Chris Knipp
07-18-2018, 03:54 PM
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San Francisco's Roxie Theater to showcase Andrée Clément 26 July
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Midcentury Productions’ executive director Don Malcolm has heard the clamor for more French noir—even before the upcoming FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT 5 this November. So he’s devised a new feature in the singular series—a one-night stand to tide you over till the Fall extravaganza. Join him at San Francisco’s Roxie Theater on Thursday evening, July 26 at 7:15 and 9:00 p.m. and as he shines a light on the most unusual actress in the entire French film noir canon—ANDRÉE CLÉMENT in two startling mid-40s noirs.
-Roxie Theater Press release (https://www.roxie.com/events_tags/andree-clement/).
"We call her the first 'Goth girl' for her modern look, her intensity and her unique mingling of darkness and innocence," says Don. "Tragedy hung over her: she lost her husband at age 21 due to World War II. Her health, always fragile, betrayed her: she was only 35 when she died."
Louis Jouvet called her "my angel of darkness." Serge Reggiani claimed that no actress ever gave him the kind of shivers she induced in him when they worked together. Her filmography is slight—just 13 films —but she’s indelible in all of them.
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[I]Devil's Daughter/La fille du diable ( Henri Decoin 1946) is one of uneven director Dir. Henri Decoin's best films noirs. In it a notorious bank robber Saget (Pierre Fresnay), is hiding in plain sight in a rural town by assuming the identity and wealth of a former citizen, returned rich from the US, who dies with Saget in a car crash. The town doctor (Fernand Ledoux) knows who he is and forces him to donate most of the money for good works. Isabelle (Andrée Clément), an accursed misfit ill with TB (which ironically Clément herself died of) skulks on the sidelines with a delinquent boy called "N'a qu'un sou" (Serge Andréguy, who resembles River Phoenix in looks) and the two of them are sources of mischief. As the doomed Isabelle, Clément wears her hair in long braids and is notable for her fiery anger and fascination with the real Saget. Adaptation and scenario by Decoin, Alex Joffé, and others.
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Back Streets of Paris/Macadam (Marcel Blistène, his second film, supervised by Jacques Feyder, 1946). Look at the cast of this one: Francoise Rosay, Andrée Clément, Simone Signoret, Paul Meurisse.
In a poetic-sordid vein typical of the French cinema of the immediate post-war period. Hotel Bijou in Montmartre, a third rate establishment where shady dealings go on. Françoise Rosay, the loud-mouthed manager, Andrée Clément, her daughter, with the face of an innocent madonna, Paul Meurisse, criminal psychopath, Simone Signoret, lady of uncertain virtue. Sticky atmosphere over the gleaming pavements of Paris. Fate hangs in the balance and death strikes at random. A film of tremendous atmosphere.
-AlloCiné. That's a great description on AlloCiné and now I can't fine it. I can add that this is one of those films reflecting the uneasy mood of guilt and suspicion in which everyone is up to something devious and nobody can be trusted. Andrée Clément's character simply feels doomed, and is forced into a violent act for which she feels terrible, though it is excused.
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Don Malcolm of MidCentury Productions is responsible for this program and he adds: "MCP’s French noir series that will return in 2018 with THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT 5 at the Roxie this November, over at least six days (and possibly a seventh!) The upcoming edition will focus on the frenetic decade of the 1950s..."
San Francisco's Roxie Theater to showcase Andrée Clément 26 July
http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/AuC.jpg
Midcentury Productions’ executive director Don Malcolm has heard the clamor for more French noir—even before the upcoming FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT 5 this November. So he’s devised a new feature in the singular series—a one-night stand to tide you over till the Fall extravaganza. Join him at San Francisco’s Roxie Theater on Thursday evening, July 26 at 7:15 and 9:00 p.m. and as he shines a light on the most unusual actress in the entire French film noir canon—ANDRÉE CLÉMENT in two startling mid-40s noirs.
-Roxie Theater Press release (https://www.roxie.com/events_tags/andree-clement/).
"We call her the first 'Goth girl' for her modern look, her intensity and her unique mingling of darkness and innocence," says Don. "Tragedy hung over her: she lost her husband at age 21 due to World War II. Her health, always fragile, betrayed her: she was only 35 when she died."
Louis Jouvet called her "my angel of darkness." Serge Reggiani claimed that no actress ever gave him the kind of shivers she induced in him when they worked together. Her filmography is slight—just 13 films —but she’s indelible in all of them.
http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/iut.jpg
[I]Devil's Daughter/La fille du diable ( Henri Decoin 1946) is one of uneven director Dir. Henri Decoin's best films noirs. In it a notorious bank robber Saget (Pierre Fresnay), is hiding in plain sight in a rural town by assuming the identity and wealth of a former citizen, returned rich from the US, who dies with Saget in a car crash. The town doctor (Fernand Ledoux) knows who he is and forces him to donate most of the money for good works. Isabelle (Andrée Clément), an accursed misfit ill with TB (which ironically Clément herself died of) skulks on the sidelines with a delinquent boy called "N'a qu'un sou" (Serge Andréguy, who resembles River Phoenix in looks) and the two of them are sources of mischief. As the doomed Isabelle, Clément wears her hair in long braids and is notable for her fiery anger and fascination with the real Saget. Adaptation and scenario by Decoin, Alex Joffé, and others.
http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/pui%20(1).jpg
Back Streets of Paris/Macadam (Marcel Blistène, his second film, supervised by Jacques Feyder, 1946). Look at the cast of this one: Francoise Rosay, Andrée Clément, Simone Signoret, Paul Meurisse.
In a poetic-sordid vein typical of the French cinema of the immediate post-war period. Hotel Bijou in Montmartre, a third rate establishment where shady dealings go on. Françoise Rosay, the loud-mouthed manager, Andrée Clément, her daughter, with the face of an innocent madonna, Paul Meurisse, criminal psychopath, Simone Signoret, lady of uncertain virtue. Sticky atmosphere over the gleaming pavements of Paris. Fate hangs in the balance and death strikes at random. A film of tremendous atmosphere.
-AlloCiné. That's a great description on AlloCiné and now I can't fine it. I can add that this is one of those films reflecting the uneasy mood of guilt and suspicion in which everyone is up to something devious and nobody can be trusted. Andrée Clément's character simply feels doomed, and is forced into a violent act for which she feels terrible, though it is excused.
_____________
Don Malcolm of MidCentury Productions is responsible for this program and he adds: "MCP’s French noir series that will return in 2018 with THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT 5 at the Roxie this November, over at least six days (and possibly a seventh!) The upcoming edition will focus on the frenetic decade of the 1950s..."