meeting venus is a 1991 british – american-japanese film directed by the hungarian director istván szabó and starring glenn close , niels arestrup , marián labuda , victor poletti , jay o. sanders , maria de medeiros and johanna ter steege .

the movie was filmed in budapest , hungary .

meeting venus

meeting venus
uses an international opera production as a way of showing them all in collision .
meeting venus has all that is required in a great dramatic opera , but has one thing that most dramatic operas don ' t , real humour .
david puttnam ( chariots of fire ) produces , istva ? n szabo ? ( mephisto ) directs and dame kiri te kanawa ' s singing voice adorns this comedy of life , love , art and happiness - pursued not in that order but all at once . romantic comedy at its finest , meeting venus is destined for curtain calls !
i imagine that if grand opera were really like this , there would not be any of it . on the other hand , productions and whole seasons are lost because of labor disputes , and the realism of
meeting venus
begins to shade over into the satire of
this is spinal tap
in the sequence where the right union man cannot be found to press the button to raise the curtain .
although
meeting venus
which opens today at the fine arts and takes it title from the character in
tannhauser ,
is steeped in the refined atmosphere of grand opera , its conception of artistic ferment recalls other backstage films about other realms , like francois truffaut ' s
day for night
and bob fosse ' s
all that jazz .
the characters ' various romances , rivalries and insecurities are skillfully coaxed toward a creative triumph , while the film maker also takes time to savor the human comedy at hand . istvan szabo , the director of
mephisto
and
colonel redl ,
may not match truffaut ' s subtle wit or fosse ' s galvanizing energy , but he has a wry , bemused outlook that keeps
meeting venus
on track . and this film ' s heightened political outlook gives it an added dimension .
any film which bills itself , as indeed this one does , as being about life , love , music and the chaotic pursuit of happiness !  deserves to be given the widest possible berth in the interest of preserving good taste alone . that particular option being closed to this reviewer , it is an enormous relief to report that meeting venus is actually really rather an entertaining , if somewhat low - key melodrama and a good deal less saccharine than its aforementioned blurb would suggest .
behind the scenes in the elegant world of grand opera , there is at least as much scheming , flirting and back - stabbing as there is anywhere else . that is the message of
meeting venus ,
a thoroughly enjoyable backstage drama that also functions as a political parable , since the opera company under consideration is a hotbed of prickly national stereotypes .
this is the opera europa ,
one member of the film ' s large international cast explains .
here you can be misunderstood in six different languages .
there is also a seventh : the language of love .
the version of tannhäuser that can be heard in the movie is performed by kiri te kanawa as elisabeth , rené kollo as tannhäuser , håkan hagegård as wolfram von eschenbach and waltraud meier as venus with the london philharmonia orchestra conducted by marek janowski . the composer david bedford provided extra orchestrations and music for the film .
meeting venus
has musical credits that are at least as critical as its dramatic ones , since much of the film ' s appeal lies in the musical backdrop for its story . most notable are kiri te kanawa , whose voice is heard as karin anderson ' s , and the philharmonia orchestra of london , which provides accompaniment . in this film ' s opening scenes , actors playing orchestra members are seen scratching their backs with bows and flying paper airplanes , which contributes to the air of casualness that is gradually banished as the production takes shape . by the time of the film ' s stirring ending , it ' s clear that each of these incidents , no matter how small , has played a role in shaping an opening night ' s triumph .
when this movie was released in german movie theaters i was very compelled . glenn close as the famous swedish soprano and niels arestrup ( i never caught any movies with him after
meeting venus
and wonder what he ' s doing now ? ) as the talented conductor preparing
tannhaeuser
by wagner are very convincing in their roles . glenn close has her usual running through the rain scene like in
fatal attraction
: ) . since 2000 i was waiting for this gem to be released on dvd and wonder why it took 20 years ? i ' m glad i can erase it from my long wish list of movies that are still not out on dvd . it was about time . . . for me it has passed the test of time . very recommendable for lovers of classical music and close & arestrup fans . 5 stars .
szanto ' s characters are universally beautifully observed  particularly the outrageous maite nahyr , playing venus like a loveable cross between divine and roseanne barr on speed  and  check out those screen credits  theres barely an american name between them . arestrup , making his debut in an international film , easily holds his own against close  reprising fatal attraction hysteria to devastating effect  and even manages a tearful close - up , which is presumably okay for a chap of the hot - blooded eastern european kind .
he also might have remembered his first meeting with susan where he first saw the globe - she was the one true love in his life ( in the words of the el rancho nightclub waiter :
why , ' til he died , she ' d just as soon talk about mr . kane as about anybody
) . she wasn ' t impressed by his wealth - and they experienced a loving relationship until his tyrannical demands led her to abandon him . she left to prove that she could act independently of him ( in her own words :
i can ' t do this to you ? oh , yes i can
) . he died an old man , friendless , loveless , but wealthy and able to buy susan ' s love , but not truly invested in her . his power and wealth were unable to halt his decline - his crusade to be a trust - busting champion of the people faltered amidst storehouses of wealth and opulence .
in the film ' s conclusion , thompson is joined by other newsreel people who have gathered at the estate . as they talk , they walk through the enormous warehouse stacked with crates , furniture , and other possessions . an amazing crane shot tracks their progress through the boxes and statues that are being inventoried ( and worth
millions - if anybody wants it
) . various objects (
junk
as well as
art
) are identified that kane collected (
never threw . . . away
) : a 4th century venus (
$ 25 , 000 bucks . that ' s a lot of money to pay for a dame without a head
) , the welcome back cup , one stove from the colorado estate sale of mary kane ' s properties (
value two dollars
) , susan ' s jigsaw puzzles (
we ' ve got a lot of those
) , a burmese temple and three spanish ceilings down the hall , and more worldly goods . [ in the entourage that follows along , one glimpses the figure of a hat - wearing man smoking a cigar - future star alan ladd , in his film debut . ]
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a deliciously biting satire about both the world of grand opera and united europe . a hungarian conductor ( arestrup ) attempts to mount a bold new production of richard wagner ' s
tannhäuser
. . . see full summary »
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the story shows emma ' s and böbe ' s fight for survival , for keeping their position in society which they achieved with hard work in the previous regime . they don ' t want to lose their place and become village girls again .
fact - based recounting of a group of women who are imprisoned on the island of sumatra by the japanese during world war ii and used music as a relief to their misery .
young honest public official is sworn in after his predecessor had to leave due to a corruption scandal . soon , the young idealist discovers just how far - reaching the corruption is in his town and how easy it is to become corrupt yourself .
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linda and michael , married for ten years , desperately want a baby and turn to an adoption agency which introduces them to lucy , a teenage girl expecting her first baby . the three agree that . . . see full summary »
during ww2 hungarian resistance hides a married couple from the officials . the woman is sent to act as the wife of one of the resistance members who is also in hiding and pretending to be somebody else . they slowly begin to fall in love .
a 1920s flapper who haunts her old house possesses a dull housewife who just moved in . hilarity ensues .
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ex - football star mike gambril meets terry mckay on a flight to sydney , which is forced to land on a small atoll . both engaged to others , they become romantic on board the ship sent to take . . . see full summary »
a tale based on the life of wilhelm furtwangler , the controversial conductor of the berlin philharmonic whose tenure coincided with the controversial nazi era . one of the most spectacular . . . see full summary »
a deliciously biting satire about both the world of grand opera and united europe . a hungarian conductor ( arestrup ) attempts to mount a bold new production of richard wagner ' s
tannhäuser
while navigating the snares and pitfalls of artistic egos , rampant nationalism , internal company and union politics , and precarious funding .
