Jeanne Moreau, RIP

We are sad indeed to read that French icon Jeanne Moreau has passed away at age 89. Moreau (1928-2017) also sang, directed and wrote screenplays and worked with an impressive roster of directors from her early days through the New Wave to the glory days of the 1960s: Malle, Truffaut, Demy, Antonioni, Losey, Bunuel, Duras, several collaberations with Orson Welles (THE TRIAL, CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT, THE IMMORTAL STORY), and Tony Richardson, and in popular films like THE YELLOW ROLLS ROYCE, THE TRAIN, etc,

 We particularly like her in Demy's BAY OF ANGELS in 1963, and Malle's LIFT TO THE SCAFFOLD in  '58 and VIVA MARIA in 1965 with Bardot,
 theres also of course LA NOTTE, LES AMANTS, EVE, THE VICTORS, Ozon's TIME TO LEAVE, and many more in a long,illustrious career., as well as JULES ET JIM and THE BRIDE WOREO BLACK with Truffaut, and LES LIAISONS DANGEROUSES with  Vadim in 1959. Reviews at Moreau label.
 She was also a rather glum MATA HARI in '64. 

Often referred to as "the  French Bette Davis" she could  look beautiful or ravaged at will, her mother was English but after her parents separated she could have grown up in Hove rather than Paris ...

More on these at label, including Fassbinder's QUERELLE - Jeanne was nothing if not adventerous! - not to mention LES VALSEUSES, while Marguerite Duras's 1972 NATHALIE GRANGER is mesmerising. We will remember her long walks around Paris and Milan in those Malle and Antonioni classics, and saw her 1976 director debut LUMIERE at the Film Festival that year, its a surprising charmer.

The French list .....

Continuing our Lists theme, 25 essential French flicks we love, from the Fifties to the Seventies, again two maximum from each director ... (AND, Those French Tough Guys). 

• LA RONDE (1950) / MADAME DE … (1953) - Ophuls. Classic French cinema avec Danielle Darrieux & Co. 
• M RIPOIS (KNAVE OF HEARTS) 1954 / PLEIN SOLEIL (1959) – Rene Clement: Gerard Philipe and Alain Delon both at peak perfection in Clement's perfect films. Maurice Ronet is also terrific in SOLEIL as a very unpleasant Dickie Greenleaf ,,,,
• AND GOD CREATED WOMAN / HEAVEN FELL THAT NIGHT – as was Bardot in 1956 and 1958 in these Vadim scorchers! She WAS the female James Dean.
• LIFT TO THE SCAFFOLD (1958) / LE FEU FOLLET (1963) – Malle - Malle's electrifying films still dazzle now, as does Maurice Ronet and Moreau ...
• LOLA (1961) / BAY OF ANGELS (1963) – Demy - 2 gleaming monochrome classics, as good as Demy's musicals, Anouk and Moreau at their best (Of course we love Demy's 2 pastel musicals and his 2 enchanting fairy tales as well, Demy label).
• AMELIE, OU TE TEMPS D’AIMER – Michel Drach, 1961 - not seen since at the Academy in Oxford Street London in 1964 when I was 18. Jean Sorel and a Victorian romance at moody Mont St Michel (my favourite place in France). 
• UN HOMME ET UNE FEMME - Lelouch. We just love Anouk and Trintignant and that lush score and visuals. Perfectly 1966
• LA FEMME INFIDELE / INNOCENTS WITH DIRTY HANDS (1975) – Chabrol's valentines to Stephane and Romy ... (just two from my 14 disk Chabrol set)
• UNDER THE SAND / TIME TO LEAVE – Ozon. A brace of Ozon classics. TIME TO LEAVE is harrowing, Rampling is perfect UNDER THE SAND (as was Deneuve in POTICHE).
• 400 BLOWS / HISTORY OF ADELE H. – Truffaut. Isabelle Adjani mesmerises as Adele H in 1975. and the first Antoine Doinel from 1959 is New Wave personified. 
  
