Martine Marignac, the French producer who worked with a myriad of iconic directors including Jacques Rivette, Jean-Luc Godard and Leos Carax, has died in France at the age of 75.
Born in 1946, Marignac broke into cinema in the 1970s as a press attaché, working for seven years alongside Simon Mizrahi, the cinephile and publicist who witnessed the birth of the New Wave and then helped put its directors on the map.
Marignac moved into production in the early 1980s with the creation of the film collective La Cecilia. She took inspiration for the collective’s name from the Cecilia Colony in Brazil founded by a group of Italian anarchists in the late 19th Century.
Under this banner, she began her long-time working relationship with Rivette, taking credits on his 1981 film Pont De Nord. Other credits during this period included Godard’s Passion, Jean-Louis Comolli’s Balles Perdues and Chantal Akerman’s Golden Eighties.
Born in 1946, Marignac broke into cinema in the 1970s as a press attaché, working for seven years alongside Simon Mizrahi, the cinephile and publicist who witnessed the birth of the New Wave and then helped put its directors on the map.
Marignac moved into production in the early 1980s with the creation of the film collective La Cecilia. She took inspiration for the collective’s name from the Cecilia Colony in Brazil founded by a group of Italian anarchists in the late 19th Century.
Under this banner, she began her long-time working relationship with Rivette, taking credits on his 1981 film Pont De Nord. Other credits during this period included Godard’s Passion, Jean-Louis Comolli’s Balles Perdues and Chantal Akerman’s Golden Eighties.
- 7/18/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Mathieu Amalric's Barbara star Jeanne Balibar is directing Mathieu, Ramzy Bédia, Emmanuelle Béart, and Bulle Ogier in Merveilles À Montfermeil Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
At the 56th New York Film Festival Jeanne Balibar can be seen in Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War (Cannes Film Festival Best Director winner) starring Tomasz Kot and Joanna Kulig. Mathieu Amalric is in the Closing Night film, Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate with Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh.
Jeanne Balibar is currently in France directing Merveilles À Montfermeil. Mathieu Amalric sent the following: "Martine Marignac is producing Jeanne’s film inside my small structure named Film(s). But a lot of co-producers and friends made this film possible. Isaac Sharry (Vito films); Edouard Weil (Rectangle), Jean Cottin (les films du Cap); Benjamin Duval et Jean Pierre Gavini (Les Fils De)... And Régine Vial (Les Films du Losange) for thé distribution. It’s...
At the 56th New York Film Festival Jeanne Balibar can be seen in Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War (Cannes Film Festival Best Director winner) starring Tomasz Kot and Joanna Kulig. Mathieu Amalric is in the Closing Night film, Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate with Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh.
Jeanne Balibar is currently in France directing Merveilles À Montfermeil. Mathieu Amalric sent the following: "Martine Marignac is producing Jeanne’s film inside my small structure named Film(s). But a lot of co-producers and friends made this film possible. Isaac Sharry (Vito films); Edouard Weil (Rectangle), Jean Cottin (les films du Cap); Benjamin Duval et Jean Pierre Gavini (Les Fils De)... And Régine Vial (Les Films du Losange) for thé distribution. It’s...
- 8/19/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The late Jacques Rivette knocks us silly with a breathtaking meditation on what it means to be an artist, and what art demands of those that believe in it. A woman roped into posing nude for a famed but insecure painter, undergoes several intense days of compliant collaboration. Rivette’s unforced style gives the impression of life as it is being lived; his commitment is matched by that of actors Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin and Emmanuelle Béart.
La belle noiseuse
Blu-ray
Cohen Media Group
1991 / Color / 1:37 flat full frame / 238 min. / The Beautiful Troublemaker / Street Date May 8, 2018 / 30.99
Starring: Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin, Emmanuelle Béart, Marianne Denicourt, David Bursztein, Gilles Arbona, Marie Belluc.
Cinematography: William Lubtchansky
Film Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Paintings by (and ‘as the hands of the painter’): Bernard Dufour
Production design: Emmanuel de Chauvigny
Written by Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette from a story by Balzac
Produced by Martine Marignac,...