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basically the story of a man forced to finally see the injustice around him . riley’s movie is designed to do the same thing to you . …
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
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as the new europe edges uncertainly toward its future , the parts uneasily eye the whole . there are not only the obvious problems of language and culture , but also ideas about work and love and art .
the story takes place in paris , where a new production of
tannheuser
is contemplated . the conductor ( niels arestrup ) is from hungary . the diva ( glenn close ) is a temperamental superstar from sweden . the baritone is a rotund east german who thinks mostly about obtaining hard currency to use in his auto - painting business . when his voice fails , his substitute is an insipid american who is constantly reminded of how things were done differently , and better , in previous productions he has been involved in .
and then there are , of course , the musicians , and the members of the chorus , and the stagehands and electricians and painters and property masters , all members of unions that are ferociously protective of their contracts . and in the front office , management tries to keep everyone happy by taking no clear position on anything .
the position of the hungarian conductor must have been inspired in some ways by the position of this film ' s director , istvan szabo . he is the leading contemporary hungarian director ( with credits such as the superb
mephisto
) , but now , with the collapse of state subsidies and the opening of eastern europe , he , like his character , must learn ( in the words of robert altman ) to fiddle on the corner where the quarters are .
in the film , the director tries vainly to keep everybody happy all of the time , and finds that his duties apparently include an affair with glenn close , who is quite sincere and actually very touching during their sweet little love affair , although eventually he , and we , begin to speculate that this is not the first time this diva has gone to bed with her conductor .
there are dozens of major and minor characters in the film , and szabo juggles them artfully , telling some of their stories and transient flirtations in asides and background action . meanwhile , the conductor , who is married , finds himself back in budapest with his wife and his new mistress both at the same time , and the messiness of reality begins to interfere with the unreal backstage world of the opera .
the music in the film is of a high level ( close is dubbed by kiri te kanawa ) , but there is not very much of it , and indeed we see little of
tannheuser .
that isn ' t the point . the point may be that opera , with all of its romance and coincidence , cannot approach the absurdity of life . or it may be that through art europe must find its common destiny . if that is so , szabo seems to argue , it will not be an easy task .
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better at the edges than the center - - the story is weak , but there are wonderfully vivid , wise , and witty moments and some insight into the multi - cultural challenges of a huge musical undertaking .
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everything is set for the rehearsal . nothing can go wrong . then , in the grandest of entrances , she walks in . she is international star karin anderson ( glenn close ) . her arrival adds to conductor zoltan szanto ' s daily damage control within opera europa (
where you can be misunderstood in six different languages
) . she and the married maestro soon begin a passionate affair . life may imitate art . but love and the lunacy it inspires have no rehearsals . karin and frazzled zoltan ( niels arestrup ) must figure things out as they go .
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after searching for over 15 years , finally locating the dvd 5 years ago only to find it inexplicably would play on everyone ' s unit except mine , it was simply wonderful to try again with this new version which does work on my player . the movie is one of my favorites , bringing laughter , beautifully thrilling music , and tears of joy to me . i ' m sure it will do the same for anyone who appreciates theater , especially musical theater , and most especially opera . with all the backstage problems and backbiting to overcome , it ' s a miracle that any theater company manages to mount a production , much less an exhilarating and awe - inspiring production such as the one that closes this film .
i ordered this movie because it was the first one my boyfriend and i saw together when we first went dating , so it has sentimental value for me . i remembered the movie to be special , with dry humor yet entertaining and so romantic , that i wanted it to be part of my treasured dvd collection . apart from that glenn close is amazing in her role ! i recommend it especially for the opera fans .
having seen this movie and raving about it years ago ( rented from blockbuster ) . i was surprised when attempting to purchase , it was unavailable . but i kept checking up on amazon and was thrilled when weeks later it was for sale . everyone expects drama from opera but an adult comedy , with the supreme glenn close the most glorious music of wagner ( in bits and pieces so even the most operaphobic could tolerate ) and dame kiri te kanawa , surprisingly handling the music with flair ( she is not known as a wagnerian ) combine into a delightful human comedy for music - lovers , film - lovers and glenn close - lovers .
for classical music fans this film is an absolute delight , but even if you are not into opera you will love it . it is a great and complicated love story between a diva and a conductor . the film is also a wonderfully drawn vignette of the cultural clashes and ego - battles that accompany the birth of a great opera production . when i first read about the movie i had trouble seeing glenn close in the role of an opera diva , but she does a marvelous job , and her lip - synching to the absolutely divine soundtrack of kiri te kanawa is really pretty good . her counterpart nils arestrup does a wonderful job as well , playing the introvert , yet passionate conductor , for whom the whole paris opera experience is alien and strange in more than one way . the soundbites from wagner ' s tannhaeuser are well - picked and enchanting . some people may find the overall storyline predictable , but that does not take away from the overall very high quality of this movie
one of my favorite movies of all time ! ok , so i ' m an opera singer and know each and every one of the types portrayed here , including the long - suffering conductor who is a dead ringer in every way to the first conductor i worked with professionally . but even if you aren ' t you ' ll love it too . and it ' s topical , too ! a may 2013 production of tannhäuser in düsseldorf was just almost cancelled for its nazi themes , though there ' s just the one such ballet scene in the film .
i wanted to see a film with classical music and the world of musicians as a main theme and got what i wanted . well - acted , a bit quirky , solid drama .
glenn close should have received an oscar for this performance . the rest of the cast is also terrific . very involving story .
the music is sublime , as are the real voices . the acting , first class . the story : hilarious - - the first time eurotrash opera has been illuminated as comedy . too true to be good !
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glenn close , lofty and radiant as a world - famous swedish diva , makes a perfect centerpiece for the film ' s romantic intrigues , which constantly threaten to upstage the production of wagner ' s
tannhauser
that is in the works . as karin anderson , she makes a spectacularly nonchalant grand entrance by arriving late at the paris opera house where rehearsals have begun and by offering genteelly effusive greetings to everyone except the conductor , zoltan szanto ( niels arestrup ) , who gets a dirty look .
every bit the prima donna , karin is feeling spiteful over remarks she thinks zoltan made regarding her age , sexual preference and general operatic talent . zoltan , for his part , is almost too busy to notice , because he is being slyly pursued by most of the young women in the company and because he has a wife and daughter back home in budapest .
dear edith , everything moves so slowly here , apparently due to democracy ,
he writes in one of his many letters home , letters that grow less and less candid as events in paris begin to set off sparks .
i cannot mix up my work with my private life ,
zoltan eventually declares during an afternoon tryst in karin ' s hotel room . and both of them burst into giggles at that .
is it my face that irritates them or just the stale smell of eastern europe ?
zoltan wonders , as his passport is too closely examined by french officials in the film ' s plain , almost pedestrian opening scenes . in this way , mr . szabo ' s characters constantly combine personal and political attributes , even when - - especially when - - they are reduced to the level of calling one another names . resorting to crude national stereotypes takes on the quality of caricature , as do various arguments about the fate of european communism , arguments that inevitably go nowhere . from the company director with a socialist past to the short , stocky tannhauser , who is accused of
german aggressiveness
by a colleague , those in the film wear their national or political identity on their sleeves .
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there are also more than enough eccentricities to go around , from the huge , amorous , spaghetti - loving diva who is karin ' s co - star to the debonair , balding office assistant whose exact sex is a mystery . mr . szabo allows the film ' s many individual characters to emerge sharply , and he has assembled a remarkably well - rounded international cast . among the more conspicuous players are erland josephson as the gentlemanly company director ; maria de madeiros , who starred in
henry and june
and flashes zoltan her most cryptic and inviting smile , and the arresting dutch actress johanna ter steege , who starred in
the vanishing ,
as a singer who fights zoltan ' s favoritism toward the utterly magnetic karin .
ms . close ' s serene , ladylike bearing is not an asset in every role , but this time it works wonderfully well , especially when combined with the avid seductiveness she brings to the character . mr . arestrup , at first stern and a little drab , proves to be an equally fine choice , since he moves so easily into a conductor ' s courtly , dedicated manner , one that easily explains his popularity with women in the company . dorottya udvaros , a hungarian actress , has some powerful moments with mr . arestrup as zoltan ' s proud , angry wife , who discovers her husband ' s affair and reacts with exceptional fury .
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with the headline : review / film ; real - life opera , wagnerian style .