• LES DRAGUEURS  - Mocky. More perfect 1959 French new wave as we take in Paris by night with Anouk and Belinda Lee.
• CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 – Agnes Varda, 1962. 
• LES VALSEUSES - Blier's shocker from 1974 still packs a punch as tearaways young Depardieu and Dewaere go on the rampage, in those flaired jeans. 
• THE BEST WAY TO WALK – Miller. Claude Miller's delicious 1976 drama
• THE WILD REEDS (LES ROSEAUX SAUVAGES)  – Techine. Andre Techine's gay classic from 1994, Gael Morel shines. 
• INDOCHINE – Wargnier - A Deneuve epic from 1992, almost a French GWTW.
  
• CESAR & ROSALIE – Sautet. Romy and Montand are perfect leads. One of Schneider's 6 with Claude Sautet, each is perfect. 
• PLAYTIME -Tati. TRAFIC is fabulous too as Monsieur Hulot goes travelling, 

12 FRENCH TOUGH GUYS:

• RIFIFI – Hossein in Dassin's 1955 masterclass
• MELODIE EN SOUS SOL – Verneuil's 1963 caper with Gabin & hot shot young Delon as they rob a Cannes casino, the playoff is perfect, 
• LE SAMOURAI – Melville's masterpiece from 1967
• LE HOMME D’ RIO – De Broca. Belmondo dazzles in Rio in 1964 with Dorleac. 
• BORSALINO – Deray. Delon and Belmondo ramp up the glamour in 1970
• THE WICKED GO TO HELL - Hossein's slick 1955 thriller with his wife Marina Vlady, and Henri Vidal.
• TOI LE VENIN -  Slick Hossein thriller from 1958, "Night is not for sleep" indeed! 
  
• UNE MANCHE ET LA BELLE (KISS FOR A KILLER) - Super Verneuil 1957 thriller with Vidal and Mylene Demongeot and Isa Miranda. 
• CHAIR DE POULE – Duvivier's jet black thriller from 1963 with Sorel and Hossein (right)
• LE CIRCLE ROUGE / ARMY OF SHADOWS – Melville's downbeat wartime epic with Signoret, Ventura & Co. 

More on all these at labels, particularly PLEIN SOLEIL, MR RIPLEY etc. 

Querelle & Fassbinder

One of the most bizarre movies is Rainer Werner Fassbinder's QUERELLE, a 1982 item from the novel by Genet - but in Fassbinder's vision it becomes a lurid if not sensational potboiler of repressed (and not so- ) homoerotic passions with all those matelots in those eye-catching outfits hanging out in waterfront dives in Brest in France, as our hero Querelle (Brad Davis) has the hots for his superior officer, a moody Franco Nero, right.. 
Add in Jeanne Moreau of all people, wearing those enormous ear-rings, intoning Oscar Wilde's "Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves" and Querelle submitting to her brutal husband, who likes getting off with those sailor boys.   It was all too much at the time, how would it fare now? It was actually released after Fassbinder's death in 1982. 

The Fassbinder we really like is his 1974 FOX AND HIS FRIENDS, reviewed here a while back, see Fassbinder label - where the director himself plays the loutish lottery winner taken to the cleaners by his smart new boyfriend (Peter Chatel, right) and his grasping family who need Fox's money to prop up ther ailing business. It ends on a very downbeat note as Fox's body is robbed by kids in a metro station.  

Other Fassbinders (once as prolific as Almodovar or Ozon) we liked then include FEAR EATS THE SOUL, his stylish hothouse lesbian drama THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT, EFFI BRIEST, THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRUAN, and the fascinating mess he made of Nabokov's DESPAIR with Dirk Bogarde, the director's last before his untimely drug-related death in 1982, aged 37. Still, he clocked up 44 credits ...  . 