La belle noiseuse
Blu-ray
Cohen Media Group
1991 / Color / 1:37 flat full frame / 238 min. / The Beautiful Troublemaker / Street Date May 8, 2018 / 30.99
Starring: Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin, Emmanuelle Béart, Marianne Denicourt, David Bursztein, Gilles Arbona, Marie Belluc.
Cinematography: William Lubtchansky
Film Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Paintings by (and ‘as the hands of the painter’): Bernard Dufour
Production design: Emmanuel de Chauvigny
Written by Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Jacques Rivette from a story by Balzac
Produced by Martine Marignac,...
- 5/12/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Jacques Rivette, the Cahiers du Cinema critic and director of "The Nun" (1966), "L'amour fou" (1969), "Celine and Julie Go Boating" (1974), Cannes Grand Prix winner "La belle noiseuse" (1991), and other classics of the French cinema — more than 20 features in all — died Friday morning at home in Paris. He had Alzheimer's disease, the New York Times reported his producer Martine Marignac as saying, while the French culture minister, on Twitter, called today one of "profound sadness." He was 87. Along with Cahiers colleagues Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, and Eric Rohmer, Rivette reinvented both film and film criticism in the 1950s, 1960s, and beyond. Truffaut may have been correct that the French New Wave began "thanks to Rivette" — his 1961 film "Paris Belongs to Us," inspired by Italian neorealist Roberto Rossellini, was shot in 1958, after Chabrol's "Le Beau Serge" but...
- 1/29/2016
- by Matt Brennan
- Thompson on Hollywood
Takeshi Kitano’s Office Kitano to receive Premio Raimondo Rezzonico award.
Takeshi Kitano’s production company Office Kitano is to be feted at Locarno with the Premio Raimondo Rezzonico award, bestowed upon a risk-taking independent producer or company.
Office Kitano officially became a production company in 1991, producing actor-director Kitano’s third feature, A Scene at the Sea. All of Kitano’s films have been produced under the label since.
Office Kitano president Masayuki Mori began producing films with other directors in 1998, beginning with Ikinai, directed by Hiroshi Shimizu, and in 2000 the company began collaborating with director Jia Zhangke, as well as producer Shôzô Ichiyama.
The outfit also launched Tokyo FILMeX in 2000, a film festival that aims to highlight independent cinema
President Moro and producer Ichiyama will be present at Locarno to receive the award and speak to the public, and the festival will screen three films in tribute: Hana-bi (1997) and Dolls (2002), both directed by Kitano, and Unknown...
Takeshi Kitano’s production company Office Kitano is to be feted at Locarno with the Premio Raimondo Rezzonico award, bestowed upon a risk-taking independent producer or company.
Office Kitano officially became a production company in 1991, producing actor-director Kitano’s third feature, A Scene at the Sea. All of Kitano’s films have been produced under the label since.
Office Kitano president Masayuki Mori began producing films with other directors in 1998, beginning with Ikinai, directed by Hiroshi Shimizu, and in 2000 the company began collaborating with director Jia Zhangke, as well as producer Shôzô Ichiyama.
The outfit also launched Tokyo FILMeX in 2000, a film festival that aims to highlight independent cinema
President Moro and producer Ichiyama will be present at Locarno to receive the award and speak to the public, and the festival will screen three films in tribute: Hana-bi (1997) and Dolls (2002), both directed by Kitano, and Unknown...
- 7/22/2015
- by mantus@masonlive.gmu.edu (Madison Antus)
- ScreenDaily
Hong Kong producer to be the recipient of the Best Independent Producer Award.
The 67th Locarno Film Festival (August 6-16) is to pay tribute to Hong Kong producer Nansun Shi, as the recipient of the Premio Raimondo Rezzonico for Best Independent Producer.
A key player on the Asian film scene for more than three decades, Nansun Shi has contributed to the international success of Hong Kong cinema through her work with the Cinema City studio and subsequently with the Film Workshop, which she co-founded with producer and director Tsui Hark in 1984.
“Following Margaret Ménégoz, we are delighted to pay tribute to the career of another female producer, an independent, persistent and courageous personality,” said Carlo Chatrian, the festival’s artistic director.
“Nansun Shi had the ability to shepherd the careers of a wide range of directors, and to pursue a personal trajectory within the constantly changing world of Hong Kong cinema.”
The most significant...
