this week in film and television

JEAN-LOUIS TRINTIGNANT: A MAN AND A WOMAN / MY NIGHT AT MAUD’S

Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant play characters trying to escape their pasts in Claude Lelouch’s A MAN AND A WOMAN

A MAN AND A WOMAN (UN HOMME ET UNE FEMME) (Claude Lelouch, 1966)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Sunday, December 16, and Monday, December 17
Series runs through December 20
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org

Winner of both the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Claude Lelouch’s A Man and a Woman is one of the most popular, and most unusual, romantic love stories ever put on film. Oscar-nominated Anouk Aimée stars as Anne Gauthier and Jean-Louis Trintignant as Jean-Louis Duroc, two people who each has a child in a boarding school in Deauville. Anne, a former actress, and Jean-Louis, a successful racecar driver, seem to hit it off immediately, but they both have pasts that haunt them and threaten any kind of relationship. Shot in three weeks with a handheld camera by Lelouch, who earned nods for Best Director and Best Screenplay (with Pierre Uytterhoeven), A Man and a Woman is a tour-de-force of filmmaking, going from the modern day to the past via a series of flashbacks that at first alternate between color and black-and-white, then shift hues in curious, indeterminate ways. Much of the film takes place in cars, either as Jean-Louis races around a track or the protagonists sit in his red Mustang convertible and talk about their lives, their hopes, their fears. The heat they generate is palpable, making their reluctance to just fall madly, deeply in love that much more heart-wrenching, all set to a memorable soundtrack by Francis Lai. Lelouch, Trintignant, and Aimée revisited the story in 1986 with A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later, without the same impact and success. A new print of the original will be shown December 16-17 in a grand double feature with Eric Rohmer’s My Night at Maud’s as part of Film Forum’s two-week tribute to Trintignant, leading up to the theatrical release of the French star’s latest, Michael Haneke’s remarkable Palme d’Or winner Amour, which once again displays the actor’s unique range and sensitivity in an unforgettable performance that is likely to finally make him much better known in the United States, at the tender age of eighty-two.

Jean-Louis (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is more than a little intrigued by Maud (Françoise Fabian) in the fourth of Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales

MY NIGHT AT MAUD’S (MA NUIT CHEZ MAUD) (Eric Rohmer, 1969)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Sunday, December 16, and Monday, December 17
Series runs through December 20
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org

Nominated for the Palme d’Or and a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, My Night at Maud’s, Éric Rohmer’s fourth entry in his Six Moral Tales series (Clarie’s Knee, Love in the Afternoon), continues the French director’s fascinating exploration of love, marriage, and tangled relationships. Three years removed from playing the romantic racecar driver Jean-Louis in Claude Lelouch’s A Man and a Woman, Jean-Louis Trintignant again stars as a man named Jean-Louis, this time a single thirty-four-year-old Michelin engineer living a relatively solitary life in the French suburb of Clermont. A devout Catholic, he is developing an obsession with a fellow churchgoer, the blonde, beautiful Françoise (Marie-Christine Barrault), about whom he knows practically nothing. After bumping into an old school friend, Vidal (Antoine Vitez), the two men delve into deep discussions of religion, Marxism, Pascal, mathematics, Jansenism, and women. Vidal then invites Jean-Louis to the home of his girlfriend, Maud (Françoise Fabian), a divorced single mother with open thoughts about sexuality, responsibility, and morality that intrigue Jean-Louis, for whom respectability and appearance are so important. The conversation turns to such topics as hypocrisy, grace, infidelity, and principles, but Maud eventually tires of such talk. “Dialectic does nothing for me,” she says shortly after explaining that she always sleeps in the nude. Later, when Jean-Louis and Maud are alone, she tells him, “You’re both a shamefaced Christian and a shamefaced Don Juan.” Soon a clearly conflicted Jean-Louis is involved in several love triangles that are far beyond his understanding, so he again seeks solace in church. My Night at Maud’s is a classic French tale, with characters spouting off philosophically while smoking cigarettes, drinking wine and other cocktails, and getting naked. Shot in black-and-white by Nestor Almendros, the film roams from midnight mass to a single woman’s bed and back to church, as Jean-Louis, played with expert concern by Trintignant, is forced to examine his own deep desires and how they relate to his spirituality. Fabian (Belle de Jour, The Letter) is outstanding as Maud, whose freedom titillates and confuses Jean-Louis. One of Rohmer’s best, most accomplished works despite its haughty intellectualism, My Night at Maud’s is screening December 16-17 at Film Forum in a terrific double feature with A Man and a Woman as part of its “Trintignant” series.

