Tagged: France
The Good Thief: Nick Nolte’s Black Leather Bomber Jacket
Nick Nolte in The Good Thief (2002)
Vitals
Nick Nolte as Bob Montagnet, retired thief and junkie gambler
French Riviera, Spring 2002
Film: The Good Thief
Release Date: February 28, 2003
Director: Neil Jordan
Costume Designer: Penny Rose
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Since Nick Nolte turns 85 tomorrow, today’s post responds to a long-overdue request from BAMF Style reader Steve who has asked to see the actor’s style in The Good Thief, Neil Jordan’s remake of Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1956 French film noir Bob le flembeur. Nolte stars as the titular Bob Mantagnet, a retired thief now living as a junkie gambler in the French Riviera, where he receives the opportunity to pull the proverbial “one last job”—stealing priceless art from the vault of a Monte Carlo casino on the eve of the Monaco Grand Prix. Continue reading
Our Man Flint: James Coburn’s Tuxedo
James Coburn in Our Man Flint (1966)
Vitals
James Coburn as Derek Flint, bon vivant superspy
New York City to Marseilles, Spring 1965
Film: Our Man Flint
Release Date: January 16, 1966
Director: Daniel Mann
Costume Designer: Ray Aghayan
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
James Coburn originated the character of Derek Flint in Our Man Flint, one of the many spy spoofs in the wake of ’60s Bondmania, released sixty years ago today. Technically, the film premiered a month earlier in St. Ann’s Bay in Jamaica, though it wasn’t widely in theaters until the American release on January 16, 1966. It would be followed the next year by a sequel, In Like Flint—which also happens to be Austin Powers’ favorite movie… and, indeed, you can see plenty of shagadelic DNA in the Flint series. Continue reading
My Night at Maud’s: Jean-Louis Trintignant’s Sheepskin Jacket
Jean-Louis Trintignant in My Night at Maud’s (1969)
Vitals
Jean-Louis Trintignant as Jean-Louis, serious-minded engineer and conflicted Catholic
Clermont-Ferrand, France, Christmas 1968
Film: My Night at Maud’s
(French title: Ma nuit chez Maud)
Release Date: June 4, 1969
Director: Éric Rohmer
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Considered one of the best French actors of the post-war era, the late Jean-Louis Trintignant was born 95 years ago today on December 11, 1930. Trintignant worked with many prolific directors but his sole collaboration with Éric Rohmer was the Nouvelle Vague drama My Night at Maud’s—the fourth-released of Rohmer’s “Six Moral Tales”.
My Night at Maud’s premiered at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival and would be nominated for two Academy Awards. Trintignant portrays the ambitious engineer Jean-Louis, deeply in love with the young biology student Françoise (Marie-Christine Barrault) he has seen at his church, until just before Christmas when his friend Vidal (Antoine Vitez) introduces him to the eponymous Maud (Françoise Fabian). The night of their first meeting features intense discussions ranging from ethics to existence until, at Maud’s existence, Jean-Louis spends an awkward—and initially platonic—night in her bed, acting only on his newfound attraction by kissing her before he leaves in the morning.
Through their subsequent interactions, Jean-Louis’ faith conflicts with his growing attraction to the outspoken, divorced atheist as he and Maud recognize the tragic unlikelihood of lasting love between them. Continue reading
Farewell, Friend: Alain Delon’s Casual Jacket and Turtleneck
Alain Delon in Farewell, Friend (1968)
Vitals
Alain Delon as Dino Barran, discharged French Army doctor
Marseilles, France, December 1963
Film: Farewell, Friend
(French title: Adieu l’ami)
Release Date: August 14, 1968
Director: Jean Herman
Costume Designer: Tanine Autré
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Last year, the world said adieu to French screen and style icon Alain Delon, who was born 90 years ago tomorrow on November 8, 1935. Among his prolific filmography that includes Plein Soleil (1960), L’Eclisse (1962), The Leopard (1963), Le Samouraï (1967), and La Piscine (1969), one of Delon’s less-remembered films is the 1968 French-Italian heist caper Adieu l’ami—which translates to Farewell, Friend (also re-released as Honor Among Thieves). The film established Charles Bronson’s stardom in Europe, though it wouldn’t be released in the United States for another five years. Continue reading
The Dreamers: Michael Pitt’s Suede Jacket, Jeans, and Chuck Taylors
Michael Pitt in The Dreamers (2003)
Vitals
Michael Pitt as Matthew, expatriate student and self-professed cinephile
Paris, Spring 1968
Film: The Dreamers
Release Date: October 10, 2003
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Costume Designer: Louise Stjernsward
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Much discourse around Bertolucci’s 2003 erotic drama The Dreamers (which premiered in Italy 22 years ago today) centers around what the characters aren’t wearing, so I’ll flip the script by focusing on Louise Stjernsward’s evocative costume design that brings to life Parisian culture against the backdrop of the 1968 student protests.
