CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 (1962, FRANCE)

Foreshadowing of death?

in Cleo from 5 to 7

"Agnes Varda is probing, thoughtful, intellectually sensitive to the problems of the artist and the difficulty of making life both happy and full."-Gerald Mast, A Short History of Movies

Recounting the plot of Agnes Varda's Cleo from 5 to 7 doesn't make it seem all that exciting. A pampered young singer is waiting for the results of a medical test in which a fortune teller has forecast her doom to her. She goes around doing various activities, such as: being tended to by her devoted maid, shopping for hats, singing with her song writers, hanging out with her nude model friend, avoiding the issue with the boyfriend she rarely sees before finally meeting a soldier on leave who she seems to form a bit of a bond with. We also get to keep track of the 5-7 hours with a clock at the bottom of the screen that pops up with every new chapter of the ninety-minute film.

Is Cleo a sympathetic character? Eh, not really, she's a bit conceited, but she does seem real and so does the way she busies herself with the events of the day and the way people react to this celebrity seems real.

Some of the French New Wave films connect with me more than others and Cleo is somewhere in the middle of that pack for me. I do really like the black and white photography and sights and sounds of 1961/1962 Paris by day.

Enough negativity. Let's go shopping!

Corinne Marchand is Cleo from 5 to 7

MOTHER INDIA (1957, INDIA)

Monumental familial struggles

in Mother India

Of all the movies on the 1001 list, Mother India is definitely the most Bollywood. The Bollywood (Hindi) film industry is huge, of course, and has many admirers well beyond the borders of India. I'll only list my (very limited) impression of what I think Bollywood is. These films have drama! These films have romance! These films have comedy! These films have tragedy! And these films have songs! Lots of songs!!... If my perception is incorrect, feel free to correct me.

Mother India (1957) is Mehboob Khan's epic story (and remake of his own 1940 film Aurat). The plot of the film involves a families decade long struggle to make ends meet and find some level of happiness. The film begins with the wedding of two young people (Radha and Shamu), whose elaborate ceremony is financed by a wicked moneylender (Sukilala) who cooks the books to make the interest rates so high on them (as well as the other villagers) that they will never be able to pay it off. The ongoing struggles of the family over the years (often involving the sons Ramu and Birju) make up most of the conflict in this three hour epic.

And epic it indeed is. We see epics floods, epic fires, immense tragedy and misery that is often hard to look at. At times, I felt like I was watching a Hindi Grapes of Wrath! But there are moments of levity as well, including an ongoing plot point where Birju breaks the water pitchers of the young women of the village. And among all this,of course, are the songs. Many of the musical numbers seem to be on the serious side because I guess it's really not that appropriate to sing a merry tune while you are plowing and sweating in the field.

Revered Indian actress Narigs plays Radha and is the center of the story. She successfully holds the film together and is the personification of "Mother India."

Other noteworthy cast members include: Sajid Khan as the high spirited young Birju, Sunil Dutt as Birju the adult, and Kanhaiyalal as the moneylender.  Kanhaiyalal played the same role in Aurat in 1940.

There's a lot to admire in Mother India, though I may look for something a little lighter during my next trip to Bollywood.

Radha and her sons

in Mother India

THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED (1926, GERMANY)

Well defined characters

in The Adventures of Prince Achmed

The Adventures of Prince Achmed is listed in most sources as being the oldest surviving animated feature film. The entire sixty-five minute film is done with silhouetted cutouts from the major innovator of the technicque, Lotte Reiniger. The story itself is a variation of 1001 Arabian Nights, but since the only copy I could find of this was with German subtitles, it proved a bit difficult to keep up with some of the plot. No matter. It's really the technique that is the thing here as Reiniger labored over every frame and the overall making of the film took several years.

A good companion to Achmed is the hour long documentary Lotte Reiniger: Inventor of the Silhouette Film (1999). This allows you to see her creative process, her friendship with director Jean Renoir, her reliance on kindly benefactors and her lifelong creative and romantic relationship with her husband, filmmaker Carl Koch.

Sidenotes:

My mother always had silhouetted profiles of her children hung up on the wall. I'm glad this film brought back that memory.

Herman's Hermits had a hit with the song "Two Silhouettes on the Shade" in 1965--but that's neither here nor there.

That's two non-English language films in a row I've posted without a English translation...Maybe not a bad way to watch some things.

A frightening creature
in The Adventures of Prince Achmed

MEDITERRANEE (1963, FRANCE)

 Mediterranee...The Beginning...

This film begins with a long chord...

Then we see barbed wire...I'm pretty sure it's barbed wire.

An ancient statue...

The pyramids...

Coliseum...

These ancient stone structures seem empty and desolate. Maybe that's the point. Even things that are built to last have a shelf life.

We see some forging of hot metal...Seems to be showing something more modern. Rebuilding perhaps? Building something today that will eventually become obsolete?

There's an operating table.

We now repeat some of the same shots again. Included in this is a path that we will go down again.

There is a close-up of a sedated patient going to surgery I presume. One of her arms is strapped down.

Then we see the end of a bullfight. The bull is not getting the best of this one. I'm not fond of this scene.

More stone structures.

Crickets chirping. I"m sure I hear crickets chirping.

 We are slowly descending into the palace.

This director really loves things made of stone.

We see an accordion player! I think he's got some female admirers!

Old man rowing. I assume he's trying to earn a living.

I think we see a shot of Venice.

We see some of the earlier shots repeated yet again.

Is this girl ever going to make it to the operating room?

There's King Tut...and an orange grove.

Young girl brushing hair. Does she have a date she's preparing for?

The girl from the operation is going the other way now. I guess the operation is over.

The film shows some of the early images once again and ends.

Ah, life on the Mediterranean!

Those are my notes of Jean Daniel-Pollet's forty-five minute documentary, Mediterranee. I found a copy on YouTube, but it didn't have English subtitles, and though my French is pretty limited, I decided to give it a go. Surprisingly, I think I liked this more because I didn't have to worry about subtitles and was free to just concentrate on the images. Is there a method to this madness? I think there might be...

...Mediterranee...The End