ROAD MOVIES — DIRECTED AND SELECTED BY WALTER SALLES: THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES

Rodrigo De la Serna and Gael Garcia Bernal are on the road in Walter Salles’s THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES

THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES (DIARIOS DE MOTOCICLETA) (Walter Salles, 2004)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Sunday, December 16, 6:30
Series runs December 14-20
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

In Walter Salles’s road movie The Motorcycle Diaries, Gael Garcia Bernal and Rodrigo De la Serna star as buddies Ernesto Guevara de la Serna and Alberto Granado, who hop aboard the Mighty One, an old, dilapidated Norton motorcycle, on a grand adventure across South America, on their way to work at a leper colony. While fun-loving Alberto is out for action, the more serious Ernesto wants to remain true to his love, Chichina (Mia Maestro). As they scam people for food, drink, mechanical help, and a place to sleep, they learn a lot more about life than they expected, especially Ernesto, who gets caught up in the plight of the poor, the sick, and the homeless, laying the groundwork for his revolutionary leadership in Cuba (where he is more well known as Che Guevara). The film, based on the writings of Ernesto and Alberto, is beautifully shot on location by Eric Gautier and excellently directed by Brazilian Salles, who previously gave us the wonderful Central Station and the heartbreaking Behind the Sun. Stick around for the credits, which begin with photos of Ernesto and Alberto from the actual trip. The Motorcycle Diaries is screening December 16 at 6:30 in a new 35mm print as part of the IFC Center series “Road Movies: Directed and Selected by Walter Salles,” in conjunction with the December 21 theatrical release of Salles’s adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. The series also includes such films as Central Station, Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour, and John Ford’s The Searchers.

ROAD MOVIES — DIRECTED AND SELECTED BY WALTER SALLES: THE PASSENGER

Locke (Jack Nicholson) reevaluates his life in Michelangelo Antonioni’s existential suspense thriller THE PASSENGER

THE PASSENGER (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1975)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Saturday, December 15, 9:30, and Tuesday, December 18, 9:00
Series runs December 14-20
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

Nominated for the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 1975, Michelangelo Antonioni’s existential suspense thriller is a fascinating character study of a lost, lonely man. Jack Nicholson stars as Locke, a successful, well-respected journalist who is researching a story on the guerrilla movement in Chad. Life isn’t as fun and exciting as it used to be for him, as witnessed by his utter helplessness after his car gets stuck in the sand. Upon returning to his hotel room, he discovers that his neighbor, Robertson (Chuck Mulvehill), is dead — and he decides to switch places with him, to stop being Locke and instead live a completely different existence. Even when he finds out that Robertson was involved in international espionage and gun running, Locke continues the deception, traveling dangerously through England, Germany, and Spain with a free-spirited young architecture student (Maria Schneider) while his wife (Jenny Runacre) and business associate (Ian Hendry) — and the police — try to find him. The Passenger is marvelously slow-paced, never in a hurry to make no point about just what the point of it all is. Nicholson glides through the film with an unease that is as unnerving as it is intoxicating as he struggles to find his way in life, a cinematic representative of something that is within us all. The Passengeris screening December 15 and 18 as part of the IFC Center series “Road Movies: Directed and Selected by Walter Salles,” in conjunction with the December 21 theatrical release of Salles’s adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. The series also includes such films as Salles’s Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries, Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour, and John Ford’s The Searchers.