Hailing from San Diego and studying in Paris, Matthew encounters sibling activists Isabelle (Eva Green) and Théo Fontaine (Louis Garrel) among his “freemasonry of cinephiles”—introduced during the very French situation of Isabelle asking Matthew to take her cigarette during a police demonstration at the storied Cinémathèque française. He’s quickly drawn into the siblings’ strange dynamic of deeply incestuous overtones littered with cinematic references epitomized by Isabelle’s insistence on leading the trio on a run through the Louve as seen in Bande à part. Continue reading
Pierrot le Fou: Belmondo’s Navy Ribbed Seaside Shirt and Jeep Cap
Jean-Paul Belmondo as Ferdinand Griffon in Pierrot le Fou (1965)
Vitals
Jean-Paul Belmondo as Ferdinand Griffon, runaway husband and itinerant yacht-hand
French Riviera, Summer 1965
Film: Pierrot le Fou
Release Date: November 5, 1965
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Jean-Luc Godard’s tenth feature, Pierrot le Fou, premiered 60 years ago this week during at the 26th Venice International Film Festival, more than two months before its wider release in November 1965.
The film stars Godard’s frequent collaborators, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina (who was also the director’s wife), as the doomed Ferdinand and Marianne fleeing OAS gangsters from Paris to the Mediterranean. Continue reading
La Collectionneuse: Patrick Bauchau’s Slate Sweater and Swimwear
Patrick Bauchau and Haydée Politoff in La Collectionneuse (1967)
Vitals
Patrick Bauchau as Adrien, art gallery owner
French Riviera, Summer 1966
Film: The Collector
(French title: La Collectionneuse)
Release Date: March 2, 1967
Director: Éric Rohmer
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Bastille Day feels like a fitting occasion to celebrate French director Éric Rohmer’s first color film, the 1967 drama La Collectionneuse, which has recently resurfaced across summer mood boards. No surprise, given its sun-drenched palette courtesy of cinematographer Néstor Almendros, a frequent Rohmer collaborator who also shot aesthetically satisfying masterpieces like Days of Heaven.
Considered the fourth entry in Rohmer’s “Six Moral Tales”, La Collectionneuse was made with extreme efficiency while the director waited for Jean-Louis Trintignant’s availability to shoot My Night at Maud’s. Rohmer and Almendros worked with a minimal crew, relying on natural light and long takes to ground the characters in their idyllic—and quietly volatile—setting.
La Collectionneuse was also the first starring role for Belgian actor Patrick Bauchau, who had appeared uncredited in Rohmer’s La Carrière de Suzanne four years earlier and would later be known to 007 fans as the henchman Scarpine in Roger Moore’s final James Bond film, A View to a Kill. Here, he plays the narcissistic gallery owner Adrien, who intends to take advantage of the monastic conditions at his rich friend Rodolphe’s rented villa near Saint-Tropez to enjoy “a real vacation” in peace and solitude:
I even tried not to think. I was face-to-face alone with the sea, far from cruises and beaches, fulfilling a childhood dream put off year after year. I lost myself completely in the play of shadow and light, sinking into a lethargy heightened by the water. That state of passivity, of complete availability, promised to last much longer than the euphoria of one’s first summer dip into the ocean. I could easily see myself spending a whole month this summer this way.
