#The French film banned in France !

[nesiacha]

The Women of the French Revolution (and even the Napoleonic Era) and Their Absence of Activism or Involvement in Films

Warning: I am currently dealing with a significant personal issue that I’ve already discussed in this post: https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/765252498913165313/the-scars-of-a-toxic-past-are-starting-to-surface?source=share. I need to refocus on myself, get some rest, and think about what I need to do. I won’t be around on Tumblr or social media for a few days (at most, it could last a week or two, though I don’t really think it will).

But don’t worry about me—I’m not leaving Tumblr anytime soon. I just wanted to let you know so you don’t worry if you don’t see me and have seen this post.

I just wanted to finish this post, which I’d already started three-quarters of the way through.

One aspect that frustrates me in film portrayals (a significant majority, around 95%) is the way women of the Revolution or even the Napoleonic era are depicted. Generally, they are shown as either "too gentle" (if you know what I mean), merely supporting their husbands or partners in a purely romantic way. Just look at Lucile Desmoulins—she is depicted as a devoted lover in most films but passive and with little to say about politics.

Yet there’s so much to discuss regarding women during this revolutionary period. Why don’t we see mention of women's clubs in films? There were over 50 in France between 1789 and 1793. Why not mention Etta Palm d’Alders, one of the founders of the Société Patriotique et de Bienfaisance des Amies de la Vérité, who fought for the right to divorce and for girls' education? Or the cahier from the women of Les Halles, requesting that wine not be taxed in Paris?

Only once have I seen Louise Reine Audu mentioned in a film (the excellent Un peuple et son Roi), a Parisian market woman who played a leading role in the Revolution. She led the "dames des halles" and on October 5, 1789, led a procession from Paris to Versailles in this famous historical event. She was imprisoned in September 1790, amnestied a year later through the intervention of Paris mayor Pétion, and later participated in the storming of the Tuileries on August 10, 1792. Théroigne de Méricourt appears occasionally as a feminist, but her mission is often distorted. She was not a Girondin, as some claim, but a proponent of reconciliation between the Montagnards and the Girondins, believing women had a key role in this process (though she did align with Brissot on the war question). She was a hands-on revolutionary, supporting the founding of societies with Charles Gilbert-Romme and demanding the right to bear arms in her Amazon attire.

Why is there no mention in films of Pauline Léon and Claire Lacombe, two well-known women of the era? Pauline Léon was more than just a fervent supporter of Théophile Leclerc, a prominent ultra-revolutionary of the "Enragés." She was the eldest daughter of chocolatier parents, her father a philosopher whom she described as very brilliant. She was highly active in popular societies. Her mother and a neighbor joined her in protesting the king’s flight and at the Champ-de-Mars protest in July 1791, where she reportedly defended a friend against a National Guard soldier. Along with other women (and 300 signatures, including her mother’s), she petitioned for women’s rights. She participated in the August 10 uprising, attacked Dumouriez in a session of the Société fraternelle des patriotes des deux sexes, demanded the King’s execution, and called for nobles to be banned from the army at the Jacobin Club, in the name of revolutionary women. She joined her husband Leclerc in Aisne where he was stationed (see @anotherhumaninthisworld’s excellent post on Pauline Léon). Claire Lacombe was just as prominent at the time and shared her political views. She was one of those women, like Théroigne de Méricourt, who advocated taking up arms to fight the tyrant. She participated in the storming of the Tuileries in 1792 and received a civic crown, like Louise Reine Audu and Théroigne de Méricourt. She was active at the Jacobin Club before becoming secretary, then president of the Société des Citoyennes Républicaines Révolutionnaires (Society of Revolutionary Republican Women). Contrary to popular belief, there’s no evidence she co-founded this society (confirmed by historian Godineau). Lacombe demanded the trial of Marie Antoinette, stricter measures against suspects, prosecution of Girondins by the Revolutionary Tribunal, and the application of the Constitution. She also advocated for greater social rights, as expressed in the Enragés petition, which would later be adopted by the Exagérés, who were less suspicious of delegated power and saw a role beyond the revolutionary sections.

Olympe de Gouges did not call for women to bear arms; in her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, addressed to the Queen after the royal family’s attempted escape, she demanded gender equality. She famously said, "A woman has the right to mount the scaffold; she must equally have the right to mount the rostrum," and denounced the monarchy when Louis XVI's betrayal became undeniable, although she sought clemency for him and remained a royalist. She could be both a patriot and a moderate (in the conservative sense; moderation then didn’t necessarily imply clemency but rather conservative views on certain matters).

Why Are Figures Like Manon Roland Hardly Mentioned in These Films?

In most films, Manon Roland is barely mentioned, or perhaps given a brief appearance, despite being a staunch republican from the start who worked toward the fall of the King and was more than just a supporter of her husband, Roland. She hosted a salon where political ideas were exchanged and was among those who contributed to the monarchy's downfall. Of course, she was one of those courageous women who, while brave, did not advocate for women’s rights. It’s essential to note that just because some women fought in the Revolution or displayed remarkable courage doesn’t mean they necessarily advocated for greater rights for women (even Olympe de Gouges, as I mentioned earlier, had her limits on gender equality, as she did not demand the right for women to bear arms).

Speaking of feminism, films could also spotlight Sophie de Grouchy, the wife and influence behind Condorcet, one of the few deputies (along with Charles Gilbert-Romme, Guyomar, Charlier, and others) who openly supported political and civic rights for women. Without her, many of Condorcet’s posthumous works wouldn’t have seen the light of day; she even encouraged him to write Esquilles and received several pages to publish, which she did. Like many women, she hosted a salon for political discussion, making her a true political thinker.

Then there’s Rosalie Jullien, a highly cultured woman and wife of Marc-Antoine Jullien, whose sons were fervent revolutionaries. She played an essential role during the Revolution, actively involving herself in public affairs, attending National Assembly sessions, staying informed of political debates and intrigues, and even sending her maid Marion to gather information on the streets. Rosalie’s courage is evident in her steadfastness, as she claimed she would "stay at her post" despite the upheaval, loyal to her patriotic and revolutionary ideals. Her letters offer invaluable insights into the Revolution. She often discussed public affairs with prominent revolutionaries like the Robespierre siblings and influential figures like Barère.

Lucile Desmoulins is another figure. She was not just the devoted lover often depicted in films; she was a fervent supporter of the French Revolution. From a young age, her journal reveals her anti-monarchist sentiments (no wonder she and Camille Desmoulins, who shared her ideals, were such a united couple). She favored the King’s execution without delay and wholeheartedly supported Camille in his publication, Le Vieux Cordelier. When Guillaume Brune urged Camille to tone down his criticism of the Year II government, Lucile famously responded, “Let him be, Brune. He must save his country; let him fulfill his mission.” She also corresponded with Fréron on the political situation, proving herself an indispensable ally to Camille. Lucile left a journal, providing historical evidence that counters the infantilization of revolutionary women. Sadly, we lack personal journals from figures like Éléonore Duplay, Sophie Momoro, or Claire Lacombe, which has allowed detractors to argue (incorrectly) that these women were entirely under others' influence.

Additionally, there were women who supported Marat, like his sister Albertine Marat and his "wife"Simone Evrard, without whom he might not have been as effective. They were politically active throughout their lives, regularly attending political clubs and sharing their political views. Simone Evrard, who inspired much admiration, was deeply committed to Marat’s work. Marat had promised her marriage, and she was warmly received by his family. She cared for Marat, hiding him in the cellar to protect him from La Fayette’s soldiers. At age 28, Simone played a vital role in Marat’s life, both as a partner and a moral supporter. At this time, Marat, who was 20 years her senior, faced increasing political isolation; his radical views and staunch opposition to the newly established constitutional monarchy had distanced him from many revolutionaries.

Despite the circumstances, Simone actively supported Marat, managing his publications. With an inheritance from her late half-sister Philiberte, Simone financed Marat’s newspaper in 1792, setting up a press in the Cordeliers cloister to ensure the continued publication of Marat’s revolutionary pamphlets. Although Marat also sought public funds, such as from minister Jean-Marie Roland, it was mainly Simone’s resources that sustained L’Ami du Peuple. Simone and Marat also planned to publish political works, including Chains of Slavery and a collection of Marat’s writings. After Marat’s assassination in July 1793, Simone continued these projects, becoming the guardian of his political legacy. Thanks to her support, Marat maintained his influence, continuing his revolutionary struggle and exposing the “political machination” he opposed.

Simone’s home on Rue des Cordeliers also served as an annex for Marat’s printing press. This setup combined their personal life with professional activities, incorporating security measures to protect Marat. Simone, her sister Catherine, and their doorkeeper, Marie-Barbe Aubain, collaborated in these efforts, overseeing the workspace and its protection.

On July 13, 1793, Jean-Paul Marat was assassinated by Charlotte Corday. Simone Evrard was present and immediately attempted to help Marat and make sure that Charlotte Corday was arrested . She provided precise details about the circumstances of the assassination, contributing significantly to the judicial file that would lead to Corday’s condemnation.

After Marat’s death, Simone was widely recognized as his companion by various revolutionaries and orators who praised her dignity, and she was introduced to the National Convention by Robespierre on August 8, 1793 when she make a speech against Theophile Leclerc,Jacques Roux, Carra, Ducos,Dulaure, Pétion... Together with Albertine Marat (who also left written speeches from this period), Simone took on the work of preserving and publishing Marat’s political writings. Her commitment to this cause led to new arrests after Robespierre's fall, exposing the continued hostility of factions opposed to Marat’s supporters, even after his death.

Moreover, Jean-Paul Marat benefited from the support of several women of the Revolution, and he would not have been as effective without them.

The Duplay sisters were much more politically active than films usually portray. Most films misleadingly present them as mere groupies (considering that their father is often incorrectly shown as a simple “yes-man” in these same, often misogynistic, films, it's no surprise the treatment of women is worse).

