THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT!
RARE FRENCH FILM NOIR FEATURING FAMILIAR FACES
FRI—MON, JUNE 19—22 á AERO THEATRE
Presented by Mid-Century Productions & The American Cinematheque
It is a tale unique in film history.
While the French coined the term film noir in the years immediately following World War II and championed it as a fascinating American export, the Nouvelle Vague—which found its rebellious models in noir’s alienated anti-heroes—mounted a furious attack on the films noirs produced in France in the 1940s and 1950s. As a result, nearly 90% of the films that built upon the principles of anxiety and discontent—in other words, the indigenous films noirs of France—were cast into a cultural purgatory from which most of them have still not escaped.
Our “Timeline Chart of French Film Noir” is dramatic evidence of this fact. For every French noir that has managed to emerge from the shadows created by the Nouvelle Vague’s presumptuous cultural revolution, there are ten that still remain hopelessly obscure, particularly to American noir aficionados.
The French coined the term Òfilm noir (both for the black deeds of its plot lines and its shadow-soaked visuals), but the scope of their contribution to the noir canon has remained stubbornly elusive thanks in part to the ideological insurgency of the Nouvelle Vague.
It is a tale unique in film history: In a land that reveres cinema like no other, France has, hidden in its oeuvre, crime films and dark melodramas that capture the essence of noir with a deadly panache. ÒThe French Had a Name for ItÓ begins the exploration of this largely unknown continent, beginning with rarities featuring some of France’s greatest and best-known stars.
Bardot É Gabin É Signoret É Ventura É all household names in France – yet their films in this series await rediscovery. Bardot comes to the fore here as a cultural symbol, her sex-kitten image literally on trial in Clouzot’s canny THE TRUTH and revealed as a cautionary tale by Claude Autant-Lara in LOVE IS MY PROFESSION. Gabin, entering his late phase, plays opposite Bardot as both a father and a lover – which can only lead to ruin.
In DƒDƒE D’ANVERS, Simone Signoret reveals what would transform her into one of France’s greatest stars. A roundup of French noir’s usual suspects might not include many Italian actors, but Lino Ventura is superb playing tough guys under duress in CLASSE TOUS RISQUES and the bracingly nocturnal UN TEMOIN DANS LA VILLE.
Among a gaggle of great directors, Julien Duvivier emerges here as perhaps the most accomplished in French noir. He is best known for 1937’s PƒPƒ LE MOKO, but DEADLIER THAN THE MALE and CHAIR DE POULE show that his talent for tightening nooses around characters remained undiminished decades later.
THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT is the first salvo in the battle to rediscover and redeem these films—many of which feature France’s most iconic stars. (A variation of this festival, screened last November at San Francisco’s Roxie Theatre, featuring many of the same films, played to sold-out houses and created a sensation. Now it is Los Angeles’ turn.)
Over the next few years, we hope to bring American audiences an ever-increasing number of these lost treasures—films that show the consummate artistry of French directors, cinematographers, screenwriters and actors, all bringing their unique sensibilities to a type of filmmaking that they may well have understood more deeply than their counterparts on the other side of the Atlantic.
Feel free to revel in films representing some of the best work by cinema immortals as Brigitte Bardot, Jean Gabin, Simone Signoret, and Lino Ventura; directors such as Henri-Georges Clouzot, Julien Duvivier, Yves AllŽgret, Claude Autant-Lara, and Edouard Molinaro; and photographers such as Henri Daca‘, Armand Thirard, and Jacques Natteau.
In this incarnation of the festival, we will also rediscover other major talents whose best work is found in French film noir: actor-director Robert Hossein, exceptionally proficient on either side of the camera; actress Danile Delorme, equally effective as scheming ingŽnue and icy spouse; and brilliant character actor Bernard Blier, capable of bluntness and subtlety at the same time.
Welcome to an unexplored continent where the heart of darkness is alive and wellÉ
—Don Malcolm, Midcentury Productions
SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, JUNE 19 BARDOT Double Feature
LA VERITƒ / THE TRUTH 7:30
EN CAS DE MALHEUR / LOVE IS MY PROFESSION 9:55
LA VERITƒ / THE TRUTH 7:30
The emergence of Brigitte Bardot signaled a sea change in how sexuality was depicted on screen, and her superstardom provoked a firestorm of controversy and backlash. LA VERITƒ traded on that notoriety and placed itself squarely in the middle of the French culture wars, with Bardot literally and figuratively “on trial” for her lack of decorum. Flashbacks ignite the sordid tale of her character’s misplaced loved for a narcissistic composer (Sami Frey) and become the basis of a furious courtroom battle when she is charged with his murder. With Paul Meurisse and Charles Vanel as the bickering barristers. Dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot (1960, 122 min.)
EN CAS DE MALHEUR / LOVE IS MY PROFESSION 9:55
Gabin! Bardot! Oh-la-la (or, should we say, OMG)!! The trouble starts when Gabin, a distinguished lawyer, defends Bardot, a prostitute who has committed a robbery. He gets her off, and finds (to everyone’s dismay, including his wife) that he gets off on her; she becomes his mistress. Alas, Gabin’s efforts to “upscale” her are frought with peril, for she has another lover, a handsome young student (Franco Interlenghi), who slowly builds into a murderous rage. With Edwige Feuillre. Based on a novel by Georges Simenon. Dir. Claude Autant-Lara (1958, 105 min.)