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a hungarian conductor mouts a daring new production of tannhauser while trying to overcome the artistic egos of his cast and crew , politics , nationalism and funding .
in part based on hungarian writer / director istvan szabos own experiences of directing wagners masterpiece tannhauser in paris , this has frances niels arestrup as a virtually unknown hungarian conductor , zoltan szanto , who is given the chance to conduct  hey ! wagners masterpiece tannhauser in paris .
all things being well , the opera europa production  with its multi - national cast and swedish mega - diva karin anderson ( close , all aquiver with the dulcet tones of one dame kiri te kanawa )  is to receive a worldwide satellite airing and szanto , it follows , the fame - making limelight .
the hapless szanto , however , gets far , far more than he had bargained for . three weeks before the opera i have a difficult leading lady and a chorus that thinks only of its stomach ,  he observes wearily in a letter to his wife back home in budapest , szantos voice - over serving as a commentary on unfolding events back at the orchestra pit .
as opening night looms closer , moreover , szanto finds himself increasingly besieged by mutinous musicians , predatory leading ladies and more bureaucratic red - tape than he can possibly hope to unravel . to cap it all , he embarks on an ill - judged liaison with anderson  although close , her haircut straight out of coronation street and a wardrobe apparently tailored from potato sacks , makes an unlikely object of desire  and the scene is set for a showdown of truly wagnerian proportions .
indeed , peppering his script with political in - jokes ( everything moves so slowly here , something to do with democracy ) and references ( just because the american thinks he can bomb libya or invade panama he thinks he can push us around .  ) , szabo uses the petty in - fighting of his cast not only to poke a well - meaning finger at creative folk in general but also as a metaphor for what was actually happening in europe . in many ways , it illustrates the contradictions inherent in the term united europe and explains to some extent why  with this very honourable exception , rescued from columbia pictures by the ten - exiting david puttnam  the european film co - production has never really taken off .
szabo , reknowned for his ability to merge the personal with the political and for his excellent handling of actors , pulls it off again here with characteristic wit and sensitivity .
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iain forsyth and jane pollard ' s hybrid fiction film / documentary 20 , 000 days on earth creates a fictionalized . . .
iain forsyth and jane pollard ' s hybrid fiction film / documentary 20 , 000 days on earth creates a fictionalized account of musician nick cave ' s 20 , 000th day of life in order to explore his actual creative process from writing to recording to rehearsing .
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an eighty minute documentary on the songwriting of lennon & mccartney titled composing the beatles . . .
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an opera star ( glenn close ) falls for a married hungarian conductor ( niels arestrup ) trying to do wagner ' s
tannhauser .
celebrated swedish opera star karin anderson is slated to appear in an internationally - telecast production of tannhauser . ms . anderson balks at the notion of working with obscure hungarian conductor zoltan szanto . the much - anticipated production may never get off the ground , thanks to labor - management difficulties , intramural jealousies , and clashing egos . amidst all this chaos , the mismatched anderson and szanto fall in love .
better than its lousy title suggests . has the problems endemic to the
europudding
( clash of accents , etc ) and pretty much wastes its entire supporting cast , among which are erland josephson and maria de medeiros ( whose role , whatever it was , seems to have ended up on the cutting room floor ) . but it ' s a fine illustration of why the eu was never going to work - france and hungary ain ' t far geographically , but mentally , spiritually , that ' s another thing entire - and the leads are good , and szabó ' s incapable of an unintelligent movie . one of the few times i ' ve ever found glenn close agreeable .
eh , művèszek ! - intèzhetnènk el egy legyintèssel a találkozás vènusszal szereplőit , akik szabó rendezèsèben szeretnek jó mèlyen megmerítkezni minden egyes èrzelemben , ès lehetőleg minél látványosabban a külvilág tudomására hozni mèg a legapróbb belső rezdülèseket is . közben meg valószínűleg tènyleg valami ilyesmi lehet az igazság : a művèszi katarzishoz legtöbbször sok - sok civakodáson , bosszúságokon , egymás húsába maráson , intenzíven megèlt szerelmeken ès az elmaradhatatlan gyötrődèseken keresztül vezet az út .
many of the characters in this movie have the same name and family name as director istván szabó , but in different languages . the hungarian name istván in english corresponds with stephen . surname szabó means
tailor
. and some persons in film are : stephen taylor ( english ) , stefan schneider ( german ) , stefano sarto ( italian ) , etienne tailleur ( french ) / there are also maria krawiecki ( from the polish word krawiec which means tailor ) and isaac partnoi ( from russian word портной [ portnoy ] = tailor
) .
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urltoken
this list is a result of more than forty years of compulsive - obsessive data - gathering by the above trio , separately . when our paths crossed a few years ago we combined our lists together .
finding out who dubbed who since the beginning of sound movies in 1928 is a fairly daunting task since until relatively recently such information was kept secret by the movie studios who carefully guarded the reputations of their contract players . but in recent years the explosion of books and articles on every aspect of filmmaking has made the task somewhat easier , contradictory as different sources may be . laura wagner in particular has spoken to many of these dubbers . to credit every source would be impossible , there ' ve been so many .
included are not only the singers but credits for
dancers
who couldn ' t dance ,
musicians
who couldn ' t play , and even a few actors who couldn ' t talk too good .
what ' s not here , obviously , is data on stars who did their own singing . but some stars sang for themselves in some movies but were dubbed in others . barbara stanwyck , for example ,
sang
in seven movies but was only dubbed in three of them , so only those three are included here . also , some stars were only partially dubbed in a film , doing their own singing for some of the songs but not all of them , or even singing parts of songs with only the more demanding passages dubbed . in those cases we ' ve noted that the dubbing is only partial . ( but if you don ' t find a listing here for a specific title you ' re wondering about , it doesn ' t necessarily mean the singer wasn ' t dubbed , it may mean we just don ' t have the information . )
and finally , there ' s one legendary dubbing credit you won ' t find here . for years it ' s been accepted as gospel that andy williams dubbed lauren bacall ' s vocals in
to have & have not .
the story has become something of an urban legend , but sorry folks , that was bacall ' s own voice . williams , then an unknown singer doing dubbing work in hollywood , was hired by director howard hawks to record the songs because he couldn ' t find a female singer with a low enough voice , but when bacall began singing along with the playback he found that he liked her voice better , so he scrapped williams ' recordings and she did the songs herself . if the story sounded too good to be true… it was .
this project has always been , and remains , a lifetime work - in - progress . any additions and / or corrections are most welcome .
athena ( 1954 ) : jacqueline [ aka jackie ] allen for cecile rogers / betty allen , marie vernon , gloria wood for sisters ( other than j . powell , d . reynolds , v . gibson ) / victor marchese for edmund purdom
the barbara stanwyck show
out of the shadows
( tv ep . 1960 ) : frank beach for william stephens ( trumpet )
best foot forward ( 1943 ) : gloria grafton for lucille ball / jeanne darrell for virginia weidler / ralph blane for jack jordan .
blood & black lace ( italian , 1965 ) : paul frees for many actors , u . s . release ( dialogue )
carousel ( 1956 ) : marie greene [ aka marie vernon ] for susan luckey / marni nixon for one line for shirley jones in
you ' re a queer one , julie jordan . ”
the 5 , 000 fingers of dr . t ( 1953 ) : tommy butala for tommy rettig
flower drum song ( 1961 ) : b . j . ( betty jane ) baker for nancy kwan / jon dodson for kam tong / marilyn horne for reiko sato
gigi ( 1958 ) : betty wand for leslie caron ( partial ) / john abbott for unnamed singer / paul frees for various french - sounding bit actors ( dialogue ) . for french soundtrack ( dialogue & songs ) : sacha distel for louis jourdan , marie - france for leslie caron , jane marken for hermione gingold .
grand prix ( 1966 ) : paul frees for toshiro mifune & misc . drivers ( dialogue )
gypsy ( 1962 ) : lisa kirk for rosalind russell ( except
mr . goldstone
and spoken parts of
rose ' s turn
) / marni nixon for natalie wood [ partial ]
helen of troy ( 1956 ) : jacques sernas for edmund purdom ( english - speaking voice ) .
i love a bandleader ( 1945 ) : dorothy ellers for leslie brooks / bobbie canvin [ aka barbara ames ] for
mr . beebe
number
the king and i ( 1956 ) : marni nixon for deborah kerr / leona gordon ( or cleone duncan ) for rita moreno / reuben fuentes for carlos rivas / marilyn horne for terry saunders .
