Comedian, illustrator, gagman, film director - Pierre Étaix has done it all, and yet he remains largely unknown outside his homeland. Janus Films is proud to correct that situation with 8 new prints: five features and three shorts produced between 1961 and 1971, all beautifully restored in 35mm. Praised by directors as diverse as Truffaut, Bresson, Godard, and David Lynch, Étaix's films combine exquisite physical comedy with inventive sight gags and a slightly surreal visual sensibility. This retrospective is an unprecedented opportunity to discover a neglected master of comic filmmaking.
Weekends, August at The Trylon microcinema in Minneapolis.
- Friday August 2 - Sunday August 4
THE SUITOR
(1962,
35mm, 83m) Pierre Étaix’s delightful first feature received the Prix
Louis Delluc, French cinema’s most prestigious award. The
actor-director’s love of the great silent film comedians is evident in
this gag-filled, almost dialogue-free tale of an astronomy geek (Étaix)
who, under pressure from his parents, sets out to find himself a wife.
With the short film "Rupture" (1961, 11m.)
FRI/SAT 7:00 9:00, SUN 5:00 7:00
- Friday August 9 - Sunday August 11
YOYO
(1965, 35mm, 97m) Arguably Étaix’s masterpiece, Yoyo begins as a silent
film, with our hero as a wealthy loafer who loses it all in the
Depression. As the film switches into sound, we witness the man's son
fight in the big war and become a circus clown en route to restoring the
family
fortune.
FRI/SAT 7:00 9:00, SUN 5:00 7:00
- Friday August 16 - Sunday August 18
LE GRAND AMOUR
(1969, 35mm, 87m) Pierre is dutifully married to Florence. Everything is
fine in their relationship and at work. The years pass monotonously
until a very young new secretary is hired and Pierre, shaken by
infatuation, starts to dream... With the short feature "Happy
Anniversary" (1962, 15m.) FRI/SAT 7:00 9:00, SUN 5:00 7:00
- Friday August 23 - Sunday August 25
LAND OF MILK AND HONEY
(1971, 35mm, 76m) Shot following the social uproar that swept France in
May 1968, Étaix’s vérité documentary concerns "eroticism, poverty,
violence, gender equality, gay marriage, the power of advertising, and
the deformation of minds and manners by television. The concluding
sequence—an inquiry into the public image of one Pierre Étaix—has a
disarming reflexive loopiness, holding up mirrors to mirrors and sending
the viewer off in freefall.”—The New Yorker
FRI/SAT 7:00 8:30, SUN 5:30 7:00
- Friday August 30 through Sunday September 1
AS LONG AS YOU’RE HEALTHY
(1966, 35mm, 68m) Étaix fashions four playful vignettes that comically
dramatize the anxieties of 20th century life, from seeing a shrink to
going to the movies! With the short film "Feeling Good" (1966, 13m.)
FRI/SAT 7:00 8:45, SUN 5:00 6:45
The Trylon microcinema
3258 Minnehaha Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55406
(612) 424-5468
