July/August 2009 Film Series
Italian and French Classics ~ Old and New
Italian and French Classics
Seven exciting old and new Italian and French films ~ a fifty-year journey through the classics!
July 11: Variety Lights (Luci del varietà) (Fellini, 1951)
Federico Fellini co-directed this film from his own story about a romance between an ambitious young dancer and the aging manager of a variety theater in Rome. The dancer, Liliana – played with luscious innocence by Carla del Poggio – talks her way into Signor Checco's troupe by showing him her legs. The others, including Checco's girlfriend (Giulietta Masina) protest, but Checco takes Liliana into the troupe.
July 18: Il Generale della Roverre (Rossellini, 1959)
In a magnetic performance, Vittorio De Sica is Bardone, an opportunistic rascal in wartime Genoa, conning and cheating his fellow Italians, exploiting their tragedies by promising to help find their missing loved ones in exchange for money. This is one of the greatest films ever about wartime Italy.
July 25: Salvatore Giuliano (Rosi, 1962)
At the age of twenty-seven, Giuliano (Frank Wolff) was then both Italy's most wanted criminal and most celebrated hero of his day. In this groundbreaking work of investigative filmmaking, director Francesco Rosi harnesses the facts and myths surrounding the true story of Giuliano's death.
August 1: Jean de Florette (Berri, 1987)
The film takes place in rural Provence, where two local farmers scheme to trick a newcomer out of his newly inherited property. The movie starred three of France's most prominent actors – Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, and Yves Montand (in one of his last roles before his death).
August 8: Manon of the Spring (Berri, 1987)
Less a sequel than a seamless continuation of its predecessor film, Jean de Florette, Manon of the Spring brings with it a more epic scope as it depicts the growth to womanhood of the daughter (Emmanuelle Béart) of the farmer in the first film.
August 15: The Dinner Game (Veber, 1999)
The premise is as entertaining as you could hope for: every Wednesday, a bunch of smart young Parisians hold a dinner, to which each of them must invite a complete idiot.
August 22: The Valet (Veber, 2006)
When a billionaire (Daniel Auteuil of Cache and The Eighth Day) gets photographed next to his supermodel mistress (Alice Taglioni), he tries to persuade his wife (Kristin Scott Thomas of The English Patient) that the supermodel must be with the other man in the picture--a parking valet (Gad Elmaleh) who just happens to be walking by.
Spend your summer Saturday evenings at the Institute's movie series:
Italian and French Classics ~ Old and New!
Choose any three for $50 or come to all seven for only $100. Or you can buy a "Ten Pics Tix" set for $150 that can be used for any 10 films, any time (no expiration date).
Doors open 6PM. Film at 7PM.
Call the office to register: (408) 864-4060, M-F 10AM- 6PM.