However, this peace and solitude are threatened by the feisty young Haydée (Haydée Politoff), unexpectedly staying at the villa. Adrien and his friend Daniel (Daniel Pommereulle) are initially distrustful of the girl who brings a different lover to the villa every night, but he gradually comes to appreciate her company when she joins him on his early morning swims. Continue reading
French Connection II: Gene Hackman’s Windowpane Jacket and Aloha Shirt
Gene Hackman as “Popeye” Doyle in French Connection II (1975)
Vitals
Gene Hackman as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, gruff NYPD narcotics detective
Marseille, France, Spring 1975
Film: French Connection II
Release Date: May 21, 1975
Director: John Frankenheimer
Costume Designer: Pierre Nourry
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
A lot of people may not even know they made a sequel to The French Connection. And why’s that? Because they didn’t really need to make it. But Gene Hackman’s portrayal of the profane detective “Popeye” Doyle was lightning in a bottle, and the late actor went two for two in bringing Popeye to the screen.
The French Connection‘s director William Friedkin was more reluctant than its star to get involved, citing French Connection II and follow-ups to The Exorcist as “shit… simply made to cash in on the title.” Hackman may have agreed with Hurricane Billy but was admirably never shy about admitting when a movie was simply a “money job,” as he tersely described The Poseidon Adventure to Ben Stiller when the two co-starred in The Royal Tenenbaums.
And so Hackman reprised his Academy Award-winning role for French Connection II, released fifty years ago today on May 21, 1975. The sequel—which indeed does not include the definite article “The” in the title—picks up the action shortly after its predecessor, with NYPD narc Doyle still on the trail of the elusive and urbane drug kingpin Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey), who absconded to his native Marseille after the events of The French Connection. Continue reading
The Bourne Identity: Tim Dutton as Eamon
Tim Dutton as Eamon in The Bourne Identity (2002)
Vitals
Tim Dutton as Eamon, wealthy family man
French countryside, Winter 2002
Film: The Bourne Identity
Release Date: June 14, 2002
Director: Doug Liman
Costume Designer: Pierre-Yves Gayraud
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Poor Eamon, seemingly always having to get his half-sister Marie (Franka Potente) out of jams!
The latest finds Eamon and his two kids driving up to his Christmas-decorated French country home (actually filmed in the Czech Republic), only to find that Marie and her new boyfriend have broken in, apparently in some kind of trouble and seeking refuge. The next morning, he learns that “some kind of trouble” centers around that boyfriend being Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), a trained killer whose amnesia has made him a target for a rogue branch of the CIA specializing in assassinations. Continue reading
A Shot in the Dark: Inspector Clouseau’s Trench Coat and Trilby
Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau in A Shot in the Dark (1964). Photo credit: MGM.
Vitals
Peter Sellers as Jacques Clouseau, bumbling Sûreté investigator
Paris, Fall 1963
Film: A Shot in the Dark
Release Date: June 23, 1964
Director: Blake Edwards
Costume Designer: Margaret Furse
Tailor: Douglas Hayward
Background
Tomorrow will commemorate 60 years since the release of A Shot in the Dark, the sequel to The Pink Panther which introduced Peter Sellers as the inept Investigator Clouseau. Sellers’ comedic talent elevated Clouseau to a breakout favorite among audiences of The Pink Panther, which was otherwise meant to be a stylish ensemble comedy centered around David Niven’s dashing jewel thief in pursuit of the eponymous diamond.
After observing how Clouseau resonated with audiences, director Blake Edwards and his co-screenwriter William Peter Blatty adapted Henry Kurnitz’s comic mystery play A Shot in the Dark—itself a Broadway adaptation of Marcel Archard’s L’Idiote—to reprise Sellers’ characterization of Inspector Clouseau. Set in Clouseau’s home turf, the story introduced Clouseau’s long-suffering boss Commissioner Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) and martial-artist manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk) who would both reappear in all three subsequent Pink Panther films to be released the following decade.
A Shot in the Dark begins at the country estate of millionaire Benjamin Ballon (George Sanders) outside of Paris, where we observe the household and staff watching, evading, and romancing each other in the shadows… until a gunshot rings out and the head chauffeur is found dead in the bedroom of the alluring maid Maria Gambrelli (Elke Sommer), last seen clutching the victim’s own still-smoking Beretta pistol. Enter Inspector Clouseau onto the scene… stepping out of his car and immediately into the Ballon fountain, perfectly introducing the madcap mystery to follow. Continue reading
You must be logged in to post a comment.