Lola (1961 film)
Lola is a 1961 romantic drama film, the debut film directed by Jacques Demy as a tribute to director Max Ophüls, described by Demy as a "musical without music".[2][3] Anouk Aimée starred in the title role. The film was restored and re-released by Demy's widow, French filmmaker Agnès Varda.
| Lola | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Jacques Demy |
| Produced by | Georges de Beauregard Carlo Ponti |
| Written by | Jacques Demy |
| Starring | Anouk Aimée Marc Michel |
| Music by | Michel Legrand Agnès Varda (song "Lola") |
| Cinematography | Raoul Coutard |
| Edited by | Anne-Marie Cotret Monique Teisseire |
| Distributed by | Films Around the World Inc. original release (USA) WinStar Cinema (USA) (re-release) |
Release date | March 3, 1961 |
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | France Italy |
| Language | French English |
| Budget | US $70,000 (approx)[1] |
The names of the film and title character were inspired by Josef von Sternberg's 1930 film Der blaue Engel, in which Marlene Dietrich played a burlesque performer named "Lola Lola".
Plot
Lola takes place in the Atlantic coastal city of Nantes, France. A young man, Roland Cassard (Marc Michel, who later reprises the role of Roland in Demy's 1964 film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), is wasting his life away until he has a chance encounter with Lola (Aimée), a woman he knew as a teenager before World War II, who is now a cabaret dancer. Though Roland is quite smitten with her, Lola is preoccupied with her former lover Michel, who abandoned her after impregnating her seven years earlier. Also vying for Lola's heart is American sailor Frankie (Alan Scott), whose affection Lola does not return.
Struggling for work, Roland gets involved in a diamond-smuggling plot with a local barber. Cécile (Annie Dupéroux), a 13-year-old girl, crosses paths with Roland; in many ways she reminds him of Lola, whose real name is also Cécile. In the end, Michel returns to Nantes, apparently very successful and hoping to marry Lola, just as she is leaving for another job in Marseille. She goes away with Michel as she always said she would.
Critical reception
Lola received moderate reviews from critics. The Chicago Reader's Jonathan Rosenbaum said it was "among the most neglected major works of the French New Wave" and "in some ways [Demy's] best feature."[4]
Travis Hooper of Film Freak Central gave it 3.5/4 stars, saying that he believed that it "doesn't have the intellectual rigour of those other films". He went on to say that it "is stronger for feeling, showing that we need more than the confirmation of the worst if we intend to make it through our lives intact."[5]
Not Just Movies gave Lola an A rating, mostly for Demy's "New Wave-cum-classical style", which "creates a self-contained world that gives a softly lift haze to reality as characters constantly aim for each other and miss, sometimes passing within mere inches of each other before carrying on or being redirected."[6]
Awards and nominations
- 1963 BAFTA - Nominated for "Best Film from any Source" and "Best Foreign Actress" for Anouk Aimée.
- 2001 New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Won the Special Award (also for the re-release of Demy's second film La Baie des Anges).
See also
References
- Thomas, Kevin (21 July 1968). "Demy, Anouk Meet Again--In L.A., of All Places". Los Angeles Times. p. c14.
- Guthmann, Edward (2002-04-12). "Film Clips:Lola". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2006-09-28.
- Reel.com
- Rosenbaum, Jonathan. "Lola". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
- Hooper, Travis. "Lola (1961)". Film Freak Central. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
- "Lola (Jacques Demy, 1961)". Not Just Movies. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
7 ^ White, Armond (9 October 2019) “Why Jacques Demy Matters” New York Film Critics Circle website https://www.nyfcc.com/2013/10/why-jacques-demy-matters-by-armond-white-for-cityarts/
External links
- Lola at IMDb
- Lola: Demy’s Paradise Found an essay by Ginette Vincendeau at the Criterion Collection