The 67th Locarno Film Festival (August 6-16) is to pay tribute to Hong Kong producer Nansun Shi, as the recipient of the Premio Raimondo Rezzonico for Best Independent Producer.
A key player on the Asian film scene for more than three decades, Nansun Shi has contributed to the international success of Hong Kong cinema through her work with the Cinema City studio and subsequently with the Film Workshop, which she co-founded with producer and director Tsui Hark in 1984.
“Following Margaret Ménégoz, we are delighted to pay tribute to the career of another female producer, an independent, persistent and courageous personality,” said Carlo Chatrian, the festival’s artistic director.
“Nansun Shi had the ability to shepherd the careers of a wide range of directors, and to pursue a personal trajectory within the constantly changing world of Hong Kong cinema.”
The most significant...
- 4/29/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Rome -- The Locarno Film Festival announced Tuesday that it will present this year's Raimondo Rezzonico prize for best independent producer to France's Martine Marignac.
Marignac has produced the films of Jacques Rivette for more than three decades, including 1981's Paris-based comedy "Le Pont du Nord" (The Bridge of the North). She also has produced the Jean-Louis Comolli thriller "L'ombre rouge" (The Red Shadow) and "Golden Eighties" by Chantal Akerman before co-founding the still-active Pierre Grise Prods. in 1987.
With Pierre Grise, her co-production credits have included Marco Bellocchio's "Il sogno della farfalla" (The Dream of the Butterfly) and Joao Cesar Monteiro's "A comedia de Deus" (The Comedy of God).
"Martine Marignac embodies both passion and independence," Locarno's artistic director Frederick Maire said in a statement. "We are proud to pay tribute to this outstanding personality."
The prize is named for the former Locarno Film Festival director of the same name.
Marignac has produced the films of Jacques Rivette for more than three decades, including 1981's Paris-based comedy "Le Pont du Nord" (The Bridge of the North). She also has produced the Jean-Louis Comolli thriller "L'ombre rouge" (The Red Shadow) and "Golden Eighties" by Chantal Akerman before co-founding the still-active Pierre Grise Prods. in 1987.
With Pierre Grise, her co-production credits have included Marco Bellocchio's "Il sogno della farfalla" (The Dream of the Butterfly) and Joao Cesar Monteiro's "A comedia de Deus" (The Comedy of God).
"Martine Marignac embodies both passion and independence," Locarno's artistic director Frederick Maire said in a statement. "We are proud to pay tribute to this outstanding personality."
The prize is named for the former Locarno Film Festival director of the same name.
- 6/2/2009
- by By Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
BERLIN -- Nearing 80, French new wave director Jacques Rivette continues to display a fine touch with "Don't Touch the Axe," an intimate tale about the games lovers play taken to extremes.
Based on a novella titled The Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac, it's the story of a dedicated soldier back from the wars and the socialite lady he loves not wisely but too well.
Handsomely produced and featuring fine performances, the film will travel well to festivals and art houses where audiences respond to classy period pieces with a modern sensibility.
The film begins and ends with encounters taking place several years later than the central events, which are told in flashback. Guillaume Depardieu stars as Napoleonic Gen. Armand de Montriveau who returns to Paris following a time imprisoned by the enemy bearing his wounds and his dignity with equal solemnity. Introduced to the beautiful and mischievous Antoinette de Langeais (Jeanne Balibar) at a fashionable salon, the soldier is instantly captivated.
The lady is also intrigued but such is her taste for coquetry that she makes his seduction a game full of promises and teasing, almost driving him to distraction. Although smitten, de Montriveau comes to the conclusion that he is being played for a fool and determines that turnabout is fair play.
Now it's de Langeais turn to have her emotions toyed with although she continues to give as good as she gets. Rivette takes great care with these scenes, which are filled with subtle by-play and executed with finesse by the two actors.
Cinematographer William Lubtchansky captures beautifully Maira Ramedhan Levy's costumes and Emmanuel de Chauvigny's production design and the rest of the cast serve the story well.
The screenplay by Rivette, Pascal Bonitzer, and Christine Laurent employs several lines taken directly from Balzac, whose wit could be as deft and precise as Oscar Wilde's. The film's title comes from a warning given to de Montriveau at a display of the blade used to execute an English king that serves as a caution about keeping his head. Depardieu and Balibar relish the dialogue and body language of the battling lovers so that their clashes appear to be a tense but rapier-like combination of chess and fencing.