Élisabeth Le Bas, accompanied her husband Philippe Le Bas on a mission to Alsace, attended political sessions, and bravely resisted prison guards who urged her to marry Thermidorians, expressing her anger with great resolve. She kept her husband’s name, preserving the revolutionary legacy through her testimonies and memoirs. Similarly, Éléonore Duplay, Robespierre’s possible fiancée, voluntarily confined herself to care for her sister, suffered an arrest warrant, and endured multiple prison transfers. Despite this, they remained politically active, staying close to figures in the Babouvist movement, including Buonarroti, with whom Éléonore appeared especially close, based on references in his letters.

Henriette Le Bas, Philippe Le Bas's sister, also deserves more recognition. She remained loyal to Élisabeth and her family through difficult times, even accompanying Philippe, Saint-Just, and Élisabeth on a mission to Alsace. She was briefly engaged to Saint-Just before the engagement was quickly broken off, later marrying Claude Cattan. Together with Éléonore, she preserved Élisabeth’s belongings after her arrest. Despite her family’s misfortunes—including the detention of her father—Henriette herself was surprisingly not arrested. Could this be another coincidence when it came to the wives and sisters of revolutionaries, or perhaps I missed part of her story?

Charlotte Robespierre, too, merits more focus. She held her own political convictions, sometimes clashing with those of her brothers (perhaps often, considering her political circle was at odds with their stances). She lived independently, never marrying, and even accompanied her brother Augustin on a mission for the Convention. Tragically, she was never able to reconcile with her brothers during their lifetimes. For a long time, I believed that Charlotte’s actions—renouncing her brothers to the Thermidorians after her arrest, trying to leverage contacts to escape her predicament, accepting a pension from Bonaparte, and later a stipend under Louis XVIII—were all a matter of survival, given how difficult life was for a single woman then. I saw no shame in that (and I still don’t). The only aspect I faulted her for was embellishing reality in her memoirs, which contain some disputable claims. But I recently came across a post by @saintejustitude on Charlotte Robespierre, and honestly, it’s one of the best (and most well-informed) portrayals of her.

As for the the hébertists womens , films could cover Sophie Momoro more thoroughly, as she played the role of the Goddess of Reason in her husband’s de-Christianization campaigns, managed his workshop and printing presses in his absence accompanying Momoro on a mission on Vendée. Momoro expressed his wife's political opinion on the situation in a letter. She also drafted an appeal for assistance to the Convention in her husband’s characteristic style.

Marie Françoise Goupil, Hébert’s wife, is likewise only shown as a victim (which, of course, she was—a victim of a sham trial and an unjust execution, like Lucile Desmoulins). However, there was more to her story. Here’s an excerpt from a letter she wrote to her husband’s sister in the summer of 1792 that reveals her strong political convictions:

« You are very worried about the dangers of the fatherland. They are imminent, we cannot hide them: we are betrayed by the court, by the leaders of the armies, by a large part of the members of the assembly; many people despair; but I am far from doing so, the people are the only ones who made the revolution. It alone will support her because it alone is worthy of it. There are still incorruptible members in the assembly, who will not fear to tell it that its salvation is in their hands, then the people, so great, will still be so in their just revenge, the longer they delay in striking the more it learns to know its enemies and their number, the more, according to me, its blows will only strike with certainty and  only fall on the guilty, do not be worried about the fate of my worthy husband. He and I would be sorry if the people were enslaved to survive the liberty of their fatherland, I would be inconsolable if the child I am carrying only saw the light of day with the eyes of a slave, then I would prefer to see it perish with me ».

There is also Marie Angélique Lequesne, who played a notable role while married to Ronsin (and would go on to have an important role during the Napoleonic era, which we’ll revisit later). Here’s an excerpt from Memoirs, 1760-1820 by Jean-Balthazar de Bonardi du Ménil (to be approached with caution): “Marie-Angélique Lequesne was caught up in the measures taken against the Hébertists and imprisoned on the 1st of Germinal at the Maison d'Arrêt des Anglaises, frequently engaging with ultra-revolutionary circles both before and after Ronsin’s death, even dressing as an Amazon to congratulate the Directory on a victory.” According to Généanet (to be taken with even more caution), she may have served as a canteen worker during the campaign of 1792.

On the Babouvist side, we can mention Marie Anne Babeuf, one of Gracchus Babeuf’s closest collaborators. Marie Anne was among her husband's staunchest political supporters. She printed his newspaper for a long time, and her activism led to her two-day arrest in February 1795. When her husband was arrested while she was pregnant, she made every effort possible to secure his release and never gave up on him. She walked from Paris to Vendôme to attend his trial, witnessing the proceeding that would sentence him to death. A few months after Gracchus Babeuf’s execution, she gave birth to their last son, Caius. Félix Lepeletier became a protector of the family (and apparently, Turreau also helped, supposedly adopting Camille Babeuf—one of his very few positive acts). Marie Anne supported her children through various small jobs, including as a market vendor, while never giving up her activism and remaining as combative as ever. (There’s more to her story during the Napoleonic era as well).

We must not forget the role of active women in the insurrections of Year III, against the Assembly, which had taken a more conservative turn by then. Here’s historian Mathilde Larrère’s description of their actions: “In April and May 1795, it was these women who took to the streets, beating drums across the city, mocking law enforcement, entering shops, cafes, and homes to call for revolt. In retaliation, the Assembly decreed that women were no longer allowed to attend Assembly sessions and expelled the knitters by force. Days later, a decree banned them from attending any assemblies and from gathering in groups of more than five in the streets.”

There were also women who fought as soldiers during the French Revolution, such as Marie-Thérèse Figueur, known as “Madame Sans-Gêne.” The Fernig sisters, aged 22 and 17, threw themselves into battle against Austrian soldiers, earning a reputation for their combat prowess and later becoming aides-de-camp to Dumouriez. Other fighting women included the gunners Pélagie Dulière and Catherine Pochetat.

In the overseas departments, there was Flore Bois Gaillard, a former slave who became a leader of the “Brigands” revolt on the island of Saint Lucia during the French Revolution. This group, composed of former slaves, French revolutionaries, soldiers, and English deserters, was determined to fight against English regiments using guerrilla tactics. The group won a notable victory, the Battle of Rabot in 1795, with the assistance of Governor Victor Hugues and, according to some accounts, with support from Louis Delgrès and Pelage.

On the island of Saint-Domingue, which would later become Haiti, Cécile Fatiman became one of the notable figures at the start of the Haitian Revolution, especially during the Bois-Caiman revolt on August 14, 1791.

In short, the list of influential women is long. We could also talk about figures like Félicité Brissot, Sylvie Audouin (from the Hébertist side), Marguerite David (from the Enragés side), and more. Figures like Theresia Cabarrus, who wielded influence during the Directory (especially when Tallien was still in power), or the activities of Germaine de Staël (since it’s essential to mention all influential women of the Revolution, regardless of political alignment) are also noteworthy.

Napoleonic Era

Films could have focused more on women during this era. Instead, we always see the Bonaparte sisters (with Caroline cast as an exaggerated villain, almost like a cartoon character), or Hortense Beauharnais, who’s shown solely as a victim of Louis Bonaparte and portrayed as naïve. There is so much more to say about this time, even if it was more oppressive for women.

Germaine de Staël is barely mentioned, which is unfortunate, and Marie Anne Babeuf is even more overlooked, despite her being questioned by the Napoleonic police in 1801 and raided in 1808. She also suffered the loss of two more children: Camille Babeuf, who died by suicide in 1814, and Caius, reportedly killed by a stray bullet during the 1814 invasion of Vendôme. No mention is made of Simone Evrard and Albertine Marat, who were arrested and interrogated in 1801.

An important but lesser-known event in popular culture was the deportation and imprisonment of the Jacobins, as highlighted by Lenôtre. Here’s an excerpt: “This petition reached Paris in autumn 1804 and was filed away in the ministry's records. It didn’t reach the public, who had other amusements besides the old stories of the Nivôse deportees. It was, after all, the time when the Republic, now an Empire, was preparing to receive the Pope from Rome to crown the triumphant Caesar. Yet there were people in Paris who thought constantly about the Mahé exiles—their wives, most left without support, living in extreme poverty; mothers were the hardest hit. Even if one doesn’t sympathize with the exiles themselves, one can feel pity for these unfortunate women... They implored people in their neighborhoods and local suppliers to testify on behalf of their husbands, who were wise, upstanding, good fathers, and good spouses. In most cases, these requests came too late... After an agonizing wait, the only response they received was, ‘Nothing to be done; he is gone.’” (Les Derniers Terroristes by Gérard Lenôtre). Many women were mobilized to help the Jacobins. One police report references a woman named Madame Dufour, “wife of the deportee Dufour, residing on Rue Papillon, known for her bold statements; she’s a veritable fury, constantly visiting friends and associates, loudly proclaiming the Jacobins’ imminent success. This woman once played a role in the Babeuf conspiracy; most of their meetings were held at her home…” (Unfortunately for her, her husband had already passed away.)

On the Napoleonic “allies” side, Marie Angélique, the widow of Ronsin who later married Turreau, should be more highlighted. Turreau treated her so poorly that it even outraged Washington’s political class. She was described as intelligent, modest, generous, and curious, and according to future First Lady Dolley Madison, she charmed Washington’s political circles. She played an essential role in Dolley Madison’s political formation, contributing to her reputation as an active, politically involved First Lady. Marie Angélique eventually divorced Turreau, though he refused to fund her return to France; American friends apparently helped her.

Films could also portray Marie-Jacqueline Sophie Dupont, wife of Lazare Carnot, a devoted and loving partner who even composed music for his poems. Additionally, her ties with Joséphine de Beauharnais could be explored. They were close friends, which is evident in a heartbreaking letter Lazare Carnot wrote to Joséphine on February 6, 1813, to inform her of Sophie’s death: “Until her last moment, she held onto the gratitude Your Majesty had honored her with; in her memory, I must remind Your Majesty of the care and kindness that characterize you and are so dear to every sensitive soul.”

