The Classic French Film Festival celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the 1980s (with a particular focus on filmmakers from the New Wave), offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema. UN FLIC will screen as part of the festival at 7pm Sunday, June 27th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium
In UN FLIC piano-playing Edouard (Alain Delon) and nightclub owner Simon (Richard Crenna of “Wait Until Dark” and “Body Heat”) both love Kathy (Catherine Deneuve). If that’s not trouble enough, Edouard’s a post-burnout cop and Simon’s bent on the heist of a lifetime, and they seem to be looking past Kathy at each other. Jean-Pierre Melville’s final work features iconic performances from the star trio – a never more jadedly detached Delon, a never more chillingly icy Deneuve, and a surprisingly effective, smilingly insinuating Crenna. The film features two trademark Melville heists: the first a near-wordless bank job on a deserted, bleakly rain-sodden seaside street; the second a nerve-shredding, timed-to-the-second drug snatch done via helicopter-to-train transfer.
Former Village Voice critic J. Hoberman writes of the director: “The high priest of tough-guy mysticism and master of the attitudinous gangster thriller, Melville not only anticipated the French new wave but served as a model for the neo new wave of Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino and Wong Kar-wai.” And Time Out New York observes: “With barely a word spoken between them – mostly a series of virile glances – Delon and Crenna paint an idealized portrait of masculine camaraderie, one that’s exposed at the end of Melville’s bracing last testament as a soul-shattering illusion.”
UN FLIC will screen at 7pm Sunday, June 27th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (Winifred Moore Auditorium in Webster Hall – 470 E Lockwood Ave – Webster Groves, MO 63119)
With an introduction and post-film discussion by Diane Carson, professor emeritus of film at St. Louis Community College at Meramec and adjunct professor of film studies at Webster University.
Admission: $12 general admission; $10 for students, Cinema St. Louis members, Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) members, and Alliance Française members; Webster U. screenings free for Webster U. students.
A PDF version of the Classic French Film Festival program is available to download HERE:
Check back later in the week here at We Are Movie Geeks for more information about the Classic French Film Festival
