french media pre*paris blog iv
the countdown is on! less than three weeks to go! and only ONE mORE movie in my to-be-watched pile (i tried to re-watch les mis yesterday and could not. so just one more blog to come after this one!!)
and i’ve turned on comments so we can talk about any & all of these films! or recommend more for me to stream or find at my library! merci! :D
la belle et la bête (1946)
directed by: jean cocteau
while cocteau hadn’t made a film since 1920, he was tasked with saving and representing french cinema after ww2. with all the equipment and financial limitations that came with the mandate.
cocteau turned to the familiar faerie tale. french in origin, tracing its roots to the 2nd century mother goose tale “the golden ass” passed down orally by grandmothers and governesses… to perrault taking the tale to court which brought it to pop culture status in 1697… to madame de beaumont’s novel-length version in 1756… “la belle et la bête” told any number of ways over the centuries to tell either the tale as a morality tale for women forced into arranged marriages (“sure, he looks like a beast, but you never know how hot he is underneath that scary exterior!”), or as a cautionary tale for women to rebel against them (“men are all beasts! beware! even their princely versions are awful; why else would he have gotten cursed?”)
cocteau’s take? tell the story from the beast’s perspective: the male POV. the woman is there as merely an artifact, often striking statuesque poses for the camera. she is not a muse (on which to bestow a dreamy library a lá disney’s 1991 animated version), but an object of curiosity. one that makes him wrestle with his beastly nature and his humanity. belle is an object of contemplation, not the “disney, post-feminist version of beauty.”
the filmmaker’s choices were “enchantment for enchantment’s sake.” the humanoid sculptures are never explained (as they are in a musical number in the disney tale); cocteau telling his cameraman to shoot this as a documentary about an enchanted castle. they were not to rely on special effects, but lean into the surrealism of theatre.
cocteau intended for the chalkboard as his opening as a message to critics: to once again see like a child. to let art be the art. faerie tales fare for all ages, for we see ourselves in any given stage or character of the tale. (would kids pick up on the diana & actaeon myth referenced so many times in cocteau’s version? or the orpheus & euridyce underworld visual symbolism? er, no.)
if you get the chance, i highly recommend all the behind the scenes commentary and special features my criterion blu ray offered. it went in depth on the vermeer and rembrandt paintings he wanted recreated in the opening cottage scenes. and into the lyricism (although he didn’t want it to be “artsy”) of the castle and beast scenes— where he felt more at home filming than the chaotic comedia d’ellarte freneticism of the family in the cottage (a real place that still exists and hasn’t changed a lick. you can see jean marais return to in the bonus features.)
artistic takeaways: jean cocteau refusing the minister to report on the french film industry saying instead “i’m a poet—i’d much rather go off to make another movie.”
and cocteau’s film aesthetic choices. he didn’t want to use “fancy” special effects. he did everything the hard way. as george meliés did (remember him from HUGO?) trick films as an ode to theatre magic. the primitive origins of cinematic magic. (including painstackingly gluing fur to marais’ face, a 5-hour process, and a fade shot as he transforms; the living statues on either side of the beast’s fireplace, their faces covered in soot as they watch; the candelabra arms filmed in reverse so they looked like they were being lit as belle walked past; the dark, out-of-focus edges of castle interior shots so you don’t actually know how large the space is; belle on a rolling tram as she moves down the hallway, the curtains blowing—the detailed storyboard sketches of which got cocteau his production funding; etc. etc. etc!)
some quotes from the production team:
“I seize what we film spontaneously. i’ve a trick or two in reserve should destiny thwart me.” ~jean cocteau
“the cinema lets man dominate time and space and make an unreal world from elements of the real.”
“unlike a painted, the cameraman has to control lighting in its actual dimensions to move the audience emotionally.”
jean marais on his 5-hour makeup: “[the worse pain was talking off the makeup. it was] something i owed to the work of cocteau; gladly would i have suffered more.”