A FOX memory - between 1976 and 1979 I was working at Dillons University Bookshop (now Waterstones) in London's University quarter, not in the bookshop but in an office upstairs, working with a German woman, Monica, who became a friend (we both loved Dietrich and Romy Schneider); one day she was expecting a guest for lunch and asked me to talk to him until she came back from a meeting. In walked this guy whom I recognised as Peter Chatel, the actor from FOX AND HIS FRIENDS, he sat on the edge of my desk and we talked about that until Monica returned, Chatel died aged 42 in 1986, another Aids casualty, 
Below: Andy Warhol visits the set, with Fassbinder and Brad Davis.

People We Like: Gerard Philipe

KNAVE OF HEARTS, 1954

It was tragic that Gerard Philipe (1922-1959) died so young, of cancer, aged 36 in 1959 - just as those new guys Delon and Belmondo were taking off. (that other attractive French actor Henri Vidal also died that year, aged 40 - of a heart attack). Philipe was such an attractive presence and would surely have achieved so much more. He didn't even need to go to Hollywood ... his first big hit was FANFAN LA TULIPE in 1952 for Christian-Jacque, with luscious Gina Lollobrigida, its still a delicious adventure now.

KNAVE OF HEARTS (or MONSIEUR RIPOIS) Rene Clement’s 1954 film about a romantic Frenchman on the loose in London and his conquests, including young Joan Greenwood at her loveliest – their scenes in the rain are very lyrical. It is cleverly done with Clement shooting on the streets of London (with mostly hidden cameras) 5 years before the New Wave were doing the same in Paris. The fillm exists in French and English versions and it was great seeing it again at the BFI on the big screen a few years ago.

Philipe is mesermising with those soulful eyes magnified on the large screen –  He is one of the LA RONDE merry-go-round in Ophuls 1950 classic. I still have several others of his lined up to watch in that 'pending pile': THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA, LE ROUGE ET LE NOIR, BELLES DE NUIT, POT BOULLE.

LES AMANTS DE MONTPARNASSE is a standard biopic from 1957 about painter Modigliani starving in a garret in Paris, Philipe is just right here with Anouk Aimee and Lilli Palmer as his contrasting lovers ...

In all he clocked up 35 credits, according to IMDB - so he crammed a lot into those 36 years!. Vadim's 1959 LES LAISIONS DANGEROUSES with Jeanne Moreau sees him in a last main leading role - I have already reviewed it here - Philipe, Moreau labels. His final film, FEVER MOUNTS AT EL PAO, a Mexican oddity by Luis Bunuel is now available on dvd and blu-ray. We will continue enjoying seeing Gerard Philipe on screen ...

The 1959 "Who's Who in Hollywood" says: "GERARD PHILIPE of Rouge et Noir and Lovers of Paris is to French audiences what Bill Holden, Tab Hunter and Cary Grant are to Americans (or Dirk Bogarde to the British). And "art house" devotees here are pretty gone on him too. A leading star of the French theatre Gerard was recently in this country with the Theatre National Populaire, as actor-director. The dark-haired, boyish-looking charmer started his career at 19 and has been happily married for several years". 

The Carmelites, 1960

A somebe choice for Good Friday: a 1960 French item, LE DIALOGUE DES CARMELITES, about those Carmelite nuns during the time of the French Revolution - The Reign of Terror! This is the same material for that opera by Poulenc with ends with the sounds of the nuns going to the guillotine ... its the same here but we barely see the instrument of death, as the nuns resigned to their fate, ascend the scaffold one by one, apart from one is has been saved, and who will carry on the order. Nun movies include our favourite BLACK NARCISSUS, and CONSPIRACY OF HEARTS and THE NUN'S STORY as well as more salacious items like Anita Ekberg's KILLER NUN, or Anne Heywood's NUN OF MONZA (reviewed recently, Heywood label), and of course Ken's demented THE DEVILS, a fascinating re-view recently (Ken Russell label), there is also the Polish MOTHER JOAN OF THE ANGELS, also circa 1960/61. We like Deborah Kerr's Sister Angela in HEAVEN KNOWS MR ALLISON (1957) and of course Ingrid was that jolly nun in THE BELLS OF ST MARY'S back in those innocent '40s. More saccharine nuns with Rosalind Russell's in the '60s and Loretta Young and Celeste Holm in COME TO THE STABLE in 1949, thankfully before my time.

