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Tag Archives: France
Stuff I’ve Been Reading
— Over my vacation I finished Hilary Mantel’s novel A Place of Greater Safety, which – wow, I can’t believe I’m saying this – I think I liked even more than Wolf Hall. A Place of Greater Safety is her … Continue reading
Seen Recently: Une Affaire Des Femmes (1988), Seven Psychopaths (2012), Battle of Algiers (1966), The Bling Ring (2013), Tomorrow (1972)
Une Affaire des Femmes or: Story of Women directed by Claude Chabrol This movie is as deep as the Mariana Trench. I suppose it all depends on which angle you want to look at it, which filter you want to … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Claude Chabrol, drama, France, Horton Foote, Isabelle Huppert, Italy, literary adaptation, politics, reviews, Robert Duvall, Sam Rockwell, Sofia Coppola, war movies
9 Comments
The Books: The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town, edited by Lillian Ross; ‘Mr. Hulot’, by Lillian Ross
Next up on the essays shelf: The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town (Modern Library Paperbacks) is a collection of “The Talk of the Town” pieces in The New Yorker, grouped by decade, which is a … Continue reading
The Books: The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town, edited by Lillian Ross; ‘Cocteau’, by Geoffrey Hellman
Next up on the essays shelf: The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town (Modern Library Paperbacks) is a collection of “The Talk of the Town” pieces in The New Yorker, grouped by decade, which is a … Continue reading
“Give Me Back My Beast!”
Greta Garbo reportedly called out those words at the ending of Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast (1946), when she first saw the film. When the trapped Prince appears, after shedding his monstrous exterior, there is a strange sense of … Continue reading
Jef Costello in Le Samourai: What You See Is What You Get, But What Is That Exactly?
Let’s talk about Jef Costello, the lead character in Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai, played by Alain Delon. Let’s talk about what we know, which is just the information we get from the screen. (That’s pretty much all we get, anyway: … Continue reading
Playtime Continued
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Jacques Tati’s Playtime (my thoughts here). So how fortuitous that The Siren would be nursing her own obsession with the film (and I am so bummed I missed the large-screen showing at … Continue reading
Jacques Tati’s Playtime: Life Is Better Than Beautiful. It’s Funny.
So much has been written on Jacques Tati’s wondrous Playtime (1967) that it can be daunting to throw myself into the fray. But here we go. The movie is a unique experience, completely itself, and if you try to compare … Continue reading
Dueling Anthems: Memo From Hal Wallis
70 years ago today, Casablanca premiered. Memo from Casablanca producer Hal Wallis to Max Steiner, composer: On the Marseilles, when it is played in the Cafe, don’t do it as though it was played by this small orchestra. Do it … Continue reading
Posted in Movies, On This Day
Tagged Casablanca, France, Hal Wallis, romantic drama, war, WWII
3 Comments
The Books: Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints, ‘Becoming the Emperor’, by Joan Acocella
On the essays shelf: Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays by Joan Acocella. The next essay I want to excerpt is called ‘Becoming the Emperor’, originally published in The New Yorker in 2005. It is about the French author Marguerite … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged essays, France, Joan Acocella, Roman empire, Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints
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