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2 articles from 2009

12 November 2009 6:41 AM, PST | The Auteurs | See recent The Auteurs news »

With the fragments of Henri-Georges Clouzot's never-completed L'enfer (1964) finally gathered together and released as part of the making-of/unmaking-of documentary Inferno (2009), now seems a good time to revisit Clouzot's last feature, the criminally neglected La prisonnière (1968).

Made at the urging of admirer François Truffaut, this perverse romance utilized many of the pop-art gimmicks and psychedelic visual tricks Clouzot had planned to use in the abortive L'enfer, but in the four years since that project had rolled over and died, nearly taking its director with it, times had changed, and Clouzot's experiments no longer looked as startling as they would have in '64. (Plus, L'enfer would have been a black and white film whose naturalistic style would have been violently ruptured by bursts of hallucinatory color.) In fact, it probably looked as if the old man was straining to be hip and counter-cultural. The film was passed over with a degree of embarrassment. »

14 August 2009 7:08 PM, PDT | FilmExperience | See recent FilmExperience news »

Today is Emmanuelle Béart's 46th birthday. Here she is to your left earlier this summer with another Gallic great Isabelle Huppert. Huppert is still an arthouse draw in the states but it seems like it's been ages since Béart made it to our screens in any significant way. There's been a teensy run here and there (Strayed, The Witnesses) but the last film that won any real attention was 8 Women (2002) also starring Huppert... and Catherine Deneuve and Fanny Ardant and Ludivine Sagnier. Mon dieu, je l'aime!

The last time I remember hearing other Americans talk about Béart was in college in the early to mid90s when Béart had that critically acclaimed run of Un Couer en Hiver (Cesar nom), L'Enfer, A French Woman and Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (Cesar nomination) but international stardom is a tough thing to maintain for anyone, no matter how beautiful or talented. Exceedingly rare »

- NATHANIEL R

2 articles from 2009