In films, however, when Joséphine de Beauharnais’s circle is shown, Theresia Cabarrus (who appears much more in Joséphine ou la comédie des ambitions) and the Countess of Rémusat are mentioned, but Sophie Carnot is omitted, which is a pity. Sophie Carnot knew how to uphold social etiquette well, making her an ideal figure to be integrated into such stories (after all, she was the daughter of a former royal secretary).

Among women soldiers, we had Marie-Thérèse Figueur as well as figures like Maria Schellink, who also deserves greater representation. Speaking of fighters, films could further explore the stories of women who took up arms against the illegal reinstatement of slavery. In Saint-Domingue, now Haiti, many women gave their lives, including Sanité Bélair, lieutenant of Toussaint Louverture, considered the soul of the conspiracy along with her husband, Charles Bélair (Toussaint’s nephew) and a fighter against Leclerc. Captured, sentenced to death, and executed with her husband, she showed great courage at her execution. Thomas Madiou's Histoire d’Haiti describes the final moments of the Bélair couple: “When Charles Bélair was placed in front of the squad to be shot, he calmly listened to his wife exhorting him to die bravely... (...)Sanité refused to have her eyes covered and resisted the executioner’s efforts to make her bend down. The officer in charge of the squad had to order her to be shot standing.”

Dessalines, known for leading Haiti to victory against Bonaparte, had at least three influential women in his life. He had as his mentor, role modele and fighting instructor the former slave Victoria Montou, known as Aunt Toya, whom he considered a second mother. They met while they were working as slaves. They met while both were enslaved. The second was his future wife, Marie Claire Bonheur, a sort of war nurse, as described in this post, who proved instrumental in the siege of Jacmel by persuading Dessalines to open the roads so that aid, like food and medicine, could reach the city. When independence was declared, Dessalines became emperor, and Marie Claire Bonheur, empress. When Jean-Jacques Dessalines ordered the elimination of white inhabitants in Haiti, Marie Claire Bonheur opposed him, some say even kneeling before him to save the French. Alongside others, she saved those later called the “orphans of Cap,” two girls named Hortense and Augustine Javier.

Dessalines had a legitimized illegitimate daughter, Catherine Flon, who, according to legend, sewed the country’s flag on May 18, 1803. Thus, three essential women in his life contributed greatly to his cause.

In Guadeloupe, Rosalie, also known as Solitude, fought while pregnant against the re-establishment of slavery and sacrificed her life for it, as she was hanged after giving birth. Marthe Rose Toto also rose up and was hanged a few months after Louis Delgrès’s death (if they were truly a couple, it would have added a tragic touch to their story, like that of Camille and Lucile Desmoulins, which I have discussed here).

To conclude, my aim in this post is not to elevate these revolutionary, fighting, or Napoleonic-allied women above their male counterparts but simply to give them equal recognition, which, sadly, is still far from the case (though, fortunately, this is not true here on Tumblr).

I want to thank @aedesluminis for providing such valuable information about Sophie Carnot—without her, I wouldn't have known any of this. And I also want to thank all of you, as your various posts have been really helpful in guiding my research, especially @anotherhumaninthisworld, @frevandrest, @sieclesetcieux, @saintjustitude, @enlitment ,@pleasecallmealsip ,@usergreenpixel , @orpheusmori​ ,@lamarseillasie etc. I apologize if I forgot anyone—I’m sure I have, and I'm sorry; I'm a bit exhausted. ^^

[justforbooks]

The sultry 1969 hit single Je T’aime … Moi Non Plus was a four-and-a-half-minute distillation of languid Gallic cool, in which a Frenchman, his voice coarsened by Gitanes, is heard billing and cooing with an ecstatically sighing young Englishwoman over the swirling motif of a baroque organ. That man was Serge Gainsbourg; his companion was Jane Birkin, the actor and singer, who has died aged 76. Though Birkin worked with some of the world’s finest film-makers, including Jacques Rivette and Agnès Varda, she knew that Je T’aime … would be remembered above everything else she did. “When I die, that’ll be the tune they play, as I go out feet first,” she said.

Birkin was 21 when she and Gainsbourg met while starring together in the film Slogan (1969). He was 40, and had previously recorded Je T’aime … as a duet with Brigitte Bardot, only for the actor to withdraw permission for it to be released. Birkin had already starred in a 1965 musical, Passion Flower Hotel, scored by John Barry, whom she married that year at the age of 19 and from whom she was divorced in 1968; he was the father of Kate, the first of Birkin’s three daughters. But it was on the duet with Gainsbourg, she said, that for the first time “somebody thought I had a pretty voice”.

She sang her part an octave higher than Bardot. “It gave it a choirboy side that [Gainsbourg] liked a lot,” she said. Rumor's that the vocal track was recorded under the covers during a moment of intimacy were untrue (the couple were standing at separate microphones in a studio in central London) though they did nothing to harm the mythology surrounding a song that was later condemned by the Vatican. “I just remember thinking it was all terribly funny,” she said.

Among the countries that refused to give the song airplay was Britain, where it became the first banned single to reach the top of the charts, as well as the first non-English-language No 1. It was also the lead track on the 1969 album Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg.

Birkin’s life remained inextricably linked to his. They were together for 11 years, and had a daughter, Charlotte, who became a successful singer and actor. Even after they separated in 1980, he continued to write for her, and she went on performing his songs for the rest of her life.

Far from being an adjunct to Gainsbourg’s legend, she possessed her own style, intelligence and attitude. Her wistful beauty was rendered unorthodox by an eager, gap-toothed smile. Her voice was as bewitching as her face: though she lived in France from 1969 onwards, and spoke French fluently, she never shed her breathy, crisply English accent.

She was born in London to Judy Campbell, an actor who had been a muse to Noël Coward, and David Birkin, who was a lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy and a spy during the second world war. His duties included taking British spies across the Channel to France and bringing back stranded airmen and escaped prisoners of war.

Jane was educated at Upper Chine school on the Isle of Wight. At 17 she starred with Ralph Richardson in Graham Greene’s play Carving a Statue; Greene himself had a hand in casting her. Her screen acting career began with a walk-on part in The Knack … and How to Get It (1965) and a controversial nude scene in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up, which she agreed to because Barry had told her she wouldn’t dare.

She had a small role in the Warren Beatty caper Kaleidoscope (also 1966), played a model called Penny Lane in the psychedelic curiosity Wonderwall (1968) and starred with Romy Schneider and Alain Delon in the psychological thriller La Piscine (1969). She got on famously with Bardot when they starred together in Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman (1973). Gainsbourg directed her in a 1976 film named after their hit song; he cast her as a boyish woman who attracts the attentions of a gay man, played by the Warhol regular Joe Dallesandro.

Birkin was tremendous fun in two star-studded Agatha Christie thrillers, Death on the Nile (1978) and Evil Under the Sun (1982). In the cryptic Love on the Ground (1984), Rivette cast her and Geraldine Chaplin as actors drawn into a playwright’s mysterious world. She appeared in two films, The Pirate (1984) and Comedy! (1987), made by her then partner, Jacques Doillon, with whom she had her third daughter, Lou, also a singer and actor. Jean-Luc Godard directed her in Keep Your Right Up (also 1987), while for Varda she played a woman besotted with a 14-year-old boy in Kung-Fu Master! (1988); the film co-starred Charlotte and featured Lou, and was inspired by an idea by Birkin herself.

In the same year, Varda made her the subject of Jane B For Agnès V, in which the actor performed a variety of specially scripted scenes (in one, she was a Stan Laurel type, in another a cockney mother) interspersed with musings on her life. She received the documentary treatment once again when her daughter directed Jane By Charlotte (2021).

Her two most impressive performances came in Bertrand Tavernier’s These Foolish Things, aka Daddy Nostalgie (1990), in which she was moving as a woman trying to repair her relationship with her dying father (Dirk Bogarde); and La Belle Noiseuse (1991), Rivette’s spellbinding four-hour study of a painter (Michel Piccoli) and his new muse (Emmanuelle Béart), in which Birkin played the artist’s wife and former model, who must deal with the indignity of having her younger self literally painted over.

Later films included Alain Resnais’s musical On Connaît la Chanson (1997) and the Merchant-Ivory coming-of-age story A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries (1998).

In 2002 Birkin was diagnosed with leukaemia, but by 2006 she had made her directorial debut with the autobiographical family drama Boxes, which she also wrote and starred in, along with Chaplin, Piccoli, John Hurt and her daughter Lou. She appeared in Rivette’s final film, Around a Small Mountain (2009), played herself in Hong Sang-soo’s Nobody’s Daughter Haewon, and was reunited with Tavernier for his comedy The French Minister (also 2013).

Her look had been widely applauded in the 1960s, and seemed never to go out of date. In the 80s Hermès introduced a large and exorbitantly priced leather bag, named “the Birkin” in her honour. Fashion journalists in recent years could still be heard celebrating the “Jane Birkin top”, referring to the white lace dress made famous by her in the late 60s. “Real life was what I was best at,” she told Vogue magazine in 2016. “I didn’t have confidence in movie cameras or on stage. But I did have confidence in what I wanted in real life. If I wanted to be barefoot and wear a mackintosh, I would do it. I didn’t give a hoot.”

It was at 40 that she finally discarded her youthful ingénue image and performed her first live concert: “I cut my hair off like a boy, I wore men’s clothes. I only wanted people to hear the music and words. It was fantastic. And it was so frightening. Serge was there and he kept lighting his cigarette lighter to make everybody put their lighters on.” That show was preserved on her 1987 album, Jane Birkin au Bataclan. She continued singing and recording into her old age; among her later albums is Birkin/Gainsbourg: Le Symphonique, from 2017, in which the couple’s songs received new orchestral arrangements.

In 2020 she published Munkey Diaries 1957-1982, containing diary entries addressed to her favourite cuddly toy from childhood, which she can be seen clutching on the cover of Gainsbourg’s 1971 album Histoire de Melody Nelson. She buried the toy with him after his death in 1991.

She is survived by Charlotte and Lou, and six grandchildren, and by her brother, Andrew, and sister, Linda. Kate, a photographer, died in 2013.

