Cycle
From 22.01. To 07.05.2002.
Retrospective of the 100 greatest films of French Cinematography
Films in cycle
Elevator to the Gallows
(Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, France, 1958)
Directed by: Louis Malle
PHOTOGRAPHY: Henri Decaë
Synopsis:
Florence and her husband have come up with a perfect plan of how to get rid of her husband, a successful and very rich businessman: they will use his own gun and make it look like a suicide. Things, though, do not go as planned. As soon as Julian thinks he has committed the perfect crime, he finds out that he has left behind the hook he used to climb onto the balcony. He returns to get it but things take a course of their own… Film has both English and Croatian subtitles!
b/w, 91'
PROJECTION:
Tuesday 22.01.2002 AT 17:00
The great manoeuvres
(Les grandes manoeuvres, 1955)
Directed by: René Clair
PHOTOGRAPHY: Robert Lefebvre
Synopsis:
The great manoeuvres referred to, which occur in the atmosphere of the First World War, are not military ones but rather love ones. Armand, a lover with a bad reputation, bets against other soldiers that he will seduce the beautiful Marie-Louise. Soon his reputation is at stake, and one rival, out of sheer jealousy, reveals the secret of the bet.
color, 106 min
PROJECTION:
Tuesday 22.01.2002 AT 21:00
A nos amours
(À nos amours, 1983)
Directed by: Maurice Pialat
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jacques Loiseleux
Synopsis:
Suzanne is a minor in a family falling apart. The father has a lover. The mother has no control whatsoever, and the brother decides to take the role of a father in an aggressive way. Suzanne jumps in and out of various sexual relationships, getting involved with everybody but the boy who is in love with her.
color, 95 min
PROJECTION:
Tuesday 29.01.2002 AT 17:00
La maman et la putain
(1973)
Directed by: Jean Eustache
Synopsis:
Eustache himself defined his film as "A description of a normal flow of events without dramaturgical shortcuts.” Alexandre lives with Marie, who supports him financially, then he meets Veronica and gets involved with her. Alexandre loves to talk. The question remains whether the women listen to him out of love or they wait to see if he can surpass himself in stupidities.
black and white, 210 min
PROJECTION:
Tuesday 29.01.2002 AT 19:00
Et Dieu… créa la femme
(1956)
Directed by: Roger Vadim
Synopsis:
Juliete is an eighteen-year-old sex-bomb without parents. Faced with return to the orphanage, she marries Michele, but his brother Antoine might bring some confusion into their fragile relationship. Juliete soon has to decide between Michele’s respect and her old lifestyle.
color, 95 min
PROJECTION:
Friday 22.02.2002 AT 19:00
The Sky Is Yours
(Le ciel est ŕ vous, 1944)
Directed by: Jean Grémillon
Synopsis:
Story of persistence that shows how an ordinary man can become a hero. The Gauthiers live in a small provincial town. Pierre, who was a pilot during WW 1, gives flying lessons to his wife, even though their friends are skeptical. However, their enthusiasm proves right and gives results; Pierre’s wife Thérčse breaks the world record in duration flying (the film was inspired by a historical event).
black and white, 105 min
PROJECTION:
Tuesday 23.04.2002 AT 17:00
Children of Paradise
(Les enfants du paradis, France, 1945)
Directed by: Marcel Carné
PHOTOGRAPHY: Marc Fossard, Roger Hubert
Synopsis:
Garance is a courtesan and the central figure in a story of life in the 19th century French theatre. Although married, Baptiste, the mime, is in love with Garance. There are signs that his love could be returned, but a brutal criminal Lacenaire and an ambitious actor Frédérick are also interested in Garance. The film is divided in two parts because the Nazi government in the WW II banned filming of movies longer than 90 minutes. Film has both English and Croatian subtitles!
b/w, 189'
PROJECTION:
Tuesday 23.04.2002 AT 19:00
The Battle of the Rails
(La bataille du rail, 1946.)
Directed by: René Clément
PHOTOGRAPHY: Henri Alekan
Synopsis:
Clément’s film was initially planned as a documentary, but during shooting became something more. Many railroad workers were joined by film professionals and the result is a film enriched with fictional dialogues and scenes, and a reconstruction of events that took place in the time of French resistance and which peaked with the attack on a German armored train.
35 mm, b/w, 85 min
PROJECTION:
Tuesday 30.04.2002 AT 17:00
Beauty and the Beast
(La belle et la bęte, 1946.)
Directed by: Jean Cocteau
Synopsis:
The story is based on the 18-century fairytale about the love between the Beauty and the Beast. One day the Beast captures Beauty’s father who just realized that his job has collapsed. The father is released to go home under the condition that he or one of his three daughters returns in three days. Two wicked daughters find an excuse but the Beauty goes to save her father. In the Beast’s magic castle it will be shown that love between two differences is possible...
black and white, 110 min
PROJECTION:
Tuesday 30.04.2002 AT 19:00
Jenny Lamour
(France, 1947)
Directed by: Henri-Georges Clouzot
PHOTOGRAPHY: Armand Thirard
Synopsis:
Jenny Lamour is a singer who wants to succeed no matter how high a price she has to pay. Her husband does not agree with that and even less does he like Jenny’s contact with the rich Brignon. When Brignon is found dead, inspector Antoine tries to reveal the events and find the murderer.
b/w, 106'
PROJECTION:
Tuesday 30.04.2002 AT 21:00
Orfeus
(Orphée, France, 1950)
Directed by: Jean Cocteau
PHOTOGRAPHY: Nicolas Hayer
Synopsis:
An eccentric remake of the Greek myth of Orpheus; Cocteau has turned a simple story into a complex one by placing it in urban, postwar Paris. His Orpheus is in love with Euridice, and with the princess as well, who symbolizes death that has come to take him. To make things even more complex, princess’ driver is in love with Euridice.
b/w, 95'
PROJECTION:
Tuesday 07.05.2002 AT 17:00
Pleasure
(Le plaisir, France, 1952)
Directed by: Max Ophüls
PHOTOGRAPHY: Philippe Agostini, Christian Matras
Synopsis:
In the first story of this classic French film about youth, an old man brings back his youth by wearing a mask; in the second story the owner of a brothel in Paris discovers love on a visit to the country with the prostitutes; in the last story – about death – an artist falls in love with his model.
b/w, 97'
PROJECTION:
Tuesday 07.05.2002 AT 17:00
Mr. Hulot’s Holiday
(Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot, France, 1953)
Directed by: Jacques Tati
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jacques Mercanton, Jean Mousselle
Synopsis:
Mr Hulot arrives to a hotel for a vacation on the French coast. He is charming and all the other guests like him, yet his vacation soon becomes strenuous for everybody. Wherever he turns, trouble follows him, though he is completely unaware of it. This film depicts holiday events with the sort of attention to detail typical of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin’s films.