COLCOA CLASSICS SERIES

 

Start your day at COLCOA with a free and very exclusive program of digitally restored French favorites. The COLCOA Classics Series will run from Tuesday April 19 to Saturday April 23, and on Monday April 25.

 

COLCOA offers a unique opportunity to rediscover French masterpieces on the big screen, some rarely shown in the United States, some shown for the first time in a digitally restored version. All films are in English or presented with English subtitles.  This program is free of charge with no reservation needed (on a first come first served basis.)

 

 

Tuesday April 19 - 1:35 pm – Renoir Theater

MORE (1969)

Drama  • International Premiere (restored version)

 

COLCOA is pleased to present the international premiere of the restored version of More. Causing a commotion in Cannes and initially banned in France, Barbet Schroeder’s debut feature recasts the myth of Icarus as a cautionary tale of free love and drug addiction in the shadow of the May ‘68 Paris uprising. Fresh out of college, Stefan hitchhikes to Paris seeking to burn all his bridges and find the warmth of the sun. He is quickly pulled into the orbit of Estelle, an expat American exuding an irresistible white heat of sexual promise. Stefan’s pursuit of the kinky, free-spirited Estelle – perfectly embodied by actress Mimsy Farmer, whose cult following owes more to her leads in Dario Argento giallo films – takes him south to the hippie mecca of Ibiza. Despite Estelle’s questionable ties to a shifty German “ex-Nazi,” Stefan finds a small house by the sea where the two disappear into a private idyll of sex, sun and drugs to the rhythms of Pink Floyd’s mercurial soundtrack, until Stefan discovers her true weakness, and makes a tragic decision. Co-written and direected by Barbet Schroeder.

 

 

Wednesday April 20 - 1:35 pm – Truffaut Theater

MARIUS (1931) 

Drama  • International Premiere (restored version)

 

COLCOA is pleased to celebrate a cornerstone of early French cinema with a special screening of this Alexander Korda masterpiece, restored to its original glory by the Cinematheque Francaise and the Franco-American Cultural Fund. Marcel Pagnol’s original play was a monstrous stage hit. With the arrival of sound cinema, Pagnol seized the opportunity to adapt it to film. Marius, the first installment of what would come to be known as the Marseille Trilogy, is set in the colorful Old Port of Marseille, where ordinary but lovable characters are coping with everyday problems. There’s Marius, a humble barkeep who is torn between his wanderlust for exotic ports of call and his unspoken love for Fanny, the fishmonger’s beautiful daughter, who harbors a secret love of her own. There’s Marius’ father César, whose generosity of spirit is overruled by his tendency to interfere. Then there’s Panisse, the aging widower with no heir, whose intention to wed Fanny and make a son to take over his sail manufacturing business sends ripples up and down the port. Written by Marcel Pagnol, directed by Alexandre Korda.

 

 

Thursday April 21- 2:00 pm – Renoir Theater

A MATTER OF RESISTANCE (La Vie de chateau) (1966) 

Comedy, drama  • World Premiere (restored version) • Focus on a Filmmaker (Followed by a panel/discussion with writer/director Jean-Paul Rappeneau)

 

The setting for this classic farce is a tumbledown country estate in Normandy, 1944, shortly before D-Day. Young Catherine Deneuve plays Marie, a fitfully bored lady of the house taken to wistful dreams of an exciting life in Paris, and exalted flirtations with some of the hunkier locals. Her husband, Jérôme, is a meek fusspot 20 years her senior, preoccupied with his apple orchards and placating his taskmistress mother. The answer to Marie’s prayers falls from the sky, in the form of Julien, a rakish officer of the French Resistance, here to scout for enemy artillery. And just when things start to get complicated, Kommandant Klopstock requisitions the chateau as a German garrison in order to pursue Marie himself. As sworn enemies do battle for Marie’s favors, one man remembers that there’s a real war raging all around them. COLCOA is proud to showcase this meticulously restored recipient of the 1966 Louis Delluc Prize in conjunction with the U.S. Premiere of director Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s latest film, Families. Co-written and directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau.

 

 

 

Friday April 22 – 1:20 pm – Truffaut Theater

THEY WERE FIVE (La Belle équipe) (1936) 

Comedy, drama  • North American Premiere (restored version)

 

Jean Gabin and Charles Vanel headline this cautionary tale of five working-class Joes whose friendship is torn apart after they unexpectedly win the lottery. Jeannot (Gabin) convinces the others to pool their windfall and repair to the banks of the river Marne, there to transform an old ruin into a guinguette (open-air café), to be owned and operated collectively. Their metaphorical utopian community begins to collapse as defections and misfortunes gradually dwindled their numbers and their morale.  Until finally, the intrusion of conniving uber-vixen Gina crushes the last vestiges of fraternal solidarity. The film’s cheerful, idyllic set-up serves to make the final, pessimistic gut punches land all the more effectively. Considered a masterwork of Julien Duvivier, a more prolific but lesser known contemporary of Jean Renoir, COLCOA is pleased to present the North American Premiere of the restored version, with its rarely seen original ending. Co-written and directed by Julien Duvivier.

 

 

 

Saturday April 23 – 11:00 am – Renoir Theater

ON GUARD (Le Bossu) (1936)  

History, adventure, romance  • World Premiere (restored version)

 

First premiering at COLCOA in 1998, this swashbuckling classic returns to our screen with an all-new digital restoration, and the swordplay never looked so good. Romance and revenge are the main ingredients in this sweeping adventure, set amid a lavish 17^th century backdrop. Daniel Auteuil plays the stalwart Lagardère, a man of humble origins, but whose skill with a sword earns him the patronage of the flamboyant Duke of Nevers. The closest known heir to the Duke’s considerable fortune is his slithery cousin, Count Gonzague, so when the Duke resolves to marry the mother of his newly discovered child, the conniving Count schemes to block their union at all costs. Lagardère is tasked to protect the Duke’s infant daughter by hiding out with an itinerant theater troupe and raising the girl himself.  As his young charge, Aurore, grows into a radiant young woman, Lagardère adds a new theatrical twist to his formidable fencing abilities, hoping that one day he will have the chance to avenge his patron and restore Aurore as the rightful heir. Co-written and directed by Philippe de Broca.

 

 

 

Monday April 25 – 3:00 pm – Renoir Theater

DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR (La Folie des grandeurs)

Comedy  • U.S. Premiere (restored version)

To mark the 25^th anniversary of the passing of the great Yves Montand, COLCOA proudly presents the international premiere of this restored classic. Montand is paired with comedic giant Louis de Funès in an historical spoof of the Victor Hugo play, Ruy Blas. De Funès plays Don Salluste, an irascible nobleman commissioned to collect taxes in the farthest reaches of the kingdom. In truth, the Queen has exiled him for his appalling wickedness and Salluste is now penniless, reduced to wandering the countryside with his loyal Black Knights in search of peasants to tyrannize. But Salluste has a plan to regain favor with the court, a cunningly simple plan: his valet Blaze (Montand), will simply seduce the Queen by impersonating Salluste’s idealistic cousin Don Caesar. At that point, Salluste will expose the Queen’s infidelity, and thus inspire the grateful King to simply reinstate Salluste’s privileges. Simple enough? Co-written and directed by Gérard Oury.