Directed by Jacques Rozier • 1962 • France
Starring Jean-Claude Aimini, Daniel Descamps, Stefania Sabatini
In his bold yet playful feature debut—an overlooked gem of the French New Wave—Jacques Rozier satirizes several major cultural currents of early-sixties France: political myopia, romantic escapism, and commercial corruption. Young Michel (Jean-Claude Aimini) works as a camera technician for a television studio, where he meets two would-be actresses, Liliane (Yveline Céry) and Juliette (Stefania Sabatini). The duo’s demeaning work in advertising allows them to connect Michel with an unscrupulous director (Vittorio Caprioli), who subsequently stiffs him on a job. Fed up with their exploitative industry, Michel, Liliane, and Juliette head to Corsica for a holiday—and to track down the director—all while a developing love triangle strains the girls’ friendship. With confidence and panache, Rozier expertly employs documentary-style shooting, improvisational acting (among a mostly nonprofessional cast), and kinetic montage sequences to capture the disparity between blithe youth and the societal pressures—especially Michel’s imminent military service in Algeria—that threaten its innocence.
Up Next in French New Wave
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Vivre sa vie
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard • 1962 • France
Starring Anna Karina, Sady Rebbot, André LabartheVIVRE SA VIE (a.k.a. MY LIFE TO LIVE) was a turning point for Jean-Luc Godard and remains one of his most dynamic films, combining brilliant visual design with a tragic character study. The lovely Anna ...
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The Fire Within
Directed by Louis Malle • 1963 • France
Starring Maurice Ronet, Léna Skerla, Jeanne MoreauAfter garnering international acclaim for such seminal crowd-pleasers as THE LOVERS and ZAZIE DANS LE MÉTRO, Louis Malle gave his fans a shock with THE FIRE WITHIN (LE FEU FOLLET), a penetrating study of i...
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Muriel, or The Time of Return
Directed by Alain Resnais • 1963 • France
Starring Delphine Seyrig, Jean-Pierre Kérien, Nita KleinAlain Resnais's MURIEL, OR THE TIME OF RETURN, the director's follow-up to LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, is as radical a reflection on the nature of time and memory as its predecessor. The always luminou...
