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Gene Kelly's part in the film is also a bit vague, but he looks great in his pastel wardrobe and his dancing is, as always, tip-top. There's also a strange reference to a serial killer and whether he might be one of the characters, which seems odd to an American audience, but makes more sense in the oeuvre of European cinema.
This film is available on DVD and has a bit of a profile among film buffs and Deneuve fans. It's largely unknown to the American public, however. The trailer is above, uploaded to YouTube by BritishFilmInstitute.
Obscurity factor: 4 (known to film buffs, on DVD, largely unknown by the general public)
Wonderful film. Apparently the French DVD has a TV special with Deneuve and Danielle Darrieux sharing their memories of this film. NOT included on the American DVD, of course.
ReplyDelete... And the film is now available on Netflix "Watch Instantly," so if you're the streaming type, you're set, too.
ReplyDeleteThis is - possibly - my favorite movie. I have seen it dozens of times. It is my anti-depressant. What the movie is about is how easily it would be to miss the love of your life. The three main couples keep missing each other, especially Maxence and Delphine whose final encounter - offscreen - is one of the greatest climaxes EVER in my book.
ReplyDeleteI remember, as a little boy, the negative buzz this film generated. The same people who had weeped bucketfuls at Parapluies refused to go see Demoiselles. It was overmarketed and it bombed big time. The movie flags awfully during the County Fair (Dimanche), about three quarters of the way along. The song with the red dresses is awful, the crowd footage is too long, and the scene afterwards (when the girls change back into their street clothes) is also very weak. Fortunately, things pick up the following day (Lundi). Also a big problem, the leading lady died gruesomely around the time of the release, lending this gossamer film a ghastly pall. It was invisible and forgotten for 20 years. Now, we can see it not as a hommage raté to Hollywood, but as a pop art summit. Its direct descendant is the credit sequence of the first Austin Powers movie.
Ahh, streaming is a boon. Too bad about the TV extra not being included in the American version. It's probably because it wasn't subtitled.
ReplyDeleteYou always have such good insight, Oliver.
ReplyDeleteI love this movie and I remember the originalartwork on the poster ( not the one you've pictured here) was a typical Bob Peak illustrated collage al la Camelot and My Fair Lady and it was beautiful. I think a reason for the film's failure in the States was that it is totally whimsical and un real -in the way that Umbrellas was a realistic, gritty ( well not gritty - wet would be a better word) and glum ( aka romantic) tale. I don't think audiences at that point in the 60's wanted that. They were looking for drugs and anti-establishment stories.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, Jacques Demy's next project was US based. It is Model Shop, a truly obscure movie, and another bomb. You all should watch this short excerpt on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqal1wei96U Model Shop is a bad movie, but a very affecting one, and the late sixties L.A. atmosphère is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteSo, basically, Demy signed 4 consecutive masterpieces: Lola - La Baie des Anges - Parapluies, and Demoiselles. You could say that the cake cutting scene (in rhymed verse!) from Demoiselles is the end of Demy's prime. Model Shop is an endearing oddity. After that, routine. Almost painful routine. Peau D'Ane was an enormous hit in France, but it looks and feels more Woolworth than Cocteau today.
Demy's wife is documentarist Agnes Varda. She made a good one about him "Jacquot de Nantes." And she revealed cryptically - and recently - that Demy died of AIDS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5DsE-KNUyg
Model Shop is on TCM quite frequently. It is a strange film, and rather somber.
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful clip of the film by Varda. Really beautiful...
ReplyDeleteThe restaurant - a wonderful Mid-Century design - was, alas, merely a set.
ReplyDelete