Going out with a bang...
SINGLE TICKET SALES FOR FRENCH 24 part 2 LIVE WEDNESDAY 11/20
AS we all know, this November has been a real-life “Noirvember” in so many ways.
We hope that our series, which concludes with films decrying the ill treatment of women, will provide some solace and help all of us to stiffen our spines and become active in resisting the dark forces looking to unleash themselves upon America.
Noir is part of a tragic view of life that holds a lens up to human frailty, but despite its bleakness, it has its own way of showing us those who look for ways to do the right thing for the world. This mixes in with villains and crime and the cautionary tales to give us a sense of the immense, inchoate energy that drives the world we live in—watching noir makes us more watchful.
SO in that spirit, I hope that many of you will join us starting on Black Friday evening November 29 for a remarkable series that we’ve tweaked just a bit (in true noir fashion, due to circumstances beyond our control…) to put some of what’s transpired of late into better perspective.
Here is the final version of the lineup for our “final finale”:
THERE are still a few all-festival passes available—and we’ve extended those sales until tomorrow night (November 19) for anyone who has not yet purchased one.
Single seats for the six double features and two triple features in the 18-film lineup will go on sale Wednesday (November 20) at the Roxie web site. (We’ll be back with a reminder for you at the end of the week, along with more details about the series.)
A KEY theme that emerged in the revised festival lineup centers around women. It’s a timely theme, of course, given the present circumstances at play in America and around the world, and it moves toward a crescendo starting on Sunday afternoon, December 1, with a sting of eight films that prominently address issues about women presented through the shifting lens of French film noir.
THAT’s Dany Carrel, torn between identities in PIEGE POUR CENDRILLON; Jeanne Moreau in two incarnations of fraught womanhood (in LA BAIE DES ANGES and LE DOS AU MUR); Madeleine Robinson in love with a troubled Jean Gabin in LEUR DERNIÈRE NUIT; the crumbling marriage of Gabin and Danielle Darrieux in LA VÉRITÉ SUR BÉBÉ DONGE; Yvette Etiévant and Dany Carrel, the women of Gabin’s fractious family in DES GENS SANS IMPORTANCE; Cécile Aubry wrapped up in amour fou with Michel Auclair in MANON; and two views of Brigitte Bardot as she recalls the toxic male abuse that led her to commit murder in LA VÉRITÉ.
In America and around the world, restoring and resetting the rights of women is a crucial task for reorienting the direction of life on this planet. One value of these French noirs—and these eight films in particular, shown back-to-back—is to shine a light on an issue that has been with us since the dawn of time. The women in these eight films provide us with a look at the issues that have been paramount in a world that stubbornly refuses to give “the fairer sex” a truly fair shake.
What happens to Brigitte Bardot’s character at the end of LA VÉRITÉ should never be allowed to happen to a woman simply because she is a woman. (But that is precisely what happens in the film, and it’s director Henri-Georges Clouzot’s indictment of post-WWII French society.) It’s a takeaway moment from this series that brings it to the type of conclusion that can remain in our hearts and minds as we all find a way to carry on in the effort to make the world a better place for all.
WE hope to see you at the Roxie for FRENCH 24—and especially for these eight films. While this is the end of the line for us after a tumultuous but wonderful ten-year run, we’re grateful to all who’ve shared the experience with us. Please join us and help us “go out with a bang”…