MONDAY, NOV 19, 2018NOIR RECKONINGS

MARIE X / MARIE OCTOBRE  7:15

We continue with Duvivier as he completes his most varied decade—and turning to a story based on events in WWII that occurred while he was exiled to America. Teaming with old pro Henri Jeanson and hot up-and-comer Jacques Robert, he fashions a tense "locked room" meta-interrogation that provides a timely re-examination of the Resistance and its lingering myth in France's version of its wartime history.

An all-star cast (Danielle Darrieux, Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier, Serge Reggiani, Paul Meurisse and many more) brings to life a painful wartime incident that an extraordinary reunion fifteen years after the fact has been designed to resolve. Locked away from the world, the participants discover that the stakes grow higher and the details of the betrayal that cost the lives of their Resistance comrades begin to hit home, leading to a revelation and a final reckoning.

(1959, 97min) Directed by Julien Duvivier. Screenplay by Julien Duvivier, Henri Jeanson and Jacques Robert from the novel by Jacques Robert. Photographed by Robert Lefebvre. Music by Jean Yatove. With Danielle Darrieux, Bernard Blier, Serge Reggiani, Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Robert Dalban, Paul Frankeur, Noel Roquevort, Daniel Ivernel, Paul Guers.

NO EXIT / HUIS-CLOS  9:00

This is Jean-Paul Sartre's fourth and final work to be adapted into French film noir during the 1940s and 1950s. (Note to attendees: look them up and be ready to recite them when Don Malcolm pops the question during the screening—you could win a prize!)

Director Jacqueline Audry, one of only two female directors working in France during the 1950s, mostly specialized in Colette adaptations, but here she moves into an entirely different realm—from earthly passion to what we might term the "post-traumatic stress of reliving one's death." For that is what our three protagonists (Arletty, Frank Villard, Gaby Sylvia) are forced to do once they arrive in what at first appears to be a tastefully appointed room in an underground bunker. It takes awhile for the reality of their situation to sink in—and then each must endure not only their own reckonings, but those of the damned souls who are to be their forced companions for eternity. See Arletty as you've never seen her!

(1954, 94min)  Directed by Jacqueline Audry. Scenario adapted by Pierre Laroche from the play by Jean-Paul Sartre. Photographed by Robert Juillard. Music by Joseph Kosma. With Arletty, Frank Villard, Gaby Sylvia, Yves Deniaud, Nicole Courcel, Jean Debucourt, Suzanne Delhelly, Paul Frankeur, Daniele Delorme, Daniel Cauchy.

EARLY SHOW IN THE LITTLE ROXIE!

THANATOS PALACE HOTEL / SURSIS POUR UN VIVANT  5:00

Our "festival within a festival" featuring the frenzied and ultimately tragic career of Henri Vidal (1919-1959) begins with this clever, macabre "Ten Little Indians" variation. A mysterious villa in the remote mountains is Vidal's destination, where those who've expressed a wish to end their lives are tended to by a strange "support staff" led by a menacing Lino Ventura!

Vidal meets the lovely Dawn Addams; they fall in love, and suddenly have something to live for—of course! And then the fun really begins...

(1958, 88min)  Directed by Victor Merenda. Screenplay by Frédèric Dard and André Maurois. Photography by Quinto Albicocco. Music by Carlo Innocenzi and Daniel White. With Henri Vidal, Dawn Addams, Lino Ventura, Howard Vernon, Loretta Masiero, Marco Guglielmi, Silvo Bagolini, John Kitzmiller.