The Golden Age of French and Italian Cinema

As many of you know by now, I am an insatiable lover of film. If I had life my way, I would watch a film per day, writing reviews, making observations and sharing mutual recommendations with my readers. As part of my recent resolution, I decided to take some educational classes. I had friends who took painting or computer science at the time, complimenting their rigid work schedules with a subject they fell passionate about it. Following their lead, I signed up for a continuing education class at Stanford University, naturally pursuing foreign film. The class taught by knowledgeable and charming Laura Wittman called “The Golden Age of French and Italian Cinema” spoke for itself and covered acclaimed film masterpieces of the 20^th century, ranging from late 1930 to 1970’s.  As our semester rounds up, I want to share the list of the movies I’ve seen with you. Many of them you might have watched yet plenty could also be discoveries, intriguing and pushing you to search further by reading about the era, cinematographic movements and film criticism. Without further delay, I give you the movies that proved inspiring and simply enchanting:

“The Rules of the Game” by Jean Renoir (1939)

“Rome Open City” by Roberto Rossellini (1945)

“The Children of Paradise” by Marcel Carne (1945)

“Hiroshima Mon Amour” by Alain Resnais” (1959)

“La Dolce Vita” by Federico Fellini (1960)

“Breathless” by Jean-Luc Godard (1960)

“The Conformist” by  Bernardo Bertolucci (1970)

All these films are incredible given an often grim historical circumstances under which they were created, lack of resources driven only by passionate creative vision. If you are a fan of classic movies and this sample has woken up an appetite for more film, I strongly suggest checking out THE CRITERION COLLECTION – fantastic resource for  hard-to-find cinematic treasures.

Fashion in Film

Recently, seeking inspiration and creative encouragement in my work, I have gone on a fashion film marathon. I craved color, spark, passion and wise words of the maestri of Haute Couture. The most recent film I have seen was "Lagerfeld Confidential"an elusive documentary by Rudolphe Marconi - part dialogue with the head of Chanel, part continuous shots of Lagerfeld's travels. Overall, the film was a disappointment. Impersonal, fickle and lacking significant substance it neither gave any sense of Lagerfeld's monumental fashion resume nor glanced into the more subtle dwellings of the artist's mind. However, having started on a down note, I have discovered an array of fantastic films that were a true treat! If you crave a dose of Fashion in your life, you should definitely see:

The September Issue 

Why: The grand process of production of September issue of American Vogue (2007) and fabulous Anna Wintour, of course!

L'Amour Fou

Why: Yves Saint Laurant, Pierre Berge and the auctioning of their elaborate art collection!

Valentino: The Last Emperor

Why: Exuberant glance into the private and public life of Valentino Garavani as he bids adieu and steps off the fashion stage to retire. This movie was by far my favorite - personal, dazzling and full of life and love! 

Life of Pi Visual Journey

For those of you fascinated by Life of Pi visuals are in for quite an educational treat. A site, produced by 20th century FOX, named Pi's Epic Journey, will allow us to glimpse into film's production process, featuring infinite footage and informational tidbits that made Life of Pi a fascinating philosophical tale. Enjoy:

PI'S EPIC JOURNEY 

Marina & Ulay: Love Beyond

Two artists/performers Marina Abramovic and Ulay (Frank Uwe Laysiepen) met and fell in love in 1976 in Amsterdam.  They immediately started working together and led “collective existence” that helped them work and stay together for 12 years. They wore the same clothes, did not have any secrets from each other and generally acted like twins. For their performance “Death of self” the artists connected their mouths with a special apparatus and breathed in exhales of each other running out of oxygen after 17 minutes and fainting. The project explored the ability of an individual to consume the individuality of another person, changing and erasing it.

In late 1980’s Marina and Ulay encountered difficulties in their relationship, preventing them from working and living their lives fully. To finish their love story in grand artistic manner, they decided to perform one last soul-searching trip together to have closure. Starting from the opposite ends of the Great Wall of China they met in the middle hugged and parted forever…each walking 2500 kilometers prior.

In 2010, Marina Abramovic had a solo retrospective performance at MoMA in New York called “The Artist is Present” exchanging long gazes with anyone who volunteered to sit in front of her. The entire performance lasted 716 hours and 30 minutes and Marina has looked into the eyes of 1500 exhibition visitors. The only gaze that truly counted though was:

L'Odyssée de Cartier

Commercial taken to a whole new level of artistry - simply breathtaking:

Sleeping Beauty

“Sleeping Beauty” directed and written by Australian novelist Julia Leigh is a haunting allegory of awakening in close proximity to death. Lucy (Emily Browning) is a young college student floating through life in a fog of indiscriminate jobs and relationships. Underpaid and struggling, by random draw of luck, Lucy discovers an ad in a college newspaper for a mysterious job seeking attractive women. Under pretenses of silver lining waitressing, Lucy is drawn into erotic and lucrative world of sex services. Sex, in this instance being used elusively given the main rule of the club is no penetration. As Lucy gets drawn further into the unnervingly mysterious farce of the job that caters to aging aristocrats, she no longer is solely asked to flow around the expensively catered dining rooms in lacy underwear. Her icy madam, Clara (Rachael Blake) raises the stakes by offering Lucy to go further – succumb to the narcotic-induced sleep at Clara’s mansion. Even though as viewers we are exposed to most of what goes behind the doors of the luxuriously appointed bedroom, we cannot shake off the chilling feeling of mystery. Instead of explicit celebration of sexual desire found in the blatant exploitation of female form, we are left with the opposite - witnessing the mourning and loss of lustful mastery and complete paralysis of eros. 

One of the most fascinating scenes in the movie is one client’s monologue describing a short story he had recently encountered. In this story, a man who had lost all desire for life and its pleasures, dead inside, finally awakens by surviving a nearly fatal car accident and witnessing his driver’s death. This experience brings the protagonist back to life, giving him sensation of the world that he was numb to throughout his life. This story becomes a symbolic backbone of “Sleeping Beauty” culminating in Lucy’s struggle to find out what goes on when the Morpheus sets in and putting her face to face with death and, thus, spiritual awakening. Lucy’s hysterical cries in the closing scene contrast with serene pace and detached expose of director’s camera and in many ways signify the first grasps of air by a newborn baby…rebirth and resurrection. 

Did I love this movie? – Not particularly. In many ways, it was painful in its slowness and incoherent in its plot line. However now, days after I have seen it, it continues to haunt me, raising questions and questioning its allegories. Oftentimes, if a movie makes me think continuously about it way past the closing credits, it raises new awareness and proves that it managed to surprise… and astonishment is rare these days… 

In anticipation of "Rust and Bones"

Given I adore Marion Cotillard I could not help sharing the trailer of an upcoming film, "Rust and Bones", directed by Jacques Audiard. Since Audiard directed "A Prophet," a movie that has received widespread critical acclaim and a rare 97% on Rotten Tomatoes I can only imagine the raw potent depth he could inject into a love drama! Stay tuned...