This spring, Paris is celebrating its ardent, lingering love affair with the movies. Every theater in town will be doing its part to show a retrospective of films [1] that were either shot in, or have storylines relating to, their beloved City of Lights. Thankfully, for those Seattle cinephiles that lack the time or frequent flyer miles to attend this grand celluloid event, there's a consolation. Back in King County, far from the flickering screens of Paris, the Seattle Art Museum is offering up its own program of one of French cinema's most renowned directors.
Every Thursday through June, The Museum of History and Industry turns cinematheque for the debut retrospective "Springtime in France: The Films of Louis Malle." [1] The program offers up some of Louis Malle's [2] more obscure, but nonetheless brilliant, early French films -- some of which in their time were dubbed as ingenious "masterpieces" by critics.
Malle began his long career shooting an underwater adventure titled "La Monde du Silence" [3] ("World of Silence") for the legendary nautical explorer Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau. The film later went on to win both an Academy Award and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. (Earlier this month, Northwest Film Forum screened most of Malle's documentary oeuvre, during a weeklong celebration of the director and his work.) However, the rest of Malle's career took place far away from the sea, where he proved equally skilled in filming full-length features as he was in shooting sophisticated documentaries.
Malle worked successfully in more genres than many directors have worked in shooting commercials. From film to film, he took head-on the morality issues of our time without ever resorting to moralizing or repeating himself. Malle's earlier work spans the range from French new wave noir crime dramas to hilariously absurd comedies, with many stops in between.
American audiences might be more familiar with some of Malle's later films such as "Atlantic City," "Damage," or the 90-minute filmed conversation "My Dinner with Andre." Much of his early work is only available in independent video stores, which makes these selected screenings this season a must-see for any self-respecting lover of foreign film. "Springtime in France" offers up some of the greatest contributions to film from one the most gifted storytellers of the past century, so grab a croissant and get down to MOHAI for this rare chance to see some truly courageous cinema and to forget, for one fleeting moment, that "freedom fries" [4] ever happened.
Admission is cash only, and all films are in French with English subtitles. For more information, call the box office: 206-654-3121.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
