to remember which other artist I know of that famously used the grid system.

EDIT: Found out the movie was nominated for the Globe foreign language category. No Oscar love? Not EVEN ART DIRECTION.

Dolce, I've been stuck at school and unable to get Artemisia.

And I somehow overlooked it, but I am to understand that Day For Night is impossible to get a hold of? Shit.

I saw Truffaut's Small Change for the first time last night and was rather disappointed. It was funny enough, but the dramatic side really, really doesn't work. I think the greatest criticism I have for it is that I simply have nothing to say, nothing to write about it.

Per Netflix, Day for Night is a "very long wait." I actually got a message saying "THE MAKERS FINALLY DECIDED TO RELEASE IT ON DVD!!!" or something.

The last time I've seen it was in Betamax (!!!) when I was 8 years old or something lol.

A brief comment has been deleted on Playtime as I just realized its tomorrow's Movie Night. Teehee.

I'm watching it tomorrow, so I'll keep this in mind. Sorry, couldn't get my hands on Day for Night. When I went to the rental place, all their copies were out. :-(

And despite my fairly quick edit to the last post, thank you dolcevita for immortalizing it.