🔔 Jane Mallory Birkin, actor and singer, born 14 December 1946; died 16 July 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[ariel-seagull-wings]

@mask131 @themousefromfantasyland @the-blue-fairie @professorlehnsherr-almashy @princesssarisa @barbossas-wench @tamisdava2

The Wall is a documentary film made in 2011 by Sophie Robert about autism and psychoanalysis.

The alternative full name of the film is The Wall or psychoanalysis put to the test on autism.

The film considers the question of whether psychoanalysis is a suitable treatment for autism.

The film argues that while the rest of the world considers autism as a neurological disorder caused by anomalies in a specific area of the brain, in France concepts of the condition remain dominated by psychoanalysis, which sees autism as a form of psychosis caused by difficulties in subjective relationships and ultimately caused by the actions of the mother. The film relies on extensive interviews with 11 French psychoanalysts in order to tease out the details of their beliefs, which the film contrasts with the progress made by children who follow other, behavioural, approaches to improving autistic children's ability to communicate.

The film argues that the psychoanalytic approach to autism is based on ignorance and misogyny and leads to harmful consequences for autistic children who fall under the care of psychoanalysts.

The film ends with Robert asking the psychoanalysts what an autistic child can realistically expect to gain from a psychoanalytic therapy; the psychoanalysts interviewed are shown not to be able to answer this question coherently.

Three of the psychoanalysts interviewed in the film sued Ms Robert. The three plaintiffs (Eric Laurent, Esthela Solano, and Alexandre Stevens) expressed the view that they hold intellectual property rights to the footage filmed by Ms Roberts and that she edited it without their consent and thus distorted their comments.

The court (Lille Regional Court) found against Robert  thus banning the film. However this ban was overturned by a court of appeal in 2014.

The appeal court found that while Robert may have misled the psychoanalysts as to the editorial line her film would take, she had not materially misrepresented their views in her editing of the footage.

As of 2016 the film is available for viewing online.

[moodboardmix]

Jane Mallory Birkin (14 December 1946 – 16 July 2023)

Jane Mallory Birkin was born in London in December 1946, daughter of British actress Judy Campbell and Royal Navy commander David Birkin.

She had lived in her adopted France since the late 1960s and apart from her singing and roles in dozens of films, she was a popular figure for her warm nature, stalwart fight for women's and LGBT rights.

She first took to the stage aged 17 and went on to appear in the 1965 musical "Passion Flower Hotel" by conductor and composer John Barry, whom she married shortly after. The marriage ended in the late 1960s.

Before venturing across the Channel aged 22, she achieved notoriety in the controversial 1966 Michelangelo Antonioni film "Blow-Up", appearing naked in a threesome sex scene.

But it was in France that she truly shot to fame, as much for her love affair with tormented national star Gainsbourg, as for her tomboyish style and endearing British accent when speaking French.

It was on the set of the film "Slogan" in 1969 that Birkin first met Gainsbourg, who was recovering from a break-up with Brigitte Bardot, and the two quickly began a love affair that captivated the nation.

That same year they released "Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus" ("I Love You... Me Neither"), a song about physical love originally written for Bardot in which Gainsbourg's explicit lyrics are punctuated with breathy moans and cries from Birkin.

The song was banned by the BBC and condemned by the Vatican.

Following the breakup of that relationship in 1981, she continued her career as a singer and actress, appearing on stage and releasing albums such as "Baby Alone in Babylone" in 1983, and "Amour des Feintes" in 1990, both with words and music by Gainsbourg.

Gainsbourg's drinking eventually got the better of the relationship, and Birkin left him in 1981 to live with film director Jacques Doillon. However she remained close to the troubled singer until his death in March 1991.

It was around this time that she inspired the famous Birkin bag by French luxury house Hermes, after chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas saw her struggling with her straw bag on a flight to London, spilling the contents over the floor.

She wrote her own album "Arabesque" in 2002, and in 2009 released a collection of live recordings, "Jane at the Palace".

She is survived by two daughters the singer and actress Charlotte, born in 1971, and Lou Doillon, also an actress, born in 1982. She also had a daughter, Kate, who was born in 1967 and died in 2013.

(Reporting by John Irish Editing by David Goodman and Frances Kerry)

(Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg - Je T'aime,...Moi Non Plus)

Rest in peace to the Timeless Style Icon and Epitome of Effortless Chic

[sissa-arrows]

There's currently a French actor (Gérard Depardieu) who was accused by more than a dozen women of SA throughout the years, and was even filmed in a recent documentary talking sexually about an 11 year old child. Not to mention all his other misogynist comments previous years. And now other actors and politicians are standing by him because "he did good work" and "by attacking him you are attacking art". Right, because that's all it takes to be forgiven. Even Macron defended him, not suprisingly.

This reminds me in my country men only "care" about SA when foreigners do it (read: non-white foreigners, because when German expat men were found to be running child SA rings between themselves no one talked about it), and will do everything in their power to defend eachother when it's them who are the assailants. It's so vile, like not even a week ago there was an article about a woman who was SA in an Uber, and men on social media went WE NEED TO BAN THESE RAPIST FOREIGNERS BAN EMIGRATION PROTECT OUR WOMEN then when another article mentioned it was a local suddenly they go quiet and don't speak about it further. Hm.

I have nothing to add about Depardieu (I will make a post about him but France is crossing all the limits so I have so many posts to make about so many subjects).

But it reminded me something. Yesterday a man killed his ex wife and their four children. The police knew that he was a threat and that he was violent. The far right did NOT say anything. You know why? Because all the recent crime of men killing their wife/ex wife were done by white men the latest was even done by a cop… the SECOND the guy’s id leaked and they realized he was black they ALL jumped on it. Started saying Black and Brown men are a threat to women and all. When they thought he was white crickets… nothing.

There’s a “feminist” white supremacist association. White women claiming the only threat against women are black and brown men. One of the members got violently beat up… by a white man. Cricket and they keep saying white men are not a problem and all.

They don’t care about women or children they care about blaming Black and Brown men. Had a Black or Brown actor said something like Depardieu did they would be ripping him a new one (rightfully). Depardieu sexualized a 9-10 years old little girl, talking about “her pussy” and calling her a “slut” but Macron is supporting him and saying he admire him and the people who claim to protect women and children are signing letters of support for him.

And I mentioned the far right but it’s throughout all of the political spectrum. A candidate in a leftist party in France received soooooo much hate because he is North African. It was a mess. In the middle of all that hate the party posted a communique saying that they received complain about sexual harassment from the guy’s ex. So they decided to cut him off and to replace him with a white candidate. Now replacing him with a white candidate is fishy as fuck but cutting him off is not. I mean either he is guilty and we avoiding electing a piece of shit or he is innocent and not being elected is not the end of his life. So I think the choice was right (but he should have been replaced by an other person of color). The party was like “we support women so we can’t let that happen even if he hasn’t had a trial yet better to kick him out”. Like I said it’s fair. Fast forward a couple months later. One of the member of that party is accused of beating his wife. He ADMITS it’s true. He goes on trial say it was just a couple slaps. Get judged guilty. The party refused to kick him out. He is still a member of this party. When we said that he should be kicked out they said “justice will do the job not us” and then when he was judged guilty of slapping his ex wife they said “well Justice punished him we’re not going to do more” Guess what? He is white.

[lucienballard]

Jane Birkin, actor and singer, dies aged 76

Best known for the sexually explicit 1969 hit Je t’aime … moi non plus, she found fame in her adopted France

The British-born actor and singer Jane Birkin has been found dead at her home in Paris, the French culture ministry said on Sunday.

Birken, 76, was best known overseas for her 1969 hit in which she and her lover, the late French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, sang the sexually explicit Je t’aime … moi non plus.

Birkin found fame in her adopted France, catapulted into the public eye by her turbulent relationship with Gainsbourg. Her heavily accented French became her personal style signifier.

She crossed the channel in 1968 at the age of 22 to star in a film alongside Gainsbourg, who was 18 years her senior. It was the start of a 13-year relationship that made them France’s most famous couple, in the spotlight as much for their bohemian and hedonistic lifestyle as for their work.

The doe-eyed Birkin, with her soft voice and androgynous silhouette, quickly became a sex symbol, recording the steamy Je t’aime … moi non plus with a growling Gainsbourg. Banned on radio in several countries and condemned by the Vatican, the song was a worldwide success.

“He and I became the most famous of couples in that strange way because of Je t’aime and because we stuck together for 13 years and he went on being my friend until the day he died. Who could ask for more?” Birkin told CNN in 2006.

“So Paris became my home. I’ve been adopted here. They like my accent,” she said.

Birkin was born in London on 14 December 1946 to an actor mother and naval officer father. At 17, she married the James Bond composer John Barry, with whom she had a daughter, Kate, but the marriage lasted only three years.

She made waves in her film debut in 1966 with a full frontal nude scene in the swinging sixties classic Blow-Up by Michelangelo Antonioni.

After meeting Gainsbourg, 18 years her senior, in Paris on the set of a romantic comedy – he was her co-star – she moved to France permanently. Their musical and romantic relationship was tempestuous. During one of their raging rows, Birkin launched herself into the River Seine after throwing a custard pie in Gainsbourg’s face.

They had a daughter, Charlotte, who became a hugely successful actor and singer.

Birkin finally walked out on France’s favourite bad boy in 1980 and went on to to blaze her own trail. In cinema, she branched out from more ditsy roles to arthouse productions, gaining three nominations at the Césars – France’s Oscars – starting with La Pirate in 1985.

In her about 70 films she has been directed by France’s leading directors, including Bertrand Tavernier, Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, James Ivory and Agnès Varda.

A chronic alcoholic, Gainsbourg died of a heart attack in 1991 aged 62. A few years earlier, he was in the audience to hear Birkin perform her first solo concert at the age of 40 at the Bataclan theatre in Paris.

In 1998 came her first record without Gainsbourg, Á la Légère. But she repeatedly returned to his repertoire, singing his hits around the world accompanied by a full orchestra, including in 2020 in New York where she performed with Iggy Pop.

