Sense & Sensibility

Magnificent Obsession

Home Programme Sense & Sensibility Magnificent Obsession

Credits

Country :
USA 
Year :
1955
Director :
 Douglas Sirk
Version :
vostFR
Duration :
108 minutes
Format :
digital
Actors :
Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Barbara Rush
Awards :
Nominee Best Actress (Wyman), Oscars 1955

synopsis

A carefree playboy causes the death of a renowned doctor. Tormented by guilt, he tries to atone by helping the widow of the deceased, gradually discovering the meaning of sacrifice... and risking falling in love with her.

Magnificent Obsession

A major turning point in Sirk’s career: its success led directly to the string of late masterpieces that includes All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind and Imitation of Life. "Magnificent Obsession" stands out for its uniquely over-the-top plotline, and the outrageousness seems to have prompted a corresponding vigor in Sirk’s direction. Instead of toning down the emotional extremes, he allows their full and somewhat demented force to emerge.

Criterion Collection

Also in this retrospective

Also see

See the programme

Université Populaire du Cinéma

Camille Claudel 1915

Home Programme Université Populaire du Cinéma Camille Claudel 1915

Credits

Country :
France
Year :
2013
Director :
Bruno Dumont
Version :
vostEN
Duration :
97 minutes
Format :
digital
Actors :
Juliette Binoche, Jean-Luc Vincent, Robert Leroy
Awards :
Compétition, Berlinale 2013
🎓 Université Populaire du Cinéma : key film of Lesson 2, free access for pass holders

synopsis

Winter 1915. Confined by her family in an asylum in southern France, Camille Claudel waits for a visit from her brother, Paul Claudel, who might intervene to secure her release.

Camille Claudel

La réussite du film tient à une double opération d'effacement : effacement de la star, effacement du personnage historique. Jean-Luc Vincent incarne à ravir Paul Claudel et Juliette Binoche non seulement joue le jeu mais le précède. "Camille Claudel 1915" est un film d'art.

Libération

A powerhouse performance by Juliette Binoche provides the beating, tortured heart of this finely wrought and very affecting film about the later life of sculptor Camille Claudel.

Observer

Also in this retrospective

Also see

See the programme

Université Populaire du Cinéma

Singin' in the Rain

Home Programme Université Populaire du Cinéma Singin' in the Rain

Credits

Country :
USA
Year :
1952
Director :
Stanley Donen
Version :
vostFR
Duration :
103 minutes
Format :
digital | 4K Restoration
Actors :
Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds
🎓 Université Populaire du Cinéma : key film of Lesson 3, free access for pass holders

synopsis

Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are Hollywood’s silent film star couple. When the first talkie is released, they must adapt and shoot their first film in the new format…

Singin' in the Rain

With so many films dedicated to the agonies of filmmaking, Singin’ overflows with the pleasure of movie creation, stitching together references to Hollywood history with more alacrity than Tarantino. One of the highpoints of hoofin’ history but, more importantly, an unadulterated joy.

Empire

Also in this retrospective

Also see

See the programme

Université Populaire du Cinéma

Un condamné à mort s'est échappé

Home Programme Université Populaire du Cinéma Un condamné à mort s'est échappé

Credits

Country :
France
Year :
1956
Director :
Robert Bresson
Version :
Original French version
Duration :
95 minutes
Format :
digital
Actors :
François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock
Awards :
Prix de la Mise en scène, Cannes 1957
🎓 Université Populaire du Cinéma : key film of Lesson 4, free access for pass holders

synopsis

En 1943, un résistant est arrêté par les Allemands et emprisonné à la prison Montluc à Lyon. Il met tout en œuvre pour s'évader, imagine un plan, et parvient à force de courage et de travail à s'en procurer les instruments. Mais juste avant sa fuite, on affecte à sa cellule un autre prisonnier…

Un Condamné à mort s'est echappé

Un nouveau tournant dans la carrière de Bresson. Ici c’est l’histoire d’une évasion analysée et disséquée de façon abstraite, où chaque geste prend une importance considérable, où les motivations de l’individu s’effacent devant un simple détail (une épingle qui sert à ouvrir des menottes, une corde lentement tressée…). Cette rigueur janséniste s’accompagne d’un souci d’authenticité puisque le film est fondé sur des faits réels. Pour Truffaut, il s’agissait en 1956 du "film français le plus décisif de ces dix dernières années".

Guide des films, Éd. Laffont

Also in this retrospective

Also see

See the programme

Université Populaire du Cinéma

The Long Goodbye

Home Programme Université Populaire du Cinéma The Long Goodbye

Credits

Country :
USA
Year :
1973
Director :
Robert Altman
Version :
vostFR
Duration :
112 minutes
Format :
digital
Actors :
Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell
🎓 Université Populaire du Cinéma : key film of Lesson 2, free access for pass holders

synopsis

At his request, Philip Marlowe urgently escorts his friend Terry Lennox to the Mexican border. But upon returning to Los Angeles, he is arrested for complicity in murder: Terry’s wife has been murdered…

The Long Goodbye

Philip Marlowe à jamais garde pour nous le visage de Bogart. Mais on peut se prendre d’affection pour le Marlowe d’Elliott Gould, qui pourrait être le fils du précédent. Un Marlowe qui se balade dans une Amérique inconnue de Chandler (mort en 1959), mais aussi vraie, aussi pourrie que la sienne. La brillance de la mise en scène, la façon dont Altman joue des reflets et des couleurs traduisent le même univers de solitude et de mensonges que le noir et blanc de Howard Hawks.

