With Christmas coming up,I started searching round for a French New- Wave (FNW) title that I could give a friend as an X-Mas gift. Talking to a DVD seller,I was happy to learn that he had recently tracked down a near-forgotten FNW title starring Catherine Deneuve,which led to me getting ready to discover what creatures lay inside the zoo.
View on film:
Whist she has hardly any lines of dialogue,the gorgeous Catherine Deneuve gives an exquisite performance as Mylène,thanks to Deneuve showing the psychological effect that Edgar's behaviour has had on Mylène,with Deneuve give Mylène a stoic face,which reveals the lack of emotion that she is receiving from Edgar.
Entering the movie as a right playboy, Michel Piccoli gives a superb,rather subtle performance as Edgar,whose self-centred edges soften,as Piccoli shows the weight of Edgar's chess game with the mysterious stranger to slowly sink in.
Being one of the few women directors of the FNW,writer/directing auteur Agnès Varda shows that she can proudly stand her own ground against any guys of the FNW, giving the film a rustic documentary quality via B&W footage of the towns shipping yard and shops.
Allowing the viewer to sink into the B&W,Varda suddenly turns the film upside down,by brilliantly splashing the film with red,which along with expressing Edgar's boiling emotions,also gives the title an ultra- stylised chess motif,as Edgar finds out that there are people who he can't check-mate.
View on film:
Whist she has hardly any lines of dialogue,the gorgeous Catherine Deneuve gives an exquisite performance as Mylène,thanks to Deneuve showing the psychological effect that Edgar's behaviour has had on Mylène,with Deneuve give Mylène a stoic face,which reveals the lack of emotion that she is receiving from Edgar.
Entering the movie as a right playboy, Michel Piccoli gives a superb,rather subtle performance as Edgar,whose self-centred edges soften,as Piccoli shows the weight of Edgar's chess game with the mysterious stranger to slowly sink in.
Being one of the few women directors of the FNW,writer/directing auteur Agnès Varda shows that she can proudly stand her own ground against any guys of the FNW, giving the film a rustic documentary quality via B&W footage of the towns shipping yard and shops.
Allowing the viewer to sink into the B&W,Varda suddenly turns the film upside down,by brilliantly splashing the film with red,which along with expressing Edgar's boiling emotions,also gives the title an ultra- stylised chess motif,as Edgar finds out that there are people who he can't check-mate.