The English rose of French chanson became something of a national treasure, who preserved the accent that made the French swoon throughout her life and an endearing air of fragility.

Her life was marked by tragedy, with her eldest daughter Kate Barry, a photographer, apparently committing suicide in 2013. She had leukaemia in the late 1990s and in 2021 suffered a minor stroke.

With her flared jeans, mini-dresses and messy bangs, Birkin was the ultimate It girl in the 1970s. In 1984, Hermès named one of its handbags after her. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2001 for her services to acting and British-French cultural relations.

Besides Charlotte and Kate, she had another daughter, the singer Lou Doillon, from her 13-year relationship with the French director Jacques Doillon.

RIP Jane

[fiercynn]

queer short cuts: "un chant d'amour | a song of love"

queer short cuts is a biweekly newsletter where i share queer & trans short film recommendations. i’m featuring some of my favorite films on tumblr because why not

france | 25 minutes | 1950 | experimental film no dialogue; no closed captions

let me start by telling you my impressions of un chant d’amour | a song of love, written and directed by jean genet, before i knew more about the context in which it was created. this captivating short film is black-and-white, with no dialogue and a haunting score, set in a french prison where two incarcerated men have fallen in love despite being locked in adjoining cells where they cannot see or touch each other. they find ways to express their love and desire from sharing what they can (blowing smoke through a hole in the wall, trying to pass a bouquet of flowers between their barred windows) and imagining the rest through phantom touch and vivid fantasies. the inhumanity of incarceration is depicted not only by their separation, but by a prison guard who acts as voyeur, enslaver, and rapist all in one, his eyes dually a tool of surveillance and objectification, his gun and his penis almost one and the same as he enacts violence on the prisoners. still, the two incarcerated men’s dreams of freedom persist, in part because they are dreaming together. un chant d’amour | a song of love, an amazing film at face value, is made even more stunning when you learn that it was made in 1950, and that it was the only film ever made by jean genet, a french writer, playwright, poet, and political activist. genet’s life is a fascinating story on its own – he grew up in poverty and was himself incarcerated for years, almost receiving a life sentence before prominent figures like jean cocteau, jean-paul sartre, and pablo picasso petitioned the french president to pardon him. genet’s writing centered homosexuality and criminality through novels, plays, essays, and poetry. he became more explicitly politically active in the 1960s, fighting the police brutality experienced by algerians in france, working with the black panthers in the united states, visiting palestinian refugee camps in beirut and jordan, and supporting the work of leaders like huey newton, angela davis, george jackson, and michel foucault. un chant d’amour | a song of love is no less remarkable than any other facet of genet’s life – put in context, the connections between incarceration, colonialism (one of the main characters is algerian), and systemic racism (another incarcerated character is black) in the film become even clearer. all cast and crew members apart from genet were uncredited to protect their privacy, a measure that was became all too necessary when the short film was banned in france due to its sexually explicit portrayal of homosexuality. despite being considered a classic of queer film, un chant d’amour | a song of love appears to be broadly unknown, in large part because only one copy of the film remained for years. digitizing the film has made it accessible for a new generation of audiences, and – sadly – its messages about oppression and liberation are as relevant today as they were 73 years ago. - deepa's full review, including content notes at the end

watch on vimeo or on kanopy with a u.s. library card!

[mariacallous]

PARIS — Marine Le Pen has her own nickname for the Brussels bubble.

The far-right French leader likes to call the close-knit circle of lawmakers, lobbyists and civil servants working in the European Union capital “the Blob” 

The reference is to the 1958 science fiction film in which a ravenous, gelatinous mass expands as it consumes everything in its path. It was an image Le Pen deployed this week, as she tried to turn a legal ordeal into a political opportunity. 

The long-standing presidential candidate is facing trial, along with 26 others, accused of embezzling millions of euros in European Parliament funds by using them to pay staffers to do domestic politics instead of their work as parliamentary assistants. Her party, as a legal entity, is also facing charges.

During five hours of testimony earlier this week, Le Pen sought to turn the tables on the Parliament, describing it as an organ that co-opts its members, cutting them off from the citizens they are supposed to represent. 

Or, as she put it, MEPs risk being absorbed by the Blob.

“The European Parliament works in such a way that it swallows up the MEPs,” she claimed. “Everything is available within the European Parliament: You can sleep in, get your hair done, go to the bookshop … Everything is done so that MEPs can live within the European Parliament.” 

“The role of the party is to remind them to also engage in politics,” she added.

For Le Pen, the stakes are immense. She plans to run in the 2027 presidential election and is leading in the polls. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of up to €1 million and a possible five-year ban from public office.

The case alleges a scheme of misdirected funds that took place between 2004 and 2016. Central to the charges against Le Pen is her former assistant Catherine Griset.

Griset worked for Le Pen for nearly 25 years before becoming an MEP in 2019. Prosecutors accused her of doing work for Le Pen’s party in Paris while being paid as the far-right leader’s parliamentary assistant.

According to the prosecutors, during one period Griset spent 15 to 22 days a month at the party’s headquarters in Paris instead of the Parliament premises in Brussels and Strasbourg.

After investigators described how Griset only badged into the parliament for about 12 hours between October 2014 and August 2015, Le Pen answered saying that this was because Griset would enter the building as part of her entourage, with the security staff greeting them with “wide smiles.”

When Didier Klethi, director general of the Parliament, stated that only MEPs — not their assistants — could enter the premises without presenting a badge, Le Pen pushed back, suggesting that the Parliament’s administration might have been upset by the friendliness of the security staff to her Euroskeptic party’s members.

On Tuesday, Griset defended herself, insisting she “never worked for the party” but only for Le Pen. But she struggled to address key points, particularly regarding her time spent in Brussels. Griset acknowledged that she stayed in Belgium for only two nights a week, despite her contract requiring full-time residency.

In her testimony, Le Pen — one of France’s most prominent critics of the EU — challenged the premise of the charges, a tactic more likely to sway her supporters than the judges hearing the case. 

She argued it was wrong to separate the work an MEP does as an elected official from their party responsibilities — and that it was thus legitimate for their assistants to help with both. 

“I believe that members of parliament work to further their ideas,” she said. Participation in party activities, media appearances and “convincing new voters,” she argued, are part of an MEP’s responsibilities.

As to the time Griset spent in Paris, French MEPs should “defend French interests,” Le Pen said. 

“Others consider that the European Parliament is a political body in itself,” she added. “This is not our vision.”

[msclaritea]

Cate Blanchett named son after convicted child sex offender Roman Polanski | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/cate-blanchett-named-son-after-convicted-child-sex-offender-roman-polanski/news-story/7643a75ab10a08d35b781b1f07043c59#:~:text=Blanchett%20said%20Roman%20was%20named,famous%20American%20novelist)%20Dashiell%20Hammett.

https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/98319492.html

Blanchett said Roman was named after the disgraced director, who fled the United States in 1978 before he was due to be sentenced for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

“You run out of ideas by the time you get to number three,” she joked.

“Dashiell came from (famous American novelist) Dashiell Hammett.

“Roman, I don’t know... Polanski. But it’s also the French word for book.”

Polanski has been living in exile in France since 1978, despite multiple attempts by the United States to extradite him.

Blanchett previously came under fire in 2014 after starring in Woody Allen’s film Blue Jasmine.

Allen’s daughter Dylan Farrow wrote an open letter to Blanchett, criticising her for working with the director despite her claims of child sexual abuse.

Tough love ... Cate won an Oscar for Blue Jasmine despite being criticised for working with Woody Allen. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Tough love ... Cate won an Oscar for Blue Jasmine despite being criticised for working with Woody Allen. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

“What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? Louis CK? Alec Baldwin? What if it had been you, Emma Stone? Or you, Scarlett Johansson? You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?” she wrote.

In response, Blanchett said it had “obviously been a long and painful situation for the family and I hope they find some resolution and peace”.

Roman Polanski

Ignatius, Captain Underpants

"According to the American Library Association, the Captain Underpants books were reported as some of the most banned and challenged books in the United States between 2000 and 2009 as well as between 2010 and 2019. The books were named one of the top ten most banned and challenged books in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2013 and 2018.

The Captain Underpants series was explicitly banned in some schools for "insensitivity, offensive language, encouraging disruptive behavior, LGBTQIA+ issues, violence, being unsuited to the age group, sexually explicit content, anti-family content, as well as encouraging children to disobey authority."

Dashiell Hammett....

Hammett devoted much of his life to left-wing activism. He was a strong antifascist throughout the 1930s, and in 1937 joined the Communist Party. On May 1, 1935, Hammett joined the League of American Writers (1935–1943), whose members included Lillian Hellman, Alexander Trachtenberg of International Publishers, Frank Folsom, Louis Untermeyer, I. F. Stone, Myra Page, Millen Brand, Clifford Odets, and Arthur Miller. (Members were largely either Communist Party members or fellow travelers. He suspended his anti-fascist activities when, as a member (and in 1941 president) of the League of American Writers, he served on its Keep America Out of War Committee in January 1940 during the period of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

Especially in Red Harvest, literary scholars have seen a Marxist critique of the social system. One Hammett biographer, Richard Layman, calls such interpretations "imaginative", but he nonetheless objects to them, since, among other reasons, no "masses of politically dispossessed people" are in this novel. Herbert Ruhm found that contemporary left-wing media already viewed Hammett's writing with skepticism, "perhaps because his work suggests no solution: no mass-action... no individual salvation... no Emersonian reconciliation and transcendence".

In a letter of November 25, 1937, to his daughter Mary, Hammett referred to himself and others as "we reds". He confirmed, "in a democracy all men are supposed to have an equal say in their government", but added that "their equality need not go beyond that." He also found, "under socialism there is not necessarily... any leveling of incomes."

Hellman wrote that Hammett was "most certainly" a Marxist, though a "very critical Marxist" who was "often contemptuous of the Soviet Union" and "bitingly sharp about the American Communist Party", to which he was nevertheless loyal. 

