Varda’s Jacquot de Nantes (1991), a biopic of her filmmaking husband, Jacques Demy, is not simply about a man who makes films but about how films make an impression on the man who made them. Unlike a typical biography of a filmmaker, which would contextualize the films by showing... Read More »
Failure is a necessary part of life. It helps you determine where your strengths and weaknesses lie, as well as allowing you to improve wherever you may be lacking. Unfortunately, when those failures are projected in 35mm and on a big screen, they become less a means of improveme... Read More »
In Jacques Demy’s fairy-tale musical The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1972), the socio--political underpinnings—far too overt and aggressive—unfortunately do a disservice to the whimsy and sentiment expectant of a fairy tale and even found in Demy’s other, less fantasy driven, pieces. ... Read More »
Donkey Skin (Peau d’ane, 1970) perhaps most illustratively displays Demy’s unique approach to the whimsical, the fantastical, and the serendipitous. While nearly all his films are filtered with a romantic touch that would make even the likes of Frank Capra take a bow of respect, ... Read More »
Without the music and the mellifluous rainbow of color that is a stamp of a Demy film, the texture of a Jacques Demy film is smooth and sharply cut. Its tones are airy, luminescent, being grounded by tight frames that focus on characters and their interactions. Faces, comportment... Read More »
Like a love letter to a dead soulmate, The World of Jacques Demy reminds us of the thoughtful joyous anguish of Jacques Demy’s intriguing oeuvre and the unique voice that left an indelible mark on cinema as Agnes Varda (Demy’s wife of nearly thirty years) uses their shared artfor... Read More »
In 1967, Jacques Demy came to America. Spurned by the successes of his rainbow musical fantasies Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Young Girls at Rochefort, Columbia Pictures brought Demy under contract to make his magical films in the US. What resulted was a single film set in the Stat... Read More »
Phantom shots take us through the wet streets of Ars as a disembodied narrator tells us the story of Jean-Mari Vianney; the complex savior of a village, harsh tyrant of strict Christian ideology, and saintly man who transformed his village and saved it from the evils of dancing a... Read More »
Jacques Demy’s first film was borne more from the New Wave movements of the third world than of the spirit of the freewheeling and heartbreaking whimsy that we would come to know and love from his later work. Le saboitier du Val de Loire follows a simple man through the menial ta... Read More »