SATURDAY, JUNE 20 Double Bill
CLASS TOUS RISQUES (THE BIG RISK) (1960) 7:30
UN TƒMOIN DANS LA VILLE (WITNESS IN THE CITY) (1959) ) 9:45
CLASS TOUS RISQUES (THE BIG RISK) (1960) 7:30
Lino Ventura delivers an awesome performance (maybe his best) as Davos, a gangster in the twilight of his career, on the run from the mob with his wife and family. Jean-Paul Belmondo (hot off his star turn in Breathless) co-stars as a young hood who comes to Ventura’s aid. Brilliantly scripted by Jose Giovanni (based on a story he had heard in prison). With Sandra Milo. Dir. Claude Sautet (1960, 110 min.)
“In addition to its crisp action sequences, the film has an excellent sense of place, showing us Paris, Nice and the small villages and French countryside betweenÉone of the things that makes CLASSE TOUS RISQUES distinctive are the palpable emotional connections it makes with its characters. Though he is the hardest of hard cases, Davos cares deeply about his family, and the feelings of regret, sadness and desperation that cross his face are just one of the factors that make this film the classic it is.”
—Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times
UN TƒMOIN DANS LA VILLE / WITNESS IN THE CITY 9:45
France’s greatest character lead in the 1960s and 70s, Lino Ventura, has his breakout role here, as a revenge murderer who finds that his “perfect crime” was witnessed by a cab driver and must try to eliminate him. As events unfold, Ventura finds that he is as much hunted as hunter. Stunning night photography from Henri Deca‘ (BOB LE FLAMBEUR, ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS), and an evocative score featuring jazz greats Kenny Clarke and Kenny Dorham. Dir. Eduard Molinaro (1959, 86 min.)
SUNDAY, JUNE 21 Double Bill
VOICI LES TEMPS DES ASSASSINS (DEADLIER THAN THE MALE) 7:30
CHAIR DE POULE (HIGHWAY PICKUP) 9:30
VOICI LES TEMPS DES ASSASSINS (DEADLIER THAN THE MALE) 7:30
While the other French femmes fatales are “hot,” none of them approach the coiled ferocity of Danile Delorme in DEADLIER THAN THE MALE. It’s possible that no one in the history of cinema is as driven to a life of ruthless scheming by the bitter recollection of her hardscrabble youth—even Delorme herself, when interviewed, shrank from the implications within the character. American noir aficionados would do well to recall ANGEL FACE (1952) and think of Delorme’s work here as “Jean Simmons on steroids.”
Matching her step-for-step are Jean Gabin, the target of her desperate, malevolent scheming; Germain Kerjean as his controlling, cold-hearted mother; GŽrard Blain as his clueless surrogate son; and Lucienne Bogaert as Delorme’s decay-ridden, drug-addicted mother. Featuring superb camerawork by Armand Thiraud (Clouzot’s longtime right-hand man), DEADLIER THAN THE MALE is arguably the definitive French film noir. Dir. Julien Duvivier (1956, 107 min.)
CHAIR DE POULE (HIGHWAY PICKUP) 9:30
Legendary director Duvivier (PƒPƒ LE MOKO, LE FIN DU JOUR, PANIQUE) was nearing the end of his illustrious career, but he saved one of the best for last in HIGHWWAY PICKUP, in which the essence of noir’s hard-boiled school is distilled in a taut tale of fate, lust and enveloping entrapment. Robert Hossein is at his astringent best as a thief on the lam who jumps from frying pan into the fire when he holes up at a highway truck stop where he’s quickly embroiled in the grasping, malevolent schemes of a hard-bitten, voluptuous vixen (Catherine Rouvel) who will literally stop at nothing to get what she wants! With Jean Sorel, and Jacques Bertand. With photography from LŽonce-Henri Burel, longtime right-hand man of Robert Bresson. Dir. Julien Duvivier (1963, 107 min.).
MONDAY, JUNE 22 SIMONE SIGNORET / BERNARD BLIER
DƒDƒE D’ANVERS 7:30
LE SEPTIéME JURƒ / THE SEVENTH JUROR 9:15
DƒDƒE D’ANVERS
Bursting through the echoes of “poetic realism” contained within its narrative, DƒDƒE D’ANVERS showcases the emergence of Simone Signoret, a hooker with a hankering for a better life. The original French femme fatale, Signoret is both luminous and complex, presaging a series of follow-up performances in similarly-themed films over the next half-decade. With Bernard Blier, Marcello Pagliero, Jane Marken and Marcel Dalio. Evocatively photographed by Jean Bourgoin (BLACK ORPHEUS, MR. ARKADIN). Dir. Yves AllŽgret (1948, 86 min.).
LE SEPTIéME JURƒ / THE SEVENTH JUROR 9:15
Dependable character actor Bernard Blier is given his chance to shine in a lead role here, as GrŽgoire Duval, a man facing an incredible small-town predicament. After accidentally killing the town’s local strumpet, he finds himself on a jury that must decide the fate of a man that he alone knows is innocent.
What he does—and what happens after that—is more shocking and macabre by far. And Blier brilliantly modulates his growing realization of provincial perniciousness, until this sordid story turns deeply and strangely tragic. With Danile Delorme as Blier’s icy, manipulative wife. Photographer Maurice Fellous, who would have a fruitful collaboration with director Georges Lautner throughout the 60s, covers all the bases here, from squalid sunlight to menacing shadows. Dir. Georges Lautner (1962, 90 min.)
The Aero Theater, is located at 1328 Montana Ave, Santa Monica, Phone: 310.260.1528
310.260.1528. Advance tickets can be ordered through Fandango, or purchased at the Aero box office, open 1.5 hrs before the first show. *Please note that second feature showtimes are approximate.
For more information about Mid Century Productions and teh series please visit http://www.midcenturyproductions.com/index.html
Aero Theatre
1328 Montana Avenue,
Santa Monica, Ca 90403
Fri, Jun 19, 2015 – Mon, Jun 22, 2015