At the beginning of 1942, he wrote the screenplay of Watch on the Rhine, based on Hellman's successful play, which received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay). But that year the Oscar went to Casablanca. In early 1942, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hammett again enlisted in the United States Army. Because he was 48 years old, had tuberculosis, and was a Communist, Hammett later stated he had "a hell of a time" being inducted into the Army. However, biographer Diane Johnson suggests that confusion over Hammett's forename was the reason he was able to re-enlist. He served as an enlisted man in the Aleutian Islands and initially worked on cryptanalysis on the island of Umnak. For fear of his radical tendencies, he was transferred to the Headquarters Company where he edited an Army newspaper entitled The Adakian. In 1943, while still a member of the military, he co-authored The Battle of the Aleutians with Cpl. Robert Colodny, under the direction of an infantry intelligence officer, Major Henry W. Hall. While in the Aleutians, he developed emphysema.

After the war, Hammett returned to political activism, "but he played that role with less fervour than before". He was elected president of the Civil Rights Congress (CRC) on June 5, 1946, at a meeting held at the Hotel Diplomat in New York City, and "devoted the largest portion of his working time to CRC activities".

In 1946, a bail fund was created by the CRC "to be used at the discretion of three trustees to gain the release of defendants arrested for political reasons." The trustees were Hammett, who was chairman, Robert W. Dunn, and Frederick Vanderbilt Field.

The CRC was designated a Communist front group by the US Attorney General. Hammett endorsed Henry A. Wallace in the 1948 United States presidential election..."

'Blanchett and Stewart joined fellow Cannes jury members, Ava DuVernay, Khadja Nin, and Léa Seydoux, in the South of France for the start of this year's festival earlier this week. Not only did we see both Blanchett and Stewart donning spring-inspired pantsuits we now need in our lives, but we were, more importantly, blessed with photos of Stewart staring tenderly at Blanchett. What a time to be alive."

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 9.18

Holidays

Aging Awareness Day

Astronomy Day (Armenia)

Big Brothers Big Sisters Day (Canada)

Celebrate Your Name Day

Celebration of Talent (French Republic)

Chiropractic Founders Day

Clemente Day

Day of National Music (Azerbaijan)

Deceased Motorcyclists Remembrance Day (Ukraine)

Dieciocho (Chile)

Eleven Days of Global Unity, Day 8: Human Rights

European Heritage Days (EU)

Feast Day of the Walloon Region (Belgium)

Festival of Inner Worlds

Festival of Labour (French Republic)

Fiesta Patrias (Chile)

First Love Day

Global Company Culture Day

Hug a Greeting Card Writer Day

International Equal Pay Day (UN)

International Pitt Hopkins Awareness Day

International Read an eBook Day

Island Language Day (Okinawa, Japan)

Jeannie in a Bottle Day

Jitiya Parwa (Only Women Employees; Nepal)

Jonny Quest Day

Long Playing Record Day

Mickey Mantle Day (New York)

Mid-Autumn Festival Holiday (Taiwan)

Mountain Meadows Massacre Anniversary Day (by Mormon Church Members; Utah)

Mukden Incident Anniversary Day

National Cannabis Day (Germany)

National Ceiling Fan Day

National Colton Day

National Day of Civic Hacking

National Fitness Day (UK)

National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day

National Museum Day [also 5.18]

National Music Day (Azerbaijan)

National Play-Dough Day

National Rehabilitation Day

National Report Kickback Fraud Day

National Respect! Day

National Science Reading Day

National Tree Day (Canada)

Navy Day (Croatia)

New York Times Day

918 Day (Oklahoma)

Persian Literature and Pony Day (Iran)

PCOS Awareness Day

Scouring of the White Horse (Wantage, Berkshire, UK)

Shima-kutuba Day (Japan; Okinawa)

Top Ten List Day

U.S. Air Force Day

Victory of Uprona (Burgundy)

Vulver Awareness Day

World Bamboo Day

World Knot Tying Day

World Medical Ethics Day

World Water Monitoring Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Brett Day

National Cheeseburger Day

National Chocolate Day

Rice Krispies Treats Day

Independence & Related Days

Buddie Union (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Chile (a.k.a. Dieciocho, 1st Gov't Junta, 1818)

Free Republic of Silbervia (Declared; 2020) [unrecognized]

3rd Wednesday in September

Banned Websites Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Ember Day (Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Human Resource Manager Day [3rd Wednesday]

Hump Day [Every Wednesday]

Mouth Cancer Awareness Day (Ireland) [3rd Wednesday]

National Attention Deficit Disorder Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

National Rehabilitation Day [3rd Wednesday]

National School Backpack Awareness Day [3rd Wednesday]

Quarter Tense (Ireland) [Wednesday after 9.14]

Wacky Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wandering Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Website Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Wiener Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]

Weekly Holidays beginning September 18 (3rd Full Week of September)

Wear Cotton Week (thru 9.25)

Festivals Beginning September 18, 2024

Eurofurence (Hamburg, Germany) [thru 9.21]

Festival du Film Merveilleux et Imaginaire (Paris, France) [thru 9.20]

Lost Lands (Thornville, Ohio) [thru 9.22]

National Cattle Congress (Waterloo, Iowa) [thru 9.22]

Walnut Valley Festival (Winfield, Kansas) [thru 9.22]

Feast Days

Amoeba Assimilation Day (Pastafarian)

Anton Mauve (Artology)

Arcadius, Bishop of Novgorod (Christian; Saint)

Ariadne of Phrygia (Christian; Martyr)

Bidzin, Elizbar, and Shalva, Princes of Georgia (Christian; Martyrs)

Cassius Marcellus Coolidge (Artology)

Castor of Alexandria (Christian; Martyr)

Constantius (Theban Legion)

Ear Wig Fitting Day (Shamanism)

Edward Bouverie Pusey (Episcopal Church)

Eleusinian Mysteries begin (Ancient Rome; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Eugene’s, Bishop of Gortyna (Christian; Saint)

Eustorgius I (Christian; Saint)

Ferreol (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Ceres (Roman Goddess of Agriculture & Grain Crops)

Festival of Labour (French Republic)

Foundation Day (Unification Church)

Hilarion of Optima (Christian; Saint)

Joe Kubert (Artology)

John Harvey Kellogg Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

José de Rivera (Artology)

Joseph of Cupertino (Christian; Martyr)

Juan Macias (Christian; Saint)

Konstantin Kakanias (Artology)

Leonardo da Crunchy (Muppetism)

Lord Berners (Artology)

Lynn Abbey (Writerism)

Mark di Suvero (Artology)

Methodius of Olympus (Christian; Saint)

Plataia (Ancient Greece)

Richardis (Christian; Saint)

Rosmerta (Celtic Book of Days)

Samuel Johnson (Writerism)

Scouring the White Horse begins (Everyday Wicca)

Sophia and Irene of Egypt (Christian; Martyrs)

Third Nostril of Christ Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Thomas of Villanova (Christian; Saint)

Tzom Gedaliah (Fast of Gedalia; Judaism)

Vanaheim Day (Pagan)

Vondel (Positivist; Saint)

Zay Day (Sus God Zay) [Wear red or purple hoodies]

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Chong Chao (Macau)

Chusok (South Korea)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [38 of 53]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [31 of 37]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [24 of 30]

Unlucky 18th (Philippines) [3 of 3]

Premieres

Abacab, by Genesis (Album; 1981)

Abou Ben Boogie (Swing Symphony Cartoon; 1944)

The Addams Family (TV Series; 1964)

Birthday, recorded by The Beatles (Song; 1967)

A Bully Frog (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Film; 1958)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Animated Film; 2009)

Continental Divide (Film; 1981)

Crazytown (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1959)

The Day the Earth Stood Still (Film; 1951)

Dog Daze (WB MM Cartoon; 1937)

Enough Said (Film; 2013)

The Farm of Tomorrow (MGM Cartoon; 1954)

Fatal Attraction (Film; 1987)

Five and Dime (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1933)

The French Lieutenant’s Woman (Film; 1981)

Funny Girl (Film; 1968)

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss (Albums; 1978)

Get Smart (TV Series; 1965)

Goldfinger premiered in UK (1964) [James Bond #3]

Goo Goo Goliath (WB MM Cartoon; 1954)

The Gullible Canary (Phantasies Cartoon; 1942)

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1959)

Heartache Tonight, by The Eagles (Song; 1979)

I Likes Babies and Infanks (Fleischer Cartoon Popeye Cartoon; 1937)

In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak (Children’s Book; 1970)

The Japoteurs (Fleischer Cartoon; 1942) [#10]

Jennifer’s Body (Film; 2009)

Jonny Quest (Animated TV Series; 1964)

Making Money, by Terry Pratchet (Novel; 2007) [Discworld #36]

Maple Leaf Rag, by Scott Joplin (Song; 1899)

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (Film; 2015)

The Moffatt Translation of the Bible (Bible; 1922)

More Than a Feeling,, by Boston (Song; 1976)

New York Times (Daily Newspaper; 1851)

Old Rockin’ Chair Tom (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1948)

Pain Strikes Underdog, Parts 1 & 2 (Underdog Cartoon, S2, Eps. 1 & 2 1965)

Pink in the Clink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1968)

The Road to Ruin or Mine Over Matter (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 55; 1960)

Rockin’ with Judy Jetson (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Movie; 1988)

Rush Hour (Film; 1998)

School Daze (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1942)

The Scorch Trials, by James Dashner (Novel; 2010) [Maze Runner #2]

Serve It Forth (Art of Eating), by M.F.K. Fisher (Food Essays; 1937)

Severed Relations or How to Get a Head (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 161; 1962)

Sicario (Film; 2015)

Singles (Film; 1992)

Smiley Smile, by The Beach Boys (Album; 1967)

Strange Little Girl, by Tori Amos (Album; 2001)

A Streetcar Named Desire (Film; 1951)

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (TV Series; 2006)

Superman: Doomsday (WB Animated Film; 2007)

That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles or Me and My Chateau (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 162; 1962)

Tired and Feathered (WB LT Cartoon; 1965)

Two Flying Ghosts or High Spirits (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 56; 1960)

Wagon Train (TV Series; 1957)