a man called adam ( 1966 ) : nat adderley for sammy davis jr . ( trumpet )
meet me in st . louis ( 1944 ) : arthur freed for leon ames / denny markes - wilson for mary astor
phantom lady ( 1944 ) : buddy rich for elisha cook jr . ( drums )
pinnochio ( 1939 ) : dickie jones for
pinnochio
/ cliff edwards for
jiminy cricket
/ walter catlett for
j . worthington foulfellow
/ christian rub for
gepetto
psycho ( 1960 ) : virginia gregg , paul jasmine & jeanette nolan for
mrs . bates
( dialogue )
seven brides for seven brothers ( 1954 ) : bill lee for matt mattox / norma zimmer for betty carr / bobbie canvin [ aka barbara ames ] for norma doggett / marie vernon [ aka marie greene ] for nancy kilgas / betty noyes for ruta kilmonis [ aka ruta lee ] / betty allen for julie newmeyer [ aka julie newmar ] / alan davies , charles parlato , robert wacker , gene lanham , m . spergel and howard hudson for various brothers
sinatra ( tv - 1992 ) : frank sinatra ( records ) , frank sintra jr . and tom burlinson for philip casnoff
speakeasy ( 1929 ) : fred warren for henry b . walthall ( piano )
that lady in ermine ( 1948 ) : ric ricardi for douglas fairbanks , jr .
thirty seconds over tokyo ( 1944 ) : hal derwin for carlyle blackwell , jr .
three daring daughters ( 1948 ) : beverly jean garbo for mary elinor donahue / pat hyatt for ann e . todd
the threepenny opera ( 1963 ) : george s . irving for curt jurgens / martha schlamme for hildegard neff / jo wilder for june ritchie ( note : all dubbed for u . s . version only )
twilight zone
a passage for trumpet
( tv ep . 1960 ) : uan rasey for jack klugman ( trumpet )
the wizard of oz ( 1939 ) : lorrraine bridges for billie burke / ken darby for mayor of munchkin city / ray
bud
linn for da of munchkin city / rad robinson for coroner of munchkin city / betty noyes , dorothy compton and marjorie briggs for munchkin trio / buddy ebsen for jack haley ( ensemble singing only ) / carol tevis , betty rome , billy bletcher , pinto colvig , j . d . jewkes , harry stanton & jon dodson for unknown munchkins
your cheatin ' heart ( 1964 ) : hank williams , jr . for george hamilton
note : two slash marks in a line indicate that the next actor’s line begins there .
the stage is split at a diagonal with the right half lit . the floor of the stage is planted with a living garden : vines of tomatoes on poles , stalks of corn , pepper plants , lettuces , and also a few unplanted beds . the dark earth is real . it is deep summer at a biodynamic farm in covelo , california . the lighting indicates a cool morning , and a light mist clings above the ground . rebecca , tony , ingrid and mike are working along one of the beds hoeing the soil , while henry and seth are kneeling tying up tomato plants . everyone is covered in a layer of soil which is smudged on their clothes , dusted on their faces and engrained in their hands . nothing exists outside this field , outside the six of them right there in that moment . ingrid , tony , henry and rebecca are singing “sixteen tons , ” while seth and mike hum and sway along , occasionally joining them .
all : ( singing . ) “another day older and deeper in debt . saint peter don’t you call me ’cause i can’t go , i owe my soul to the company store . ”
tony : ( singing . ) “i was born one mornin’ when the sun didn’t shine . ”
tony & henry : ( singing . ) “i picked up my shovel and i walked to the mine . ”
ingrid : ( singing . ) “’well , bless my soul . ’” ( no longer singing . ) hey , let’s do our version . i like it better . ( laughs and starts singing again . )
rebecca : this is my favorite time of day here . smell it . it’s so… fresh .
seth : this morning , when i was bringing the horses up the lane , the mist was so thick i could barely see the fence of the blackberry field .
mike : most of it is burning off now though . look , you can just see a little mist hiding under the trees over in those fields .
rebecca : i don’t know if i can handle much more of these temperatures .
tony : yeah , i could go for some breakfast . what’s the time ?
rebecca : mike , did you know ? i never liked porridge till i tried yours .
rebecca : absolutely . ( looking directly at tony . ) i don’t think i ever want to leave .
an acoustic guitar plays as we are taken to the beginning of this story . henry and rebecca enter dressed in clean work clothes . rebecca’s hair is plaited in two braids , making her look younger than she is . it is their first day as interns at live power community farm . the day is bright and sunny , but not too warm .
henry : the sweet aroma of cows… . ( takes a deep sniff at the air . )
rebecca : oh be quiet . the place feels different when we’re not here with our class .
henry : yeah , no one whining about how they don’t want to sleep in the barn .
steve and tony walk by upstage deep in conversation , but out of earshot of henry and rebecca , and then exit .
rebecca : no , of course i remember steve . i mean the younger guy .
gloria enters and approaches henry and rebecca . she speaks slowly , with a soft , deep voice , often as though her mind is on a different , pleasant thought , far away .
gloria : welcome ! ( she draws both henry and rebecca into a warm hug . ) look at you both . we’re figuring out where to put you , where to have you sleep .
gloria : come have lunch , then we’ll get you settled… okay ? okay , over here . ( steve and tony enter . tony is wearing glasses and some faded work clothes . steve is wearing a light green , plaid flannel shirt . ) stephen , you remember rebecca and henry ?
steve : good , good . we have work . always lots to do .
they shake hands , tony holding rebecca’s hand perhaps a little longer than he held henry’s .
steve , gloria , henry , rebecca and tony enter the apprentice kitchen , a square room on the left diagonal of the stage . a magnificent willow tree stands beside the one - room building and a large musical triangle hangs from one of the eaves . the kitchen has a dusty , dark green floor , an old black stove covered in cast iron pans on the upstage left wall , a sink downstage of the stove , an ancient faded sofa against the right wall , and a pine table in the center surrounded by six chairs . ingrid , wearing a grungy red shirt and bare feet , is humming and stirring yellow lentils at the stove . the table is laden with a bowl of mashed sweet potatoes topped with shredded coconut , a wok of cooked greens , a metal bowl of salad , a pitcher of cold well water , and mismatched plates and cutlery in stacks . everyone sits down and begins serving and passing the dishes .
ingrid : oh no thank you ! i was just trying out some new dishes . so i hope you like them . the greens are a bit different . ( takes a bite of the greens and laughs . ) oh well . they’re still good for you !


trans-europ-express is a 1966 film written and directed by alain robbe-grillet and starring jean-louis trintignant and marie-france pisier .

the title refers to the trans europ express , a former international rail network in europe .

also in the cast were nadine verdier , christian barbier , charles millot , catherine robbe-grillet , and the director .

the film has been variously described as an erotic thriller , a mystery , and a film-within-a-film .

trans - europ - express ( film )

trans - europ - express ( 1966 ) dir . alain robbe - grillet | film | pinterest | maze and films
with the headline : screen : a twist on the gangster genre ; trans - europ - express ' by robbe - grillet .
( a ) i had my young mind blown by robbe - grillet’s trans - europ express . it’s very dodgy , though ;
a film director , jean , his producer , marc , and his assistant , lucette , board the trans - europ - express in paris bound for antwerp . once in their compartment it occurs to them that the drama . . . see full summary »
a film director , jean , his producer , marc , and his assistant , lucette , board the trans - europ - express in paris bound for antwerp . once in their compartment it occurs to them that the drama of . . . see more »
film culture film culture # 44 new york , ny : film culture , 1967 $ 65 . 00
a film director , jean , his producer , marc , and his assistant , lucette , board the trans - europ - express in paris bound for antwerp . once in their compartment it occurs to them that the drama of life aboard the train presents possibilities for a film , and they begin to write a script about dope smuggling .
alpha , trans , chung : a photographic model : semiotics , film and interpretation peter d ' agostino books $ 75 . 00
a film director , jean , his producer , marc , and his assistant , lucette , board the trans - europ - express in paris bound for antwerp . once in their compartment it occurs to them that the drama of life aboard the train presents possibilities for a film , and they begin to write a script about dope smuggling . written by anonymous
underground film bulletin underground film bulletin periodicals / out of print periodicals $ 1 . 00
the stories are enacted on screen in the minds of marty , billy and hans , recalling such films of the 1960s as alain robbe - grillet ' s trans - europ - express and agnès varda ' s les créatures , where what we see are the books the central characters are writing , rewriting and tinkering with .
this book presents three photographic projects of peter d ' agostino and accompanying critical texts . in alpha , d ' agostino condensed godard’s alphaville into 36 frames in a roll of photographic film , then selected eight images to talk about the self - reflexive nature of film and photography – light and time – and linguistic concerns that parallel the film’s narrative . trans takes alain robbe - grillet’s film trans - europ - express as its starting point for meta - structural analysis and chung : “still” another meaning uses the chinese government’s reaction to antonioni’s depiction of china in his chung kuo to investigate the issue of film’s depiction of “reality . ” texts follow from rae blakeney , alain robbe - grillet , william luhr and the book concludes with commentary from andria chiodo , kristine stiles , and hal fischer .