DON'T TOUCH THE AXE (NE TOUCHEZ PAS LA HACHE)
IFC Films
Pierre Grise Prods., Cinemaundici, Arte France Cinema.
Credits:
Director: Jacques Rivette
Writer: Jacques Rivette, Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent
Producers: Martine Marignac, Maurice Tinchant
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Emmanuel de Chauvigny
Music: Pierre Allio
Costume designer: Maira Ramedhan Levy
Co-producers: Luigi Musini, Roberto Cicutto, Ermanno Olmi
Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Cast:
Antoinette de Langeais: Jeanne Balibar
Armand de Montriveau: Guillaume Depardieu
Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry: Bulle Ogier
Vidame de Pamiers: Michel Piccoli
Le Duc de Grandlieu: Barbet Schroeder
Clara de Serizy: Anne Cantineau
Julien: Mathias Jung
Lisette: Julie Judd
Running time -- 137 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Based on a novella titled The Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac, it's the story of a dedicated soldier back from the wars and the socialite lady he loves not wisely but too well.
Handsomely produced and featuring fine performances, the film will travel well to festivals and art houses where audiences respond to classy period pieces with a modern sensibility.
The film begins and ends with encounters taking place several years later than the central events, which are told in flashback. Guillaume Depardieu stars as Napoleonic Gen. Armand de Montriveau who returns to Paris following a time imprisoned by the enemy bearing his wounds and his dignity with equal solemnity. Introduced to the beautiful and mischievous Antoinette de Langeais (Jeanne Balibar) at a fashionable salon, the soldier is instantly captivated.
The lady is also intrigued but such is her taste for coquetry that she makes his seduction a game full of promises and teasing, almost driving him to distraction. Although smitten, de Montriveau comes to the conclusion that he is being played for a fool and determines that turnabout is fair play.
Now it's de Langeais turn to have her emotions toyed with although she continues to give as good as she gets. Rivette takes great care with these scenes, which are filled with subtle by-play and executed with finesse by the two actors.
Cinematographer William Lubtchansky captures beautifully Maira Ramedhan Levy's costumes and Emmanuel de Chauvigny's production design and the rest of the cast serve the story well.
The screenplay by Rivette, Pascal Bonitzer, and Christine Laurent employs several lines taken directly from Balzac, whose wit could be as deft and precise as Oscar Wilde's. The film's title comes from a warning given to de Montriveau at a display of the blade used to execute an English king that serves as a caution about keeping his head. Depardieu and Balibar relish the dialogue and body language of the battling lovers so that their clashes appear to be a tense but rapier-like combination of chess and fencing.
DON'T TOUCH THE AXE (NE TOUCHEZ PAS LA HACHE)
IFC Films
Pierre Grise Prods., Cinemaundici, Arte France Cinema.
Credits:
Director: Jacques Rivette
Writer: Jacques Rivette, Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent
Producers: Martine Marignac, Maurice Tinchant
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Emmanuel de Chauvigny
Music: Pierre Allio
Costume designer: Maira Ramedhan Levy
Co-producers: Luigi Musini, Roberto Cicutto, Ermanno Olmi
Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Cast:
Antoinette de Langeais: Jeanne Balibar
Armand de Montriveau: Guillaume Depardieu
Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry: Bulle Ogier
Vidame de Pamiers: Michel Piccoli
Le Duc de Grandlieu: Barbet Schroeder
Clara de Serizy: Anne Cantineau
Julien: Mathias Jung
Lisette: Julie Judd
Running time -- 137 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/22/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- #77.The Duchess of Langeais (Ne touchez pas la hache) Director: Jacques RivetteScreenwriters: Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent and RivetteProducers: Roberto Cicutto, Martine Marignac, Luigi Musini, Ermanno Olmi and Maurice Tinchant Distributor: IFC Films The Gist: Based on Honore de Balzac's novella, Antoinette (Balibar) is the Duchess of Langeais, a married coquette who frequents the most extravagant balls in 1820’s Paris. At one such event she meets the handsome, brooding general Armand de Montriveau (Depardieu), who recounts his death-defying adventures in Napoleon’s army. Fact: Jeanne Balibar also starred in Rivette's Va Savoir. See It: Film was one of the most talked about from the Berlin Film Festival in 07'. Release Date/Status?: Day and date IFC films release on February 22nd. ...
