#117 – Fanny and Alexander, 1982, Ingmar Bergman
As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.
#122 – The Dreamers, 2003, Bernardo Bertolucci
A young American studying in Paris in 1968 strikes up a friendship with a French brother and sister. Set against the background of the ’68 Paris student riots.
#123 – Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles, 1975, Chantal Akerman
A lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores, takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet. Slowly, her ritualized daily routines begin to fall apart.
#144 – Lola Montès, 1955, Max Ophüls
Lola Montes, previously a great adventurer, is reduced to being the attraction of a circus after having been the lover of various important men.
#157 – Le Trou, 1960, Jacques Becker
Four prison inmates have been hatching a plan to literally dig out of jail when another prisoner, Claude Gaspard, is moved into their cell. They take a risk and share their plan with the newcomer. Over the course of three days, the prisoners and friends break through the concrete floor using a bed post and begin to make their way through the sewer system – yet their escape is anything but assured.
#158 – Beauty and the Beast, (La belle et la bête), 1946, Jean Cocteau
The story of a gentle-hearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a key, telling her that if she doesn’t return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief. She is unable to return the key on time, but it is revealed that the Beast is the genuinely handsome one. A simple tale of tragic love that turns into a surreal vision of death, desire, and beauty.
#167 – Pierrot le Fou, 1965, Jean-Luc Godard
Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.
#168 – Beau Travail, 1999, Claire Denis
Foreign Legion officer, Galoup, recalls his once glorious life, leading troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, but the arrival of a promising young recruit, Sentain, plants the seeds of jealousy in Galoup’s mind.
#178 – The Conformist, (Il conformista), 1970, Bernardo Bertolucci
A weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.
#179 – The Earrings of Madame de…, (Madame de…), 1953, Max Ophüls
In France of the late 19th century, the wife of a wealthy general, the Countess Louise, sells the earrings her husband gave her on their wedding day to pay off debts; she claims to have lost them. Her husband quickly learns of the deceit, which is the beginning of many tragic misunderstandings, all involving the earrings, the general, the countess, & her new lover, the Italian Baron Donati.
Jumbo Cactuar Film Index 