trans - europ - express ,
which opened yesterday at the plaza theater , is the second movie to be directed by alain robbe - grillet , who wrote
last year at marienbad .
it is about three characters on a train from paris to antwerp making a gangster movie about the drug traffic on trains from paris to antwerp or from antwerp to paris . view full article in timesmachine »
in a way that robbe - grillet could perhaps never have anticipated , trans - europ express is as challenging and influential again today as it was in the 1960s – a key text of the postwar european avant - garde . but it is , above all , as an enjoyable and witty movie that this film has remained a classic and emblematic work . its influence is also evidence , if anyone still needed it , of the great difference between high solemnity and simple and yet entertaining seriousness ( 1 ) .
peter d ' agostino alpha , trans , chung : a photographic model : semiotics , film and interpretation dayton , oh : university art galleries inc . and wright state university , 1978 size unknown $ 75 . 00
a film director , jean , his producer , marc , and his assistant , lucette , board the trans - europ - express in paris bound for antwerp . once in their compartment it occurs to them that the drama of life aboard the train presents possibilities for a film , and they begin to write a script about dope smuggling . subsequently , they see actor jean - louis trintignant walking through the station . as seen through the eyes of jean , marc , and lucette , trintignant becomes elias , the chief character in the script . elias is going to antwerp to pick up a suitcase of cocaine for delivery to an international organization based in paris .
trans - europ - express is a self - referential , neo - noir thriller , with heavy doses of sado - masochism , from the mind of alain robbe - grillet . on the train from paris to antwerp , a director and his production team hash - out the plot of a crime movie . their story is enacted by jean louis - trintignant , who plays elias , a cocaine smuggler seduced by eva ( who may be working for a rival gang ) . but as the director keeps changing the story , elias becomes lost in a labyrinth of false leads and shifting allegiances .
truffaut stated that the theme of the film is
love and the relations between men and women
and later claimed that
the idea behind le pianiste was to make a film without a subject , to express all i wanted to say about glory , success , downfall , failure , women and love by means of a detective story . it ' s a grab bag .
1 ) impossible to pick a single most erotic film : too self - revealing . but
founded in 1999 , senses of cinema is one of the first online film journals of its kind and has set the standard for professional , high quality film - related content on the internet .
fascinating film : a jigsaw puzzle that never comes together , and is extremely entertaining doing so .
harry potter : complete 8 - film colle . . . $ 44 . 99 , save 55 %
notebook is a daily , international film publication . our mission is to guide film lovers searching , lost or adrift in an overwhelming sea of content . we offer text , images , sounds and video as critical maps , passways and illuminations to the worlds of contemporary and classic film . notebook is a mubi publication .
contemporary theatre , film , and television , volume 34 , gale ( detroit , mi ) , 2001 .
“dialogues” - a film by owen land philippe pirotte and julia strebelow and eds . books $ 25 . 00
this film is a beautifully done story within a story - - - film within a film . the author and friends take a train ride and begin to work out a film ; its plot , its characters and their actions . as the story evolves the characters take on their own existence , reality becomes inverted ; they weave their own story as author becomes audience . it is a taste of the 1960 ' s thinking of the michael caine foreign intrigue films , the orient express not to mention the manchurian candidate . in a way it thumbs its nose at the genre . i saw it when it ran almost forty years ago and enjoyed it immensely . if you can find it - - - check it out .
reynaldo v . rodríguez film stills vol . 02 caracas , venezuela : las injurias , 2016 30 $ 10 . 00
film stills vol . 01 : meshes of the afternoon , 1943 reynaldo v . rodríguez books / zines $ 8 . 00
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this film was banned by the british censor because of its depiction of sexual bondage ( which is now regarded as very tame ) .
on the occasion of the printed matter exhibition wallpaper & beyond from underground filmmaker and publisher wallpaper / mr . 8mm , this table brings together a selection of book works which engage film and the cinematic . looking to experimental and avant garde cinema , these projects explore the artistic possibilities of putting the moving image into printed form , using film - stills and text , as well as interviews and film - based writings .
the result is both a pure example of narrative deconstruction – with some genuinely absurd moments – and a pretty weird experience for the viewer ; and at times for trintignant who is playing both himself and his screen persona of elias , the drug runner . the film’s title is itself full of typical gallic literary allusions , with transes being the name of a detective story included in the film ; europe , an adult magazine that we see a character buy ; and l’express a popular french magazine . as roland barthes might have put it ( indeed , did ) this is a text that is both playful , knowing and full of pleasure ( plaisir du texte ) for the viewer / reader as well as , presumably , for the film workers who made it .
this film was banned by the british censor because of its depiction of sexual bondage ( which is now regarded as very tame ) . see more »
wasn ' t as well received by its critics and public . a film journalist asked truffaut if the film was more comic than tragic and truffaut replied ,
it ' s both . with piano player , i wanted to make women cry and men laugh .
the one thing that is quite obvious about the film is truffaut ' s love for american cinema and literature , and he wanted to make his very own homage to that genre . the themes in
excerpts from an english translation ( unknown author ) of jacques rivette ' s 1976 film , duelle ( une quarantaine ) , screenplay by eduardo de . . .
ciment and several people mention brief encounter as a film about love without sex appeal . one critic hasn’t even seen it , and says it’s a good thing too .
philippe pirotte and julia strebelow and eds . “dialogues” - a film by owen land paris , france : kunsthalle bern & paraguay press , 2011 unknown $ 25 . 00
finally , the french new wave , as the european modern cinema , is focused on the technique as style itself . a french new wave film - maker is first of all an author who shows in its film his own eye on the world . on the other hand the film as the object of knowledge challenges the usual transitivity on which all the other cinema was based ,
undoing its cornerstones : space and time continuity , narrative and grammatical logics , the self - evidence of the represented worlds .
in this way the film - maker passes
the essay attitude , thinking – in a novelist way – on his own way to do essays .
the auteurs of this era owe their popularity to the support they received with their youthful audience . most of these directors were born in the 1930s and grew up in paris , relating to how their viewers might be experiencing life . they were considered the first film generation to have a
film education
, knowledge of and references to film history . with high concentration in fashion , urban professional life , and all - night parties , the life of france ' s youth was being exquisitely captured .
using light - weight portable equipment , hand - held cameras and requiring little or no set up time , the new wave way of film - making presented a documentary style . the films exhibited direct sounds on film stock that required less light . filming techniques included fragmented , freeze - frames , discontinuous editing , and long takes . the combination of objective realism , subjective realism , and authorial commentary created a narrative ambiguity in the sense that questions that arise in a film are not answered in the end .
the last scene of the film shows edouard being back at the dive , continuing to work there under the false name of charlie , as he continues to play piano for the townspeople .
michel ciment champions queen kelly ( a popular choice ) , sternberg and bunuel . the ideal erotic film , he says , would stand at an equal distance between stroheim , sternberg and bunuel .
he later told a reporter that he wanted to shock the audience that had loved the 400 blows by making a film that would
please the real film nuts and them alone .
he previously had several ideas for films about children , but was afraid of repeating himself in his second film . he told a reporter ,
i refused to be a prisoner of my own first success . i discarded temptation to renew that success by choosing a great subject . i turned my back on what everyone waited for and i took my pleasure as my only rule of conduct .
in addition to hosting the american premiere of what may be the best new film of 2018 from anywhere , this year’s open roads at the film society of lincoln center pays tribute to four key figures of the past . roberto de paolis’s film pure hearts ( about which , more below ) is , at the very least , a sign of hope that the italian cinema that gave rise to the beloved the taviani brothers ( paolo and the recently deceased vittorio ) , maverick director marco ferreri , and the elegant but largely underappreciated actress valentina cortese—not to mention the formidable masters who preceded them—still lives .
the film ' s script changed constantly during shooting . truffaut said that
in shoot the piano player i wanted to break with the linear narrative and make a film where all the scenes would please me . i shot without any criteria .
truffaut ' s stylized and self - reflexive melodrama employs the hallmarks of french new wave cinema : extended voice - overs , out - of - sequence shots , and sudden jump cuts . the film ' s cinematography by raoul coutard was often grainy and kinetic , reflecting the emotional state of the characters , such as the scene in which charlie hesitates before ringing a doorbell .