War Pigs, by Black Sabbath (Song; 1970)

Where’s Wally, by Martin Hanford (Puzzle Book; 1987)

WKRP in Cincinnati (TV Series; 1978)

Today’s Name Days

Herlinda, Josef, Lambert, Rica (Austria)

Alfonz, Irena, Jonatan, Josip, Sonja (Croatia)

Kryštof, Oskar (Czech Republic)

Titus (Denmark)

Tiido, Tiidrik, Tiidu, Tiit (Estonia)

Tytti, Tyyne, Tyyni (Finland)

Nadège, Véra (France)

Alfons, Herlinde, Lambert, Rica (Germany)

Ariadne, Ariadni, Evmenis, Kastor, Romylos (Greece)

Diána (Hungary)

Eumenio, Giuseppe, Maria, Sofia (Italy)

Alinta, Elita, Gizela, Liesma (Latvia)

Galmantė, Mingailas, Stefa, Stefanija (Lithuania)

Henriette, Henry (Norway)

Dobrowit, Irena, Irma, Józef, Ryszarda, Stefania, Tytus, Zachariasz (Poland)

Eumenie (Romania)

Elizaveta, Raisa (Russia)

Eugénia (Slovakia)

José, Sofía, Sonia (Spain)

Orvar (Sweden)

Irene (Ukraine)

Clint, Clinton, Corbin, Corwin, Corwyn, Korbin, Korvin (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 262 of 2024; 104 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of Week 38 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 18 of 28]

Chinese: Month 8 (Guy-You), Day 16 (Yi-You)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 15 Elul 5784

Islamic: 14 Rabi I 1446

J Cal: 22 Gold; Oneday [22 of 30]

Julian: 5 September 2024

Moon: 99%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 10 Shakespeare (10th Month) [Racine]

Runic Half Month: Ken (Illumination) [Day 12 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 91 of 94)

Week: 3rd Full Week of September

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 28 of 32)

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"ACTS OF VIOLENCE DON'T WIN WARS. NEITHER WARS, NOR REVOLUTIONS."

PIC INFO: Resolution at 3170x4255 -- Spotlight on am original French movie poster design for "The Battle of Algiers" (1966), controversial docudrama on the French-Algerian War from director Gillo Pontecorvo (film was produced in 1966 but banned in France until 1971).

"Acts of violence don't win wars. Neither wars, nor revolutions. Terrorism is useful as a start. But then, the people themselves must act. That's the rationale behind this strike: to mobilize all Algerians, to assess our strength. It's hard to start a revolution. Even harder to continue it. And hardest of all to win it. But, it's only afterwards, when we have won, that the true difficulties begin. In short, Ali, there's still much to do."

-- BEN M'HIDI to Ali la Pointe (screenplay by Franco Solinas)

Sources: https://filmartgallery.com/products/the-battle-of-algiers-4961 & https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0058946/quotes/?ref_=tt_trv_qu.

[justforbooks]

Things you didn't know about board games

Many of us loving playing board games and people have been playing them for millennia. Here's some fun facts about this excellent pastime

1. We have been playing board games for millennia

Chess, checkers, backgammon and Go all have origins in the ancient world. King Tut was buried with multiple sets of an Egyptian game called senet. Hundreds of pieces of Greek pottery depict Ajax and Achilles hunched over a board in the midst of play. And the Ashanti people of Ghana are believed to have created a board game called wari, which you may know as the count-and-capture game mancala.

2. It wasn’t until the 19th century that board games began to be sold commercially

The first, The Mansion of Happiness, came out in England in 1800. The “mansion” was heaven, and players raced to get there. Decades later, an American named Milton Bradley reworked— and rebranded—it as The Checkered Game of Life.

3. Ludo has roots in ancient India, where it was called pachisi

Pachisi is from the Hindi word for “twenty-five,” the highest possible outcome of a single throw. But whereas Americans only tweaked the name to Parcheesi, the British decided to call it Ludo (‘lew-doh), Latin for “I play.” So when Englishman Anthony E Pratt developed his murder-mystery board game in 1943, he called it Cluedo, playing on Ludo. (In some countries, it’s called Clue.)

4. Around the world, the colourful cast of Cluedo can look quite different

Professor Plum was originally called Dr Orange in Spain. Mr Green goes by Chef Lettuce in Chile. Mrs Peacock is Mrs Purple in Brazil and Mrs Periwinkle in France, and in Switzerland, she’s Captain Blue, a man.

5. Board games occasionally inspire screenwriters

There’s the 1985 mystery Clue, the 2012 action movie Battleship and the 2023 fantasy film Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves.

6. At least one board game is being adapted into a television show

The game's creator was a famous French filmmaker , Albert Lamorisse, who wrote and directed the 1956 Oscar-winner The Red Balloon, also created a board game he called La Conquête du Monde (Conquest of the World).

Parker Brothers, an American toy and game manufacturer, introduced it to the US soon after, and renamed it Risk.

7. Another game inventor, Alfred Butts, called his game a couple of other names before Scrabble

Butts first called his creation Lexiko, then Criss Cross Words, before settling on Scrabble—a word that means “to hold on to something.” The hugely popular game has been translated into 29 languages and more than 150 million sets have been sold around the world.

8. Over a game of Scrabble, Canadians Chris Haney and Scott Abbott came up with the idea for their game, Trivial Pursuit

Its success launched a years-long legal battle with an American encyclopedist who claimed Haney took trivia from his books, something Haney readily admitted to doing. In the end, the courts decided you can’t steal trivia and dismissed the suit. During the 1980s, Trivial Pursuit outsold even Monopoly, racking up $800 million in sales in 1984 alone.

9. At the highest levels of play, it’s not all fake money

The winner of the World Chess Tournament takes home up to 60 per cent of the €2 million purse, with the runner-up receiving the smaller share. Even the Monopoly world champion takes home real cash: US$20,580, the amount that comes in a standard Monopoly game.

10. Arguably the wrong person is credited with the creation of Monopoly

The American who sold Monopoly to Parker Brothers in the 1930s, Charles Darrow, often receives the credit for creating the game. But it was another American, Elizabeth Magie, who, decades earlier, earned a patent for her invention, The Landlord’s Game.

Players purchased railroads, paid rent and occasionally ended up in jail. Ironically, Magie’s aim with the game was to show the evils of accumulating wealth by bankrupting others.

11. Monopoly was a polarising game in communist countries

Fidel Castro banned it in Cuba, and it was also banned in China for much of the 20th century. But an even more dramatic bit of board game history occurred during the Second World War. Since prisoners of war in Germany were allowed board games, American troops hid maps, compasses and real money inside Monopoly sets to help them escape.

12. The idea for the kids’ classic game Candy Land came from Eleanor Abbott, an American polio patient

In 1949, Abbott wanted to create something for children to play in quarantine. In fact, illness has served as game inspiration many times. In the British mobile-app-turned-board game known as Plague, players take on the role of deadly diseases trying to mutate and spread across the world. Conversely, in Pandemic, created by an American, players try to contain the spread of diseases and discover cures.

13. Thousands of new games are released each year and there's annual awards for the best

How can you tell which ones are worth buying? One reliable indicator is the Spiel des Jahres (“Game of the Year” in German), a prestigious award given each summer by a jury of (mostly German) game critics who volunteer to play and vote for the winning games. Previous award recipients include Settlers of Catan, Dominion and Ticket to Ride. 

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[latenightcinephile]

Film #905: 'The Devils', dir. Ken Russell, 1971.

I'll confess that Ken Russell's The Devils is not listed in my printing of 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. I'm assuming it's one of the films that was removed from an earlier edition to make space for the new fashions of the day. With some films, this removal would make it difficult to decide what the purpose was for including the film on the list. With The Devils, the problem is slightly the opposite: there are a lot of reasons why someone might want to include this film on the list, but it's difficult to determine which one was the clinching factor.

It's not necessarily sufficient that this film might have inspired a subgenre. 'Nunsploitation' is a pretty low-visibility subgenre in films of the 1970s and 1980s, and isn't well-known today outside cult film circles. Also, the lineage is difficult to trace: while you could draw a line between Russell's story of sexual hysteria in 17th-century France and the more contemporary-set tales of violence and retribution that the subgenre morphed into, there's not a lot of family resemblance there to begin with. You'd think you might find a layout of this history in, say, The Rough Guide of Cult Movies, but the section on 'nuns' only lists three films and The Devils is the most recent of them.

Maybe more important is the film's excessive controversy. It's a highly sexually-explicit film about priests, nuns and the political machinations of Cardinal Richilieu, and was deemed shocking enough that it was banned in several countries (Finland only removed their ban on it in 2001). Kyle Kallgren's video response to The Devils was expunged several years ago, but is still viewable through archive.org. While I assume he doesn't think it's his best critical work, he does accurately pin down the absurdity of the film's excess and luridness. This is a film that ends with a hunchbacked nun (Vanessa Redgrave) masturbating with the charred femur of the priest she became obsessed with and whose downfall she engineered (Oliver Reed). Did the film need to contain these sequences? Not necessarily, although it certainly indicates that Russell was trying to do something by including them.

This controversy, though, isn't particularly unusual for its sources. Aldous Huxley's book The Devils of Loudun was the ostensible source, transmuted through John Whiting's play for the Royal Shakespeare Company at the time it was under the direction of Sir Peter Hall. All these elements added to the film's provocative nature, as well as the inclusion of a young Derek Jarman, before he started his own directing career, to oversee the set design. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, British theatrical productions were becoming more abstract and avant-garde, and the works being commissioned reflected this. It was not at all unusual for performers associated with the stage to take on extremely intimate roles in films - as well as Vanessa Redgrave here, you could also consider the early roles of Tilda Swinton and Helen Mirren in the films of Jarman and Peter Greenaway, for example.

