Tag: France

#686: Tristana

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ocw4jigkbcpaejry0kxe6xjy41n#686 – Tristana, 1970, Luis Buñuel
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Tristana is a young Spanish woman left to the care of Don Lope, a protective but impoverished aristocrat. Don sells his possessions to avoid manual labor and champions the causes of the dispossessed and downtrodden of society. He takes advantage of the vulnerable Tristana, who leaves him when she falls in love with Horacio. Unable to commit to him, she returns to Don Lope when she falls ill. He asks for her hand in marriage, and she accepts after losing her leg to cancer. She chooses to remain in a passionless union rather than be subject to the harsh realities of a society that refuses to change to the needs of women. Taken from the novel by celebrated author Benito Perez Galdos.

#701: La Ciénaga

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evxfdstgfdqlx9vtczchhuztjch#701 – La Ciénaga, 2001, Lucrecia Martel
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Chekhov in contemporary Argentina. Mecha and Gregorio are at their rundown country place near La Ciénaga with their teen children. It’s hot. The adults drink constantly; Mecha cuts herself, engendering a trip to the hospital and a visit from her son José. A cousin, Tali, brings her children. The kids are on their own, sunbathing by the filthy pool, dancing in town, running in the hills with shotguns, driving cars without licenses. One of the teen girls loves Isabel, a family servant constantly accused of stealing. Mother and son, son and sisters, teen and Isabel are in each other’s beds and bathrooms with a creepy intimacy. With no adults paying attention, who’s at risk?

#742: Le Plaisir

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wpvfqvusq0rqrhj7ky7m8q1fqmx#742 – Le Plaisir, 1952, Max Ophüls
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Three stories about the pleasure. The first one is about a man hiding his age behind a mask to keep going to balls and fancying women – pleasure and youth. Then comes the long tale of Mme Tellier taking her girls (whores) to the country for attending her niece’s communion – pleasure and purity. And lastly, Jean the painter falling in love with his model – pleasure and death.

#766: La Belle Noiseuse

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dru4itv62o2cpcr2zpvmpkkcnh5#766 – La Belle Noiseuse, 1991, Jacques Rivette
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The former famous painter Frenhofer lives quietly with his wife on his countryside residence in the French Provence. When the young artist Nicolas visits him with his girlfriend Marianne, Frenhofer decides to start again the work on a painting he long ago stopped: La Belle Noiseuse. And he wants Marianne as model. The now starting creative process changes life for everyone. It is a struggle for truth, life and sense, and the question where the limits of arts are or whether art is limitless.

#772: Le Cercle Rouge

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stqnuy39tpvefbrtiam9zldxnt4#772 – Le Cercle Rouge, 1970, Jean-Pierre Melville
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When French criminal Corey gets released from prison, he resolves to never return. He is quickly pulled back into the underworld, however, after a chance encounter with escaped murderer Vogel. Along with former policeman and current alcoholic Jansen, they plot an intricate jewel heist. All the while, quirky Police Commissioner Mattei, who was the one to lose custody of Vogel, is determined to find him.

#789: Mon Oncle

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wh6rypixfy8inlbvivkchlvombc#789 – Mon Oncle, 1958, Jacques Tati
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Genial, bumbling Monsieur Hulot loves his top-floor apartment in a grimy corner of the city, and cannot fathom why his sister’s family has moved to the suburbs. Their house is an ultra-modern nightmare, which Hulot only visits for the sake of stealing away his rambunctious young nephew. Hulot’s sister, however, wants to win him over to her new way of life, and conspires to set him up with a wife and job.