if you have been following the twists and turns of the film’s rapid mood swings up to this point , you’ll have no trouble following things straight through to the film’s extraordinary finale—a shootout at a mountain cabin right out of high sierra . but that humphrey bogart classic did not feature gunmen who behaved like the keystone kops . and it did not sport a visual delicacy suggestive of the finest work of d . w . griffith .
this is my number one film for the june by ingmar bergman . the film’s theme mainly revolves around characters’ common reaction against “god’s silence” . it contemplates of the existence of god , and a priest’s lack of faith in god , and his inner conflicts about it . the movie is based on really strong dialogues and it is mainly criticized for its lack of action . however i do believe that this movie is a must see .
this movie is about a twisted relationship of a couple that involve in bdsm . most people are very cruel towards this movie . comments i read online consisted of the film’s weakness to propose a proper theme , and dialogues . i do not agree with comments because the beauty of this movie was its pure imagery by telling its message with minimal dialogues . by seemingly reversing the master and slave relationship the film perfectly explores the human relationships . although the main concern of the film is the unwilling approach of one of the couples towards bdsm , it can be applied to every kind of relationship . love is being willingly abused and to abuse each other .
truffaut had wanted to make it as a big budget studio film , but was unable to get sufficient funds and the film was made on the streets instead . truffaut filled the film with homages to such american b movie directors like nicholas ray and sam fuller . ( both of the directors have always been a personal favorite of his and jean - luc godard ) during the shooting truffaut realized that he didn ' t like gangsters and tried to make their character more and more comical . pierre braunberger initially didn ' t like boby lapointe ' s songs and said that he couldn ' t understand what lapointe was saying which than inspired truffaut to add subtitles with a bouncing ball .
jonathan dawson recently retired as associate professor in film , media and cultural studies at griffith university ( queensland ) and is now honorary research associate at the university of tasmania . he has written and directed scores of films , television series and documentaries . he is also a major contributor to ian aitken’s the encyclopaedia of documentary film , including the essay on australian documentary cinema . sadly , in the intervening years since writing this piece , the author has passed away .
and finally the 400 blows which not only is one of the greatest films in the world but the one that revolutionized the french new wave . truffaut was always known as a very compassionate man , who had such a passion and love for films that while even directing found time to write about other films and directors , which his personal favorite was alfred hitchcock , where he wrote a classic book - length , film - by - film interview with the man and the two actually became very good friends . starting out as a critic truffaut decided to want to make films of his own after seeing orson welles noir classic touch of evil at the expo 58 which then inspired him to make his feature film début in 1959 with the 400 blows .
some of the most prominent pioneers among the group , including françois truffaut , jean - luc godard , éric rohmer , claude chabrol , and jacques rivette , began as critics for the famous film magazine cahiers du cinéma . cahiers co - founder and theorist andré bazin was a prominent source of influence for the movement . by means of criticism and editorialization , they laid the groundwork for a set of concepts , revolutionary at the time , which the american film critic andrew sarris called the ' auteur theory . '
filming took place from november 30 , 1959 until january 22 , 1960 with some re - shoots for two weeks in march . locations included a café called a la bonne franquette on the rue mussard in levallois , le sappey - en - chartreuse , around grenoble and throughout paris . the film ' budget was 890 , 062 . 95 francs , whereas the 400 blows had been a tense shoot for truffaut , his second film was a happy experience for the cast and crew after truffaut ' s first success .
the ' auteur theory ' holds that the director is the
author
of his movies , with a personal signature visible from film to film . they praised movies by jean renoir and jean vigo , and made then - radical cases for the artistic distinction and greatness of hollywood studio directors such as orson welles , john ford , howard hawks , alfred hitchcock and nicholas ray . the beginning of the new wave was to some extent an exercise by the cahiers writers in applying this philosophy to the world by directing movies themselves .
it started off as a funny , very meta parody of thrillers . i liked it . but as it went along , the film - within - a - film stuff sort of disappeared , and just became a thriller . that would have been fine , except that it wasn ' t a particularly good thriller . everything was over - complex and contrived , and the protagonist wasn ' t worth rooting for - - all of which was fine when it was being played for laughs . but it felt pointless when it became serious .
taking us to the heart of existential anguish , shoot the piano player is never grim . it may show us the dark underside of city life , but it is somehow quite unsordid . daring to make us laugh at people in decidedly unfunny circumstances , the film manages to catch that laughter in mid - air and overlay it with a sense of sadness—without killing the joke . the story may be simple , then characters easy to comprehend , but an atmosphere of mystery—about people , their lives , their sense of self—remains , making shoot the piano player a film of enduring fascination .
albert remy had appeared in the 400 blows and truffaut wanted to show the actor ' s comedic side after his uncomic performance in the previous film . truffaut also cast actor and novelist daniel boulanger and theatrical actor claude mansard as the two gangsters in the film . serge davri was a music hall performer who had for years recited poems while breaking dishes over his head . truffaut considered him crazy , but funny , and cast him as plyne . truffaut rounded out the cast with catherine lutz in the role of mammy and lutz had never acted before and worked at a local movie theater .
of all the pressures weighing on a major film festival , the most urgent—and in some ways the most absurd—is the one to be topical . how does a behemoth like cannes meet the moment , and what would that even mean ? as the most powerful film showcase and marketplace in the world , cannes doubles as an annual referendum on the state of the art and the industry , and two framing narratives dominated this year’s pre - festival coverage . the first stemmed from the festival’s ongoing battle with netflix , with cannes positioned as the stubborn old guard defending the sanctity of the cinematic experience against
many of the french new wave films were produced on tight budgets ; often shot in a friend ' s apartment or yard , using the director ' s friends as the cast and crew . directors were also forced to improvise with equipment ( for example , using a shopping cart for tracking shots ) . the cost of film was also a major concern ; thus , efforts to save film turned into stylistic innovations . for example , in jean - luc godard ' s breathless , after being told the film was too long and he must cut it down to one hour and a half he decided ( on the suggestion of jean - pierre melville ) to remove several scenes from the feature using jump cuts , as they were filmed in one long take . parts that did not work were simply cut from the middle of the take , a practical decision and also a purposeful stylistic one .
alexandre astruc ' s manifesto ,
the birth of a new avant - garde : the camera - stylo
, published in l ` ecran , on 30 march 1948 outlined some of the ideas that were later expanded upon by françois truffaut and the cahiers du cinéma . it argues that
cinema was in the process of becoming a new mean of expression on the same level as painting and the novel : a form in which an artist can express his thoughts , however abstract they may be , or translate his obsessions exactly as he does in the contemporary essay or novel . this is why i would like to call this new age of cinema the age of the ' camera - stylo .
the ship of lost men , directed by the great maurice tourneur , is a great film , listed by alfred hitchcock as one of his top ten . dietrich is very effective in it , apart from some unfortunate costume choices . dietrich also acted for henrik galeen , arthur robison and alexander korda .
françois truffaut has made some of the greatest films of all time . he did a film which was a love letter about the inner workings of the movie industry titled , day for night which ironically stars truffaut as a film director . the last metro tells a story about an actress married to a jewish theater owner who she must keep hidden from the nazis while doing both of their jobs . a personal favorite of mine is jules and jim which tells the tragic romance between two best friends who have been in love with the same woman over the years and the effect she has on both their lives .
raymond durgnat is fascinating , as you’d expect . lots of top choices for erotic film , including but not limited to bride of frankenstein , 42nd street , pickpocket , king kong , haxan and artists and models . polymorphous perversity ! but i have to admit , shirley maclaine looks cute as bat lady .
at the opening of the startling and funny seven psychopaths the camera pans across the hills above los angeles , taking in the iconic sign that has loomed over the city since 1923 , first as hollywoodland and more recently simply hollywood . very soon we realise that this film is not merely set in la , it ' s about hollywood as a place , an industry , a creator and shaper of dreams and narratives , a distorter and destroyer of lives . to complete a circle the film ends with a comic variation on the final lines of john ford ' s the searchers about returning home after the completion of a journey .
truffaut significantly changes charlie ' s personality in the film because originally , goodis ' edward webster lynn ( who truffaut adapts as charlie ) is pictured as a relatively strong , self - confident guy who has chosen his solitude whereas truffaut’s charlie kohler has found his isolation inevitably ; he was always shy , withdrawn , reclusive .