This discussion, however, sidesteps the discussion of what The Devils is actually about, so here's the brief summary. The French town of Loudon has recently lost its Governor, leaving the town in the care of the priest, Urbain Grandier. The dissolute King Louis XIII made an agreement with the deceased Governor to leave the town's walls standing, but Cardinal Richilieu piles unrelenting pressure on the king to renege on this promise in order to quash the Protestant factions of the country and "unite France". Grandier's womanising ways get the daughter of the local sheriff pregnant; the abbess of the local convent is sexually obsessed with him. When the abbess, Jeanne, is so incensed by Grandier's perceived betrayal of her love that she recklessly implies he is a devil appearing to her at night, all the enemies of Grandier find a mutually-agreeable tactic against him. Grandier is tried and executed for his crimes. This is not what the viewer will remember about the film, though. What they will remember is the extended 'possession' scenes, in which all the nuns of the convent strip and engage in orgies on the altar of the church. They'll remember the exorcism-via-enema, and the unhinged intensity of Father Barre (Michael Gothard), a Bowie-esque witchfinder so devoted to his cause that he cannot see anything as contradicting the truth that these women are all possessed, even when his beliefs are proven to be false in front of the whole town.

On the one hand, this is a shame. Buried beneath the excess is a deeply emotive story about faith, and it's not difficult to see how Oliver Reed saw Urbain Grandier as his best performance. Grandier's apparent hypocrisy, inspiring lust in basically every woman who lays eyes on him and using that for his own satisfaction, is tempered in a few very subtle scenes where he implies that his self-sacrifice and his embrace of earthly pleasures is bringing him closer to God. After he leaves Loudon to have an audience with the King, this develops into a full-on epiphany: he now wants to devote himself to the religious ecstasy of serving those whom he loves. He sees this earthly devotion as a greater communion than the life of self-denial that seems to drive Sister Jeanne into delusion. The Devils is also to some degree a film about how those with power are adept at leveraging those without power. Were it not for Sister Jeanne's accusations, the Cardinal and his allies would never be able to quell Grandier's influence. Despite this, at no point does Sister Jeanne have power over Grandier - just the opposite. She and Urbain both lose everything, and those with power lose nothing, free to continue their holy rampage over everything that stands in their way. The King, who seems at times sympathetic, has concerns that extend only as far as his own amusement. It entertains him to demonstrate that the 'possessions' are frauds, but after that he departs, making no meaningful difference to the trajectory of the story. Nothing changes in The Devils, which might be Russell's point: that these cycles of exploitation and superstition are easy to repeat.

All that said, though, that subtle film is only briefly glimpsed under all the chaos, and I don't think it's a baseless claim to suggest that the scandal was a bigger selling point to the director than the story of religious devotion. Despite the title cards implying otherwise, this is a fiction film, and one that takes serious liberties with the facts. British cinema was also producing kitchen-sink dramas during these decades, after all. Those were topical dramas with little excessive style, and they've mostly sunk into obscurity as well-made, well-acted, boring boring movies. What we recall about that period is the extreme and the experimental, and while I wish there was room on the list for a more sober retelling of this period of French history, I can't really fault Ken Russell for making an aggressive, explicit film that at least garners more space in the history books.

The fact that The Devils is at once an exploitative trashfire and an insightful meditation on devotion, at once a hilariously overacted cringe comedy and a deep drama, and that these somehow never drown each other out? That's a movie worth keeping on the list.

[oscarupsets]

This one was definitely a contentious match-up for me. Rom-com You Can't Take It with You won over the war drama La Grande Illusion, the first foreign language film to be nominated for Best Picture.

You Can't Take It with You was based off of a 1936 play of the same name. During the film's release in 1938, the play was STILL running on Broadway. It was an instant box office success. The Radio City Music Hall had to increase to 5 screenings a day to handle the demand.

It was clearly a play adaptation, and it was wonderful. I have a soft side for screwball comedies, and this one was definitely a riot. There are also way too many characters, but not in a bad way.

La Grande Illusion is listed as a war drama, but definitely has some light-hearted comedy to it. I struggled to find a solid review from its US release, but many considered it the best French film to date.

Honestly, there was something different about La Grande Illusion. I'm not sure if I'm just getting desensitized to 1930s films, but this one felt significantly more sophisticated. And I couldn't even tell you exactly why (and it was not just the fact that it was in French). There were nuances that did not need to be described. The film style was simple but effective. It's aggressively political in nature without being overbearing. All around a great film. Great job, France.

As for the Academy Awards, we may have ditched the categories of Dance Direction and Assistant Director, but we've still got the weirdly similar Original Story and Screenplay, AND we've added a new confusing duo: Original Score and Scoring!

There were also some brief changes to the voting system prior to the 11th Academy Awards, but each source seemed to just confuse me more on that.

Current reception for both films is solid. Some argue that You Can't Take It with You is one of Frank Capra's weaker films, but still praise the comedy and the casting. Critics consider La Grande Illusion to be a successful anti-war film on par with All Quiet on the Western Front (and even more so because both were banned in Germany for some time.)

Unofficial Review: Watch both!

[that-thing-that-feeling]

Great for networking, yes, but damn I hate what Cannes has become, and I’m French. And this year, they even banned protests (we’re having ongoing protests for months now) for the whole festival, although the unions will probably still try to disrupt it. Anyway, maybe something good will come from it for Charlie.

Cannes opening night film is a terrible choice too; had to go read this helpful article about not allowing the wider protests in France smh, didn’t know. It’s good demonstrations are planned to continue around the area.

But yeah it’s great he’s involved in an event and it’s an industry adjacent one. That vid plays into the musician etc. aesthetic that projects should so cast him in.

[byneddiedingo]

Two by Jacques Feyder

Cécile Guyon, Françoise Rosay, and Jean Forest in Gribiche (Jacques Feyder, 1926)

Carnival in Flanders (Jacques Feyder, 1935)

Belgian-born director Jacques Feyder established his career in France during the silent era, and went to work for MGM in Hollywood in 1929 to direct Greta Garbo in her last silent movie, The Kiss. But Hollywood was more interested in having him direct foreign-language versions of movies after talkies came in: Before dubbing became a common practice, films were often made in two versions, one in English for the American and British markets, others in various languages for overseas audiences. So Feyder was tasked with making a German-language version of Garbo's first talkie, Anna Christie (1931), though he also made two movies starring Ramon Novarro, Daybreak (1931) and Son of India (1931). Disillusionment with Hollywood sent him back to France, where he made his most famous film, Carnival in Flanders, in 1935. The rise of the Nazis, who banned that film after they invaded France in 1940, caused Feyder and his wife, Françoise Rosay, who starred in many of his movies, to move to Switzerland, where his career stalled and he died, only 62, in 1948. After the New Wave filmmakers began to dominate French film, Feyder's reputation began to wane: François Truffaut said of Carnival in Flanders that it represented a tendency to make everything "pleasant and perfect," As a result, David Thomson has said, "Feyder may be unfairly neglected today just as once he was injudiciously acclaimed."

Gribiche (Jacques Feyder, 1926)

Cast: Jean Forest, Rolla Norman, Françoise Rosay, Cécile Guyon, Alice Tissot. Screenplay: Jacques Feyder, based on a novel by Frédéric Boutet. Cinematography:  Maurice Desfassiaux, Maurice Forster. Production design: Lazare Meerson. 

The young actor Jean Forest had been discovered by Feyder and his wife, Françoise Rosay, and he starred in three films for the director, of which this was the last. It's a peculiar fable about charity. Forest plays Antoine Belot, nicknamed "Gribiche," who sees a rich woman, Edith Maranet (Rosay), drop her purse in a department store and returns it to her, spurning a reward. Edith is a do-gooder full of theories about "social hygiene." Impressed by the boy's honesty, Edith goes to his home, a small flat above some shops, where he lives with his widowed mother, Anna (Cécile Guyon), and proposes that she adopt Gribiche and educate him. Anna is reluctant to give up the boy, but Gribiche, knowing that Anna is being courted by Phillippe Gavary (Rolla Norman), and believing that he stands in the way of their marriage, agrees to the deal. When her rich friends ask about how she found Gribiche, Edith tells increasingly sentimental and self-serving stories -- dramatized by Feyder -- about the poverty in which she found him and his mother. But the boy is unhappy with the cold, sterile environment of Edith's mansion and the regimented approach to his education, and on Bastille Day, when the common folk of Paris are celebrating in what Edith regards as "unhygienic" ways, he finds his way back to his mother's home. Edith is furious, but eventually is persuaded to see reality and agrees to let him live with Anna and Phillippe, who have married, while she pays for his education. The whole thing is implausible, but the performances of Forest and Rosay, and especially the production design by Lazare Meerson, make it watchable and occasionally quite charming. Carnival in Flanders (Jacques Feyder, 1935)

Cast: Françoise Rosay, André Alerme, Jean Murat, Louis Jouvet, Micheline Chierel, Lyne Clevers Bernard Lancret. Screenplay: Bernard Zimmer, Jacques Feyder, based on a story by Charles Spaak. Cinematography: Harry Stradling Sr. Production design: Lazare Meerson. Film editing: Jacques Brillouin. Music: Louis Beydts. 

Feyder's best-known film is something of a feminist fable, a kind of inversion of Lysistrata, in which the women of Boom, a village in 17th century Flanders that is occupied by the Spanish save the town from the pillage and plunder that the men of the village expect. Françoise Rosay plays the wife of the burgomaster (André Alerme), who holes up in his house, pretending to have died. The other officials of the town likewise sequester themselves. But the merry wives of Boom decide to wine, dine, and otherwise entertain the occupying Spaniards. It's all quite saucily entertaining, though undercut by a tiresome subplot (suspiciously reminiscent of that in Shakespeare's own play about merry wives) involving the burgomaster's daughter (Micheline Chierel) and her love for the young painter Julien Brueghel (Bernard Lancret), of whom the burgomaster disapproves. Again, Rosay's performance is a standout, as is Lazare Meerson's design: The village, with its evocation of the paintings of the Flemish masters, was created in a Paris suburb, with meticulous attention to detail, including the men's unflattering period costumes, designed by Georges K. Benda. The cinematography is by the American Harry Stradling Sr., who built his reputation in Europe before returning to Hollywood.