“[i was] collaborating on a work of art. a faerie tale without fairies.” ~jean marais
“why can’t mainstream cinema be poetry that everyone goes to see?” ~jean cocteau
“after a year of preparation, i must wrestle with the dream.” ~from jean cocteau’s diary of making the film, la belle et la bête journal d’un film
things i need to do in paris next month: find a translated copy of cocteau’s la belle et la bête journal d’un film—the diary he kept during production!
beauty & the beast (2014)
directed by: christophe gans
starring: vincent cassel (i only know him as “the night fox” from oceans 12 & oceans 13, but he’s done a lot of dark french cinema) & lea seydoux (the french flea market gal from midnight in paris who remembers owen wilson’s character is a fan of cole porter)
a french re-make of a french faerie tale! (you can watch a dubbed version or their voices with english subtitles—recommend the second option!)
unlike the faerie tale classic theatre version of “beauty & the beast” i grew up with, this is NOT a shot-for-shot remake (with susan sarandon) of cocteau’s film. in fact, with the exception of one brief hunting scene, it was all shot in front of a green screen. the environments CGI-ed in.
and opposite of coteau’s version, gans wanted the story told from a woman’s perspective. so we even have a narrative framing device of a woman telling the story to her children. presumably, beauty. and i guess the beast’s kids.
while i’m normally an anti-CGI advocate, taken in context of this film, they were lush enough to feel like you’re journeying into a painting with the characters.
christophe gans also admitted “the problem with FX is that if you can do everything, you can end up with nonsense.” but i think he reigned it in admirably.
his pathos for this film was connecting to your childhood dreams. that faerie tales are for all audiences, all ages—because they connect with us in different ways at different points in our lives. (what i’ve been preaching all my life, too!)
“i think that cutting ties with reality but not moving away from it allows you to come back to reality through your emotions.” ~christophe gans
my only hold up my first time watching this film was the awkward beagle puppy lemur things that felt completely out of place. i guess they were the enchanted version of the (human) beast’s hunting dogs, but still felt very out of place for the pristine aesthetic and opulent environment.
some iconography i picked up on this round: mirrors and water as memory and healing. and in conjunction with “a life for a rose?” definitely conjured up death-baptism-and rebirth. faerie tales as reflections of religion and transformation.
parisian takeaway: just to be an elegant french lady, i suppose. and to wear more of my favorite color. (cerulean peacock, as i call it; see also: lea’s gown in the movie poster above!)
moulin rouge (2001)
directed by: baz luhrmann
starring: nicole kidman & ewan mcgregor
money can’t buy love. but it can buy a stage. a show. and a heckuva lot of diamonds.
“you’re gonna be bad for business, i can tell.”
what i enjoyed about re-watching this film (not picking up on all the innuendos i missed when it came out 20+ years ago!!), was seeing baz luhrmann’s evolution as a director.
from strictly ballroom to romeo + juliet, to moulin rouge, the great gatsby, and now the oscar-darling elvis… baz is not just obsessed with ballroom dancing, but also with music. and a tragic love story.
you also begin to see some of the same imagery recycled through his films. toby maguire as typing narrator in gatsby a mirror of the wanna-be bohemian struggling writer ewan mcgregor in montmartre, paris. and thankfully also repeating in baz’s works are glittertastic dance sequences. so perhaps his only true love is music. and maybe storytelling. but also tragedy.
the story-within-a-story narrative of their new show “spectacular! spectacular!” mirroring not just the classic la bohème opera storyline, but reflecting the romeo & juliet-esque happenings of ewan & nicole’s love story—behind the back of the theatre’s generous (albeit slimey) patron. it’s a meta-on-meta plot device i know well from my own WIP novel. :)
like the tv show glee, moulin rogue featured a lot of songs that i didn’t know or hear fully until later. i always appreciate when a good lyric is reappropriated for narrative context. a fave conversation that leads to one such memorable musical mashup:
“can’t fall in love? but a life without love is terrible. love. love is a many splendid thing! love lifts us up where we belong! all you need is love!”