truffaut first read david goodis ' s novel in the mid - 1950s while shooting les mistons when his wife madeleine morgenstern read it and recommended it to him . he immediately loved the book ' s dialogue and poetic tone and showed it to producer pierre braunberger , who bought the rights . truffaut later met goodis in new york city , where the novelist gave truffaut a vintage viewfinder from his brief experience as a 2nd unit director on a u . s . film . truffaut said he made the film in reaction to the success of the 400 blows , which he considered to be very french and he wanted to show his influence from american films .
one thing’s for sure—it seems far less bewildering half a century later , at least to french viewers . “is the film more comic than tragic ? ” a journalist asked truffaut , following the film’s disappointing to disastrous reception by the critics and the public ( not to mention the censors ) . “it’s both , ” he answered . “with piano player , i wanted to make women cry and men laugh . ” a flippant answer to a typically single - minded journalist’s question , but the sureness of the response is matched by the sureness of the execution of the film itself . there is nothing tentative or unachieved in what is , after all , the sophomore effort of a young director . “how sure is truffaut’s command of cinematic language ! ” joseph mcbride once wrote of fahrenheit 451 ; and the same could be said of the director’s abilities with actors , narrative , and the balance of endlessly shifting moods—in this case , antic comedy , ruminative reserve , romantic longing , and tenebrous regret .
in which gleeson and colin farrell play irish hitmen waiting for their psychopathic british boss to dictate their next assignment . now mcdonagh has moved to the states , where his hero , colin farrell , is marty , an incipient alcoholic irish playwright working on a hollywood film , and the number of psychopaths involved has exponentially advanced to seven .
cahiers du cinéma writers critiqued the classic
tradition of quality
style of french cinema . bazin and henri langlois , founder and curator of the cinémathèque française , were the dual godfather figures of the movement . these men of cinema valued the expression of the director ' s personal vision in both the film ' s style and script .
among the films referenced in shoot the piano player are hollywood b movies from the 1940s , the techniques of using an iris from silent films , charlie being named after charlie chaplin and having four brothers ( and one named chico ) being a reference to the marx brothers , and the film ' s structure and flashbacks being similar to the structure of citizen kane .
the french new wave featured unprecedented methods of expression , such as long tracking shots ( like the famous traffic jam sequence in godard ' s 1967 film week end ) . also , these movies featured existential themes , such as stressing the individual and the acceptance of the absurdity of human existence . filled with irony and sarcasm , the films also tend to reference other films .
the french new wave was popular roughly between 1958 and 1964 , although new wave work existed as late as 1973 . the socio - economic forces at play shortly after world war ii strongly influenced the movement . politically and financially drained , france tended to fall back on the old popular pre - war traditions . one such tradition was straight narrative cinema , specifically classical french film .
from now on the two parallel worlds of the film itself , its characters and authors , and a different or parallel narrative space interweave and collide as the filmmakers constantly change their minds , rewrite on the run , and generally put trintignant / elias through a surreal hall of narrative mirrors as the plot is chopped and changed . prostitutes , phony cops , characters and tiny details , all change as the “creative” process runs wild .
the movement has its roots in rebellion against the reliance on past forms ( often adapted from traditional novelistic structures ) , criticizing in particular the way these forms could force the audience to submit to a dictatorial plot - line . they were especially against the french
cinema of quality
, the type of high - minded , literary period films held in esteem at french film festivals , often regarded as ' untouchable ' by criticism .
shoot the piano player was originally a novel titled down there by david goodis . the film shares the novel ' s bleak plot about a man hiding from his shattered life by doing the only thing he knows how to do , while remaining unable to escape the past . however , truffaut ' s work resolves itself into both a tribute to the american genre of literary and cinematic noir and a meditation on the relationship between art and commercialism .
the new novel as a form attracted writers from samuel beckett to nathalie sarraute and marguerite duras and some , like duras , also went on to make movies . maybe a sense that the tired classical realist novel needed a shot in the arm is what drove these writers to formal experimentation in the first place , but few failed to recognise that the feature film was an even more ideal medium to play around with – and its audience was larger and more forgiving .
truffaut began writing the script with marcel moussy , who had co - written the 400 blows . moussey said that he didn ' t understand the book and attempted to establish clear social roots for the characters . truffaut disagreed , wanting to keep the film loose and abstract ; moussey left after a few weeks and truffaut wrote the script himself . one problem truffaut had was that he considered the goodis novel to be too chaste and he decided to make the characters less heroic .
the transforming power of french artistic thought , which for so long had seemed the cultural centre of the universe and certainly of the avant - garde , meant that both the nouveau roman ( new novel ) and the nouvelle vague ( french new wave film ) seemed to arrive within an instant of each other . in fact the nouveau roman first emerged in the 1950s and amongst its key practitioners was a novelist who only later became a screenwriter and director : alain robbe - grillet .
in bernhardt ' s film , adapted from a novel by max brod , uno henning , the impossibly handsome and tender leading man of asquith ' s a cottage on dartmoor , plays a young man marrying the boss ' s daughter . oddly , the movie spends a considerable amount of time and effort to establish the family business and henning ' s crusty father - in - law : time spent solely , it seems , to make the prospect of his return to this life seem unappealing .
the book ' s main character charlie is also much stronger in the book and truffaut called it a sterling hayden type and truffaut decided to go the opposite direction and make the protagonist weaker and the female characters strong . truffaut was also influenced by french writer jacques audiberti while writing the film , such as in his treatment of the character plyne . truffaut also used some scenes from other goodis novels , such as the early scene where chico bumps into a lamp - post and has a conversation with a stranger .
now the film changes tracks from being a locomotive movie ( always an exciting thing ) to being a hotel movie ( even better ! ) . it ' s new year . kortner and dietrich are registered as dr . and mrs . karoff . henning announces himself and starts trying to muscle in on dietrich . he ' s in the throes of a grand passion , but doesn ' t realise that the story he ' s gatecrashed only wants him as a helpless witness to the last act of a tragedy .
i love the “ ( or actor ) ” and “ ( or actress ) ” which are positioned with a hilarious assumption that most of the respondents will be straight men . in film criticism , has this ever been true ? at any rate , they at least allow for exceptions , but they want to make it very clear , via parenthesis , that they are exceptions . at any rate , the only women quoted are france roche ( respected screenwriter , still with us at 91 ) and critic grace winter .
so why did dietrich trash her earlier work ? the history seems to show an actress on the rise , catching plum roles in major films with major directors , with the blue angel as a logical next step in her irresistible rise . portraying that film as a last - moment rescue from oblivion is consistent with dietrich ' s odd tendency to ascribe everything good in her work to sternberg , her svengali , a tendency we can plainly see but cannot so easily explain . and maybe that version of events just made a better story .
it is a film directed and written by paul thomas anderson . larry –doc - sportello ( joaquin phoenix ) who is a private detective explores the disappearance of his girlfriend however shasta fay hepworth ( katherine waterston ) he finds himself in such a strange environment that is led by drugs and “hippie” lifestyle . it was such a strange movie that i had to rewind it so many times to make sure i am not misunderstanding it . however , my conclusion is that movie’s purpose was to give an uncanny and ambiguous atmosphere to the audience .
i would like to see someone produce a spoiler on this garbage ( and , incidentally , probably all that robbe - grillet filmed - i just picked this one as a representative of all ) . this is bs - artistry pure . unfortunately there is money in art and in film , if you can get away with it . you need some beautiful women to take there cloths off , of course , and a good cinematographer helps a lot as well . the pictures are well lit and what you see of the women isn ' t bad - but that ' s it . no original thought here , in fact no thought whatsoever . that ' s why bs - artists are bs - artists - they basically have nothing to say about anything . there heads are a black hole from which nothing of value can escape . robbe - grillet and others of his ilk give film a bad name . trintignant could be good - he proved that in other films . here , however , he was taken in by a con - man , which is the essence of a bs - artist .
new wave critics and directors studied the work of western classics and applied new avant garde stylistic direction . the low - budget approach helped filmmakers get at the essential art form and find what was , to them , a much more comfortable and contemporary form of production . charlie chaplin , alfred hitchcock , orson welles , howard hawks , john ford , and many other forward - thinking film directors were held up in admiration while standard hollywood films bound by traditional narrative flow were strongly criticized . french new wave were also influenced by italian neorealism and classical hollywood cinema .
truffaut later stated that
in spite of the burlesque idea to certain scenes , it ' s never a parody ( because i detest parody , except when it begin to rival the beauty of what it is parodying ) . for me its something very precise that i would call a respectful pastiche of the hollywood b films from which i learned so much .
this was also truffaut ' s first film to include a murder , which would often become a plot point in many of his films and was influenced by truffaut ' s admiration of director alfred hitchcock .
