Jeanne Moreau (1928 - )
Titles: Jules et Jim (1962) - Diary of a Chambermaid (1965) - Les Valseuses (1974)
Jeanne Moreau in
Diary of a Chambermaid/Journal D'Une Femme de Chambre - (1965) - Luis Buñuel [Amazon.com]
image sourced here.Jeanne Moreau has been described as the thinking man's Brigitte Bardot.
Biography
Jeanne Moreau (born January 23, 1928 in Paris, France) is a French actress.
Moreau was born in Paris(to a French father and English mother) in 1928. She studied at the Conservatoire in Paris. In 1947, she made her theatre debut at the Avignon Festival of Theatre. By her twenties, Moreau was already one of France's leading stage actresses at the Comédie-Française. Thanks largely to the recognition given her by Louis Malle, whom she worked with on the film Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Elevator to the Gallows), she became a leading film actress during the 1950s, and went on to work with venerable New Wave and avant garde directors. Truffaut's explosive New Wave film Jules and Jim (1962) is centered on her magnetic starring role, and is perhaps her most famous film. She has also appeared with a number of other notable directors such as Michelangelo Antonioni (La Notte), Jean-Luc Godard (Une femme est une femme/A Woman is a Woman), Orson Welles (The Immortal Story), Luis Bunuel (Le journal d'une femme de chambre/Diary of a Chambermaid), and Philippe Agostini (Le dialogue des Carmelites/Dialogue of the Carmelites). She has also co-produced several films, including Jules and Jim, and has tried her hand at directing. Throughout her life she has maintained friendships with prominent writers such as Jean Cocteau and Marguerite Duras. She remains one of France's most accomplished and diversely talented actresses. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Moreau [Jan 2006]
La notte (1961) - Michelangelo Antonioni
image sourced here.
Jeanne Moreau and Marcello Mastroianni
La notte (1961) - Michelangelo Antonioni
[Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Amazon
Continuing the "alienation trilogy" that began with L'Avventura and ended with L'Eclisse, Michelangelo Antonioni's La Notte is a visually arresting, emotionally numbing exercise in chronic ennui. The film's anesthetizing effect is entirely intentional; Antonioni's central couple (Marcello Mastroianni as a self-absorbed novelist, Jeanne Moreau as his bored and wealthy wife) wallow in their own emotional desolation, constantly drifting--and in Moreau's case, literally drifting--from one disaffected scene to the next. Antonioni's pained study of modern detachment is richly supported by his visuals, often placing his isolated characters in a harsh landscape of empty glamor and even emptier emotions. Driving the point home is Monica Vitti as Marcello's would-be mistress; in their aimless lassitude, neither can muster the necessary passion. It's all too superficial to register with any lasting dramatic impact, but La Notte remains the fascinating work of a master, redefining how movies reflect the many facets of humanity. --Jeff Shannon
Description
Antonioni's study of alienation and moral decay chronicles a day in the life of a middle-class couple whose marriage has been destroyed by mutual indifference and impenetrable loneliness.
see also: Jeanne Moreau - Michelangelo Antonioni
Mademoiselle (1966) - Tony Richardson
Mademoiselle (1966) - Tony Richardson [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Ettore Manni
Plot Synopsis: In a French village, Manou is an Italian logger, virile, with a broad laugh. He can't say no to women's sexual invitations, and jealous villagers blame him for recent fires and a flood. He is innocent; the culprit is "Mademoiselle," town schoolmarm, a recent arrival admired by all, but sexually repressed and obsessed with Manou. She sets the first fire accidentally and throbs watching a shirtless Manou perform heroics. Subsequent catastrophes are no accident and express her mad passion for him. Also, after befriending Manou's son, she turns on the lad, making him miserable and raising his suspicions. Her designs, Manou's frank innocence, and the town's xenophobia mix explosively.
See also: Tony Richardson - British cinema - 1966
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