- 1/29/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
PARIS -- In 2001, three of France's most respected independent producers -- Humbert Balsan, Paolo Branco and Gilles Sandoz -- formed a distribution alliance called Pirates.
Five years later, Balsan tragically has committed suicide, his company's financial troubles believed to have contributed to his worries; Branco's company, Gemini Films, filed for bankruptcy protection last November; and Sandoz admits he's finding it increasingly tough to complete financing on projects.
Branco and Sandoz are not the only auteur producers in France finding it tough going. "Producing auteur films is no longer viable," says Denis Freyd, who produced the Dardenne brothers' Palme d'Or-winning film "The Child" under his Archipel 35 banner. "It's a sad certainty that the financing and production of auteur films in France is becoming increasingly difficult," echoes Martine Marignac, veteran producer of auteurs Jacques Rivette, Otar Iosseliani and Jean-Marie Straub.
So who is to blame for the demise of the art house producer in the country that invented the genre?
Branco, who has already launched a new company, Alma Films, is unequivocal: "Today it is channel chiefs and banks who decide which films get made," he said in a candid interview with film review Les Cahiers du Cinema.
Marignac concurs: "While fully respecting their legal obligations (to invest in local movies), the channels think quite logically not in terms of cinema but in terms of primetime. When they read a script, they don't think whether it's a good theatrical film but if it'll be good for their ratings at 8:30 p.m."
On top of this, pay channel Canal Plus has radically reduced the sums it puts into auteur pre-buys.
Five years later, Balsan tragically has committed suicide, his company's financial troubles believed to have contributed to his worries; Branco's company, Gemini Films, filed for bankruptcy protection last November; and Sandoz admits he's finding it increasingly tough to complete financing on projects.
Branco and Sandoz are not the only auteur producers in France finding it tough going. "Producing auteur films is no longer viable," says Denis Freyd, who produced the Dardenne brothers' Palme d'Or-winning film "The Child" under his Archipel 35 banner. "It's a sad certainty that the financing and production of auteur films in France is becoming increasingly difficult," echoes Martine Marignac, veteran producer of auteurs Jacques Rivette, Otar Iosseliani and Jean-Marie Straub.
So who is to blame for the demise of the art house producer in the country that invented the genre?
Branco, who has already launched a new company, Alma Films, is unequivocal: "Today it is channel chiefs and banks who decide which films get made," he said in a candid interview with film review Les Cahiers du Cinema.
Marignac concurs: "While fully respecting their legal obligations (to invest in local movies), the channels think quite logically not in terms of cinema but in terms of primetime. When they read a script, they don't think whether it's a good theatrical film but if it'll be good for their ratings at 8:30 p.m."
On top of this, pay channel Canal Plus has radically reduced the sums it puts into auteur pre-buys.
PARIS -- In 2001, three of France's most respected independent producers -- Humbert Balsan, Paolo Branco and Gilles Sandoz -- formed a distribution alliance called Pirates.
Five years later, Balsan tragically has committed suicide, his company's financial troubles believed to have contributed to his worries; Branco's company, Gemini Films, filed for bankruptcy protection last November; and Sandoz admits he's finding it increasingly tough to complete financing on projects.
Branco and Sandoz are not the only auteur producers in France finding it tough going. "Producing auteur films is no longer viable," says Denis Freyd, who produced the Dardenne brothers' Palme d'Or-winning film "The Child" under his Archipel 35 banner. "It's a sad certainty that the financing and production of auteur films in France is becoming increasingly difficult," echoes Martine Marignac, veteran producer of auteurs Jacques Rivette, Otar Iosseliani and Jean-Marie Straub.
So who is to blame for the demise of the art house producer in the country that invented the genre?
Branco, who has already launched a new company, Alma Films, is unequivocal: "Today it is channel chiefs and banks who decide which films get made," he said in a candid interview with film review Les Cahiers du Cinema.
