The Cannes Film Festival isn’t just about the latest contemporary films. Each year they have an superb retrospective of classic films (in restored versions and in some cases, newer, extended cuts), rarely-seen pictures and some films completely excavated out of nowhere (basically never seen but by a rare few). PS. let’s not forget: Potentate cinephile Martin Scorsese is curating this sixth annual Cannes Classics sidebar.
The 2009 line-up is no different and includes films by Michelangelo Antonioni (easy to call, the official poster is made in the style of his haunting 1960 film, “L’Avventura”), the British stalwart team of The Archers (Powell & Pressburger), Jean Luc-Godard, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Georges Franju, by Jacques Tati, Luchino Visconti and many more European Masters.
Indiewire has the full list, but here are our selects.
“The Red Shoes” by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
“A Brighter Summer Day” by Edward Yang (1991, 237’ Taiwan), unseen version.
“Al-Momia” by Shadi Abdel Salam (1969, 103’ Egypt)
“Far from Vietnam” a documentary by Joris Ivens starring William Klein, Claude Lelouch, Agnes Varda, Jean-Luc Godard, Chris Marker, Alain Resnais (rare)
“Redes” by Emilio Gomez Muriel and Fred Zinnemann (1936, 61’ Mexico)
“L’Avventura” by Michelangelo Antonioni
“Once Upon A Time…the Revolution” by Sergio Leone (otherwise known as a the spaghetti Western, “A Fistful of Dynamite”)
“Pierrot Le Fou” by Jean-Luc Godard
“Senso” (Livia) by Luchino Visconti
Monsieur’s Hulot’s Holiday” by Jacques Tati
“Eyes Without A Face” by Georges Franju
“Les Deux de la Vague” a documentary on the 50th year anniversary of the French New Wave
One film in particular, “To Hell and Back, Memories of Henri-Georges Clouzot” sounds particularly awesome as it’s one of those great, “What If?” scenarios that digs up a “lost film.” Henri-Georges Clouzot abandoned the production of L’Enfer (“Hell”), starring the beautiful Romy Schneiderand Serge Reggiani, in 1964 because of a tempestuous shoot and his failing health. According to Indiewire, “The film lay dormant, never to be touched again…. Serge Bromberg, known for his ceaseless efforts at preservation with Lobster Films, found the canisters which contained screen tests and scenes from the film. By successfully ‘recomposing’ the lost work he creates a new film, bringing the old one back to life.”
This French article seems to have a good backstory on the whole fiasco which includes talk of Reggiani getting sick, possible recasting (the estimable Jean-Louis Trintignant) and then film production insurance woes that killed L’Enfer for good. Clouzot would die in 1977 having never had a chance to finish or reclaim it.