Here we have the baleful face of the young Jeanne Moreau, compelling as ever, as Mother Marie, and Alida Valli as the superior who takes over from the dying old abbess Madeleine Renaud. Pierre Brasseur is the convent's chief enemy, and Jean-Louis Barrault plays a street mime. 

It all looks marvellously authentic, with those street scenes of the revolting peasants and new 'citizens' and that waiting tumbril ... We follow two new novices to the Carmelite order - Sister Blanche (Pascale Audret) and Sister Constance (Anne Doat) as they become brides of Christ, and then willingly became martyrs in the name of Christian faith and freedom of belief.  A reign of terror indeed. Directed by Philippe Agostini and R.L. Bruckberger, with great black and white images, from the Georges Bernanos play. Poulenc's opera is stunning listening too.

Garbo, again

The glamour of the 1930s for me means those two exotic European imports to Hollywood, as the talkies got underway - Garbo and Dietrich. A large part of their mystique of course is not just their looks but those fascinating voices.. Our Sky Arts channel repeated a Garbo programme, so one had to watch again - a whole hour of Garbo clips, they focus though on those best known ones: CAMILLE, QUEEN CHRISTINA, ANNA KARENINA, NINOTCHKA - I love them too, particularly CHRISTINA and NINOTCHKA, but they ignored THE PAINTED VEIL, from 1934, 

which I loved a year ago, as per my post here, see Garbo label, and I now think everything about MATA HARI in 1931 is utterly fantastic: the art design, her odd but mesmerising dance with the giant statue, Ramon Novarro, her stunning outfits, and that ending as she faces the execution squad ..... its amazing the number of different posters in various colours that are still around.  Jeanne Moreau's MATA HARI AGENT H21 in 1964 though very different is rather dull by comparison! 

I also actually love her last film TWO FACED WOMAN from 1942, where she is ski-ing and being terribily funny, and she is totally glamorous doing that rhumba!  Here is that interesting shot of her, looking awkward and ungainly at the swimming pool. with George Cukor. 

TWO FACED WOMAN shows how she could have developed and looked as the 1940s progressed - just as Marilyn's uncompleted SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE fragments show how that now slimline Marilyn could have dazzled as the '60s unfolded .... At least Greta (1905-1990) lived out her life as she wanted .... those late '40s photos by Cecil Beaton show she was still a stunning woman then, below. More on Greta, and that usually overlooked PAINTED VEIL at label. Even the very name 'Garbo' summons up unfathomable mystery and unattainable glamour ... 

Below Right: a laserdisc (remember those?) of MATA HARI & THE PAINTED VEIL! 

Below Left: Moreau as Mata:


Soon: Another look at Marlene's 1932 BLONDE VENUS and THE SCARLET EMPRESS, 1934. More 1930s delirium !

Film Festival time ...

The awards season is hardly over before its film festival time as the 67th Cannes Film Festival starts in May. The poster this year (after Vitti, Dunaway and Monroe in recent years) features Marcello Mastroianni, and appropriately, Marcello's frequent co-star Sophia Loren is to hand too. This, from the official site:

• Guest of honor: SOPHIA LOREN

Sophia at Cannes, 1959

Award for Best Actress in 1961 and president of the jury in 1966, Sophia Loren is the guest of honor of Cannes Classics. She will be present at the screening of LA VOCE HUMANA (2014, 25mn), directed by Edoardo Ponti, which marks the occasion of her comeback to the movies. During the same evening MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE (Matrimonio all'italiana) by Vittorio De Sica (1964, 1h42) will be screened in 4K restoration by L’Immagine Ritrovata. Restoration carried out in collaboration with Surf Film by Cineteca di Bologna and Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage with contribution from Memory Cinema, at L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory. French distributor Carlotta.

