LE MONDE ENCHANTÉ DE JACQUES DEMY
Although he rose to prominence as a director at the same time as Truffaut and Godard, Jacques Demy (1931-1990) found his own distinct voice in the French New Wave of the early 1960s. He delighted in creating precise worlds of destiny and chance populated with characters who were usually either possessed by the raptures of a new romance or filled with a melancholic longing for a lost love. The deliberately artificial and frequently candy-coated visuals and the embracing of musical conventions in Demy’s films do not disguise the fact that his films were very much about real love and real heartbreak. Instead, they remind us even more strongly of the precarious balancing act that is life. This series will begin during the 2014 Wisconsin Film Festival, April 3-10, with screenings of new restorations of Demy’s Lola and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and others! Special thanks to the Cultural Services of the French Embassy NY, Institut Français, Paris, and to Cine-Tamaris, Janus Films, Sony Pictures Repertory.
- Fri., Apr. 11 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
In Demy’s only American film, a married and disillusioned architect about to be drafted (2001’s Lockwood) meets an exotic model (Aimée, reprising her role from Demy’s Lola) who rents herself out to “amateur photographers”. Exquisitely and evocatively shot on sun-drenched and neon-lit Los Angeles locations at the height of the Vietnam War, the film recalls a very specific time and place for our country.
- Fri., Apr. 18 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Varda was the wife of director Jacques Demy and Jacquot is not only a love-letter to her late spouse, but a fluid cinema essay about the way in which we see movies. Varda juxtaposes her tender “recreations” of young Jacques’ life in the smalltown of Nantes with clips from Demy’s earlier films, as well as rare interviews with the filmmaker shortly before his death. The feature will be preceded by Demy’s early short documentary Le Sabotier du val de loire (1956, 26 min.).
- Fri., Apr. 25 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
A young princess in a faraway land (an ultra-radiant Deneuve) must flee from the incestuous designs of her father the king (Marais), taking along only her fairy godmother (Seyrig) and the skin of her father’s magical donkey. Deneuve, Demy, and Michel Legrand, the star, director, and composer of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort reunited for this charming fantasy, one of the most extravagant of all film musicals.
- Fri., May. 2 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
After experimenting with the musical form in Lola and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Demy added choreographed dancing to his repertoire and emerged with this full-on extravaganza in the tradition of MGM classics. He even invited American stars Kelly, George Charkiris and Grover Dale to join his cast, which also includes French cinema icons Danielle Darrieux and Michel Piccoli. Real-life siblings Deneuve and Dorléac play the two sisters at the center of the fun, multi-character plot that involves mistaken identity, music lessons, romance, and even an axe murder! The songs, by Demy and Michel Legrand, are unforgettable. The feature will be followed by Agnes Varda's 1991 documentary, The Young Girls at 25 (66 min.), in which Varda takes a special look at the enduring legacy of The Young Girls of Rochefort 25 years after its first release.