UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
Deep conversations in a terrace bathed in sunlight. Dangerous friendships full of good intentions. Accidental misunderstandings that may as well have been thoroughly planned. Inviting landscapes. And of course, characters that are just so terribly French. There’s no doubt we have a soft spot for Eric Rohmer.
LE GENOU DE CLAIRE
A portrait of summer: sultry, lethargic, stubborn, free, surrounded by perfect landscapes. A classic Rohmerian tale, where heroes always seem a bit distant and their morality seems logical, but not for that “moral”.
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OTHER ARTICLES
GRAND HOTEL (1932) DIR. EDMUND GOULDING
“It’s always the same. People come and people go, and nothing ever happens”. Nevertheless, the Grand Hotel is a little bit like the world: a collection of people trying to survive under appearances, dealing with their conflicts and dreams, falling in love, dancing, and gambling their lives away.
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FUNNY FACE (1957) DIR. STANLEY DONEN
There are great combinations in Stanley Donen’s filmography, but none of them is as perfect as this one: visual-wise, music-wise, acting-wise and otherwise-wise. This is the first of a series of films in which Donen collaborated with Audrey Hepburn. Fred Astaire graces the screen as well, a bit older, but equally charming. The combination of Gershwin’s music with Richard Avedon’s aesthetic inspiration complete and elevate this movie to heights unseen.
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SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) DIR. STANLEY DONEN
This is one of those movies that would be impossible to make nowadays without suffering the consequences. And I wonder if, at the time of its release, did it shock for exactly the opposite reasons. It’s these kinds of ambiguities that make it interesting to analyze it nowadays. This is probably the Stanley Donen movie that has aged more poorly. But we’ll talk about what it still gives us: misinterpretations of the Bible, some kind of proto-feminism, and idyllic landscapes.
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singin’ in the rain (1952) dir. stanley donen
There are thousands of reasons why this movie is crucial in Donen’s career (and in cinema history). Nowadays, the movie seems simple, as musicals should be. Even naive, like many post-war movies. But the feeling of happiness it offers us has stood the test of time. Nevertheless, it’s almost much more than that: it’s film inside a film, it’s a portrait of an iconic moment in history of cinema, it’s a complex mise-en-scène and moments of pure comedy and pure love.
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On the town (1949) Dir. stanley donen
Tale as old as time: a sailor has one day to break hearts in New York City. In Follow the Fleet (1936), Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers play that game. He seduces her, she follows the lead. But in On The Town (1949), our hungry and naif sailors have three different approaches to love.
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They Live by night (1948) dir. nicholas ray
When we think of Keechie and Bowie, we have to think about the poem by Spanish poet Salinas: “meeting is like thunder”. Love between these two characters is brutal and unavoidable and has everything and nothing to do with their pasts.
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