And in France, Jean-Loup Dabadie died.
Dabadie wrote the lyrics to the song “But Now I know” (1973), which was released as “Maintenant je sais” (1974) in French.
Tag Archives: French cinema
RIP Michel Piccoli (1925 – 2020)
Michel Piccoli was a French actor of the generation of Philippe Noiret, Jean Rochefort and yes, Yves Montand.
Of note is his work with Marco Ferreri (Dillinger Is Dead, La Grande Bouffe, The Last Woman and Don’t Touch the White Woman!); with Luis Buñuel (Diary of a Chambermaid Belle de jour, The Milky Way, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Phantom of Liberty); and Jean-Luc Godard (Contempt).
In The Milky Way (1969) he plays Marquis de Sade.
Then there is the iconic La Grande Bouffe (1973), the story of three bourgeois men who decide to eat themselves to death.
Later I saw Themroc (1973), one of the strangest counterculture films where he played opposite the tragic but delightful Patrick Dewaere.
Watching clips on YouTube, you see him with Romy Schneider in The Things of Life (1970), my god what a beautiful woman she was.
RIP Philippe Nahon (1938 – 2020)
Philippe Nahon was a French actor known for his roles in French horror and thriller films.
Nahon was has been described as the fetish actor of maverick director Gaspar Noé, playing a nameless butcher in no less than three films: Carne, I Stand Alone, and Irréversible (cameo).
Above is the gimmicky “30 seconds to leave this film” scene from I Stand Alone (1988).
The film is especially bleak.
Not surprisingly, because it focuses on several pivotal days in the life of a butcher faced with abandonment, isolation, rejection and unemployment.
There was a time when I relished these kind of films. I remember seeing a trailer for Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and absolutely wanting to see it.
The attraction for this fare has largely faded.
Nevertheless, watching scenes from I Stand Alone, one cannot help being immediately intrigued.
RIP Anna Karina (1940 – 2019)
Anna Karina was a Danish actress best-known for her work with the French New Wave and Jean-Luc Godard.
She appeared four times in the film On the Passage of a Few Persons Through a Rather Brief Unity of Time (1959) by Marxist/situationist Guy Debord, a much more interesting figure than Godard.
These four appearances were from television commercials. Three fragments are from a Monsavon commercial, a fourth I have been unable to identify.
In the first clip (13:53) Anna stands in front of a mirror in the same bathroom as in which she takes a bath in the third clip.
The voice-over: “What was directly lived reappears frozen in the distance, engraved in the tastes and illustions of an era and carried off with it.”
In the second clip (14:41) she is in the bath and rubs herself with soap.
The voice-over: “There is no more should-be; being has been consumed to the point of ceasing to exist. The details are already lost in the dust of time. “Who was afraid of life, afraid of the night, afraid of being taken, afraid of being kept?”
In the third clip (17:30) she is seen at the wheel of a convertible car, a bird’s eye view, three young people get out of the car.
The voice-over: “In the final analysis, stars are not created by their talent or lack of talent, or even by the film industry or advertising. They are created by the need we have for them.”
The fourth clip (18:09) begins where the first clip left off.
The voice-over: “The advertisements during intermissions are the truest reflection of an intermission from life.”
Translations are from [1].
RIP Jean-Pierre Mocky (1933 – 2019)
Jean-Pierre Mocky was a French film director, actor, screenwriter and producer who made over 40 films.
Trailer of Solo (1969) with a soundtrack by Georges Moustaki.
RIP Édith “Eyes Without a Face” Scob (1937 – 2019)
Édith Scob was a French actress best-known for Eyes Without a Face (1959) in which she played a horribly disfigured young woman wearing a mask and whose dad, a surgeon, is going to provide her with a face transplant, an instance of the the mad doctor and new flesh plot.
In Holy Motors, Scob wears an near-identical mask.
Eyes Without a Face (1959), best scenes set to music by Aalborg Soundtracks
Holy Motors (2012), trailer
Summer Hours (2008), trailer
RIP Maurice Bénichou (1943 – 2019)
Maurice Bénichou was a French actor, best-known internationally for his part in Amélie. His other work includes three collaborations with director Michael Haneke (Code Unknown, Time of the Wolf, and Caché). He has also played in Peter Brook’s 6 hour film version of The Mahabharata.
The death of Bénichou may be a good occasion to dive into the work of Haneke, one of the more interesting of contemporary directors.
Majid (Bénichou) committing suicide in Caché.
Bretodeau (Bénichou) receiving a phone call and his youth treasures in a box in Amélie.
Unnamed character (Bénichou) defending Binoche from sexual aggressors in Code Unknown.
RIP Jean-Pierre Marielle (1932 – 2019)
Jean-Pierre Marielle was a French actor.
I have very warm recollections of the film Coup de Torchon (1981).
In the scene above Marielle is shot by Noiret.
There is a complete version of the film … Comme la lune (1977), a period piece of 1970s French mores.