The High Museum of Art presents French Film Yesterday and Today beginning Friday, April 13, through Saturday, April 21. The series’ four films include a treasured masterpiece and fresh, contemporary productions, including “The Rules of the Game,” one of France’s most influential films of all time, and “Lemming,” which was selected to open the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
“This year’s French Film Yesterday and Today offers lovers of contemporary French cinema the pleasure of seeing some of that country’s greatest talents—Isabelle Huppert, Charlotte Rampling, Charlotte Gainsbourgh and Catherine Frot—at work in a trio of brilliantly acted movies,” said Linda Dubler, Curator of Media Arts at the High. “In addition, those who enjoy the classics shouldn’t miss ‘The Rules of The Game,’ Jean Renoir’s masterpiece, routinely cited as one of the ten greatest films ever, finally presented in a newly restored 35mm print.”
April 10 and April 12, La Moustache
Directed by Emmanuel Carrère
- A successful architect, Marc finds his world improbably unraveling over a trifle: his wife, smart, self-assured Agnes, fails to recognize that he’s shaved his mustache. Unnerved by her silence, he presses her to comment on his new look, and she replies insistently that he’s always been smooth-lipped. Thus begins the steady erosion of Marc’s sanity, along with his once happy, even passionate, marriage. In the L.A. Times, Kevin Thomas called this witty psychological mystery “a deliciously unsettling, beautifully sustained enigma, a film of much beauty and flawless performances.” (France, 2005, 87 minutes.) In French, English, and Cantonese with subtitles.
April 11, Forever
Directed by Heddy Honigmann
- Paris’s Père Lachaise cemetery, the final resting place of Jim Morrison, Proust, Modigliani, and Chopin, is the inspiration for Dutch filmmaker Heddy Honigmann’s tender documentary Forever. With generosity and warmth, the filmmaker records her encounters with pilgrims at the graves of the famous and conversations with locals who tend the plots of their loved ones. Among others, we meet an Iranian-born cab driver paying homage to his countryman, the exiled poet Sadegh Hedayat; a Japanese pianist devoted to Chopin; an embalmer who visits the remains of the artist Modigliani to find inspiration for his work on faces; and a tart-tongued, humorous Parisienne whose husband is buried in the neighborhood of rocker Jim Morrison. In a Salon.com review, Andrew O’Hehir called Forever “One of the purest, most moving motion pictures of the year.” (Netherlands, 2006, 95 minutes.) In French and English with subtitles.
April 18, Gabrielle
Directed by Patrice Chéreau
- Drawn from a story by Joseph Conrad, this elegant, chilly chamber drama directed by Patrice Chereau could be called “Scenes from a Marriage: Belle Époque.” The year is 1912, the place Paris, and the setting the exquisitely appointed household of a model couple, Jean (Pascal Greggory) and Gabrielle (Isabelle Huppert). They’re famous for their weekly salon, where self-designated intellectuals spar over the latest ideas, and admired for their wealth and sophistication. But theirs is an empty marriage, doomed by Jean’s iciness, summed up in his attitude that emotion is revolting. When Gabrielle inevitably strays, he discovers that though he never believed in love, he may not be able to live without it. (France, Germany, Italy, 2005, 90 minutes.) In French with subtitles.
“This year’s French Film Yesterday and Today offers lovers of contemporary French cinema the pleasure of seeing some of that country’s greatest talents—Isabelle Huppert, Charlotte Rampling, Charlotte Gainsbourgh and Catherine Frot—at work in a trio of brilliantly acted movies,” said Linda Dubler, Curator of Media Arts at the High. “In addition, those who enjoy the classics shouldn’t miss ‘The Rules of The Game,’ Jean Renoir’s masterpiece, routinely cited as one of the ten greatest films ever, finally presented in a newly restored 35mm print.”
April 10 and April 12, La Moustache
Directed by Emmanuel Carrère
- A successful architect, Marc finds his world improbably unraveling over a trifle: his wife, smart, self-assured Agnes, fails to recognize that he’s shaved his mustache. Unnerved by her silence, he presses her to comment on his new look, and she replies insistently that he’s always been smooth-lipped. Thus begins the steady erosion of Marc’s sanity, along with his once happy, even passionate, marriage. In the L.A. Times, Kevin Thomas called this witty psychological mystery “a deliciously unsettling, beautifully sustained enigma, a film of much beauty and flawless performances.” (France, 2005, 87 minutes.) In French, English, and Cantonese with subtitles.
April 11, Forever
Directed by Heddy Honigmann
- Paris’s Père Lachaise cemetery, the final resting place of Jim Morrison, Proust, Modigliani, and Chopin, is the inspiration for Dutch filmmaker Heddy Honigmann’s tender documentary Forever. With generosity and warmth, the filmmaker records her encounters with pilgrims at the graves of the famous and conversations with locals who tend the plots of their loved ones. Among others, we meet an Iranian-born cab driver paying homage to his countryman, the exiled poet Sadegh Hedayat; a Japanese pianist devoted to Chopin; an embalmer who visits the remains of the artist Modigliani to find inspiration for his work on faces; and a tart-tongued, humorous Parisienne whose husband is buried in the neighborhood of rocker Jim Morrison. In a Salon.com review, Andrew O’Hehir called Forever “One of the purest, most moving motion pictures of the year.” (Netherlands, 2006, 95 minutes.) In French and English with subtitles.
April 18, Gabrielle
Directed by Patrice Chéreau
- Drawn from a story by Joseph Conrad, this elegant, chilly chamber drama directed by Patrice Chereau could be called “Scenes from a Marriage: Belle Époque.” The year is 1912, the place Paris, and the setting the exquisitely appointed household of a model couple, Jean (Pascal Greggory) and Gabrielle (Isabelle Huppert). They’re famous for their weekly salon, where self-designated intellectuals spar over the latest ideas, and admired for their wealth and sophistication. But theirs is an empty marriage, doomed by Jean’s iciness, summed up in his attitude that emotion is revolting. When Gabrielle inevitably strays, he discovers that though he never believed in love, he may not be able to live without it. (France, Germany, Italy, 2005, 90 minutes.) In French with subtitles.
RSS Feed (xml)
No comments:
Post a Comment