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Boom (English)
Location
Main screening room
Date
June 3rd, 2024
Duration
113 min
Cycle
Joseph Losey, the indomitable

Viewed from today's perspective, the cinema of Joseph Losey, who passed away forty years ago, has something elusive about it. Far from the stylistic quirks and preferred genres that characterize many works, Losey's seems eclectic and multifaceted, which may have unjustly condemned a portion of his significant filmography to obscurity. From the 1940s to the 1980s, he ventured into psychological drama, fantasy, comedy, crime thriller, and historical film, with precision in character study, emotional intensity, and a constantly renewed sense of direction. A friend of Bertolt Brecht as well as an English adoptee after being driven out of the United States by McCarthyism, Losey patiently and confidently forged his worldview through a gallery of disparate characters, often sharing the common experience of being hunted, stigmatized, or isolated.

Boom
Directed by
Joseph Losey
Language
English
Actors
Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Noël Coward
Origins
United Kingdom
Year
1968
Duration
113 min
Genre
Drama, thriller
Format
Digital
Synopsis

Flora, an eccentric billionaire, reigns absolute over her entourage in her luxurious home on a volcanic island in Sardinia. When she learns that her death is imminent, she starts writing her memoirs. One day, a strange visitor disrupts her routine. The screenplay is written by Tennessee Williams, based on his play The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.

Boom

Joseph Losey

Born in 1909 in Wisconsin, Joseph Losey began studying medicine at Harvard before turning to theater. The 1929 crisis sensitized him to social issues, and he emerged in the 1930s as a committed theater director. He traveled to the Soviet Union where he met Bertolt Brecht, with whom he would later collaborate. Upon returning to the United States, he started directing while also becoming involved with the Communist Party, which led to scrutiny by McCarthyist authorities. Forced into exile in the United Kingdom, he subsequently made all his films in Europe. In the 60s, he met Harold Pinter, who would script three major works in his filmography: The Servant, Accident, and The Go-Between, which won the Palme d'Or at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival.

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Our blog

Les nombreux damnés de Joseph Losey

La notion d'arbitraire semble dicter la vie et l'œuvre de Joseph Losey, tout comme le cheminement de ses protagonistes, faisant de l'oppression et de l'injustice des fils rouges dans sa filmographie.

Losey l'insaisissable

La force créative de Losey va de pair avec sa capacité à brouiller les pistes.

Cast
About Joseph Losey
Filmography
Open
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