ROAD MOVIES — DIRECTED AND SELECTED BY WALTER SALLES: THE SEARCHERS

In iconic Western, Jeffrey Hunter and Ethan Edwards search for Natalie Wood, with very different motives

THE SEARCHERS (John Ford, 1956)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Saturday, December 15, 2:30, and Monday, December 17, 7:00
Series runs December 14-20
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

That’ll be the day when someone tries to claim there’s a better Western than John Ford’s ethnocentric look at the dying of the Old West and the birth of the modern era. Essentially about a gunfighter’s attempt to find and kill his young niece, who has been kidnapped and, ostensibly, ruined by Indians, The Searchers is laden with iconic imagery, inside messages, and not-so-subtle metaphors. Hence, it is no accident that John Wayne’s son, Patrick, plays an ambitious yet inept officer named Greenhill. The elder Wayne stars as Ethan Edwards, a tough-as-nails Confederate veteran seeking revenge for the murder of his brother’s family; he’s also out to save Debbie (Natalie Wood) from the Comanches, led by a chief known as Scar (Henry Brandon), by ending her life, because in his world view, it’s better to be dead than red. Joining him on his trek is Debbie’s adopted brother, Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), who wants to save her from Edwards. The magnificent film balances its serious center with a large dose of humor, particularly in the relationships between Ethan and Martin and Ethan with his Indian companion, Look (Beulah Archuletta). And keep your eye on that blanket in front of the house. The Searchers is screening December 15 and 17 as part of the IFC Center series “Road Movies: Directed and Selected by Walter Salles,” in conjunction with the December 21 theatrical release of Salles’s adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. The series also includes such films as Salles’s Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries, Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour, and Michelangelo Antonioni’s The Passenger.

SPANISH CINEMA NOW: TRISTANA

Catherine Deneuve dreams of a better life in Luis Buñuel’s TRISTANA

TRISTANA (Luis Buñuel, 1970)
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
Saturday, December 15, 5:30
Series continues through December 16
212-875-5601
www.filmlinc.com

Luis Buñuel’s adaptation of Benito Pérez Galdós’s 1892 novel Tristana is an often underrated, deceivingly wicked psychological black comedy. A dubbed Catherine Deneuve stars as the title character, a shy, virginal young orphan employed in the household of the aristocratic, atheist Don Lope (Fernando Rey), an avowed atheist and aging nobleman who regularly spouts off about religion and the wretched social conditions in Spain (where the Spanish auteur had recently returned following many years living and working in Mexico). Soon Don Lope is serving as both husband and father to Tristana, who allows the world to pile its ills on her without reacting — until she meets handsome artist Horacio (Franco Nero) and begins to take matters into her own hands, with tragic results. Although Tristana is one of Buñuel’s more straightforward offerings with regard to narrative, featuring fewer surreal flourishes, it is a fascinating exploration of love, femininity, wealth, power, and a changing of the old guard. Deneuve is magnetic as Tristana, transforming from a meek, naive, gorgeous girl into a much stronger, and ultimately darker, gorgeous woman. Lola Gaos provides solid support as Saturna, who runs Don Lope’s household with a firm hand while also taking care of her deaf son, Saturno (Jesús Fernández), yet another male who is fond of the beautiful Tristana. The film is one of Buñuel’s most colorful works, wonderfully shot by cinematographer José F. Aguayo, who photographed Buñuel’s 1961 masterpiece Viridiana, which was also based on a novel by Galdós and starred Rey. Tristana is screening December 15 at 5:30 as part of the Buñuel sidebar at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s “Spanish Cinema Now” series, which continues through December 16 with such other films as Pedro Pérez Rosado’s Wilaya, Alvaro Longoria’s Sons of the Clouds, and Viridiana.

LET FURY HAVE THE HOUR

Tom Morello offers his version of creative response in LET FURY HAVE THE HOUR

LET FURY HAVE THE HOUR (Antonino D’Ambrosio, 2012)
Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St.
Opens Friday, December 14
212-255-2243
www.quadcinema.com
www.letfuryhavethehour.com

