LA NOUVELLE VAGUE The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema.Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of the literary period pieces being made in France and written by novelists, their spirit of youthful iconoclasm, the desire to shoot more current social issues on location, and their intention of experimenting with the film form. “New Wave� is an example of European art cinema. Many also engaged in their work with the social and political upheavals of the era, making their radical experiments with editing, visual style and narrative part of a general break with the conservative paradigm.
FRENCH NEW WAVE Oct 4 ~ Nov 25 7PM FREE
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FREN
ART CENTER F
19 NOV
La Pointe Courte By Agnès Varda A young man (Philippe Noiret) arrives at a train station to see his wife. After four years of marriage the couple finds difficulty in their marriage as the husband has left there without her. The couple discuss their lives without settling on their current romantic situation. The man takes his wife back to a train without any clear statement on the couple’s relationship. Meanwhile, A government official arrives to see if local fishermen in the village are fishing without permits. In the village a child has died and a fisherman is jailed for fishing without a license while a young man has arranged a marriage between him and his sixteen year old girlfriend.
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FILM CLUB PRESENTS
NEW 4 OCT
À Bout De Souffle By Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Paul Belmondo had already appeared in a few feature films prior to Breathless, but he had no name recognition outside of France at the time Godard was planning the film. In order to broaden the film’s commercial appeal, Godard sought out a prominent leading lady who would be willing to work in his low-budget film. He came to Jean Seberg through her thenhusband, Francois Moreuil, with whom he had been acquainted. During the production, Seberg privately questioned Godard’s style and wondered if the film would be commercially viable.
W WA 8 OCT
Le Mépris By Jean-Luc Godard Contempt (Le Mépris) is a 1963 film directed by Jean-Luc Godard, based on the Italian novel Il disprezzo by Alberto Moravia. Italian film producer Carlo Ponti approached Jean Luc Godard to discuss a possible collaboration; Godard suggested an adaptation of Moravia’s novel Il disprezzo in which he saw Kim Novak and Frank Sinatra as the leads; they refused. Ponti suggested Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, whom Godard refused. Finally, Bardot was chosen, because of the producer’s insistence that the profits might be increased by displaying her famously sensual body.
AVE FI
22 NOV
Masculin Féminin By Jean-Luc Godard Masculin Féminin is a 1966 French film directed by Jean-Luc Godard. It stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Chantal Goya, Marlène Jobert and Michel Debord. Masculin Féminin is a notable film within Godard’s 60s period of filmmaking, and is considered by critics as representative of 1960s France and Paris. The film contains references to various pop culture icons and political figures around that time, such as Charles de Gaulle and André Malraux to James Bond and Bob Dylan, and follows Godard’s non-linear filmmaking techniques and narratives. The main story is at times interrupted by various sequences and sub-plots, including a scene paraphrased from LeRoi Jones’ Dutchman.
ILM
24 OCT
27 OCT
Jules et Jim By François Truffaut Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim) is a 1962 French film directed by François Truffaut based on Henri-Pierre Roché’s 1953 semiautobiographical novel about his relationship with writer Franz Hessel and his wife, Helen Grund. Truffaut came across the book in the mid-1950s whilst browsing through some secondhand books in Paris and later befriended the elderly Roché. The author approved of the young director’s attempt to translate his work to another medium. The soundtrack by Georges Delerue was named as one of the “10 best soundtracks” by Time magazine in its “All Time 100 Movies” list.The film ranked 46 in Empire magazine’s “The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema” in 2010.
Ascenseur pour l’échafaud By Louis Malle Ascenseur pour l’échafaud is a 1958 French film directed by Louis Malle. It was released as Elevator to the Gallows in the USA and as Lift to the Scaffold in the UK. It stars Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet as criminal lovers whose perfect crime begins to unravel when Ronet is trapped in an elevator. The film is often associated by critics with the film noir style. According to recent studies, it also introduces very peculiar narrative and editing techniques so that it can be considered a very important experience at the base of the Nouvelle Vague and the so-called New Modern Cinema. The movie presents also unique and completely new solutions in the history of cinema in the relationship between music and image.
14 NOV
La Boulangère de Monceau By Éric Rohmer The Bakery Girl of Monceau or The Girl at the Monceau Bakery (La Boulangère de Monceau) is a 1963 film by Éric Rohmer. The film was the first of Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales, which consisted of 2 shorts and 4 feature films. The main character is played by Barbet Schroeder, but was dubbed by Bertrand Tavernier, whose voice Rohmer judged more appropriate for the very literary voice-over. The structure of the film is about a man who sees and falls in love with a woman he passes by in the street, but he doesn’t know how to talk to her. When he finally speaks to her, she disappears and he begins a daily search for her in the area that he has seen her in.
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La Pointe Courte By Agnès Varda
NOV
A young man (Philippe Noiret) arrives at a train station to see his wife. After four years of marriage the couple finds difficulty in their marriage as the husband has left there without her. The couple discuss their lives without settling on their current romantic situation. The man takes his wife back to a train without By Agnès Varda any clear statement on the couple’s relationship. Meanwhile, A government official arrives to see if local fishermen Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7) is a 1962 Left Bank film by in the village are fishing without permits. In the village a child Agnès Varda. The story starts with a young singer, Florence has died and a fisherman is jailed for fishing without a license “Cléo” Victoire, at 5PM June 21, as she waits until 7PM to hear while a young man has arranged a marriage between him and his the results of a medical test that will possibly confirm a diagsixteen year old girlfriend. nosis of stomach cancer. The film is noted for its handling of several of the themes of existentialism, including discussions of mortality, the idea of despair, and leading a meaningful life. The film has a strong feminine viewpoint and raises questions about how women are perceived. The role of mirrors are prevalent to symbolize self-obsession.
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Cléo de 5 à 7
NOV
9
NOV
Cléo de 5 à 7 By Agnès Varda Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7) is a 1962 Left Bank film by Agnès Varda. The story starts with a young singer, Florence “Cléo” Victoire, at 5PM June 21, as she waits until 7PM to hear the results of a medical test that will possibly confirm a diagnosis of stomach cancer. The film is noted for its handling of several of the themes of existentialism, including discussions of mortality, the idea of despair, and leading a meaningful life. The film has a strong feminine viewpoint and raises questions about how women are perceived. The role of mirrors are prevalent to symbolize self-obsession.
25 NOV
Paris Nous Appartient By Jacques Rivette Paris Belongs to Us (Paris nous appartient, sometimes translated as Paris Is Ours) is a 1960 French mystery film directed by Jacques Rivette and starring Betty Schneider. Begun in 1957 and completed three years later, it was then-critic Rivette’s first full-length film as a director and one of the first works of the French New Wave, though it was not released theatrically until 1961. The plot centres around a group of actors rehearsing Shakespeare’s Pericles for a performance that never happens. The film operates as a depiction of bohemian Parisian life in the late 1950s, framed in a frightening world-view coloured by anxiety and fatigue, paranoia and disillusionment.