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 .
we take it for granted —or should , at least—that access to the motion picture apparatus at the highest levels of authority indicates a certain advantage of birthright . if feature fiction filmmakers’ publicity doesn’t make a point of mentioning that they didn’t grow up more than comfortable , it’s a pretty safe bet that they did . hollywood nepotism and garden - variety privilege march through top - ranked film schools every year , and then there’s the case of count don luchino visconti count di modrone . there aren’t many defectors from the ruling class coming from this high in the ranks ; as such , their
while henning and kortner throw themselves about , fizzing with controlled intensity , dietrich hardly ever seems to move at all : she ' s just there , while the men orbit around her . henning is a near - forgotten hero of silent film , impossibly beautiful , and possessed of a poetic , tortured essence . kortner seems to have as many different modes as he made movies , bouncing from expressionist contortion to sly drollery , naturalism or pantomime villainy . here he seems quite
real
and modern , despite the suit and the monocle . he ' s more weak than menacing , more angst - ridden than evil .
7 ) at one point , roman polanski wanted to adapt the porno comics of milo manara as an animated feature . this strikes me as the worst combination possible , but manara’s comics might be a suitable source . the lousy jean - louis richard film of click is quite good , even though it’s totally lousy , if you know what i mean . unfortunately , manara is a deeply sexist idiot , and there’s a nastiness to his work i’d prefer to avoid — plus his real talent is his drawing , so why adapt him to another medium ? his adaptation of unfilmed fellini scenarios was a better way for him to engage with cinema .
if there is a single , overriding theme in tony zierra’s filmworker ( 2017 ) , it is that the life of leon vitali , the subject of this documentary , has been more or less divided between the twenty - odd years before he met stanley kubrick and the nearly fifty years since . every talking head in the film , including vitali’s , testifies to this fact , so much so that it makes us question the reality of every aspect of the man’s life that is not related to kubrick . late in the doc , for example , we hear vitali’s children voicing not very happy memories about their father’s psychological ( when not physical )
“yes , she poisoned a whole town , but . . . , ” a friend texts me after watching the recently released netflix documentary series wild wild country ( 2018 ) , and it is a popular response to ma anand sheela , the true heroine of the show . the six - episode film presents an extraordinary amount of footage from the four years of rajneeshpuram , a sixty - three - thousand - acre ranch in wasco county , oregon , established in 1981 . the five thousand people who lived at rajneeshpuram wanted to be with their bhagwan ( the hindi word for “god” ) , rajneesh , who is better known by the name osho . the rajneeshees flipped
classic french cinema adhered to the principles of strong narrative , creating what godard described as an oppressive and deterministic aesthetic of plot . in contrast , new wave filmmakers made no attempts to suspend the viewer ' s disbelief ; in fact , they took steps to constantly remind the viewer that a film is just a sequence of moving images , no matter how clever the use of light and shadow . the result is a set of oddly disjointed scenes without attempt at unity ; or an actor whose character changes from one scene to the next ; or sets in which onlookers accidentally make their way onto camera along with extras , who in fact were hired to do just the same .
when francois truffaut’s first feature t he 400 blows made its debut in 1959 , critics the world over hailed its low - key semidocumentary style in telling its tale of a troubled , melancholy youth . you can imagine then the confusion these same critics felt the next year when confronted with the french filmmaker’s next work , shoot the piano player . a wild mixture of gangster thriller , slapstick comedy , and bittersweet romance , shoot the piano player was one of the signal works of the french “new wave , ” but it took a while for some critics and audiences to get used to a film that flew in the face of traditional dramatic expectations so broadly and mixed genre elements so freely .
farrell ' s marty has a problem . he has a title for a film he must write – seven psychopaths – but no plot to go with it . this is not uncommon in hollywood : rebel without a cause and sex and the single girl were based on books acquired for their catchy titles for which gifted writers ( in the case of sex and the single girl joseph heller , author of catch - 22 ) were engaged to confect screenplays . so he must meet some genuine psychopaths , ie people who behave aggressively and commit violent acts with no sense of guilt or remorse , a description that might fit a large proportion of people in southern california at large and the movie business in particular .
the staff , obliging and suave , loan henning evening dress so he can attend the celebrations . as the countdown to midnight looms , dietrich agrees to run away with him at the party ' s height . meanwhile , we learn the secret part of the story , or some of it ( we never learn much ) : karoff has killed dietrich ' s real husband , and she ' s gone along with him . now she wants to put some distance between herself and the homicide . henning , naive and trusting , seems a better bet than the desperate karoff . despite these revelations , both dietrich and kortner maintain sympathy . both are simply doing what they must . kortner ' s karoff is clearly a doomed man , hopelessly obsessed with dietrich , who ' s living up to the film ' s title .
this sense of action seen from a slightly off - kilter angle continues in the next scene as we learn of the identity of the running figure—he’s the brother to the film’s hero charlie kohler ( charles aznavour ) . now we’re in the bar where this small , timid man plies his trade—a rowdy place filled with characters out of a mack sennett slapstick two - reeler ( chapters 2 and 3 ) . the mood changes again to romance when charlie discovers lena ( marie dubois ) , the brassy barmaid who loved him from afar ( chapter 4 ) . it goes back again to comedy when the gunmen pursuing charlie’s brother put the squeeze on charlie and lena ( chapter 6 ) . then the mystery melodrama takes over ( chapters 7 and 8 ) when a flashback reveals the truth about charlie and the circumstances that brought him to his withdrawn state .
truffaut said that it was a single image from goodis’s novel—the car silently approaching the house in the snow , where saroyan’s crazy brothers are holed up—that sparked him to make the film , and truffaut and cinematographer raoul coutard do indeed give the image a very special kind of quaintly miniaturized beauty . but i have a feeling that it was the image of aznavour himself in the lead , complemented by the heartbreakingly beautiful claudine huzé ( truffaut gave her the stage name marie dubois ) as the devoted and doomed léna , that turned all the lights green for him . in aznavour , he saw a countenance that recalled saint francis . but it’s a sure bet that he also saw what his friends recognized right away—a face and a charmingly reserved manner that recalled his own . somehow , the mixture of shyness and confidence in the figure of the forlorn piano player provides us with a perfect mirror for truffaut himself , whose films are so rich , vibrant , and eminently enjoyable that one is continually caught off guard by the realization of their complexity , their bravery , and their emotional depths .
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urltoken
( 1974 ) , starring anicée alvina , olga georges - picot , michael lonsdale , jean - louis trintignant , and michael lonsdale . the two releases will be available for purchase on february 11th .
, which will consist of individual releases of films directed by the acclaimed french writer , essayist , and filmmaker . kino lorber and redemption plan to release additional robbe - grillet films , including
the films are mastered in hd from original 35mm elements and include interviews with robbe - grillet .
decades ahead of his time , alain robbe - grillet ( 1922 - 2008 ) remains one of the most important figures in modern literature , and is best known for his innovative work in the nouveau roman style with novels such as le voyeur and la jalousie . his screenplay for alain resnais '
( 1962 ) earned him an academy award nomination for best writing ( original screenplay ) .
perhaps no other filmmaker has used the medium as an expression and exploration of his dark sexual desires , evidenced by erotic and sometimes disturbing motifs that recur with regularity throughout his body of work : blindfolds , bondage , strangulation , stabbing . through his highly stylized and confident direction , robbe - grillet elevates these tableaux to a level of high art , yet never denying their place in the realm of 1960s exploitation cinema .
for years , robbe grillet ' s films have been unavailable in the united states in any form . it is with great pride that kino lorber and redemption films bring these films to american viewers , in exquisite hd editions , aiding in the rediscovery of one of european cinema ' s most eclectic and highly original filmmakers .
a young woman is questioned by the police and the judges , suspected of being a modern witch . the girl who shared her apartment has been found dead , and a pair of scissors impaled through her heart , as she lay attached to the bedposts . apparently , the girl does have powers , to make all people around her fall prey to her spell , glissing progressively into desire , lust , and the unknown .