In his recently released book Let Fury Have the Hour: Joe Strummer, Punk, and the Movement That Shook the World, author, editor, and visual artist Antonino D’Ambrosio writes, “Let Fury Have the Hour, the book and film, is a call to celebrate the art of living, or being for, not against. For the movie, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, D’Ambrosio brought together some fifty artists to talk about how they use creative response in a positive way to deal with the social, political, and economic outrage that began in the 1980s with the separatist policies of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and has exploded today. Shot over the course of seven years, the film features intelligent discourse from such musicians as Billy Bragg, Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, Wayne Kramer from the MC5, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Eugene Hütz from Gogol Bordello, and, perhaps most eloquently, Ian MacKaye from Fugazi and Minor Threat. In addition, street artist Shepard Fairey (whose designs can be seen throughout the film), spoken-word poet Staceyann Chin, comedian Lewis Black, filmmaker John Sayles, author Edwidge Danticat, playwright Eve Ensler, choreographer Elizabeth Streb, skateboarder Tommy Guerrero, and many more share how the DIY punk aesthetic influences them in their work and their daily life as they continue to fight the power through artistic self-expression that understands the interconnectedness of everything. “Our freedom of speech is our freedom from death,” Chuck D states. The jumping-off point for many of those in the film, as well as D’Ambrosio himself, was the music of the Clash; the title comes from a line in the Clash classic “Clampdown.” D’Ambrosio and editor Karim Lopez supplement the original interviews, which are all conducted in personal settings unique to each individual, with dramatic archival footage of political and artistic movements from around the world throughout the twentieth century, backed by a score composed by Kramer with songs by Public Enemy, Hütz, Sean Hayes, and others. It all comes together in a rousing wake-up call that is a direct counter to Reagan’s “Morning in America” agenda. “A citizen is someone who participates,” DJ Spooky says in the film. D’Ambrosio is seeking to spread his message of creative response by getting as many citizens as possible to participate in any way they can, making an ambitious film that avoids coming off as propaganda and instead feels necessary in these hard times.

PIER PAOLO PASOLINI: ACCATTONE

Franco Citti stars as the title character in Pier Paolo Pasolin’s directorial debut, ACCATTONE

ACCATTONE (THE SCROUNGER) (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1961)
MoMA Film, Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Friday, December 14, 4:30, and Thursday, December 27, 4:30
Series runs December 13 – January 5
Tickets: $12, in person only, may be applied to museum admission within thirty days, same-day screenings free with museum admission, available at Film and Media Desk beginning at 9:30 am
212-708-9400
www.moma.org

After collaborating on a number of works by such auteurs as Mauro Bolognini and Federico Fellini, poet and novelist Pier Paolo Pasolini made his directorial debut in 1961 with the gritty, not-quite-neo-realist Accattone (“scrounger” or “beggar”). Somewhat related to his books Ragazzi di vita and Una vita violenta, the film is set in the Roman borgate, where brash young Vittorio “Accattone” Cataldi (Franco Citti) survives by taking crazy bets — like swimming across a river known for swallowing up people’s lives — and working as a pimp. After a group of local men beat up his main money maker (Silvana Corsini), he meets the more naive Stella (Franca Pasut), whom he starts dating with an eye toward perhaps converting into a prostitute as well. Meanwhile, he tries to establish a relationship with his son, but his estranged wife and her family want nothing to do with him. Filmed in black-and-white by master cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli, Accattone is highlighted by a series of memorable shots, from Accattone’s gorgeous dive from a bridge to a close-up of his face covered in sand, many of which were inspired by Baroque art and set to music by Bach. Written with Sergio Citti and featuring a production assistant named Bernardo Bertolucci, the story delves into the dire poverty in the slums of Rome, made all the more real by Pasolini’s use of both professional and nonprofessional actors. Accattone is screening December 14 and 27 as part of MoMA’s “Pier Paolo Pasolini” series, a full career retrospective that runs December 13 to January 5 and includes such special events as “Recital: An Evening Dedicated to Pier Paolo Pasolini the Poet” at MoMA on December 14 and the Sunday Sessions program “Pier Paolo Pasolini: Intellettuale” at MoMA PS1 on December 16 with Paul Chan, Ninetto Davoli, Emi Fontana, Barbara Hammer, Alfredo Jaar, Lovett/Codagnone, and Fabio Mauri. In addition, there will be a number of other Pasolini celebrations around the city, including the December 13 seminar “Pasolini’s Languages” at the Italian Cultural Institute and the exhibition “Pier Paolo Pasolini, Portraits and Self Portraits” at Location One, opening December 15. Pasolini, who was murdered under mysterious circumstances in 1975 at the age of fifty-three, was a brilliant, iconoclastic, enigmatic figure who looked at the world in a unique way, filling his films and writings with fascinating explorations of religion, politics, social conditions, and even romance, well deserving of this extensive reexamination.