Montparnasse 19
Making lists is an activity moviegoers are fond of. Every year, the same ritual: compilation of the ten best films, with comparative analyses, debates, heated discussions. But what about the ultimate list of the most outstanding films in the history of cinema? That is to say, those films that must be seen, those that have forever transformed the art of cinema, but also our way of seeing a culture, of understanding the world as well as our own lives? This program aims to tackle this challenge with nearly eighty films, produced between 1916 and 1960, while waiting for your lists!
The last moments of the painter Modigliani, in the artistic effervescence of Montparnasse on the eve of the 1920s. In spite of alcohol, misery and decay, Jeanne, his last companion, loves and supports him.
Jacques Becker
Jacques Becker was a French film director and screenwriter, and the father of the director Jean Becker. His films, made during the 1940s and 1950s, encompassed a wide variety of genres, and were admired by some of the filmmakers who led the French New Wave. He began shooting his first film, Cristobal's Gold at the start of World War II, but filming was interrupted due to lack of money. It was completed by Jean Stelli while Becker was mobilized. As a prisoner of war, Becker directed the first of three films made during the Occupation, The Trump Card (1942), upon his return to Paris. After the war, he directed several comedies, including Antoine and Antoinette, which won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1947, and Rendezvous in July (1949), which earned him the Louis Delluc Prize. In 1960, he finished editing one of his finest and last films: The Hole.
Photo: Sam Lévin | Collections de la Cinémathèque québécoise
