France

“Quatre-vingt-treize (Ninety-three, 1914/1921) by Albert Capellani & André Antoine with Paul Capellani, Henry Krauss and Philippe Garnier

The story takes place in Brittany in 1793 during the Terror. While the Marquess of Lantenac (P. Garnier) joins the Chouans (royalist insurgents), his nephew Gauvain (P. Capellani) becomes a soldier in the Revolutionary army. The third character is the former priest, Cimourdain, who becomes the head of the Revolutionary army. He was the one who opened Gauvain’s eyes to the new ideas by giving him Rousseau to read. In this adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel the destiny of the three characters are heading for collision. The film shooting was stopped abruptly by the beginning of WWI. A few years later, André Antoine took over as Capellani was unavailable to finish it as he was in America. The film didn’t came out until 1921. Obviously, in the space of 7 years, cinema had moved forward dramatically and Quatre-vingt-treize was undoubtedly dated when it came out.Read More »

Published by Fontana Paperbacks (Flamingo), 1985 (285p.)
Originally published in France as Mon dernier soupir, 1982

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‘Covers everything from his Surrealist days with Dali to his method of making the perfect dry martini, and is as elegant, wise and mischievous as his movies’
J.G. Ballard

‘My Last Breath is pure delight… It’s as funny and provocative as the old chien’s best movies: than which there’s no higher praise’
Salman RushdieRead More »

Originally released in 1970 under the title “Cinema d’hier, cinema d’aujourd’hui”. This is the 1972 English translation.Read More »

Review (taken from Turner Classic Movies)

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“This is the story of a man marked by an image of his childhood,” begins La Jetee (1962), one of the most instantly recognizable and acclaimed short films ever made. Using only still photographs, voiceover narration, sound effects and music, it tells the story of a World War III survivor whose vivid memories make him the subject of time travel experiments. In only one shot of the film–that of “the Woman” opening her eyes in the morning–does the image move. Through such deceptively simple means Chris Marker explores the paradoxes of time travel and, on a deeper philosophical level, the relationships between image and memory, and word and image.Read More »

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France, 1936-37. The Popular Front wins elections, the Spanish Civil War begins, and Hitler and Stalin are manipulating and spying. The brilliant exile, Fiodor Voronin, a general at 20, is the deputy at the White Russian Military Union, probably slated to replace the aging Général Dobrinsky soon. Fiodor’s Greek wife, Arsinoé, paints and stays away from politics, befriending Communist neighbors. Her health declines; the attentive Fiodor arranges care and, against the backdrop of Stalin’s Great Purge, considers his options. He plays a chess game in which love of country, love of Arsinoé, ideology, petty jealousies, and the machinations of power roil in matters of life and death.Read More »

A successful ad man engages in illicit affairs in this romantic comedy satire. Serge (Serge Gainsbourg) is an annual winner at the advertising awards festival held annually in Venice. When he meets the pretty British woman Evelyne (Jane Birkin), he sets her up in an apartment and plans to leave his pregnant wife. The newfound love of the immensely shallow couple is shattered when Evelyne runs off to marry a speedboat racer. Serge continues working for the advertising firm and continues his search for love affairs without commitmentRead More »

An interesting documentary on Renoir’s Regle du Jeu. From the series Image Par Image. Told entirely in images from the film, no talking heads. With optional English subtitles.Read More »

No story.. just a promenade with Isabelle in a park… Read More »

Lucas has invented a new computer language but at the same time he has been informed about his strange terminal illness during which he has been gradually losing his memory. Shortly after that he meets Blanche who acts as a medium in a bizarre traveling show. Dying Lucas follows her to the sea resort where they spend together several days and nightsRead More »