Avenging the Destruction of True Love: François Truffaut’s ‘The Bride Wore Black’
“In ‘The Bride Wore Black,’ cruel fate rips true love away from the innocent, suggesting that Truffaut believed pure happiness is only found in fairy tales.”
The Crashing of the Wave: ‘Six in Paris’
“Despite being an uneven grouping hardly representative of the best these filmmakers had to offer, ‘Six in Paris’ is an interesting capsule of moments in time and space.”
Five Films to See at Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2018
Marshall Shaffer’s Selections for Rendez-Vous with French Cinema (March 8-18, 2018)
The Anti-Romance of Agnès Varda’s ‘La Pointe Courte’
“The point is to look as closely as Varda herself, who watches every detail with curiosity, kindness and a relentless sense of wonder.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Jeremy Carr on Jacques Demy’s ‘Lola’
“Like his characters, Demy’s camera in ‘Lola’ moves everywhere but goes nowhere; it’s a paradoxically headlong hesitation.”
Political and Social Conventions in Jacques Demy’s ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’
“Fifty-three years after initial release, ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’ continues to be a formally and contextually innovative French New Wave production; a film that has influenced contemporary directors such as Barry Jenkins, Damien Chazelle and Joachim Trier.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Jeremy Carr on François Truffaut’s ‘Shoot the Piano Player’
“While Truffaut’s ‘Day for Night’ (1973) is his most pronounced and profound love letter to the moviemaking process, ‘Shoot the Piano Player’ is an exuberant tribute to the end result.”
Éric Rohmer’s Battle of the Sexes
“Rohmer cares more about posing questions than providing the comfort of a conclusion.”
The Aesthetic and Formal Challenges of Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Contempt’
“‘Contempt’ is a daunting and formally labyrinthine work, calling its own fallibility to question even as it submits completely to the romance of cinema.”
Vaguebande: Changing Horizons
“It reminds me of Ingmar Bergman films and the inspirational depression that I love.”
Vague Visages on Agnès Varda’s 88th: ‘Vagabond’
“People often fear or misrepresent what they don’t understand.”
Vague Visages on Agnès Varda’s 88th: ‘Jane B. par Agnès V.’
“An uncompromising visionary, Agnès Varda seems unable to acknowledge precedent or standard practice when becoming involved with creative works.”
Vague Visages on Agnès Varda’s 88th: ‘The Gleaners & I’
“Varda’s sense of play, fun, silliness and humor comes from a collected bricolage of incident, travel and people.”
Vague Visages on Agnès Varda’s 88th: ‘Le Bonheur’
“Happiness for someone, then, is only achievable at the expense of someone else’s full experience?”
Vague Visages on Agnès Varda’s 88th: ‘La Pointe Courte’
“How unusual to see a woman’s perspective on love presented so plainly as Varda does in ‘La Pointe Courte.'”
Capitolo 20: Mani in Alto / Marco Bellocchio’s ‘Fists in the Pocket’
A Series on Italian Cinema by Q.V. Hough