Marignac concurs: "While fully respecting their legal obligations (to invest in local movies), the channels think quite logically not in terms of cinema but in terms of primetime. When they read a script, they don't think whether it's a good theatrical film but if it'll be good for their ratings at 8:30 p.m."
On top of this, pay channel Canal Plus has radically reduced the sums it puts into auteur pre-buys.
Five years later, Balsan tragically has committed suicide, his company's financial troubles believed to have contributed to his worries; Branco's company, Gemini Films, filed for bankruptcy protection last November; and Sandoz admits he's finding it increasingly tough to complete financing on projects.
Branco and Sandoz are not the only auteur producers in France finding it tough going. "Producing auteur films is no longer viable," says Denis Freyd, who produced the Dardenne brothers' Palme d'Or-winning film "The Child" under his Archipel 35 banner. "It's a sad certainty that the financing and production of auteur films in France is becoming increasingly difficult," echoes Martine Marignac, veteran producer of auteurs Jacques Rivette, Otar Iosseliani and Jean-Marie Straub.
So who is to blame for the demise of the art house producer in the country that invented the genre?
Branco, who has already launched a new company, Alma Films, is unequivocal: "Today it is channel chiefs and banks who decide which films get made," he said in a candid interview with film review Les Cahiers du Cinema.
Marignac concurs: "While fully respecting their legal obligations (to invest in local movies), the channels think quite logically not in terms of cinema but in terms of primetime. When they read a script, they don't think whether it's a good theatrical film but if it'll be good for their ratings at 8:30 p.m."
On top of this, pay channel Canal Plus has radically reduced the sums it puts into auteur pre-buys.
In Otar Iosseliani's droll "Monday Morning" (Lundi Matin), the Georgia-born French filmmaker makes the world over into a random, almost absurd stage on which to explore the stultifying isolation that daily life imposes on people. Central to the film's success is a touching, funny performance by Jacques Bidou, one of France's leading film and TV producers, who makes an absolutely astonishing debut as an actor. Why has he bothered with producing when he can perform like this?
At times reminiscent of comedies by Jacques Tati and often operating like a silent movie, "Monday" achieves its impact through action, gestures and visual humor. Dialogue is a secondary consideration.
In Competition at the just-concluded Berlinale, this comic fable should do well internationally in art houses. The film needs precious few subtitles -- indeed the translator doesn't even bother with much of the dialogue -- and, like Chaplin's "Modern Times", it represents a satiric attack against the drudgery of monotonous routine.
Bidou plays Vincent, who lives in a small wine-country village and commutes via transit to his job as a welder in a chemical factory. The routine each Monday never varies. The regimented sameness of his life provokes much of the visual wit in early sequences as the viewer experiences one such day -- its monotony, loneliness and estrangement from his family.
Vincent constantly craves tobacco, but smoking is forbidden inside the plant. He sneaks furtive cigarettes all day in this almost surreal factory, which emits billowing clouds of smoke, liquids in many colors and strange, unimaginable sounds. In the village at night, where children play games of fantasy, his family ignores him. If anything, he is more an employee at home than at work. His only pleasure comes from the solitary act of painting, which constantly gets interrupted.
Then comes another Monday. This time he stands outside the factory fence, unwilling to enter. He lazily takes the day off and never makes it home. He gets beaten up, is given too many drinks by a bunch of Cossacks and visits his equally isolated father, who gives him money to journey to Venice. Why Venice? Why not Venice?
Vincent's odyssey to Italy and, coming full circle, back home again is filled with serendipity. He makes friends, visits a marquis, gets his pocket picked and en-counters workers whose conditions in that sunny clime remind him of home.
Like a Tati film, Iosseliani has the movie unfold in a series of deadpan visual gags. But these gags lack the physicality of Tati's; they are more cerebral and cunning. Iosseliani is less a clown and more a social critic.
Aiding his vision is Bidou. His expressions change little. He nonchalantly accepts what life delivers. He adapts. He perseveres. Bidou's Vincent is a beaten-down Everyman who impulsively de-cides to change his life.
Iosseliani himself appears in a wry role, that of the Italian marquis whose wealth and social status have gained him little over the French blue-collar worker. He too is a prisoner of routine and self-importance.
Behind the camera, music, cinematography and set decor all create a world remarkably like our own, only somewhat pixilated.
