FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014TWO BY CLOUZOT

MANON   6:00, 10:15

In between the highly touted QUAI DES ORFEVRES (1947) and LE SALAIRE DE LA PEUR (1952) the often-clinical Clouzot indulged his most fervid powers of lurid extrapolation with MANON, his deliriously dark reworking of the notorious Abbé Prévost novel Manon Lescaut. Clouzot modernizes the tale of star-crossed Parisian lovers and transplants their escape location from eighteenth-century New Orleans to post-WWII Palestine to wondrous visual effect (courtesy of long-time Clouzot cinematographer Armand Thirard).

Baby-faced Cécile Aubry sets the tone and look for a series of blond bombshells that will populate French noir of the fifties. With Michel Auclair and Serge Reggiani. Dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot (1949, 100 min.)

LA VERITÉ / THE TRUTH  8:00

The emergence of Brigitte Bardot signaled a sea change in how sexuality was depicted on screen, and her superstardom provoked a firestorm of controversy and backlash. LA VERITÉ traded on that notoriety and placed itself squarely in the middle of the French culture wars, with Bardot literally and figuratively "on trial" for her lack of decorum. Flashbacks ignite the sordid tale of her character's misplaced loved for a narcissistic composer (Sami Frey) and become the basis of a furious courtroom battle when she is charged with his murder. With Paul Meurisse and Charles Vanel as the bickering barristers. Dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot (1960, 122 min.)