Cinestudio's April in Paris film festival running its wish list of classics
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Catherine Deneuve plays a housewife who spends her days as a prostitute in "Belle de Jour." (Robert et Raymond Hakim / HANDOUT)
This is a landmark year for the April in Paris Film Festival. The annual French-language movie series celebrates 20 years at Cinestudio at Trinity College in Hartford.
To mark the occasion, festival organizers have selected some of the most acclaimed movies in the history of Francophone filmmaking, with dramas, a comedy and a documentary spanning 1922 to 2013, all running from March 31 to April 6.
"We always wanted to do a wish list: If you could show anything, what would you show?" says Karen Humphreys, director of the festival.
The films star and were made by beloved icons of French cinema, including directors Jean Renoir, Francois Truffaut, Jacques Audiard, Agnes Varda, Luis Bunuel and Jean Cocteau; and actors Jean Gabin, Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Sandrine Bonnaire and Dita Parlo.
"We wanted to show some films that were important in the history of French cinema, but we also wanted some star appeal, such as with 'Belle de Jour'," which stars Deneuve and is directed by the eternally popular Bunuel, Humphreys says.
The one new film in the lineup is the short "La Persistente" by Camille Lugan. After Lugan's film, which will be shown on April 6 with "La Haine," Lugan will do a Q&A.
Here's the lineup, and some tidbits about each movie. Admission to each film is $10, $8 seniors and students. Details at aprilinparis.org and cinestudio.org.
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Foolish Wives
March 31 at 1:30 p.m. Live piano accompaniment by Patrick Miller
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Erich von Stroheim wrote, directed and stars in this 1922 silent drama about a seducer and the woman he targets.
Von Stroheim was a perfectionist. The prop money he used was so realistic he was arrested for counterfeiting. His sets had expensive porcelain, chandeliers and linens, meal scenes featured real luxury foods and he made actors wear pricey underclothes so they felt as pampered as the characters they portrayed. Studio chiefs eventually took away his cameras so he couldn't spend any more money.
"Foolish Wives" is set on the French Riviera, but it is an American film. It is being included in the lineup to honor von Stroheim, who also stars in "The Grand Illusion," also being screened on March 31.
Erich von Stroheim wrote, directed and stars in the silent 1922 classic "Foolish Wives." (Universal Film Manufacturing Co. / HANDOUT)
The Grand Illusion
March 31 at 7:30 p.m.
This 1937 drama starring Jean Gabin and Dita Parlo tells of a WWI POW camp full of French and Russian soldiers, run by a German commandant (Erich von Stroheim).
Jean Renoir's classic often is listed as one the best movies ever made. It was the first foreign-language film nominated for the best picture Oscar and the first film acquired by prestige DVD producer Criterion Collection.
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The film was named for a book popular at the time: "The Great Illusion" by Norman Angell, whose premise was the futility and absurdity of war. That premise irritated Nazi Germany — when they seized France, they ordered all copies of "The Grand Illusion" destroyed, but some copies survived, including the original negative.
A Prophet
April 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Jacques Audiard's 2009 drama went for realism, emphasizing the gritty atmosphere of prison. The film tells of an Algerian-French man incarcerated in France for a relatively small-time crime, who rises to become an influential and dangerous inmate, more hardened than the man he was when he arrived even though he is haunted by the trauma of his first crime. The central character is both sympathetic and unlikable.
Audiard conceived the movie when he screened a film in a prison and was shocked by the conditions. Audiard hired ex-convicts to play extras and to consult him to ensure the authenticity of the prison atmosphere.
The movie was a blockbuster hit in France, leading to political movements to reform the prison system.
Niels Arestrup, left, and Tahar Rahim star in "A Prophet." (Roger Arpajou / AP)
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Raoul Peck's 2013 documentary takes him back to his homeland, Haiti. The film chronicles the failure of efforts to rebuild that island nation after the devastating 2010 earthquake. International organizations gave billions of dollars, but projects were stymied by the lack of real understanding of the people's needs and by limiting input from Haitians themselves. The quake, which killed 230,000 people, injured 300,000 and left 1.5 million living in tent cities among the rubble, was followed by a questionable election.
"The disaster is not the event itself, but he inability of the community to respond to it," a narrator states.
The aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake is the focus of Raoul Peck's documentary "Fatal Assistance." (Associated Press)
Francois Truffaut's 1975 comedy about a chaotic movie set starred Jacqueline Bisset as Julie Baker, an American star hired to boost the film's box-office odds. At the time, Bisset was a well-established screen star in the United States, with a decade of films to her credit.
The script refers a few times to Bisset's career. One character says he saw Baker in "that movie with the car chase." Bisset starred with Steve McQueen in "Bullitt," from 1968, which had a legendary car chase. Also in the film, Julie says she met her fiancée when his girlfriend contracted chicken pox. In the 1967 film "Two for the Road," Bisset played a woman who got chicken pox, which sent her boyfriend on the road with another woman.
François Truffaut, Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Pierre Léaud in "Day for Night" (Warner Bros. / HANDOUT)
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In Agnes Varda's 1985 tragedy "Vagabond," Mona (Sandrine Bonnaire) is found frozen to death in a ditch. The film then tells the story of how Mona wound up there and why her death was unavoidable. The film's protagonist isn't likable, using everyone she meets for her own gain.
Still, by the end Mona is in her own way relatable, especially in her repudiation of traditional gender roles. Mona rejects normalcy, but still must deal with troubles that all women endure in a sexist world.
Mona's outsider status could be interpreted as a reflection of the career of the director, who is often referred to as "the grandmother of the French New Wave," a groundbreaking cinematic movement predominated by male directors.
Sandrine Bonnaire stars in Agnes Varda's classic "Vagabond." (Cin Tamaris / Films A / HANDOUT)
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Avant-garde director Luis Bunuel's 1967 classic "Belle de Jour" tells the story of Severine (Catherine Deneuve), the pampered, beautiful wife of a sophisticated doctor. Severine loves but does not desire her husband, and gravitates toward a brothel, where she begins to work in the afternoons, serving uncouth customers and feeding her kinky fantasies.
Bunuel once said that even he didn't understand the ending of the movie. But that lack of comprehension fits in well with one of his life philosophies: "All my life I've been harassed by questions: Why is something this way and not another? How do you account for that? This rage to understand, to fill in the blanks, only makes life more banal."
Everyone knows the story of "Beauty and the Beast." Jean Cocteau's 1946 fantasy is still a revelation, a swoony romance between a rose-loving beauty and a prince-turned-beast. Surreal touches include interior décor made of human faces and human arms, as well as a banquet table where the candlesticks are alive.
There's also a touch of "Cinderella" in this adaptation of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's story, including Belle's cruel sisters. Walt Disney saw the film and felt he could never outshine Cocteau's version. When the animated "Beauty and the Beast" was made in 1991 by Disney's studio, it had decorative pieces with faces and arms and a humanized candlestick dancing on a banquet table.
"Beauty and the Beast" is Jean Cocteau's 1946 French surrealistic adaptation of the classic fairy tale. (DisCina)
April 6 at 8 p.m. (accompanied by the short film La Persistente, and preceded at 7 p.m. by a reception)
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Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film "La Haine" tells the story of three young men men — one black, one Arab, one Jewish — as they cope with the aftermath of a riot that put their friend in the hospital. They wander the streets aimlessly, wasting time, the police always ready to pounce on them for any and every small misstep.
The theme of impending doom is reflected in a repeated line of dialogue: "Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself, so far so good, so far so good, so far so good. How you fall doesn't matter. It's how you land."
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Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
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