MONDAY MORNING
Pierre Grise Prods./Rhone-Alpes Cinema/
Mikado with the participation of CNC,
Canal Plus, Gimages 4, Cofimage 12
Credits:
Producers: Martine Marignac, Maurice Tinchant, Roberto Cicutto, Luigi Musini
Screenwriter-director-editor: Otar Iosseliani
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Manu de Chauvigny
Music: Nicolas Zourabichvili
Costume designer: Cori d'Ambrogio
Cast:
Vincent: Jacques Bidou
Wife: Anne Kravz-Tarnavsky
Mother: Narda Blanchet
Father: Radslav Kinski
Carlo: Arrigo Mozzo
Michel: Pascal Chanal
Bathroom Attendant: Manu de Chauvigny
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 128 minutes...
At times reminiscent of comedies by Jacques Tati and often operating like a silent movie, "Monday" achieves its impact through action, gestures and visual humor. Dialogue is a secondary consideration.
In Competition at the just-concluded Berlinale, this comic fable should do well internationally in art houses. The film needs precious few subtitles -- indeed the translator doesn't even bother with much of the dialogue -- and, like Chaplin's "Modern Times", it represents a satiric attack against the drudgery of monotonous routine.
Bidou plays Vincent, who lives in a small wine-country village and commutes via transit to his job as a welder in a chemical factory. The routine each Monday never varies. The regimented sameness of his life provokes much of the visual wit in early sequences as the viewer experiences one such day -- its monotony, loneliness and estrangement from his family.
Vincent constantly craves tobacco, but smoking is forbidden inside the plant. He sneaks furtive cigarettes all day in this almost surreal factory, which emits billowing clouds of smoke, liquids in many colors and strange, unimaginable sounds. In the village at night, where children play games of fantasy, his family ignores him. If anything, he is more an employee at home than at work. His only pleasure comes from the solitary act of painting, which constantly gets interrupted.
Then comes another Monday. This time he stands outside the factory fence, unwilling to enter. He lazily takes the day off and never makes it home. He gets beaten up, is given too many drinks by a bunch of Cossacks and visits his equally isolated father, who gives him money to journey to Venice. Why Venice? Why not Venice?
Vincent's odyssey to Italy and, coming full circle, back home again is filled with serendipity. He makes friends, visits a marquis, gets his pocket picked and en-counters workers whose conditions in that sunny clime remind him of home.
Like a Tati film, Iosseliani has the movie unfold in a series of deadpan visual gags. But these gags lack the physicality of Tati's; they are more cerebral and cunning. Iosseliani is less a clown and more a social critic.
Aiding his vision is Bidou. His expressions change little. He nonchalantly accepts what life delivers. He adapts. He perseveres. Bidou's Vincent is a beaten-down Everyman who impulsively de-cides to change his life.
Iosseliani himself appears in a wry role, that of the Italian marquis whose wealth and social status have gained him little over the French blue-collar worker. He too is a prisoner of routine and self-importance.
Behind the camera, music, cinematography and set decor all create a world remarkably like our own, only somewhat pixilated.
MONDAY MORNING
Pierre Grise Prods./Rhone-Alpes Cinema/
Mikado with the participation of CNC,
Canal Plus, Gimages 4, Cofimage 12
Credits:
Producers: Martine Marignac, Maurice Tinchant, Roberto Cicutto, Luigi Musini
Screenwriter-director-editor: Otar Iosseliani
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Manu de Chauvigny
Music: Nicolas Zourabichvili
Costume designer: Cori d'Ambrogio
Cast:
Vincent: Jacques Bidou
Wife: Anne Kravz-Tarnavsky
Mother: Narda Blanchet
Father: Radslav Kinski
Carlo: Arrigo Mozzo
Michel: Pascal Chanal
Bathroom Attendant: Manu de Chauvigny
No MPAA rating
Color/stereo
Running time -- 128 minutes...
- 2/19/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A somber, slow-moving mystery with a small, hardworking cast and long running time, Jacques Rivette's "Secret Defense" premiered in Los Angeles as part of "City of Lights, City of Angels", a mini-fest of new French films at the Directors Guild Theater.