Sophia Loren has also accepted to give a masterclass—a conversation which will take place on the stage of Salle Buñuel.

Great to see Sophia honoured here again, before her 80th birthday in September. I was trying to get London's BFI to do something, and we like MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE (right) a lot, maybe the best of hers with De Sica.  

Left: Antonioni and Vitti at Cannes in 1960 the year L'AVVENTURA was such a sensation that it was booed initially ..

Sophia of course has been a frequent visitor at Cannes over the years, as below:

One of the many photos of her with Alain Delon and Romy Schneider at Cannes in 1962.

Jeanne Moreau, Delon and Sophia at Cannes in 1989.

also Alain and Sophia at a festival in Acapulco in 2011.  

And speaking of Cannes, heres Moreau with Antonioni and Fellini in 1960. 

and Monica Vitti, Alain and Romy, also 1960:

and Burt, Claudia and Alain when THE LEOPARD rolled into town ...

and Alain and Claudia at Cannes in 2010:

We have appreciated recent Cannes prize-winners like AMOUR and BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR, as reviews, 2000s label. 

Below: 1970s Cannes: Charlotte Rampling, Glenda Jackson, Cliff Robertson, Faye Dunaway, Helmut Berger in 1976:

Here is the link to the trailer for THE HUMAN VOICE, the 25 minute film by Edouardo Ponti, and interviews with mother and son at a screening at the Tribeca festival in New York.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jUOFH4kpGc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwCUSkwiZ2A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItJU7yLsfto

As The Daily Mail says: She's been a legendary icon of cinema for nearly 60 years, and even at 79 Sophia Loren still knows how to stun on the red carpet.

The Italian beauty wore a chic red pantsuit as she accompanied her director son Edoardo Ponti to a screening of his new film Human Voice on Monday at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

The screen siren walked hand-in-hand with her 41-year-old son to promote the film in which she stars in her first movie role in 10 years.
How though can one market a 25 minute film? Will it be on television, or a dvd or ?

French glamour, thanks to Monsieur Demy ...

Jacques Demy's films are awash with that particular type of French glamour, as we have noted here before, see labels, where he dresses up Deneuve and Dorleac in those pastels for LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHFORT in 1967, turns Jacques Perrin into a blonde sailor in a sailor suit, gets George Chakiris and Grover Dale into tight trousers, and makes Danielle Darrieux a very glamours mother to the singing and dancing sisters. 
As per report below, LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT is now on the BFI list of '10 Best Gay French Films" ....

Then there is Jeanne Moreau as a very glam blonde at the gambling tables in BAY OF ANGELS in 1963, as well as Anouk Aimee enchanting as LOLA in 1961, and later even more mysterious in MODEL SHOP in '69, as well as the dreamy teaming of Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo in THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG in 1964.

Demy's wife Agnes Varda also made her CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 where Corinne Marchand, a glamours blonde singer, wanders Paris waiting for those medical results in that fascinating 1962 drama. And of course Jean Seberg was IN THE FRENCH STYLE in 1963.

French heart-throbs? The big guys like Delon, Belmondo, Trintignant and Ronet are well represented here, as well as Brigitte Bardot, as per their labels. Here's a bit more on those thriller guys Jean Sorel and Robert Hossein - both going strong in their 80s. Back in 1963 they teamed up for Duvivier's terrific thriller CHAIR DE POULE (HIGHWAY PICKUP) as per my review on that at French/thrillers/Sorel/Hossein labels. 

Sorel & Hossein in '63

 
Classic French glamour of course with Catherine Deneuve (again, in INDOCHINE, which we liked a lot, review at French label), those VIVA MARIA girls, and of course back to the dawn of the 60s, and the PLEIN SOLEIL crew, and Belmondo and Dorleac in THAT MAN FROM RIO! We love them.