Le Guide cinéma, Ed. Télérama

An ice-cold noir that retains Robert Altman's idiosyncratic sensibilities, The Long Goodbye ranks among the smartest and most satisfying Marlowe mysteries.

Rotten Tomatoes

Also in this retrospective

Also see

See the programme

Université Populaire du Cinéma

Le Joli mai

Home Programme Université Populaire du Cinéma Le Joli mai

Credits

Country :
France
Year :
1963
Director :
Chris Marker & Pierre Lhomme
Version :
Original French version
Duration :
165 minutes
Format :
digital
🎓 Université Populaire du Cinéma : key film of Lesson 2, free access for pass holders

synopsis

One month in Paris, just after the end of the Algerian War: the conflict everyone is trying to forget, everyday life, small joys, and struggles.

Le Joli mai

Le schéma du film s’apparente au cinéma-vérité, à base d’interviews avec son direct. En fait, il s’agit d’une œuvre très personnelle où Chris Marker s’investit totalement, par le choix du montage, l’appréhension d’un détail, la sincérité du commentaire. Il est le témoin lucide de son époque dans ce film brillant, intelligent, poétique ou ironique, toujours généreux et passionnant.

Guide des films, Éd. Laffont

Also in this retrospective

Also see

See the programme

Vengeance au féminin

Promising Young Woman

Home Programme Vengeance au féminin Promising Young Woman

Credits

Country :
USA-UK
Year :
2020
Director :
Emerald Fennell
Version :
vostFR
Duration :
114 minutes
Format :
digital
Actors :
Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie
Awards :
Best Original Screenplay & 4 nominations including Best Director, Oscars 2021
Age classification :
12+

synopsis

Cassie, a former medical student, works in a café. But her life is not what it seems. When night falls, the thirty-something leads a double life…

Visuel : Promising Young Woman

Emerald Fennell jongle avec les codes du film noir, de la comédie romantique et de la satire horrifique pour mieux aiguiser son discours ultraféministe, entre scènes tarantinesques et moments d’émotion, et frapper là où ça fait mal.

Le Journal du Dimanche

There’s no denying that Fennell is playing with dynamite here, and knows it; the brashness of her approach and style is welcome, and her work is often riotously funny (especially when edging into darker territory).

The Playlist

Also in this retrospective

Also see

See the programme

The McCarey Way

The Early Genius of Leo McCarey

Home Programme The McCarey Way The Early Genius of Leo McCarey

Credits

Country :
USA
Year :
1924
Director :
Leo McCarey
Version :
English intertitles
Duration :
96 minutes
Format :
digital
🎹 Programme of silent short films with live piano accompaniment by Hughes Maréchal

synopsis

This programme presents a selection of silent shorts made during Leo McCarey’s formative years at Hal Roach Studios, where he began working in 1923. The films trace McCarey’s rapid ascent from gag writer to one of the studio’s key creative minds. Starting with scenario work and gag construction, he soon moved behind the camera to direct Charley Chase shorts, developing his instinct for performance, rhythm and narrative structure. By the late 1920s, he was supervising productions and shaping the work of others, most notably by bringing together Laurel & Hardy as a permanent duo and defining their comic dynamic. Seen together, these shorts reveal McCarey’s rapid development as a filmmaker — cultivating his own voice, mastering precise timing, and refining character-driven comedy within the collaborative environment of Hal Roach Studios.


Programme : 

The Poor Fish USA 1924 | Cast : Charley Chase, Beth Darlington, Sammy Brooks

Mighty Like a Moose USA 1924 | Cast : Charley Chase, Vivien Oakland, Ann Howe

Pass the Gravy USA 1928 | Fred Guiol, supervision Leo McCarey | Cast : Max Davidson, Martha Sleeper, Bert Sprotte

Wrong Again USA 1929 | Cast : Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy

Liberty USA 1929 | Cast : Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy

Also in this retrospective

Also see

See the programme

Vengeance au féminin

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Home Programme Vengeance au féminin Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Credits

Country :
USA
Year :
1965
Director :
Russ Meyer
Version :
vostFR
Duration :
83 minutes
Format :
digital
Actors :
Tura Satana, Haji, Lori Williams

synopsis

Led by Varla, three young women set out on a sports car road trip. Along the way, they encounter a naive young couple, whom Varla does not hesitate to provoke.

De mon point de vue, le meilleur exemple de violence sexuelle déchaînée et fétichiste au cinéma. 

Nicolas Winding Refn

Visuel : Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

What attracts audiences is not sex and not really violence, either, but a Pop Art fantasy image of powerful women, filmed with high energy and exaggerated in a way that seems bizarre and unnatural, until you realize Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal play more or less the same characters. Without the bras, of course. 

Chicago Sun-Times

Also in this retrospective

Also see

See the programme

Vengeance au féminin

Lady Yakuza – Red Peony Gambler

Home Programme Vengeance au féminin Lady Yakuza – Red Peony Gambler

Credits

Original title :
Hibotan Bakuto
Country :
Japon
Year :
1968
Director :
Kosaku Yamashita
Version :
vostEN
Duration :
98 minutes
Format :
digital
Actors :
Junko Fuji, Ken Takakura, Tomisaburo Wakayama

synopsis

When the head of the Yano yakuza family is assassinated, his daughter Oryu dissolves the clan and embarks on a journey to find her father’s killer.

Fuji would go on to play the Red Peony five more times, cementing the character as the archetype for many of the vengeful women to follow in Japanese cinema and beyond.

Eureka

What makes Yamashita’s Red Peony Gambler a classic ninkyo narrative and a must-see for any cinephile is nothing other than Junko Fuji’s performance.

Psychocinematography.com

Also in this retrospective

Also see

See the programme