(this particular brilliant sing-along love-song montage has made it onto my anti-anxiety “plane tunes” playlist for next month’s voyage to paris.)
and while moulin rouge is a lot less family-friendly than the greatest showman, i don’t think the greatest showman would exist without moulin rogue. and although i did remember that moulin rouge didn’t have a happy ending, i forgot just how depressing it actually is.
(but i promise it’s worth a re-watch for a baby 30 year-old ewan mcgregor. and his swoony serenade of “our song” that might be stuck in your head for a week or two. #sorrynotsorry)
artistic takeaways: the elephant set. it’s just beautiful. i’m also a sucker for a group dance number (and grand orchestrations.) also my love of a spectacle. making art for art’s sake. also appreciated the retro proscenium opening frame harkening back to french cinema and all of its equally surreal heritage and as a birthplace for avant-garde art.
action items: something to do in nyc and not in paris, but i’m (not-literally) dying to see the current broadway production. (for which aaron tevit won a tony and for which he’s currently reprising his role for a limited engagement.) you should google the set. it comes out into the theatre and it just looks magnificently gaudy and delightful.
gigi (1958)
directed by: vincente minelli
starring: leslie caron
music: lerner & loewe
picked up on the fact that this is my fair lady all over again, did you? yeah, me too. it was on purpose. it was even marketed as “a new fair lady.” lerner and loewe’s musical “my fair lady” (starring julie andrews and rex harrison!) took over broadway (1956). but also selling out on broadway? the (non-musical) stage production of “gigi.” starring none other than audrey hepburn in her american debut (1951). ahhhh the venn diagrams of celebrity!
gigi (the film) even held its star-studded film premiere at a broadway theatre. and the new york times said “there’s no need to make a my fair lady film! it’s been done!” (yes, they did it anyway in 1964 with audrey hepburn; wild, huh? her voice was just as dubbed as lesie caron’s was in gigi, btw.)
gigi (the film) was made 7 years after minelli and caron made an american in paris (with gene kelly) together. but unlike an american in paris, this film WAS actually made there. over time and over budget, but mostly shot in paris aside from the eleven days of reshoots back in hollywood.
it was the first oscar for director minelli, and best picture was one of NINE it won that year! more than any musical to date. (the only musical to ever win more was west side story with ten academy award wins in 1961.)
i could go on and on about the my fair lady parallels (the freeze-frame gossiping chorus; the gowns!!) the lush parisian backgrounds (four days maximes restaurant agreed to close for the film crew; the palais de glace lush, indoor skating rink more like a theatre where caron got a bad cold after being out in the paris summer heat), and how much more confident in her dancing and acting the now-acclimated-to-hollywood leslie was than in an american in paris. but instead, i’ll just leave you with some of the hilarious quotes and dialogue from the film.
(yes, i’m skipping over the censorship controversy because i don’t believe it; but perhaps it’s more evident in the play than the musical.)
some fave quotes:
“she looks older in the daylight. much older. i don’t envy him.”
“she never kissed me like that.”
“how is she kissing him?”
“whole-heartedly.”
“that is the most charming excuse for infidelity i have ever heard.”
“it’s not your fault you’re world famous. it’s just that i haven’t got a world-famous sort of nature.”
“you forget one thing. i’m in love with you.”
“you never told me.”
“i haven’t known it very long.”
“do you know how long it will take you to forget about her? tomorrow at noon at the latest.”
“i don’t understand parisians, wasting every lovely night on romance.”
“i’d rather be miserable with you than without you.”
parisian take-away: um, i need more ballgowns? also appreciated that vincente minelli was in love with the myth of what americans think paris is. and made a film about it.
and celebrating love-at-any age (confirmed bachelor and flirt maurice chevalier as the audience’s worldly narrator and guide through paris in 1900) and the overly dramatic sunset soundstage lighting utilized for romantic tête-à-têtes.