A Tribute to Jean Moreau - Part I

The BFI (British Film Institute) dedicated the month of June 2008 to Jeanne Moreau, one of the greatest actresses of the French film industry. She was the youngest actress to join the celebrated Comédie-Française in the late 50's and went on to work with some of the biggest directors of the New Wave, such as François Truffaut and Jean Luc Godard. With the international success of Truffaut's film Jules et Jim, she continued to work with internationally-acclaimed directors such as Luis Buñuel, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Orson Welles. I took this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and saw as many of the films screened at the BFI as possible. Below are my short reactions and thoughts from each film so far. I will divide the tribute to multiple posts so I can write as I see the films throughout June.

La Baie des Anges (1963) - dir. Jacques Demy
The film opens with a shot of Moreau walking along the promenade at Nice and then quickly leaves her in the distance as the camera moves steadily backwards along the shore. It's a very fitting start for the film as this addicted gambler can't seem to have enough willpower to leave Nice and get on with her life. Her daily promises to leave this life behind and start anew get left to chance again and again as she makes her way back to the casinos every chance she gets. Her salvation embodies itself in a fellow gambler with whom she can walk through the halls of her church one last time. Moreau's wonderfully playful character, who is as likely to get bored in one instant as she is likely to get excited the next, not only enchants the men in the casinos but the viewers as well.


The Trial/Le Procès (1962) - dir. Orson Welles
Now I know which film inspired David Lynch to start a film career. This Kafka adaptation by Orson Welles feels as nightmarish as Lynch's Mulholland Drive but shot about 30 years prior. Welles directs an international cast in this claustrophobic film in which Moreau plays a small part towards the beginning. The film's Doctor Caligari style surreal sets and high contrast imagery with jarring editing of long distance and close-up shots definitely creates the necessary nightmarish feeling but all in all can't save it from being a mediocre film. Welles might have impregnated Citizen Kane, which is regarded by some to be the best film ever made, but this film is proof that he made some pretty bad films in his time.

More to come soon!