Critics and foreign-film cineastes may sit still for this one, but Rivette's ultraslow pacing and repetitive shots following the movement of characters is numbing. While the story is compelling, the lumbering mise en scene only accentuates the coldness of the characters and promotes one's emotional detachment.
The brave but mostly withdrawn Sylvie (Sandrine Bonnaire) is a scientist whose father died in an accident five years earlier. Her brother Paul Gregoire Colin) discovers an old photograph and believes their father was killed by a colleague, the well-to-do Walser (Jerzy Radziwilowicz).
Walser's secretary and girlfriend Veronique (Laure Marsac) comes to see Sylvie about threats Paul has made. A meeting with Walser leaves Sylvie herself suspicious, but Paul has more proof and makes it clear he plans revenge.
Packing a gun, Sylvie gets to Walser's country estate first and confronts him. In a scuffle, she mistakenly shoots and kills Veronique. A smooth operator and attractive womanizer, Walser covers up the crime and gradually gets on Sylvie's good side. But she's haunted by what she's done and shocked by the crimes committed by Walser and her own mother (Francoise Fabian).
With Paul still seeking satisfaction, Veronique's sister Ludivine (also played by Marsac) makes an entrance, sleeps with Walser and gives shell-shocked Sylvie a reason to leave.
In between long, dialogueless sequences of Sylvie waiting for trains, riding in trains, working in the lab and walking the streets, Rivette gives us a psychologically rich tale that's painstakingly put together piece by piece. Alas, it all leads to an unexpected, not very satisfying climax involving another killing.
SECRET DEFENSE
Pierre Grise Prods.
T&C Films AG, Alla Films, La Sept Cinema
Director: Jacques Rivette
Producers: Martine Marignac, Christian Lambert
Screenwriters: Jacques Rivette, Pascal Bonitzer
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Manu de Chauvigny
Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Costume designer: Anne Autran
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sylvie: Sandrine Bonnaire
Walser: Jerzy Radziwilowicz
Paul: Gregoire Colin
Veronique/Ludivine: Laure Marsac
Genevieve: Francoise Fabian
Running time -- 170 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Critics and foreign-film cineastes may sit still for this one, but Rivette's ultraslow pacing and repetitive shots following the movement of characters is numbing. While the story is compelling, the lumbering mise en scene only accentuates the coldness of the characters and promotes one's emotional detachment.
The brave but mostly withdrawn Sylvie (Sandrine Bonnaire) is a scientist whose father died in an accident five years earlier. Her brother Paul Gregoire Colin) discovers an old photograph and believes their father was killed by a colleague, the well-to-do Walser (Jerzy Radziwilowicz).
Walser's secretary and girlfriend Veronique (Laure Marsac) comes to see Sylvie about threats Paul has made. A meeting with Walser leaves Sylvie herself suspicious, but Paul has more proof and makes it clear he plans revenge.
Packing a gun, Sylvie gets to Walser's country estate first and confronts him. In a scuffle, she mistakenly shoots and kills Veronique. A smooth operator and attractive womanizer, Walser covers up the crime and gradually gets on Sylvie's good side. But she's haunted by what she's done and shocked by the crimes committed by Walser and her own mother (Francoise Fabian).
With Paul still seeking satisfaction, Veronique's sister Ludivine (also played by Marsac) makes an entrance, sleeps with Walser and gives shell-shocked Sylvie a reason to leave.
In between long, dialogueless sequences of Sylvie waiting for trains, riding in trains, working in the lab and walking the streets, Rivette gives us a psychologically rich tale that's painstakingly put together piece by piece. Alas, it all leads to an unexpected, not very satisfying climax involving another killing.
SECRET DEFENSE
Pierre Grise Prods.
T&C Films AG, Alla Films, La Sept Cinema
Director: Jacques Rivette
Producers: Martine Marignac, Christian Lambert
Screenwriters: Jacques Rivette, Pascal Bonitzer
Director of photography: William Lubtchansky
Production designer: Manu de Chauvigny
Editor: Nicole Lubtchansky
Costume designer: Anne Autran
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sylvie: Sandrine Bonnaire
Walser: Jerzy Radziwilowicz
Paul: Gregoire Colin
Veronique/Ludivine: Laure Marsac
Genevieve: Francoise Fabian
Running time -- 170 minutes
No MPAA rating...
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.