Dark Amour
When a festival titled
The French Had a Name for It debuted last year, it didn’t simply deliver the dual pleasures of film noir and Euro cinema. Attendees were treated to stellar, if little-known, French films undiluted by Hollywood morality codes, with top actors in atypically sinister or risqué roles. Now, programmer Don Malcolm, working with longtime dark-side cohort Elliot Lavine, has created
The French Had a Name for It 2: Lovers & Other Strangers, subtitled “Twelve More Rare French Noirs, 1943-62.” Amour gone bad is the theme of the series, which begins with director Georges Lacombe’s
The Light Across the Street, starring Brigitte Bardot as a sensual young woman involved in a dangerous love triangle. Additional selections include
The Truth About Our Marriage, with Jean Gabin as an arrogant industrialist and Danielle Darrieux as his deceptively demure wife, and
Panic, a murder tale starring Michel Simon as a loner set up as the fall guy. The talent also includes Marcel Carne, Simone Signoret, Jeanne Moreau, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Bernard Blier, and others.
— Anita Katz
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